GMRS Repeater Build - Targeting a 20-30 mile radius

[WRZA597]

Hey everyone, I am both Ham licensed and GMRS licensed.  Wanting to build a GMRS Repeater for my area for community and family communications. Looking for best practices and recommendations on equipment and setup.  We live in Huntersville, NC. Near intersection of HWY 73 and Ramah Church Road. Altitude is roughly 770 above sea level.  There are trees and buildings to contend with.  Have looked at Retevis R97S, Midland MXR10, and the Bridgecom BCR-40DU. Need suggestions on repeater, cabling, antennas, masts, etc.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Greg - KK4OHJ, WRZA597

[WRYZ926]

9 minutes ago, WRFN864 said:

Example:  I can hit a repeater with a 4w HT that is 40 miles away from 5' off the ground but can't hit a mobile that is 2 miles away from my Diamond X50 antenna at 30' high with 25watts.

How close you are to a repeater and how high the repeater's antennas are can cause issues. I will use my club's repeater as an example. The antennas are high up on a 900 foot tower and members that live within a mile or two sometimes have trouble accessing the repeater. This is simply due to the height of the repeater antennas and the fact that the signal is going right over the guys that are close. Granted this is with VHF in the 2m band. 

[gortex2]

As @OffRoaderX pointed out alot of what works for someone may not work for you. I can at least give you some data from my time in the Concord area each year, specifically CMS. We had a 35; MH with a GMRS repeater in it. I ran a GR1225 on low power for multiple years. LMR400 (25') out of the duplexer to a Laird FG4503 Fiberglass antenna on my flagpole mount. From Turn 4 parking lot (640' ASL) I could get 3-4 miles to the North up 29. On a portable I had no issues talking to the repeater from the Walmart 2 Miles north. On the mobile it would drop out around parkway. To the south I could only get about 2 miles on mobile. We had one year where we were early and I setup on the South side of the track. It was around 725' there. I had no issues with a portable further south and still had perfect comms on my portable to the north to the Walmart. So height helped in that area. I will also say all comms were on my XTL2500 (at the time) and my APX portable or HT1250LS portable. Sadly since COVID we have not been setup in the camper at that track. We spent 3 weeks on the track for about 5 years and used the repeater a alot when on site. With all the other comms on site I was actually surprised at how well it did work. 

Im in your area quite a bit still but dont seem to hear alot on GMRS when I'm in the area. I have not had time to try the 675 repeater there. Maybe this weekend when I'm down. Could go for some nice Brickhouse Pizza and a cold frosty beverage right now...

 

[WRZA597]

3 hours ago, gortex2 said:

As @OffRoaderX pointed out alot of what works for someone may not work for you. I can at least give you some data from my time in the Concord area each year, specifically CMS. We had a 35; MH with a GMRS repeater in it. I ran a GR1225 on low power for multiple years. LMR400 (25') out of the duplexer to a Laird FG4503 Fiberglass antenna on my flagpole mount. From Turn 4 parking lot (640' ASL) I could get 3-4 miles to the North up 29. On a portable I had no issues talking to the repeater from the Walmart 2 Miles north. On the mobile it would drop out around parkway. To the south I could only get about 2 miles on mobile. We had one year where we were early and I setup on the South side of the track. It was around 725' there. I had no issues with a portable further south and still had perfect comms on my portable to the north to the Walmart. So height helped in that area. I will also say all comms were on my XTL2500 (at the time) and my APX portable or HT1250LS portable. Sadly since COVID we have not been setup in the camper at that track. We spent 3 weeks on the track for about 5 years and used the repeater a alot when on site. With all the other comms on site I was actually surprised at how well it did work. 

Im in your area quite a bit still but dont seem to hear alot on GMRS when I'm in the area. I have not had time to try the 675 repeater there. Maybe this weekend when I'm down. Could go for some nice Brickhouse Pizza and a cold frosty beverage right now...

 

Great info.  Thanks for the feedback.  The 675 repeater is permission only.  Trying to gain approval.

[JamesBrox]

12 hours ago, WRZA597 said:

Yes, I have been watching videos on the Retevis and Midland repeater setup options.  I like your suggestion of using two 50 watt radios with a duplexer.  www.buytwowayradios.com has this video that walks through the setup using two Wouxun KG-1000Gs.  Has anyone used this type of setup? Comments or recomendations?

 

Don't do this. I combined two G+s.....with horrendous results. Just ordered a Bridgecom BCR-40DU w/ an BCD-440. Got to be better than what I tried.

WRXU693

James

 

 

James