Where do I start? Not exactly new to this but feel like it... repeater questions

[WRQI485]

Ok, I'll start off introducing myself.

I've had a GMRS license for a couple years but haven't really used it a lot. My main intent in getting it was for communications during off road events with friends and family.

I am finding I am interested in GMRS a little but don't know enough about it to really know what questions to ask or how to properly word them. I am an electrician by trade and did get some electrical theory in my apprenticeship classes in the 1980's. I understand basic Ohms law, inductance, capacitance, impedance and such.

I'm fascinated that there are people in the world that figured out how to extract sand and minerals from the earth and add some electricity to make Bluetooth for example...

I'm not really a big talker but am not anti-social either.

So on to the reason for the post.

This year I acquired a commercial grade UHF antenna and an Icom duplexer, free for the taking if I removed it from the site. The duplexer is currently tuned to the wrong frequencies so I can't really use it as-is.  I am considering getting it re-tuned to a set of GMRS frequencies and adding a repeater into the world. 

I have found this thread and have started reading it but to be honest I haven't made it past page 2 at the time of this post.:

 

I am not dead set on adding a repeater, but I have a 64 foot tower that I erected many years ago so I could get high speed internet to my home. I live in a rural area and I didn't have many options for high speed. There was a local wireless ISP that seamed reasonably priced but I had to get the antenna higher into the air to reach a usable signal so I ended up installing the tower. Fast forward many years and I now have an unused tower because I have fiber to the house.

I am also, possibly, interested in linking said repeater to the internet. 

I understand the basics of setting up the repeater as a stand alone. What I don't understand is how people connect them to the internet. I've been listening to the midwest hub  https://mygmrs.com/nets and am wondering how to be able to join in on conversations I find interesting.

 

 

 

 

 

[Sshannon]

16 minutes ago, WRQI485 said:

Ok, I'll start off introducing myself.

I've had a GMRS license for a couple years but haven't really used it a lot. My main intent in getting it was for communications during off road events with friends and family.

I am finding I am interested in GMRS a little but don't know enough about it to really know what questions to ask or how to properly word them. I am an electrician by trade and did get some electrical theory in my apprenticeship classes in the 1980's. I understand basic Ohms law, inductance, capacitance, impedance and such.

I'm fascinated that there are people in the world that figured out how to extract sand and minerals from the earth and add some electricity to make Bluetooth for example...

I'm not really a big talker but am not anti-social either.

So on to the reason for the post.

This year I acquired a commercial grade UHF antenna and an Icom duplexer, free for the taking if I removed it from the site. The duplexer is currently tuned to the wrong frequencies so I can't really use it as-is.  I am considering getting it re-tuned to a set of GMRS frequencies and adding a repeater into the world. 

I have found this thread and have started reading it but to be honest I haven't made it past page 2 at the time of this post.:

 

I am not dead set on adding a repeater, but I have a 64 foot tower that I erected many years ago so I could get high speed internet to my home. I live in a rural area and I didn't have many options for high speed. There was a local wireless ISP that seamed reasonably priced but I had to get the antenna higher into the air to reach a usable signal so I ended up installing the tower. Fast forward many years and I now have an unused tower because I have fiber to the house.

I am also, possibly, interested in linking said repeater to the internet. 

I understand the basics of setting up the repeater as a stand alone. What I don't understand is how people connect them to the internet. I've been listening to the midwest hub  https://mygmrs.com/nets and am wondering how to be able to join in on conversations I find interesting.

 

 

 

 

 

Welcome!

Great tower and great background!  I worked as the JATC apprentice coordinator and later in the control center at an electric and gas utility for many years and our world would have stopped if not for the linemen, electricians, and relay technicians. 
Anyway, a repeater is connected to the internet with a network node device usually running AllStar software. Most are built around Raspberry Pi’s which have gotten easier to obtain lately. 
But by no means is it as easy as plug and play. Not that you can’t handle it, but there are always some issues. I haven’t done it myself but I have built some PiStar nodes for ham radio. Based on what I’ve read here the AllStar network nodes may require some source code changes, whereas PiStar is much easier, so my experience is not relevant. 
Hopefully this helps you a little. 

[WRXB215]

@WRQI485 Welcome. Since you already have so much of the equipment, I don't see any reason not to go for it. I'm not a repeater expert but there are many people here who can help. Good luck to you.

[WRQI485]

35 minutes ago, Sshannon said:

Anyway, a repeater is connected to the internet with a network node device usually running AllStar software. Most are built around Raspberry Pi’s which have gotten easier to obtain lately. 

Thanks. I just downloaded the .iso and will probably install it to play around with it but it looks like AllStar is made for HAMS. When I look at the node list all I have seen on my quick look was HAM frequencies.

 

I have a couple mini computers that I can install software on and leave headless by the repeater (if I ever get that far). One of the computers is running Windows 10 and the other I installed Linux Mint on to play with. They were originally used for digital signage. They are only slightly bigger than a raspberry Pi but have an i5 Intel processor.  

[WRYZ926]

Here is a GMRS specific version. It is called GMRS Live and works on Raspberry Pi.

https://www.gmrslive.com

[WRQI485]

Thanks so far for the replies from everyone. I really do appreciate that anyone took their time to try and help me.

 

It appears I hadn't read enough of the site yet. mygmrs.com uses Asterisk as described here:

 

https://help.mygmrs.com/2466-help-center/5258-faq/18263-how-do-i-join-the-mygmrs-network

 

I am going to see if I can get everything set up on a Linux machine that is not a Raspberry Pi.

 

[WRQI485]

Well I'm going to need to do more reading or will need help anyways.

 

As it turns out, installing Asterisk is quite simple in Linux Mint which is what I had already installed on a spare machine. I could simply use the package manager Apt to install it. But what isn't as easy is configuring and using it. Installing Asterisk from the package manager may or may not have installed the other piece of software need which is app_rpt. That is apparently the layer between the Asterisk software and the sound card needed to trigger the repeater. I don't currently have any of that hardware anyway but was hoping there was a GUI (graphical user interface for the non computer geeks) to start experimenting with. 

 

Time to start reading I guess. My problem this time is I'm not sure what to search for...

[Sshannon]

Maybe it would make sense to start with a non-linked repeater. Many people steer clear of linked repeaters. 

[WRQI485]

My interest at the moment is to get access to the linked repeater system already existing on this site. I don't currently have access to a linked repeater. If there is one nearby I don't know how I would access it anyway. When I look at the map of linked repeaters I see none for the entire state of Michigan, which is where I live.

When I go here:

https://mygmrs.com/nets

I can select the repeater group I want to listen to, but I cannot join in any conversations currently. I'm trying to figure out how I can.

So far, I'm pretty sure if I set up a repeater and link it, I would be able to communicate with any of the repeater users in that group. Am I looking at this wrong? Is there another way?

[Sshannon]

Here’s a thread about linked repeaters:

 

[WRYZ926]

Here is a video explaining how to setup a GMRS Live node for those that are interested.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e2b3kQUo5yY

[WRQI485]

From what I'm finding, my antenna is a pretty good quality unit. Made by Andrews but the printed label is too faded to read any more than that, however that was enough. Turns out its the same as a CommScope model DB-420-B according to the information I'm able to find. The thing is 20 feet tall and all aluminum construction so it isn't terribly heavy.  It's much bigger than I realized when I volunteered to take it down. I actually have 2 of them with access to a third if I remove it as well.  I have attached a picture of a unit that looks identical to what I have. I also was able to remove the coax feeding it which I think I read was LMR-400. There should be enough to relocate this thing to the top of my tower. It already has type N fittings on it as well which fits the duplexer.

I'm pretty convinced a repeater is in my future. How soon it happens remains to be seen And whether it gets linked also remains to be seen.

 

I have installed a virtual machine and  installed a version of AllStar. It is Debian Linux based which is great for me because I have been using Linux Mint for years which is traced back to Debian so it's very familiar. The problem I have is it is only a CLI machine and I haven't found any useful step by step howto's to guide me on setting it up. Everthing I'm finding is explaining how to do it on a Pi (which is also running Linux) but I'm not starting from the described image. I'm going to need some more time to figure this out I can tell.