Are there minimum requirements for a repeater to be added?

[WRZM759]

I am toying with the idea of setting up a small repeater for my neighbors.   I was just wondering what the evaluation process was for adding a new repeater and getting it on the mygmrs network.   

[BoxCar]

An Internet connection to the repeater will be necessary to network the repeater, but those are typically part of a "small" repeater.

[gortex2]

First make the repeater work locally. Its not a 5 minute endevor. Once you have good reliable repeater filling your coverage area then worry about linking. No reason to link to be honest. 

[WRWE456]

Hi, welcome!

Start here (if you have not seen this yet) https://forums.mygmrs.com/topic/1402-you-just-got-your-gmrs-license-now-you-want-your-own-repeater/page/2/#comment-17067

How big an area are you trying to cover? What is the terrain like?

[GreggInFL]

Interested; in the same situation.  Our neighborhood is 1,500 acres, generally rectangular with the longest distance ~3 miles.  ASL ranges from 30' to 70' with thick vegetation.  I've tested 5W HTs and they make a scratchy connection when one is at a high spot; with both low it doesn't happen at all.

If I hosted a simple antenna on the roof (or, in the attic, keeping it out of the wind?) I'm guessing most everyone would have coverage.  I'm new to this and that's a guess.  Am I missing something fundamental?

Can one rent a repeater set-up to test the concept?

Did I mention that I'm new at this?

[WRKC935]

Testing 'repeater' coverage can be done with nothing more than a radio with a similar output level to the repeater you would be using and the antenna you would be using at it's installed height.

Output signal is output signal.  Doesn't matter if it's from a mobile, base or if low power a handheld.  It's all RF and will work the same no matter what.  So you could up up an antenna and do testing with a second person with a portable and /or a mobile to verify the expected coverage area.  Have them drive to the furthest area you are wanting to communicate with and have them do air tests with you from both a portable and a mobile. 

Once you do a first run test, look at the distance and draw a circle with the radius being the distance from the center to the edge.  Draw that circle on the map and then pick spots to test in that circle and continue to air test.

Once you have that info, draw a bigger circle and test that.  If it's all good increase the circle until it's not good.  You will have two different radius circles that with indicate portable coverage and mobile coverage.  That's how to test it without a bunch of other math, software and more technical stuff involved.  Green dots for good test points, red dots for bad test points.

Simple as that

 

[BoxCar]

8 hours ago, WRKC935 said:

Testing 'repeater' coverage can be done with nothing more than a radio with a similar output level to the repeater you would be using and the antenna you would be using at it's installed height.

Output signal is output signal.  Doesn't matter if it's from a mobile, base or if low power a handheld.  It's all RF and will work the same no matter what.  So you could up up an antenna and do testing with a second person with a portable and /or a mobile to verify the expected coverage area.  Have them drive to the furthest area you are wanting to communicate with and have them do air tests with you from both a portable and a mobile. 

Once you do a first run test, look at the distance and draw a circle with the radius being the distance from the center to the edge.  Draw that circle on the map and then pick spots to test in that circle and continue to air test.

Once you have that info, draw a bigger circle and test that.  If it's all good increase the circle until it's not good.  You will have two different radius circles that with indicate portable coverage and mobile coverage.  That's how to test it without a bunch of other math, software and more technical stuff involved.  Green dots for good test points, red dots for bad test points.

Simple as that

 

This method of testing coverage is only as accurate as the receiver used, along with the height of the receiving unit's antenna. Drive tests are often used to test cellular coverage, as their ability to get into the "nooks and crannies" directly translates into revenue for the site. They are also used by public safety agencies to test their coverage areas for the same reasons, using the same equipment from the repeater supplier.

[WRKC935]

19 minutes ago, BoxCar said:

This method of testing coverage is only as accurate as the receiver used, along with the height of the receiving unit's antenna. Drive tests are often used to test cellular coverage, as their ability to get into the "nooks and crannies" directly translates into revenue for the site. They are also used by public safety agencies to test their coverage areas for the same reasons, using the same equipment from the repeater supplier.

I am in 100% agreement with you.  But the OP is new to radio in general and I wasn't gonna go into all that. 

You certainly can do coverage mapping with a $40K service monitor and calibrated antenna for talk out.  The service monitor I have will do it and put the plots on a map if you choose to put a map in it and setup the scale for it.  The monitor does it with GPS location even.  And then you can park the monitor at the receive site and do talk in testing.

I did say that you would need the antenna you were going to use for the repeater at it's expected installed height.  But we are talking about GMRS here.  Not everyone is gonna do it at our level.   There are a few of us on here, you included, that do all this stuff at public safety levels of design, install and support.  We run battery plants or systems on our gear and the sites have generators, or other means of long term backup.  And while i would like to see every repeater on a 200 foot tower, with miles of coverage, it's not a realistic idea.  Some guys are gonna park an antenna on the eve of their roof and strap two mobiles together with a cheap eBay duplexer and run with it.  And in some cases that is gonna be enough.

 

But the guy putting a repeater on a shelf in his garage and supporting his antenna with an old TV tower or pipe mast isn't gonna have that luxury.  This sort of testing can give him some idea how it will work and where it will work.  Certainly NOT a high tech test.  And using a cheap radio on the mobile / portable end is going to give a more realistic test as Joe Average isn't gonna go grab an APX 8000 off eBay to use to chat it up on a community repeater.

 

[GreggInFL]

Thanks everyone.  Good stuff.

[WRYZ926]

When we first set our repeater up, several of us just drove around in different areas within a 25-30 mile radius of the tower. I know that is not the best way to test but that is how our amateur radio club members did it. We are getting up to 30 miles range with 50 watt mobiles depending on the terrain. The nice thing is between all of us, we found out exactly where the dead zones are. We are using a Bridgecom repeater and the antennas are 400 feet up on the tower.

No matter what type of repeater setup you have, you want to use a good antenna(s) and get it as high as you can.