Why am I suddenly bombarded with requests on this website to use my almost useless 30 year old GMRS repeater?

[Paul]

My .650 GMRS repeater has been on the air continuously since 1995. Back then, you had to have the location on the license and apply to the FCC to move the repeater location, a lot like part 90.

Times change, obviously.  I don't remember when I registered my repeater on this website, but it was back when Doug Smith was still alive and extremely active. Pretty close to 15 years ago?

In all that time, only got a couple of requests to use my repeater. But now, in the last 2 months, I'm getting craploads of requests on this website to use my single tone repeater.  

Honestly, it's been rendered pretty useless in my area anyway since some ham-like users have built a network of repeaters on the same freq as me, and they are on them constantly.  Performing ham-like nets with check-ins, roundtables, ragchews for hours, etc. There are a couple of them with IDers that go off even when the frequency is already in use.  It's become ridiculous.

If my repeater was frequency agile, I'd move it.  But Motorola MSY channel elements are scarce these days, and I don't have any way to program my ancient Motorola portables anymore.  So, I'm stuck.

The real question is, why am I suddenly getting bombarded with requests to use my repeater?  Why NOW? 

After 30 years continuously on the air, I'm about ready to pull the plug on my repeater and walk away anyway.  Should I yank it?  Or just leave it on as a ghost repeater?

 

[Socalgmrs]

I’d bet it’s because gmrs has takin off the past 3-4?years and especially the last few months as things get worse in the world from political to weather to black outs and brown outs people are scared of what’s to come are are looking for alternative comms.  

[WRXB215]

2 hours ago, Paul said:

I'm about ready to pull the plug on my repeater and walk away anyway.  Should I yank it?  Or just leave it on as a ghost repeater?

If it is that big of a hassle and it is useless, I would just pull the plug and walk away. Spend your resources on something else.

[quarterwave]

Same experience here. Had mine since 1994. Just sold it and moved on. 

[DominoDog]

If you have "that many" (as in a lot) of requests, then you might be in a position to help your community. Assuming you have a good location for the repeater. You might have lost interest in it but maybe the inrush of "new blood" will renew your interest a bit. It certainly has changed from what you ol' timers in GMRS saw back in the day, but the new people seem eager to learn.

Apparently there is nothing wrong with starting a club and crowd funding new repeater hardware if the system you have in place now is not up to the task of changing frequencies. I don't understand the "hams" getting upset at someone else using the frequency. Hams have their own frequencies. A GMRS frequency is certainly not "theirs" in any shape, form, or fashion. Yours is also not a new repeater in the area, and you have every right to bring it back to active use. The repeater being used may bother others, but it would not be you who is stepping on anyone's fun rag chewing net. It would be your community, who has a lot of weight to collectively throw around as far as who gets to use a public frequency.

[WRXB215]

1 hour ago, DominoDog said:

I don't understand the "hams" getting upset at someone else using the frequency. Hams have their own frequencies. A GMRS frequency is certainly not "theirs" in any shape, form, or fashion.

He said they were "ham-like users" which suggests to me they were GMRS user acting like sad hams. But yes, it they were using GMRS frequencies for ham radio use, that would be one complaint I'm sure the FCC would look into.

[quarterwave]

"He said they were "ham-like users" which suggests to me they were GMRS user acting like sad hams. But yes, it they were using GMRS frequencies for ham radio use, that would be one complaint I'm sure the FCC would look into."

In 1994 and 95 there were two guys about 45 miles from me that were Hams that were playing with a GMRS repeater they installed, in a pretty good location. They were not licensed for GMRS, I know because they brashly talked about it. They played around for 2 years gabbing on it until I finally heard them talk about getting a license. They believed they were entitled to use GMRS simply for being Hams. 

At the same time they complained about people on the Ham repeaters they didn't like, and you would think with the myriad of repeater options both 2m and 70cm in this particular area they wouldn't need to use GMRS, but they did. There are probably 25 repeaters in a 25 mile area, even 1.25m and 900Mhz. 

It's just funny what some people do and justify as right. 

[WRXB215]

@quarterwave Unfortunately "sad hams" do exist. I wish it weren't so, and I've been lucky not to encounter them myself yet, but I'm aware that they do exist. 

[Paul]

Thank you for the input.

New info- Some of the users are hams, but I believe they are GMRS licensed as well.  They all have 4x3 callsigns, and they seem to use the 3 numbers of their callsigns as their identifiers.  I am being told that the main user is someone who was convicted of a serious crime against children and is therefore not eligible to be a licensee.  So he uses a GMRS callsign that belongs to someone else and claims that person is his brother.  Despite this information apparently being widely known, nobody seems to have a problem with it.  Their check-in net got dozens of stations checking in last time I had to endure it.

Anyway, back to my question...

Since the repeater is at a tower site that I own, it technically doesn't cost me anything (except a couple dollars a month for power) to have it there.  I could be a jerk and put my repeater in CSQ and walk away, but that isn't how I am.  So, in my shoes, would you just leave it on and forget about it (ghost repeater)?  Or pull the plug?  

One person above suggesting selling it all.  What is a repeater and a bunch of Motorola portables worth these days?  My guess is it isn't worth the hassle.

[WRUU653]

Perhaps there is someone that uses the repeater that you may feel would be a good steward for it that you could sell or gift it to.

[Elmo777]

On 10/25/2024 at 8:16 AM, Paul said:

My .650 GMRS repeater has been on the air continuously since 1995. Back then, you had to have the location on the license and apply to the FCC to move the repeater location, a lot like part 90.

Times change, obviously.  I don't remember when I registered my repeater on this website, but it was back when Doug Smith was still alive and extremely active. Pretty close to 15 years ago?

In all that time, only got a couple of requests to use my repeater. But now, in the last 2 months, I'm getting craploads of requests on this website to use my single tone repeater.  

Honestly, it's been rendered pretty useless in my area anyway since some ham-like users have built a network of repeaters on the same freq as me, and they are on them constantly.  Performing ham-like nets with check-ins, roundtables, ragchews for hours, etc. There are a couple of them with IDers that go off even when the frequency is already in use.  It's become ridiculous.

If my repeater was frequency agile, I'd move it.  But Motorola MSY channel elements are scarce these days, and I don't have any way to program my ancient Motorola portables anymore.  So, I'm stuck.

The real question is, why am I suddenly getting bombarded with requests to use my repeater?  Why NOW? 

After 30 years continuously on the air, I'm about ready to pull the plug on my repeater and walk away anyway.  Should I yank it?  Or just leave it on as a ghost repeater?

 

Hi Paul, i can speak as a newbie to GMRS.  When I set up my phone with repeaters and I use MyGMRS.com as my resource to do so, the repeaters list has a page that reads request access.  Now as a newbie even though it says open, we are still asking for permission.  I believe @socalsgmrs nailed it when he said GMRS has really taken off so more users are in my opinion doing the right thing and asking for access.  probably annoying as heck to the owner of the repeater, one owner replied, if it's open you don't need to ask, enough said i got the hint.

[Paul]

1 hour ago, WRUU653 said:

Perhaps there is someone that uses the repeater that you may feel would be a good steward for it that you could sell or gift it to.

Then would they pay rent for my tower site?  Or, would they expect free rent?  Then, what about liability insurance, etc.?  Would they expect me to overlook the liability insurance requirement that other tenants have to comply with?  You see why this is a bit more complicated that just "gifting" the repeater to someone else.

The only users this repeater was installed for are my wife and myself.  Anyone else who uses it is a guest.  But if it gets too clogged up or becomes a ragchew (HAM type chit-chat) repeater, then my wife won't monitor it, and it won't serve our purpose anymore.

[WRUU653]

1 hour ago, Paul said:

Then would they pay rent for my tower site?  Or, would they expect free rent?  Then, what about liability insurance, etc.?  Would they expect me to overlook the liability insurance requirement that other tenants have to comply with?  You see why this is a bit more complicated that just "gifting" the repeater to someone else.

The only users this repeater was installed for are my wife and myself.  Anyone else who uses it is a guest.  But if it gets too clogged up or becomes a ragchew (HAM type chit-chat) repeater, then my wife won't monitor it, and it won't serve our purpose anymore.

Let’s take those one at a time.  
Yes.
no. 
what about it?  
and no.

If I give or sell a family member or friend a car I’m not paying for their insurance. If you want it for your own uses you can turn requests off, don’t list the tones or don’t list it at all. I guess I just don’t see a problem here that can’t be solved by making a decision of what you want to do. Listing the repeater on Mygmrs with a request button and expecting people not to request to use it is beyond comprehension. It seems like you want to be unburdened by request and possibly the repeater. I was making a suggestion that rather than walking away from it you might hand the burden to someone that would want it. I have included a screen shot for an example of request disabled. It’s up to you to make the decision… or not. You asked and people answered. 

[Paul]

On 10/29/2024 at 3:53 PM, WRUU653 said:

Let’s take those one at a time.  
Yes.
no. 
what about it?  
and no.

If I give or sell a family member or friend a car I’m not paying for their insurance. If you want it for your own uses you can turn requests off, don’t list the tones or don’t list it at all. I guess I just don’t see a problem here that can’t be solved by making a decision of what you want to do. Listing the repeater on Mygmrs with a request button and expecting people not to request to use it is beyond comprehension. It seems like you want to be unburdened by request and possibly the repeater. I was making a suggestion that rather than walking away from it you might hand the burden to someone that would want it. I have included a screen shot for an example of request disabled. It’s up to you to make the decision… or not. You asked and people answered. 

 

I have no idea how to change the request link or whatever, nor do I care.  Especially when just about anything I type here gets taken the wrong way.

The post above where I was asking questions was meant as to ponder the issues that arise when "gifting" my repeater, as was suggested.  

My repeater was listed here nearly 20 years ago because it was highly suggested to do so for coordination purposes, so other repeater owners in the area would know the frequency, tone, and location of repeaters already on the air before setting up their own.  The listing went nearly 18 years before I started getting bombarded with requests, and that is why I started this thread called, "Why am I suddenly bombarded with requests on this website to use my almost useless 30 year old GMRS repeater?"

So, if your intention was to try and be helpful, thank you.  If your intention was to be snarky and drive a long-time GMRS licensee off this website, then you succeeded. 

Done.

[Guest]

I can understand this guy's frustration.

[WRUU653]

2 hours ago, Paul said:

So, if your intention was to try and be helpful, thank you.  If your intention was to be snarky and drive a long-time GMRS licensee off this website, then you succeeded

My intention was to be helpful. Perhaps point out that in my opinion I don’t see a problem. I’m sorry if it came across as snarky. I was and am perplexed at the problem or perception of one. There truly are some here (I believe @gortex2 is one if I’m not mistaken) who have chosen to not list their repeaters and opt to use them for personal use. This seems like a true option for you. The popularity of GMRS is without a doubt the reason for increasing interest for permission requests. It seems obvious if that doesn’t interest you that you could either pass it and its responsibilities to someone else or make it private. I included an example of a listing that shares the frequency for what I have to believe is for coordination purposes and access requests disabled. I don’t know what else can be said. I wish you luck with your decision. It is after all yours to make. Or not make. That’s cool too. I’ve no skin in this. 

[StogieVol]

I will say since the storms, I have seen a lot of new people in the GMRS areas of social media I follow. 

This seem like an amazing time to grow and help these new people getting into the hobby. 

I would say, like me, the new crowd found myGMRS and are just going through requesting all the repaters close to them no realizing they don't have do all the requests unless they are labeled "request permission". 

SO, if any of our new GMRS people see this post is a repeater is listed as "Open" you are free to use that repeater without permissions. If it labled "Request permission", then please do so.  

I hope the new influx of users enjoy the hobby and stick with it.