Repeaters in Maine

[Guest Rob]

Good afternoon from Maine!

I can't seem to find any GMRS repeaters in my local area.

Do any of you know: 1) If there are any active repeaters in Maine for GMRS (I am located in Lincoln County) and 2) How good is the MXT115? I know it's only 15W, just not sure how that would work in my coastal community. I am familiar with Line of Sight communications as well as Repeater. Just trying to make up my mind if a 15W radio would be enough for around my area.

 

Thanks in advance!

 

Rob

 

[Socalgmrs]

Well a 5w with a rubber ducky does 50plus miles.  My 20w with a 712efc does 200miles.  My buddy has a 50w he can’t get 5miles.  It is almost 100% line of sight and not watts so I’d bet it’s either going to work or not. I’d say if you understand line of site like you say then only you can answer that question.   The bigger question might be is gmrs really the radio service for you?  Sounds like you’re not using it with family and friends while doing an activity so you may want to try ham.  As for repeaters if they are not listed on this and other sites like this then probably not. However have you listened to 15-22 on simplex at all different times of day to see if you can hear people chatting, rag chewing or talking on net Check ins?   

[SteveShannon]

1 hour ago, Guest Rob said:

Good afternoon from Maine!

I can't seem to find any GMRS repeaters in my local area.

Do any of you know: 1) If there are any active repeaters in Maine for GMRS (I am located in Lincoln County) and 2) How good is the MXT115? I know it's only 15W, just not sure how that would work in my coastal community. I am familiar with Line of Sight communications as well as Repeater. Just trying to make up my mind if a 15W radio would be enough for around my area.

 

Thanks in advance!

 

Rob

 

Hi Rob,

I am not familiar with Maine or the location of Lincoln County, but there are 45 GMRS repeaters listed for Maine in the database:

https://mygmrs.com/repeaters
 

Seems like some of them ought to be nearby. 

[SteveShannon]

Lincoln (city/town) has the Bagley Mtn 625 repeater which is open access, no permission required to use. 
 

[TDM827]

Not very familiar with Maine. As far as the MXT115 my does fine and I easily get into repeaters 15-20 miles away. Thats on both the short mag mount antenna that comes with the radio. And a Midland MXTA26 Mag Mount.  If  you are looking for plug and play simplicity its hard to beat.

That being said, if I had to do it all over again. If I was budget conscious I would go with a Mid-Grade Chinese GMRS mobile of 20 or more watts. While it's more learning and cost, commercial grade radios are very nice.  If my Midland takes a dump I will be replacing it with a commercial grade radio. Probably in the Kenwood TK series. 

For line of sight this site will give you some very basic idea of your line of sight. While its not perfect it will give you a pretty good idea of line of sight. Sounds like you understand line of sight, but this site is worth a look.

 https://www.scadacore.com/tools/rf-path/rf-line-of-sight/