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GMRS Repeater question

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w0kcf

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Can a retired public safety radio like a maxtrak be used to make a GMRS repeater legally? These radios were not/are not part 95 type accepted. (Please site FCC or other Legal source)
 

bharvey2

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I can't tell from your post whether you are sure that the radios you have are FCC Type accepted for GMRS use. Go to the FCC link below and enter the radio's FCC ID number. If they are type accepted for Part 95, then you can be confident that they are usable. (I think the only other tech requirement for a GMRS repeater is that they maintain 5ppm frequency accuracy. You should confirm that number as I'm going from memory and I'm not a repeater builder or owner.

https://www.fcc.gov/general/fcc-id-search-page
 

quarterwave

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Pretty sure they were never part 95, but exceed 95 specs. People have been using them for mobiles, bases, and repeaters for years.
 

SteveC0625

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Can a retired public safety radio like a maxtrak be used to make a GMRS repeater legally? These radios were not/are not part 95 type accepted. (Please site FCC or other Legal source)
You've answered your own question. If they're not type accepted under the appropriate section of Part 95 for GMRS, then they're clearly not legal for use as a transmitter in a GMRS repeater. The same holds true for most other radio services. Amateur is the big exception. Part 97 does not require type acceptance for transmitters, but does have some very firm prohibitions on interference, spurious emissions, etc. Instead of requiring the radio to be technically certified for use in the bands, it places the responsibility on the operator.

There's already a huge body of discussion on this topic. The answer hasn't changed. Look back through the threads in this sub-forum. It's the same debate over and over. Is it legal? No. Can it technically be done? Yes. If I use a Part 90 radio, will I get caught? Highly unlikely, but the fines are significant if your luck doesn't hold.

However, a MaxTrac or other non Part 95 radio could be used as the Rx side of home brew repeater without issue.

Plenty of info at repeater-builder.com about building repeaters. It's geared a bit more toward amateur radio, but all the info is fully applicable to GMRS. Probably the biggest plus is that you would not have to worry about pulling the radio down into the ham band.

There's also a growing body of information at mygmrs.com for the reading. The answer is the same over there.
 

RFI-EMI-GUY

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Somewhere in Gettysburg, in a huge empty warehouse there is a huge empty FCC file cabinet containing names and call signs of all the GMRS operators ever caught using part 90 equipment in GMRS.
 

prcguy

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I was reminded many years ago that a repeater for GMRS must be FCC type accepted as a repeater under Part 95 and a couple of Part 95 accepted mobiles are not necessarily type accepted as a repeater. I've run across this on the internet but am not going to search to supply the bottom line answer. Just bringing it up because I believe its true and someone else can do the research.
prcguy
 

RFI-EMI-GUY

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I was reminded many years ago that a repeater for GMRS must be FCC type accepted as a repeater under Part 95 and a couple of Part 95 accepted mobiles are not necessarily type accepted as a repeater. I've run across this on the internet but am not going to search to supply the bottom line answer. Just bringing it up because I believe its true and someone else can do the research.
prcguy

There are a ton of Part 90 mobile radios used for repeaters in Part 90 service. The issue becomes the transmitter frequency stability which "must be maintained" at the standards for a "base station" which is 0.00025% versus a mobile at 0.0005%.
 
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