Looking for repeaters

[gman59]

Hi
I know this is a long shot but going to give it a try anyway.
I purchsed a Baofeng GMRS-V1 handheld in hopes of getting extend range from a repeater.
At least thats my understanding how to extend the range of a GMRS radio.

I live in Hutchinson, KS. The nearest repeater is roughly 20miles away and only covers a 5mile radius from the tower.
I wasnt aware of the tower limitations when I purchased the radio.
I was hoping to extend my range 20-25miles using a repeater.

Are there other local towers I can use to extend my range?
Will purchasing the Baofeng GMRS 50w base unit overcome the lack of a repeater?

Thank you for your help.

 

[mmckenna]

A couple of things….

Repeaters are private property, so talking with the owner first is always a good idea. If they are open to other users, they'll let you know. They should also be able to give you an idea of what sort of coverage their repeater has.

So much has to do with the antenna on each end. Trying to hit a repeater 20 miles away with a hand held radio is going to be iffy. If the repeater antennas are up really high, and the repeater is designed correctly, it's certainly possible. If the antennas are down low, the repeater isn't designed/tuned very well, or you have a lot of stuff in between you and the repeater, then it's not going to work.

Increasing power output from 5 to 50 watts isn't going to increase your range by 10x. RF doesn't work that way.
If you want to give simplex communications a shot, you could increase your range a bit with increased power, but only in that it will penetrate surrounding clutter a bit better.

Increasing power output isn't the only variable you have...
Improving receiver sensitivity helps just as much. That's not easy to change, as you usually need to use better radios with better filtering to get that.
Increasing antenna height will help more than anything. One of the worst situations you can be in is a portable radio at ground level. Get the antenna up as high as you can. Since UHF tends to be mostly line of sight, the higher the antenna is, the more area it can cover.

With higher antennas comes the requirement for lower loss coaxial cable. Don't run your antenna up 50 feet above your home and try to connect it with crappy cable. The losses in the coax will negate most of your gains. You need to have good coaxial cable between your antenna and radio.

When you put up a tall antenna outside your home, especially in paces like Kansas, you need to carefully consider lightning risks. That means proper grounding, lightning protection, etc.

Exactly what you need to do depends on how you plan on using these radios.
A base radio at your home with an antenna up as high as you can safely get it will do wonders.
For mobile use, get a mobile radio and put an antenna on the roof of your vehicle.
For portable use, you'll need to either have a repeater nearby, or a good antenna at the receiving end.

 

[gman59]

Would an amplifier benefit my need to transmit/receive up to 20-25miles?

https://www.amazon.com/BTECH-AMP-U25D-Amplifier-400-480MHz-Compatible/dp/B07DPBQ9YW/ref=psdc_2230642011_t1_B07SY85L6J

 

[mmckenna]

Would an amplifier benefit my need to transmit/receive up to 20-25miles?

https://www.amazon.com/BTECH-AMP-U25D-Amplifier-400-480MHz-Compatible/dp/B07DPBQ9YW/ref=psdc_2230642011_t1_B07SY85L6J

An RF amplifier on it's own isn't going to make a very big difference. It'll boost your transmit power a bit, but if you ignore the antenna, it's going to do little more than drain your battery and wallet faster. You'd need to look at the entire setup as a system. Focusing on RF output power is a noob/rookie mistake. It's -all- about your antenna.

I could work a station 100 miles away with 1/2 a watt if I'm in a good location, have a good antenna, and a sensitive receiver.
On the other hand, if I'm in a poor location, running 100 watts with a crappy antenna, I might only get a few miles.

Antenna, antenna, antenna + Location, location, location.

As for that amplifier….
Baofeng generally makes very low quality stuff. They've found a market with inexperienced radio users by selling low priced equipment that doesn't perform very well.
Any radio setup that relies on a cigarette lighter plug is a big red flag.
Focusing only on transmitter power ignores the other half of the system. A preamplifier might be needed to improve reception, but the poor/lack of filtering on the BaoFeng/B-Tech radios might easily result in overloading and poor performance.

Under FCC rules, the radio AND the amplifier would need to have FCC Part 95 certification. I haven't done a lot of digging, but I haven't yet located an FCC ID number on the amp. Without that certification from the FCC, it would be considered a violation to use that amplifier on GMRS. Usually these low buck products are designed/intended for use on amateur radio frequencies only.

Truth is, trying to hit a repeater 20 miles away is going to be difficult even with good equipment if the repeater is not in a good location. Adding the issue of low tier equipment and no mention of a suitable antenna is going to make this nearly impossible.

- You really should contact the GMRS repeater owner and find out if the repeater will cover your area. The repeater owner should know where there coverage is. If it's not covering your area, no amount of radio, RF amplifier or realistic antenna installation is going to resolve that.

 

[tweiss3]

What mckenna said. The one repeater that I can hit from my house on a 5w HT with a standard antenna at 16.5 miles is only because my house is on a hill, it's a clean line of site and the antennas are tower mounted at 180'+ AGL. Go a few feet down the street, downhill, and the repeater disappears.

To get decent range from your house, you antenna needs to get up over your house, but according to your first post, the repeater claims only 5 miles of coverage, which would indicate it is either low power and/or the antenna isn't very high, likely both, and nothing you will do can overcome those issues.

 

[gman59]

MMCKENNA & TWEISS
Thank you for your input.
I am back to square 1.

 

[Flameout00]

One way I found some repeaters was scanning and listening for any CW transmissions. I really new at this, but I'm assuming they are from repeaters (they were for me at least)

After you find one transmitting CW, and if you're already on one of the pre programed GMRS repeater channels, you'll already be at +5.0 offset. Now you just have to try each CTCSS tone and if you get lucky, you'll have a repeater answer. These will be private, so you'll need to contact the owner. I found 3 unlisted repeaters, but one had a d**k for owner, so I didn't even ask and just deleted the information. I'm actually a bit surprised how many grumpy, miserable people are using amateur radio. Kind of depressing

 

[RaleighGuy]

I purchsed a Baofeng GMRS-V1 handheld in hopes of getting extend range from a repeater.

Just a curiosity question I didn't see asked, did you also get an FCC GMRS license? It is required for everyone using the GMRS radio/freqs.

 

[WA0CBW]

The CW you hear is most likely the repeater call sign. The "grumpy" GMRS repeater owners may or may not also be Amateur radio operators. Amateur and GMRS licenses are separate each with different rules and regulations.

 

[scanmanmi]

Looks like there are some ham repeaters in the area. You might have to get your ham license. Is there some reason you haven't?

Hutchinson repeaters

www.repeaterbook.com

 

[prcguy]

Kansas is flat, really flat. My great uncle had a farm in or near Hutchinson and except for some grain towers, his wind mill was about the tallest thing around. 5mi is about right for a hand held radio to a repeater under those conditions.

Where I live we have lots of repeaters on 5,000+ ft mountains and its common to get 50-75mi to the repeater then another 50-75mi from the repeater to someone on the back side of the mountain for some tremendous range from a hand held. Its all about repeater location and antenna height.

 

[gman59]

Just a curiosity question I didn't see asked, did you also get an FCC GMRS license? It is required for everyone using the GMRS radio/freqs.

My call sign is WRKI280

 

[gman59]

Kansas is flat, really flat. My great uncle had a farm in or near Hutchinson and except for some grain towers, his wind mill was about the tallest thing around. 5mi is about right for a hand held radio to a repeater under those conditions.

Where I live we have lots of repeaters on 5,000+ ft mountains and its common to get 50-75mi to the repeater then another 50-75mi from the repeater to someone on the back side of the mountain for some tremendous range from a hand held. Its all about repeater location and antenna height.

PRCGUY The nearest repeater is 20mi away. I spoke with the owner to get permission and learned the tower range is 5mi.

 

[gman59]

Looks like there are some ham repeaters in the area. You might have to get your ham license. Is there some reason you haven't?

Hutchinson repeaters

www.repeaterbook.com

Thank you for the repeater link. I checked it out and found the local repeaters operate in the 443 frequency range. GMRS uses repeaters in 462-467 range. Unless I am missing something, I dont think those repeaters will work for GMRS.
I dont have the space for a HAM tower. My reason for using GMRS is for emergency situations and the same would apply for using a HAM radio.

 

[N1SAK]

Check mygmrs.com and look at their repeater listings. Can look by state, town, etc.

 

[prcguy]

20mi is not an impossible distance for a base station antenna or a high power mobile with good antenna talking to a repeater on a building or tower in the flat lands. It is too far for reliable handheld coverage.

If your family has a long history in Hutchinson, we could be related. However I don't think my family tree there forked much.

Thank you for the repeater link. I checked it out and found the local repeaters operate in the 443 frequency range. GMRS uses repeaters in 462-467 range. Unless I am missing something, I dont think those repeaters will work for GMRS.
I dont have the space for a HAM tower. My reason for using GMRS is for emergency situations and the same would apply for using a HAM radio.

 

[russbrill]

Hi
I know this is a long shot but going to give it a try anyway.
I purchsed a Baofeng GMRS-V1 handheld in hopes of getting extend range from a repeater.
At least thats my understanding how to extend the range of a GMRS radio.

I live in Hutchinson, KS. The nearest repeater is roughly 20miles away and only covers a 5mile radius from the tower.
I wasnt aware of the tower limitations when I purchased the radio.
I was hoping to extend my range 20-25miles using a repeater.

Are there other local towers I can use to extend my range?
Will purchasing the Baofeng GMRS 50w base unit overcome the lack of a repeater?

Thank you for your help.

mygmrs.com lists repeaters...