[SurferJoe]

I've still got my 40-channel CBs (1 Cobra AM~USB~LSB and one AM~USB~LSB Fanon~Courier and a couple or Realistic 40-channels too) with 108" stainless steel whips on all four of my vehicles (sadly, no more Amigo) --- but I've now added GMRS units (license required, no test).

The radio I installed in my '05 Chevy Trail Blazer EXT was a Midland MXT575 < LINK > w/50 Watts power and full repeater option of repeater channels, natch!

I also have 2 Midland MXT275 < LINK > w/20Watt radios ..... one each in my '86 K5 Blazer and my wife's '05 Chevy Silverado Crew Cab K1500

.............. and 4 Tidradio TD-H5 < LINK > handheld "walkie-talkies, if you will, that are also able to run on the repeaters too.

They come in 2-packs with 4 batteries, chargers and lapel mics/speakers ....​

I'm part of a network of maybe 20 other GMRS operators that run on a current 40 Watt repeater, but I'm building a 50 Watt (legal max) repeater that can cover the whole Bitterroot Valley from West Fork to Missoula (with a few dead zones in Missoula and Darby) and line-of-sight to a few other areas outside of Missoula.

All-in-all --- GMRS isn't gonna cover the world --- it ain't no HAM system - but I don't want to talk to Australia and China --- just locally ..... and so I can hit the open repeaters on the road when I take my road trips.

FWIW --- 18-wheelers are shifting to GMRS for their OTR operation instead of --- or adjunct to - their CBs.

 

[SurferJoe]

Anyone using repeaters?

The small Wattage FRS and GMRS "Bubble Pack" radios are limited to 1/2Watt without a license and although we have a bunch of them too --- most of us are either HTs at 5 Watts or Mobiles at 50 Watts although there are some 20 Watt mobiles too.

I'm running the full legal 50Watt Midlands and we're building a repeater 'way up high in Heidi-Land so we can cover the whole Bitterroot Valley from West Fork to The Y and all of Missoula.

Our communications model is primarily designed to replace the cellphones and power outages that everyone believes are coming.

Our repeater's currently running off 120VAC through an adapter, but it'll switch to solar w/dual 27 Ni-Hy batteries at 50Watts so we can still have communication when things get --- uh --- strange.

We're spread out thin here in Montana.