Williamsport, PA General Mobile Radio Service Repeater - GMRS

The closest one to Williamsport to find some used radio equip etc. There are several around the state and country though throughout the year by searching for hamfest's

I just updated the website to reflect this info. Williamsport, PA General Mobile Radio Service Repeater - GMRS

This Repeater is located on Skyline Drive (Bald Eagle Mountain just south of Williamsport) on the frequency of 462.675 with the transmitter at 31 watts. The "input frequency" for you as a GMRS user to program into your radio to transmit on is 467.675 and 462.675 as the receive frequency. The CTCSS/PL tone is 141.3 which is needed to open the squelch to use the repeater and this tone can be programmed for receive and transmit which is recommended to help with something near you that might be making noise like a computer or other electrical noise as it will keep your squelch quiet but at least must be programmed to transmit in order to open the repeaters' receiver. The repeater uses a Diamond X50C2 antenna and is fed with 1/2 inch hard-line (better than coax). The antenna is on the north west side of the tower at 50 feet, and the ground elevation for the tower site is 1,912 feet. This repeater first aired in September 2012 and has been on ever since. The repeater consists of two Kenwood TK-8180H mobile radios, a Raspberry Pi 3 B+ running the Allstarlink/Hamvoip program as the controller. The duplexers are the Wacom WP-678 four cans

and also has a Motorola Preselector cavity on the receive side to give some added selectivity for the receiver.

Visit the club web page on https://forums.mygmrs.com/clubs/80-williamsport-675-pennsylvania/ or on my website at https://sites.google.com/site/kb3awq/wqgu515-gmrs-repeater



Repeater Coverage Map eventually you will need to go to https://sites.google.com/site/kb3awq/maps and open the .kml file of the repeater you wish to view with Google Earth.



You must have your GMRS license or be covered under a family member's license to transmit on GMRS frequencies, information on this can be found on the Federal Communication Commission (FCC) website along with the rules. As of April 19, 2022, the fee changed to $35 for 10 years and this includes you and your family under this sole license. You will receive an FCC Call sign after you apply for the license, and the GMRS licensed person or their family member that is covered under the license is to say the call sign every 15 minutes while in use and at the end of your conversation when signing off. GMRS users should be familiar with the FCC rules and follow them and know the call sign they are under to be authorized to operate. A GMRS license covers ONLY GMRS frequencies, not Public Safety or Amateur radio frequencies and you should only program the radio to receive on those frequencies if you choose to listen, transmitting is not allowed.

The licensed user should use the call sign and a family member could use a unit number for example WQGU515 (me) and lets say my wife was on she could use WQGU515 unit 1. You can create your own list so everyone can remember who everyone is. Remember the frequencies are shared so you will hear others on them and they will hear you. Things like Politics and Religion are not good topics for on the radio or any other subjects that are debatable.



Click this link to find out more information about GMRS and getting your license https://www.fcc.gov/general/general-mobile-radio-service-gmrs GMRS Rules can be found https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-47/chapter-I/subchapter-D/part-95/subpart-E and FRS rules can be found https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-47/chapter-I/subchapter-D/part-95/subpart-B

My call sign is WQGU515, which is also what the repeater identifies itself by in voice and or Morse code depending i on the situation. The GMRS user gives their own call sign while using the repeater once every 15 minutes while in use and at the end of the conversation.

Special thanks to the Bald Eagle Repeater Assoc Inc. for the tower facility use. I have been a member and Vice President of the club for several years. Besides the costs of maintaining the repeater, and dues for my annual membership, I also give a donation to help with the electric and and being at the site as per the Bylaws.



I think I covered most important things but if you have any questions etc. feel free to contact me by email [email protected]



WQGU515.com

KB3AWQ.com

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GMRS rules

47 CFR Part 95 Subpart E -- General Mobile Radio Service (3) Any individual who holds an individual license may allow anyone to operate his or her GMRS station if necessary to communicate an emergency message.

Maybe some Q&A isnt bad. If you have a subject or question, ask me!

What is a roger beep or courtesy tone? A roger beep is a beep that your radio makes when you unkey that the receiving end hears and is usually not something people want to hear especially all the time. The repeater has a courtesy beep that you hear when someone unkeys that everyone hears. This will also tell you it is a signal coming from the repeater rather than someone on the output frequency of the repeater which is known as simplex or talkaround or direct. So if you don't hear the courtesy tone, they are not coming through the repeater, they are just within range of you directly radio to radio. The courtesy tone we have used is the Nextel chirp but it is possible to change it to anything that there is an audio file for. Usually something easy on the ears for listening. Some people have commercial radio and use ID bursts like MDC-1200 or Fleetsnyc to name a couple, they come over the radio that the person transmitting it doesn't hear. Other than playing around sometimes or if someone has radio set up to actually show the ID on their radio, it ends up being no different than a roger beep which is often looked at as just added noise that most don't want to hear.

A repeater is usually in a higher location or somewhere to be able to extend the range. It consists of a receiver and transmitter that are hooked together to be able to recieve and transmit at the same time to pass the audio. Two radios in other words and the duplexers are precisely tuned to filter each frequency to keep the transmitter out of the receiver to be able to duplex off the same antenna. If they aren't tuned right the signal will desense and will affect the range. Soemtimes other noise occurs on repeaters, this can be due to weather conditions, loose antenna parts, other loose parts in and around where the repeater is and even interference from other radios. There is a lot more to things than most people know and its not something you learn without understanding things and reading a lot of documentation that explains it. Things like duplex noise can begin the education.

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I feel I need to make a post for those who may not be aware of some things. #1 If you have a programmable radio, be sure to only program a transmit frequency in it that you are licensed for. You can receive on any frequency but cannot transmit on any frequency. If you have your GMRS license, they are the only frequencies you can transmit on. If you have ham radio frequencies in receive that is fine but you are not authorized to transmit on them. Often times this will land you a major fine and possible jail time. This of course also goes for public safety frequencies like police and fire providing they are not encrypted as encryption is illegal to decode anyway.

If you are new to radio, I suggest you search the FCC.gov website in regards to GMRS rules. I also suggest you be sure you know your radio and what each setting is for before using it.

I know people read that well I'm just testing my radio on something I shouldn't be on in case of an emergency. That doesn't give you authoriztion to test your radio on a frequency your not allowed on. Even in an emergency, it is not just what you think an emergency is and I honestly can't think of barely a time where you would ever do this. Yes some FCC rules seem vague but I also know people have been cited and fined and even went to jail. In fact even if its a life or death emergency, a frequency you are not authorized to be on would be your last resort.

Williamsport, PA General Mobile Radio Service Repeater - GMRS