Building a GMRS Repeater For Personal or SHTF PART1 - Repeater Build with Two Wouxun KG-1000G Radios 

Great, now I want to put a repeater at my house! 🙂

This looks like fun and I will be following it. My wife overheard “project” and gave me the death glare, so I’m pretty sure I’ll be building one myself at some point ;)

I know you have already completed your build and have started (and maybe finished) another build, but I'm going down this path and will greatly enjoy following along and learning your lessons. Thanks for the videos.

Yes please! Been considering this exact setup since learning two KG-1000’s can be setup as a repeater. Can’t wait.

Every time I see a new video from your channel I klick the LIKE 👍 BUTTON. You don’t post CRAP, thanks....

I am going to build this exact system, I will start ordering after I watch all these videos. Love your channel. If all hams made videos like yours (EASY TO UNDERSTAND) I bet more people would be hams.

I love the "I'll be cured". We all know there is no cure

*Finally!* Someone on YT saying, "I'll be doing something dangerous, and I'll show you how." instead of the standard, "Don't try this at home!"

Randy. The number to call for utilities is 8-1-1. It's law before digging, to include driving a ground rod. I hope this helps

I'm looking forward to seeing this project unfold! I don't know much about repeaters either so it will be interesting to see how you go through the process and what you learn along the way.

I've been looking into this myself the past few weeks. Not so much the regs, but just the equipment. I'm really looking forward to this project. Keep up the great work.

Thanks for putting this together. I live in a very rural area where cell coverage isn't the best and we also suffer from a fair bit of hilly terrain. Fortunately we have some of the high ground and you are addressing the exact SHTF scenario we are wanting to address.

Ok.....I'll admit, Ive watched a couple of these videos from you, and Im learning more than I ever thought I would! Thank you! I had no idea you could build your own repeater!

You are in the process of answering all the questions I had regarding setting up a repeater for GMRS. I want to set one up here since we don't have one in our area... THANK YOU!!!!

This is a great project. I am looking forward to following your progress. In the near future I will be putting up a GMRS repeater on my house. Sir you rock!

I’ve been wrestling with the idea, so I’ll be looking forward to seeing how you make out. Good luck! You got this!

YESSS!!! Thank you for doing this! My buddies and I have been wanting to build one, so this is going to be a great series!!!

Very cool! This is something I've been considering myself as there are ZERO repeaters around here. I will be watching your progress closely.

Awesome Randy! I ran into a sad ham discussing repeaters in a GMRS FB page...not a good experience so I want to thank you for your great content! Keep it up!

Thank you for the videos on the repeater build, I am going to do the same thing in the very near future. Actually may do a few of them, like the radios you used and the whole setup, you took a lot of the guess work out of it for me. Like yourself I was bitten by the CB thing way back in the early 70's you have restarted it for me now, so here we go. Where I live here in Maine as far as my research has gone there are almost none in my neck of the woods, which is a lot of woods. I think I can do a really good thing, be the model citizen thing you talk about, just because it's fun. Actually I think I can find a pile of people that would take advantage of it for sure, again thanks love your videos.

First off, let me apologize to you for my rude comments in your other videos. I was a little harsh on you and it was not necessary. I was also incorrect in regards to the removable antenna issue. I'm sorry for all that. Please accept my apologies. Anyone that wants to jump into this hobby and put up a repeater is ok in my book regardless of their feelings towards their baofeng radios. It's hard for me to sit by and see folks make critical mistakes when putting together a repeater project. So I offer my help, take it or leave it. I've had a few repeaters with long feed lines on top of water towers, regular towers, buildings, and even in the top of a very tall tree. Been down this road a few times. Your antenna system (duplexer, patch cables, feed line and antenna) is the MOST important part of the repeater system, period. The hole idea is to get as much of the 50 watts to the antenna. The higher the frequency in use is, the more loss you will have per foot of feed line. That is why feed line at UHF frequencies is so important. Don't go cheap on feed line, you will regret it. I would not recommend LMR400 for repeater use. For duplex systems the double shield of aluminum foil and copper braid is a problem. RG214 double shield is 2 layers of copper braid and is ok for duplex setups such as repeaters. Anything less and you're going to have substantial loses in the feed line. Hardline is best but very expensive. Also type N feed line connectors for everything are much better than PL259 type, especially at UHF and above. You may loose a few dB over all with the PL259 type connectors. Make sure your duplexer is professionally tuned to the frequency you choose. If not there will be a ton of loss in the duplexer and very little power will make it to the antenna. Even if you're off by a channel (25KHz) it will be very bad for performance. It needs to be spot on frequency. I have no experience with this particular duplexer you listed but I've used other flat pack duplexers before with good results. You mileage may vary. You already have the antenna so up up and away with it I suppose. If that doesn't work out for you I had one of these Comet CA712EFC antennas up on a water tower for 8 years 1/8 mile away from the Atlantic ocean. It survived super storm Sandy. It now resides on top of a 75 foot tree in my back yard. www.theantennafarm.com/catalog/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=191_193_258_976_250_1096&products_id=1085 As for antenna grounding, there are books as thick as an encyclopedia for this. In a nut shell if you add a ground rod for this antenna it will need to be bonded to your existing grounding system that your electrical panel is grounded too. If not very bad things will happen if you take a lighting strike and your home owners insurance may not be happy if they discover some like this. Also your coax outer shield needs to be grounded to this same point before the cable enters your house. Good luck with the project. I'll keep an eye out for updates and offer up anything useful.

I’d also like to set up a repeater since there aren’t any in my area. This seems like a great way to do it. All the considerations you talked about are important but expensive. Seems like a grand or more to set up something basic. Love your GMRS videos!

Hello Randy. Your video has impeccable timing. I have been watching your last few GMRS videos that you've made. Good videos. I have decided to use GMRS for SHTF purposes. Good timing 'cause I really want to put up a repeater to be a pillar for my community. Funny how you said what I was thinking. You described me really well. I guess I am more typical than what I thought. I have some of the exact same questions that you posed. I just ordered a Wouxun 1000G last week but its currently back ordered. I have already received my 23 amp power supply. As soon as I have more money available I will order me a second radio. I am also figuring this out as I go along. I will be looking forward to your next few videos as you put this thing together.

Very interested in this topic. It was one of the main reasons that my first GMRS mobile/base purchase was the Wouxon (pronounced o-shun?) KG-1000G. Love your radio videos and your communication style.

I am new to GMRS world. This is interesting to me and may at some point put up a repeater. Right now I just have a couple handhelds and I can't seem to get out with them from my home. For sure going to watch this series. Thank you for doing it.

I have been watching your videos, I live in Florida and just getting into GMRS radio mainly for side x side use just wanted to say thank you for sharing.

Great video Randy, can’t wait to follow along.

Nice to hear they're integrating the ID-o-Matic. Interested to see that.

I’m new to repeaters, here in Montana there isn’t to many around. I’m watching this to start a repeater here for the public to use. Any help I can find will help out, so thank you for putting some information out to get started. With kids and adults using GMRS more I think where we live this will help out the community out a lot. Keep up the good work!!

I’m so excited I found your videos. I really looking forward to more gmrs information especially a repeater set up.

I would invest in a better higher gain antenna. But for testing the waters your setup is perfect.

Another great video. IF this works (I know it will) it looks like a very viable option for many local groups/MAGs. Will be following the series of videos. If closer I'd gladly go to up on roof/tower for you. I love looking to see how many fars my LOS goes from up there.

Posts are great! Already have 4 other friends hooked. Content is funny and useful. Doing the same project for same reason. Thank you!!

Looks like a fun project. I'm putting "build your own repeater" on my bucket list.

I wish i could give multiple thumbs up😊 this is something I am VERY interested in and it seems the only videos other folks have are the"slap 2 bao fengs together" variety

I am new to GMRS radio. Been watching your channel. Informative. Cant wait to see part II of this video. Exciting project. Thanks. Randy.

I’m new to GMRS but have learned a lot watching your videos. I’m also going to build a base station. Later on I’m going to build a couple portable simplex repeaters that way we can extend the range in our area. I will be using the ADS-SR1 simplex repeater. I’m not going to power it with a 12volt . That way it can be moved more easily. As conditions are needed . Of course this is for SHTF backup communication

Nice! Excited to hear what you find out about the FCC rules on repeaters!

Good job, good equipment makes a nice quality project, thank you for your time

Good luck on your repeater build project! LCARA Ham Radio

Looking forward to this series. Nice work and very curious about the IDOM

THIS IS AWESOME! There are no repeaters in my area and I was thinking of doing something like this. I also have a high roof I won’t get up on. An antenna in the attic sounds like an interesting alternative.

Nice. Can't wait for the build. I'd like to build one myself.

Excited about you doing this project, Randy. I would offer my knowledge, but I have none, lol. Buy I look forward to all the videos that you will be making for this project. Thanks for all the great videos.

Man I’m so excited you are doing this! I 2 have been waiting for someone to take the KGs & turn them into a repeater. I’ll be watching and hopefully get doing the same if all goes well.

Just came across your channel, and yes, I'm looking to build a repeater, very mountainous in my area, gonna need to build relationships for multiple people to get on board with to he GMRS shtf issues that may come our way.

I have been looking into this as well. I’ll be learning what I can from your experience. Thanks!

Probably past tense here… But this is exactly what I’m trying to do thank you for walking through it and saving me a bunch of grief aggravation and money… Best channel on the Internet hands-down… There are a lot of douche bags in the radio community getting way too technical… I have spent hours sifting through all the jargon until I found you… We are setting up a 30 mile range small security force GMRS Network. This is exactly what I need thank you

YES! This is very interesting to me. Looking forward to this build! I've looked at the GMRS websight and there are no repeaters close to me

Some thoughts: 1. Don't overlook the usefulness of hose clamps, PVC pipe, and conduit for antenna mounting. I have stuff mounted to vent pipes on my roof. 2. Belden 9913 is close to LMR 400 in terms of loss and a bit less expensive. If you have long run, the lower loss cable is a worthwhile investment and tends to take the weather better. I use this for a 100 foot run for my VHF/UHF radio to my rooftop antenna. 3. You already have a power supply so this might be a bit late for you, but here's how I power my radios in my ham shack: A large group 27 auto battery is connected to a float charger plugged into the wall. The two radios connect to the battery (12 volts) using Anderson PowerPoles on a strip, but this can be accomplished several ways, even ring terminals. The point is you are always on battery backup, and that big honkin' $175 battery from the price club will usually far outlast the Jackery, because you are only paying for the battery, not the built-in inverter etc. on the Jackery. Battery is always charging. When the power goes out, your repeater radios never miss a beat. Just a thought. 4. You may have already thought of this but check around to see what channels and tones other nearby repeaters are on, just so you know what to avoid. I would suggest using tones, if for no other reason than to reduce interference, and you never know when a signal will catch a ride on an atmospheric anomaly and travel over from three states away, even for a few minutes.

You said JEEP! I like you already... We are currently getting our Jeep club up and running on GMRS and came across your channel watching radio reviews! Thank you for taking time to do this channel! :) Much Appreciated

Thanks for sharing. Really New to GMRS and your videos are very helpful.

Nice! Looking forward to learning how to do this.

Thinking about doing this as well. Waiting on video #2

I have built a ham-o-can repeater in the last few weeks. it has been a fun project. it can run off of LiPO batteries for a few hours but can accept power from 12-32V and has a 120V AC PSU. the radio is regulated at 13.8V so it always has the the right power to run it.

Like your content, always informative and funny. I'm a ham and stepped up to GMRS. Even paid the 70$ though they are dropping it to 35$...any day now. Hope to be out on the trail this weekend.

Greetings from Reno, Nevada. I am really enjoying your content.

Ya go for it, I've built a amo can repeater with a baofeng and a parrot box, got my solar and battery set up and antenna all figured out and now my next step was going to be what you are doing. I could send you pictures of my set up if you want.

good day sir, i like watching your videos and learn about anything regarding radio. 73

Wow, all good questions as I'm in the same boat. Although a HAM, I'm leaning more to the GMRS for family and friends as mentioned. Thanks for the video and those to follow up on this subject. 73's LOL 😁

looking forward to this series.

Great stuff, really looking forward to the series.

Can’t wait to see how it goes. I still got 2 kg1000gs still in the box.

Randy! You are the man! Love you videos !!!!

Well you got a subscribe out of me. I am a ham operator with a general class license and also have a GMRS license. I have been researching building my own GMRS repeater for a while now. I have a few components and a general idea of how I want to build it but my thought was to make it portable so I could use it at home or on camping trips etc. One thing you definitely want is to put a ctcss or dcs tone on the repeater so that it isn't just keyed up by anyone that happens to be on the particular GMRS frequency that your repeater is using. I look forward to seeing how the build goes

This video was perfect timing. Not to make your head any bigger, but great job as always. I am currently doing the same at my house for family. The ability to use an HT with rubber duck antenna from inside the house (Wife) to my mobile in the field (Me with the Ants and Bugs) All I can suggest to what you are doing, is check the duty cycle of the radios, the lenght and loss of your coax selection, because of the difficulty to change later, and proper grounding of all the antenna componets. National Electric Code for your area might prove to be a chore. Looking forward to more on you progress. Thanks

I'm in Irvine and can hit your repeater. Just earlier today I was listening to a few people have a conversation on it. I'm new to GMRS(recently licensed) and didn't want to interrupt their conversation, but one day if someone asks for any mic checks or asks if theres anyone listening, I'll speak up!

I can't wait for the repeater build. I need one in my area so badly! Sub'd and tuned in.

Sweet I've been hoping you would make a video about building a repeater and what do I find today.

Thanks again, for the great video, very informative and helpful!

New to all this. Great info. Keep up the great job by sharing. Thanks

I’m definitely interested in learning how to build a repeater. Been considering this for awhile now

Indeed... Please do! We're with you.

Was not a subscriber to your channel until last week- but have seen your channel a bit over the years... I also am a Jeeper - and spotted your rig in a parking lot once - at a grocery store outside Fresno like 3 years ago... I imagine you were doing the same thing I was - stocking up last minute stuff for a trip. Or getting something cold after one.

The repeater doesn't need to ID itself as long as the users are identifying themselves by callsigns. Most hams put IDs on their repeaters to discourage use of that freq for simplex users.

Very cool! I’m thinking of building one too.

I would like to have a portable system. I’ll be following you on the journey. Thanks for doing this.

This is GREAT! I have been thinking about this for some time.

I love this video! I would love to do this exact project, but don't have that kind of cash at the moment. Awesome info, though. I live in Phoenix, but my in-laws live in Rancho, so we travel out that way now and again. Hopefully I will have renewed my GMRS license by the next time I'm out that way. Would love to check out the action on that repeater. Great job, Randy.

Please keep it moving forward I would like to build one my self

I just joined your radio "youtube" club for 1.99 /month.........I work very hard for that 2$ every month, so please keep up your sarcasm......lol. love it!!! Since I had no idea that I was subscribed to amazon music for 3.99 a month and just cancelled it, I figured I'd give a portion to you..

Definitely looking to build a repeater

I’m interested in learning more thank you for the video

Great project, and you're learning more about radio than a large number of hams. I come from a land-mobile radio background (40+ years tinkering with radios, including public safety and ham) but it's been 25+ years since I last worked on a repeater. Long comment ahead: Coax *absolutely* matters in a repeater. LMR-400 is the minimum I would use for this purpose, especially if the run from the antenna to the duplexer is 50 feet or more. You're dealing with heavy feedline losses at UHF frequencies with the wrong kinds of cable. Let's say you put your repeater in the basement and the antenna on the chimney of the house, and run the coax neatly. You might use 100' of cable. With RG-8X you would experience 8.6dB of signal loss (3dB = half the signal strength, so over 3/4 of the incoming weak signals would be lost in the coax. At CB frequencies or HF ham it's negligible, but at VHF (2m Ham, MURS, marine, railroad, etc) it's bad. At UHF (ham, land-mobile, or GMRS) it's crazy-bad. If you had 9dB of loss (I'm rounding up here), your 50 Watts of power from the transmitter would only be 6.25 Watts at the antenna feed point. And going the other way, if someone were to have a so-so signal into the repeater with LMR-400 feedline they wouldn't even be able to key it up with shitty coax. Spend the bucks on LMR-400. With the cost of everything involved, the *average* person who is not getting the gear at little/no cost from sponsorships and is looking to do this project could probably find a surplus/used UHF repeater pre-built on eBay or at a hamfest for a fraction of the $1500 cost you mentioned. Businesses and local/state governments are abandoning conventional UHF frequencies in droves, so there are a lot of them out there. I've seen GE and Motorola UHF solid state repeaters for a couple of hundred dollars, including the controller and duplexer. The only problem would be getting the duplexer tuned to GMRS and finding someone to reprogram the frequencies in the RF deck and the CW ID in the controller. If you and your family are the only ones using your repeater you do not need the machine to identify, assuming it's under the same callsign as your family. If anybody else uses it then it does. www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/47/95.1751. My personal preference is a very fast CW ID at low deviation. It's there to be legal and is not obnoxious. So 35 WPM CW and 2.5 kHz deviation on a traditional wideband repeater works nicely. Then again, I think roger beeps were invented by the devil, so your mileage may vary. You should put a tone on the output regardless if you're opening it up to everybody or not. The people using your repeater on mobiles and portables may be in areas of high interference (intermod from other services). Having a CTCSS or DCS tone is for their benefit so they don't hear that crap when monitoring the repeater. A tone on the input is optional, but a good idea--in my personal opinion. My recommendation is to use one between 100 Hz and 203.5. Avoid the ones above it and below it because they may not decode properly either in the Wouxons or the other users' radios whose bandpass filters may be wonky. I kinda like 141.3 and 156.7 but that's just me. Anything above that you can hear clearly through the speaker and it's annoying as hell. FDNY used to use 186.2 and gawd was it annoying. Finding a frequency is interesting in the GMRS service. Unlike the ham bands and commercial applications, there is no requirement to coordinate your repeater with a governing body. In ham it's not a requirement, but if you don't go through a coordinating body and you cause interference to someone who has then the FCC can shut you down. GMRS is still more "wild west." Find an open frequency and have at it. What I would recommend would be put up your station and just monitor what you believe to be an unused pair for a couple of weeks. Maybe put in a voice- or carrier-activated digital recorder and see if there's any activity on your proposed pair, and if so, how much. If it's clear or almost clear, and you can't hear other repeaters (remember, no tone when you're doing this monitoring) then program the radios and let'er rip.

Great video as usual! Yes I’m interested in putting together a repeater. I wish I had something to offer in the way of knowledge but I do not.

I have been planning on doing the same thing, however. I have a been waiting over a month for my two KG-100g from buy two way radios. I have everything set up and just waiting on them radios now.

interested in setting up a GMRS repeater system. We have a net every Thursday night here. Would like to extend the range. Enjoy your videos, very educational.

Make it faster -- I'm interested! Probably also a radio addict! Thanks for sharing your experience! Enjoy all of your presentations!

Anxiously waiting for part 2

Thanks for all the great information. I got my HAM license in 2018 with intentions to legally learn and participate in better comms for emergency preparedness and similar stuff. You couldn’t be more right about most Hams. Don’t get me wrong I’ve met some amazing mentors at my local club but most hams around the country like to talk to you like you’re stupid while on the air especially. Keep the good stuff coming.

I need to go to sleep but these videos are how addictive I assume crack would be.

Use RG-214 double shielded coax cable for your repeater and use N connectors over using PL-259 connectors if possible. Built many repeater systems from the ground up. Use your GMRS license as the identifier. KK7T. I would highly recommend that you ground your system to a ground rod and use a Alpha Delta Model ATT3G50U lightning Protector. Had one repeater hit two times in two weeks. Get's expensive.

Yes definitely interested. Thanks

Cant wait to see how this works out.

Great content. Here to watch and learn

Love all your Mickey T's.

Awesome channel!

Wouxun KG-1000G x2= $739.98 Tram 1486 UHF Fiberglass Base Antenna $98.99 TYT DWC30WIN 30A Switching Power Supply $109.99 XLT Communications GMRS Mobile Duplexer (50 Watt) $169.99 Jackery Solar Generator 1000 $1649.00 For a total of $2,767.95 before taxes and shipping..... thought you said low cost in the title?

I like your video's very informative....