I am a ham who is contemplating building a
business-band repeater. I have a few questions that maybe you guys can
answer and save me hours of reading and searching.
I want to do this so that my family can stay in
touch. The business license would be in the name of the family farm.
I know that not everyone in my family is
interested in radio enough to become a ham, but would definitely own a radio
if they could communicate reliably. Cell phones are horrible.
I do not want to use GMRS frequencies for three
reasons: I am not impressed with the policing of the GMRS frequencies.
Anyone can get a GMRS radio, and the line between GMRS and FRS and CB seems
to be very blurry. I don't want my mom to be the one listening when someone
starts being rude on our frequency. Reason two is that I want to be able to
hook up a phone patch. This is strictly forbidden in GMRS. Reason three is
the "type acceptance" rule that prohibits several quality radios from being
used in GMRS.
My questions:
What kind of cost am I looking at for a
repeater pair license?
Does each user need a separate license? cost
per user?
Can I do the research and find a frequency pair
myself, or do I have to go through a coordinator? (if so, what does that
cost?)
(We live in a rural area, Thomasville, GA.
Finding a pair should not be hard. I am hoping for a pair in the 460 band,
as I have a very nice mastr II for that band.)
I have been monitoring a specific frequency,
and did research through the FCC website on it for users in my
area.
What else should I do to get
started?
John Clark -
KI4AWK
