GMRS 2 Year Anniversary

It's hard to believe our GMRS repeater is about to turn 2!

It all started 5 years ago with an idea of neighbors being able to talk to each other during a blizzard, fire, flood, or other incident where power or phones would be out. While there are a few Ham Radio operators in the area, we recognize not everyone wants to take a test to use a radio. GMRS was the answer: just pay $35 for your 10-year license that covers your whole household and get a radio, which range in price from $20 to $150.

In July of 2024, Ham Radio operators in our neighborhood, led by Eric Richards, set up a GMRS repeater to help extend the range of the GMRS throughout our mountain neighborhood and found that there is also great coverage out toward Fort Collins, Greeley, Evans, and south toward Johnstown.

We have over 60 neighbors and friends of the community who are using the repeater, and it has been an amazing tool to communicate during the Alexander Fire, Stone Mountain Fire, recent Sedona Hills fire, evacuation exercise, and to help support neighbors who were in need.

Neighbors Pete & Angie Robbins were featured in the Reporter Herald where the GMRS repeater was used during the evacuation exercise. Click Here to read that article.

The PLWAG committee recently participated in a multi-community event where the GMRS repeater became one of the topics everyone wanted to know more about. So our neighborhood is becoming the poster community on how to communicate during emergencies.

The GMRS repeater is located atop Green Mountain and hosted by Collins Communications company. Our equipment is safely housed in a shed and it has propane backup in the event of a power failure that can last up to 7 days.

There is a $600 annual cost for this, so we are reaching out to neighbors for donations. We are thankful to already have a $250 donation from a neighbor, meaning we just need to cover the remaining $350. This is strictly voluntary and we thank you in advance for your contribution. You can send donations via the Venmo link below or send an email to communications@plwag.org if you would prefer to discuss alternative methods.

Remember, every Thursday night at 7 PM, we host a community net on our GMRS repeater, this is where you can check in, test your radio, get community updates, or answer trivia! Thank you again and we hope to hear you on the radio!