Info | MERS Radio

ATTENTION: PLEASE READ THIS ENTIRE WEBSITE FIRST AND WHEN YOU GET TO THE BOTTOM, PLEASE CLICK ON THE YELLOW BOUNCING BUTTON TO FILL OUT THE FORM:

As some may already know, this network is a 100% Motorola TRBO Capacity Plus Multi-Site, trunked, linked radio system. This system will utilize any Motorola TRBO Capacity Plus radio. No other brand radios will work. If it supports Capacity Plus Multi-Site, it will work. The frequency is within the 450 - 470Mhz range so the radio that you will need to communicate on this system can also 100% be used on GMRS and analog HAM repeaters as well.

You can go to https://www.mersradio.com/coverage and find coverage maps of all our repeaters.

*PLEASE NOTE* - THE NAPERVILLE MACHINE IS NOW ONLINE AS OF 4/3/2025.

We are ready to take payment and get you on the new 100% digital and encrypted system.

Here is a brief list of radios that will work with the new network:

HT’s:

XPR6500

XPR6550

XPR3300

XPR3300e

XPR3500

XPR3500e

XPR7550

XPR7550e

SL3500e

Mobiles:

XPR4350

XPR4550

XPR5350

XPR5550

XPR5550e

The system is quite multifaceted as well. The base system will have essentially 2 channels: A system-wide-linked channel and a local-to-that-repeater only channel. The system-wide-linked channel will span across ALL the repeaters and will automatically roam when travelling. If you are not within coverage, you will also know as your radio will say "Out of Range" just like a cell phone would (No Service). Look at this as "the linked system" we had on GMRS minus having to change the channel depending on where you’re located based on your travels. For example: When travelling from Warrensburg, IL up north, as you leave the coverage area of Warrensburg and enter the coverage area of the Crete repeater, it will automatically hand off and you'd then be talking system-wide-linked into the Crete repeater without having to touch a thing. It just works. Another thing you will get with this new system at no extra charge is 1-to-1 private calling with seamless handoff. Say you and a buddy/family member are both on the new system and you want to talk to just him back and forth with no one else able to hear your conversation, you can do that too regardless of which repeater you are talking on and it will automatically “find” the other radio and you’ll be talking to them.

Standard service costs are below:

The service cost is $200 per radio ID per year for the first radio and $150 per radio ID per year for additional radios.
We will keep track of the billing on this and send bills out via email to be paid every 12 months.
Additionally, let’s say you are the only one that will be using the system and you have 3 radios (1 mobile, 1 HT and 1 base), you would still only have to pay the $200 fee, not $500 for 3 radios. Know that these 3 radios will *NOT* be able to talk to each other though. The additional $150/Radio ID/Year fee comes when adding radios for family members to use to talk to each other adding additional people into the system.
**PLEASE NOTE** If you have your radio programmed by one of our shops, we will get you on the network at no extra programming cost. However, if you cancel service within the first 12 months, there will be a $50 fee per radio charged for programming time.
We have also recognized that many don’t want to pay yearly and would prefer to pay monthly. As such we are also going to be accommodating these requests.
- For the first radio it will be $25/month
- Additional radios will be $15/month.
- We don’t mind either way as our billing system will automatically charge your card yearly or monthly depending on how you want to pay.

Additional service costs are below:

We have the capability to give anyone who so desires their own private channel either on one local repeater or system-wide. There will be additional charge for this and it will be billed on a case-by-case basis.
- For example, one local group of guys in the Chicago area wanted their own private channel for 5 radios on just the Naperville tower site and we only charged them $200 extra for the entire year (Or $25/month) for all 5 of those guys – so figure $40/guy/year extra - $3.33/month/person for your own private channel! Not bad right?
We also have a Zello channel which we can also accommodate anyone onto our network as follows:
- $50/year/ID – If you already have at least 1 line of radio service on the existing MERS digital encrypted network.
  - Or $5/month/ID for monthly billing.
- $25/year/ID – If you already have at least 2 or more lines of radio service on the existing MERS digital encrypted network.
  - Or $3/month/ID for monthly billing.
- $200/year/ID if you do not have any lines of radio service or will never be within coverage of our current network from the repeaters currently installed.
  - Or $25/month/ID for monthly billing.

What's the next step?

Assuming you have a radio ready to go onto the network, you will receive an invoice to pay for everything from us. Once paid, depending on your location, you can either drop your radio off for programming in Oswego, IL or Greencastle, IN for programming. If you can program it yourself and you have the cable and software ready to go, we can use Team Viewer to program the radio(s) remotely as well.
If you don’t have any compatible radios, you can purchase them from us starting at $150 for a grade B Radio or $225 for a Grade A radio and it goes up from there depending on the model you may want. Radio pricing and availability depends on market conditions.

If you have any questions, You can reach us below during normal business hours (M-F 9AM-5PM):

Rob at 331-320-MOTO extension 1000

Buddy at 331-320-MOTO extension 5421.

After reading all of this, if you want to join our new system, please click on the link below to fill out the form. For the radios, you *DO NOT* need to list any radios that are not on the list above as they will not work with this system anyways. Failure to fill this form out will result in a delay in getting you on the new system. If you’ve already filled this form out, you will *NOT* need to fill it out again. We are in the process of getting through the constant back-log and it will take a week or two for us to get back to you.

Here is the link to the sign-up form:

Thanks,

Midwest Emergency Radio Services (MERS).

MERS Sign up Form