Overview

Saying hello. I am very new to radios. I have gotten a few Baofeng UV-5G plus as well as a couple UV-5R units. I will start working on my ham license after the holidays. I look forward to talking to and learning this new hobby. I got into it just to be able to use communications in the event of a SHTF situation. I would not consider myself a prepper. I do like to be prepared though. Anyway hello and here is a picture of one of my radios.

sorry been out of town for most of the month. I just got a new radio lets set a date and try.

Hey dogfarts arent you located up here off the loop? Im out here now if you want to do some radio checks I will be on channel 16.

Is this complete yet, I just got 4 new radios I want to try out

Howdy all, new to GMRS, planning on adding a mobile/base that doubles as a repeater. Going up near urgent care/Wasilla high, sometimes this August. :)

There is a repeater that is operational on 462.700 that does not have an ID transmission. I have tried calling on this repeater many times in the past 3 years. I never get a response. It also seems to have a very good coverage in all of the Anchorage Bowl. It may even reach into the Wasilla area. Someone must be maintaining it! There is listing for a repeater, on the same frequency, but the owner's comments say it is off the air. Also, the access tone is different from the mystery repeater. I will not mention it because it's not ethical to divulge it without the owner's permission. I found the tone by chance. It would be nice to know who the owner is and if it's available for general use. So, anybody have any knowledge of this repeater?

Hello, I've had my license for a few years without doing much, but I finally have the time and effort to try and dive into this. I put an MXT275 in my truck for now that I'm scanning on. Testing on Papagayo 3 results in the end of transmission static that the interwebs tell me means its working, and I can hear myself on the handhelds I Chirp programed, but negative contact with another person. I'll be getting a better antenna soon, which hopefully will help. If someone's willing to holler back, I'll provide coffee or beverage of choice!

We do, sorry been out of pocket a bit with surgery and yard projects/life. I will do a valley radio test friday and drive around and test with my KG-935G and see what pops up . I'm off Fairview loop so i'll try there first

Hello Everyone! I am very new to GMRS and am excited to dive in head first to this new hobby. I am a school teacher and at my school, I have the opportunity to teach GMRS and HAM radio operation so I am getting my practice in now! any tips and tricks would be helpful or some people to chat with so I can work on etiquette would be helpful!

After some delays and problems deploying Repeater #2 (Papagayo 2), the new unit is stable and operating well. I have 3rd repeater in hand and just scouting now for an optimal location to put it up. Repeater #3 (Papagayo 1) is on Channel 26 (aka 467.625). I have everything to complete the install except location, so as soon as I can get that, we will have three in the valley (plus the one in Willow). Things are looking up. We still need to have some sort of get-together. I have been hanging out with the GERRN group up till now, and it is past time to make additional contacts.

2nd repeater is up. Operating on 462.650 near Valley Hospital off Trunk Road. Coverage favors SW to ENE, but there is usable coverage in many points to the west and north. Unfortunately the crest at Lowes in Wasilla around to Bogard and along the northwest side of KGB does shadow the repeater some. The next repeater ought to cover that easy enough, but for now it is a little spotty.

Monday Im taking my hand set with me to downtown. Around 5 pm I'll be trying it all the way to ER to see if anyone else is on

Thanks for the reply. I look forward to chatting with you.

Awesome!!! Thanks for putting up a new repeater in the area, it is much appreciated. Next time I'm in Anchorage I will drop by and say hello over the repeater.

Just got a new Retevis RT97 up and running in East Anchorage. Location is near Boniface and Reflection Dr. Using 3 element Yagi pointed south from my Condo balcony. Transmissions to the west are mostly blocked. Hopefully, this will work most of East Anchorage and possibly toward Eagle River if mobile or base is used. Best reception should be good on the Hill Side. Will need testing to see what the actual coverage is? The initial tone setting is 141.3 for input/output. At some point I plan to change to a DCS Tone. Please be mindful of other users of the frequency. All GMRS frequencies are used on a shared basis. No one owns any particular frequency. So, before you transmit to access the repeater determine the frequency is not already in use. If you use Tone Squelch you may not hear other uses of the frequency. In order to determine if the frequency is clear you will need to open your squelch in some way. Use your Monitor feature if your radio has it or use another channel on your radio that has carrier squelch. If possible, just set your repeater channel to use carrier squelch instead of tone squelch. Also, remember you are required by FCC regulations to use your FCC issued GMRS call sign when you are finished with a conversation. There's no need to repeat your call sign after every transmission. If you are in a long conversation, you must repeat your call sign every 15 minutes. However, let's not tie up a repeater for that length of time. Others may be waiting to use the repeater. Try using a simplex channel, if you are close enough to the other station, to continue a conversation. If you have an urgent need or emergency you may break into a conversation by saying "break, break, break". Others on the channel should yield to you. If you would like to join a conversation just you drop you call sign during a break in the ongoing conversation. Let's keep all conversations family friendly. And above all be courteous. One last thing. If you are running a business don't use this repeater (to run your business). There are licensed frequencies available specifically for businesses. You can obtain a frequency that is not shared by others. There are other license free frequencies available on a shared basis in the MURS or Multi-Use Radio Service. These fall under Part 95 rules but are not likely to be used by the general public. If you are not familiar with the rules governing the GMRS please refer to FCC Part 95 subpart A. CFR-2009-title47-vol5-part95.pdf (govinfo.gov)

Generally, we'd want to stick to the "GMRS" frequencies from channel 15 to 22, since all GMRS radios can transmit on those channels regardless of power level. In Eagle River and the Valley, channel 16 probably gets the most use between the repeater here and the Golden Eagle folks in the Valley. Channel 20 gets more activity on weekends, particularly amongst offroaders out on the Moose Range trail system in Palmer.

Thanks for joining! If you do end up getting a mobile rig, feel free to give me a shout sometime when you pass through Eagle River. I'm usually monitoring the Eagle River 575 repeater and channel 20.

Glad to have you here. I am new to this as well, but there are some very knowledgeable people on here and that live in Alaska. I live out in Meadow Lakes so not too far from you. If you have any questions please feel free to ask!

Hello everyone. I just joined and by the looks of it, I’m not the only one new to GMRS. My name is Keith and I live in North Wasilla, specifically off of Vine road. I was born in Anchorage and raised out here in the valley. I haven’t purchased my first radio yet but will shortly. I work in the I.T. field as a system administrator and do commute to Anchorage. Looking forward to getting into this exciting new hobby.

Yeah, I would still like to, but it seems like everyone here is too busy at this time. Maybe in the summer might be better, but I am up for meeting in Eagle River.

Really? I did not know that. I will look into it. If you find out anything more please let us know.