All Activity

Will the GMRUS start requiring people to take and pass a written test to get a license?

Hi Pedro, I am glad to see that you have registered. I also replied to your guest post. Feel free to ask questions!

Hello Everyone... Got my license, got the Baofeng GMRS-15Pro radio, got the Chirp software and programming cable, haven't programmed radio yet. Located in Toa Alta, Puerto Rico; looking for advice on how to begin my GMRS adventure.

Welcome Pedro! It sounds like you’ve got a good start! Feel free to jump right in. If you have questions feel free to ask!

So now I have to say I have two friends who have that issue.

I have the 779 and occasionally the squelch will stay open from another radios transmission. Same fix of hitting the PTT button will clear it.

Hello Everyone... Got my license, got my Baofeng GMRS-15 PRO radio, got my programming cable, got the chirp software, haven't programmed my radio yet. Located at Toa Alta, Puerto Rico, just looking for orientation in GMRS community. WSJS334 "Monitoring".

I believe most if not all clubs on this forum center around having access to a repeater or repeaters within a local area. Perhaps some are just for community of a given area. The point is they offer something that these members would not otherwise have unique to where they are. Your club however differs in that you seem to be suggesting charging for what is already here for free on the very site that already offers it. The old saying regarding business or product “find a need and fill it” comes to mind. Here I don’t see the need. Sure, that’s just my opinion. Perhaps I am missing something and happy to admit if I’m wrong. As a new license holder asking for money for something that exists for free I think you can understand the question of what it is and what’s the motive. As mentioned above you don’t need to justify to me or anyone else (other than perhaps those that give money) and it goes without saying you are free to do as you like. You may have great motives and intentions. That said when asking for money then questions are valid even if the way they get asked sometimes is not.

The only problem I've had with my 779 so far is that it locked up once several months ago. Once I disconnected the power and reconnected it, it was just fine. Hasn't happened since. I've been using this radio for about 2 years if I remember correctly.

Exactly!

@SeaScholar I doubt I will ever join your club but I'm not threatened by it either. Start your club, call it what you want, run it how you want. It's still a free country and you don't have to justify your club to anyone.

I have two DB-20g radios and the transmitted audio on one radio occasionally becomes low. A simple unplugging and replacing the RJ45 returns the audio to normal. I also have a friend who liked my db20g radios and bought one for himself. His remains unsquelched sometimes after he unkeys. He has to hit the PTT again to get the radio to return to squelch.

I don't care if you compete; others here will. I just mentioned it to indicate recognition of the change. The attitude is your perception. was a suggestion 73 to you as well

I've had a AT-779UV in my car for over 3 years now with no blinking light or mic issues. I know of one person's radio that developed an intermittent PTT button after a couple of years, but a squirt of contact cleaner fixed the issue. I agree with the other post that most likely the RJ-45 connection is loose or dirty. I would suggest that those with mic problems try cleaning the PTT switch and RJ-45 jack with some contact cleaner.

There was a lot to unpack there, but i'm just going to be simple about it and say that there were internal discussions made about the group that were taking place. Anyone that has created any group will always want to start off with something they feel is epic and scale it down. There has been many changes and amendments. For the club, the language was a quick fill and has since been changed to address what the club is about. Many of the thoughts, concerns, or suggestions you had most likely were addressed in our internal discussions. But thank you for the inputs.

My god man, is there anything that can be done that is not an affront to you? Thank you for your permission as to what I may call my group/club.

73 SeaScholar, it seems you are now changing the format or definition to something that seems to be directly competing with this site. Of course that is allowed, but it's a different can of worms. If you call your group something like SE Minnesota GMRS Club then we can let it rest as you wish. (But on this site everyone likes to get the last word, especially the attackers. So be prepared for it go on for pages more.)

See? This is what I mean. There is no need to act like your antenna is larger then everyone else's. Looking past the obvious bait, I will state that even with a forum like this, one must have thicker skin. If you value the opinion of complete strangers that you will never met, then by remaining on the forums you are in truth doing it for yourself and will garner no sympathy from me. Please state where this is going on, give club details. What is deemed as short distance to you, in miles. Also how do you negate propagation? Your radio has a on/off setting. Turn off the radio. There, see how fast that goes away? If you are not making up rules, then why are you concerned about the rules?

Great question, but are you saying this is THE ONLY place we can do that? ie, gatekeeping? EDIT: No other club is required to only be on here. I only put ours on here in case there were people who wanted to go to other places. Like Discord, where we have other tools to 'hangout and chat' when not on radios somewhere.

Isn't that what this website/forum is for?

It seems that some of my posts didn't quite clear the air, and some folks are still spinning GMRUS into a big, complicated deal. My apologies if the language was too formal. Let me try again and be as simple as possible. We're just a club. That’s it. A place for people who like GMRS to hang out and chat. myGMRS is a great place for people to chat, too. This is just another place, with different tools, if people want to join. Nobody is forcing anyone. The only reason the word "national" is even involved is because our clubhouse is online, so anyone can join the conversation, even if you live on the other side of the country. GMRS is a local thing, we all get that. But the people who use it are everywhere. The whole point of this is to have a place to connect with others outside of your immediate radio range. It's a way to swap ideas, ask questions, and see what other GMRS users are up to. There is no big agenda here. There never was any intentions to be the GMRS police, we're not lobbying anyone, and we are definitely not trying to be in charge of anything. It’s just a group of people who share a common interest. And thank you for the constructive criticisms, even if some of them are far off base. So, let's put this to rest. It's simple: you don't have to join, and it won't affect your life or your radio use in any way if you don't. Please, stop trying to turn this simple club into something it's not.

I don't know what you're referring to. I started this thread. And I only comment on the topics that interest me. I respond to hostility with the same. (You don't see all the crap that I ignore.) Based on how things have gone on this forum, I will never go back to being meek and mild, sugar and spice. It's either fight back or be scared off. I'm a dyed in the wool Confederate - we don't run from a fight. But none of this is relevant anyway. Yes, if the nets were local, and limited to mobile and handheld only as the regs require, then I would agree. What is happening around here is repeaters have been put up on the same mountains where ham repeaters are, with similar wide coverage areas. And people are checking in from base stations 50-100 miles away and bragging about it. GMRS is intended for local, short range comms. per FCC. Maximizing distance, check-in nets that accomplish nothing, long rag chews about meaningless crap - I think you can fill in the blanks. I'm on my own; I'm not making up any rules. I can damn sure speak out on what concerns me, and yes that includes breaking rules that the agency in charge made - like it or not.

I have it always on a tab. I use it frequently. Even if the person I’m looking up isn’t in both services it’s a quick lookup like QRZ.

I've got that site bookmarked, didn't even think about using it for some reason. Thanks for the reminder!

Good job. FYI, there’s an easier way. This app does that for you. Enter a call sign for either service and it will tell you: https://gmrs.app/