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1. What do you mean it 'shows' that it's a repeater? 2. Municipalities have on occasion stepped on GMRS channels. I think we've had a couple stories of fire departments on here in the last couple years. But without, just, SO much more info, I'm not sure we can diagnose it for you. Is Channel 4 a GMRS repeater channel? No. Is there much (other than the FCC rules...) stopping someone from setting up a repeater and using it on Channel 4? Also no.

Thanks for the reply Leo. Much appreciated!

** IF ** we wanted to use a park pavilion, it looks like HoCo parks do offer pavilion reservations: https://www.howardcountymd.gov/recreation-parks/rentals The smallest one (Waterloo Park) is for 25 people and is $145 to rent/reserve. Centennial Park is pretty decent and only a few dollars more ($165) for a pavilion there. I've fished Centennial Lake quite a bit and it's not far off I-95 x MD-100 or I-70 for those that might come that way. For inside venues, our ham radio club has about one "club breakfast" a month at the local (Arundel Mills) Golden Corral buffet. They don't do anything special for us, but do let us grab a couple tables in back for our group (15-20 people). Food is regular price and no one ever gets very sick. I'm sure there are other spots like this around. As mentioned by WRJY601, we could reserve a table in a restaurant. I'm not that familiar with what's in HoCo, but I'm sure there are plenty spots around with a "banquet room" or similar that we could reserve. I guess it's really going to depend on how many attend, right now we could all hit a drive-thru in my truck... If we're going to do this outside, it's probably best to wait until September for the temperatures to get reasonable again. If inside, any time. I have business deadlines that come and go, but should be available if we don't have a compressed bid in progress. Thoughts?

Yes. Transmit into the repeater on 467 and you will get a response on 462

Or was I right all along. I had it working, now it doesn't work, not sure anymore. RX=462, TX=467, is that right?

Thanks folks

How do I download repeater lists for different states? I will be traveling soon and want to have the list in the car mostly for the tones.

Will be 4 next month. Says he's ready

So what was the verdict? Did you have any hassle taking your radios to Iceland?

Noted Sir and welcome! I'm reaching into building antennas....

Well, after double checking and making everything right I still can't get a response to any of the 3 Repeaters in the area. I can normally hit Shaw Butte easily even from my Man Cave at the back of the house but none of my radios get a response. Now I am starting to wonder if they're down for some reason.

Sorry for all the questions, this is my second question on the gest forum. I have a 20 watt GMRS radio set up at my home I use mostly for scanning the surrounding area. I'm not someone who talks a lot, I like to listen and build antennas for something to do in retirement. This is my question: GMRS channels 1 through 7 are five watts. Channels 8 through 14 are 0.5 watts, and 15 through 22 are 50 watts max output. Channels 15 through 22 are repeater channels. I keep receiving transmissions on channel 4 that show it's a repeater somewhere in my area. The signal is week, 2 bars on the tower reception, I'm thinking it's a ways away. Am I missing something here? Is channel 4 a repeater channel? Is there a unregistered repeater I'm receiving? Is there a city,town, municipality using GMRS? Sometimes it sounds like some type of government organization using the repeater on channel 4. Thanks, red neck yooper

I've had mine up and running since early September '24. I had one of the originals and I had to do an update to make the DCS tones work. A second update to make the microphone active along with some menu changes. They sent me a new duplexer because the batch that was installed in the earlier versions didn't work well. I found out they were tuned wrong by sending it to Marc and he said it was centered on 800 instead of 635, not even within the bandwidth. Since the duplexer change over I've had it up and running without much hassle. I am able to get 50 watts out of the socket easily. I have to keep the power supply voltage at 12.2 volts otherwise it'll push out more. I swapped my wideband duplexer to a single channel tuned duplexer and really haven't noticed much of a difference in reception sensitivity so the wideband tuned duplexer works pretty well.

For the members of my family we use unit numbers we are on the air together. Unit 1 unit 2...

Ok, I feel dumb, I was TX on 462 and RX on 467. I need to swap those around. I should know better.

You can also have them add a code name to the call sign to keep track of folks. My son Adam could use "Alpha" or you could just use a number so I'd be "WSAA635/1" and he could be "WSAA635/2", etc.

To be fully compliant, yes and yes. Most people don’t.

Hello, Brand new to the GMRS community. Purchased a set of radios for out door use with my adult family members. Since family members are using the radios under my license I am assuming each family member using the radio must use my call sign, is that correct? What if we are talking to each other, do we both need to sign on/off with the call sign or just one of us? Thanks for your help, CO

I only have my GMRS license but I am a "Radio Dork" for sure.

Not to totally change the subject but I can here the local Poportillo's Drive Thru radio that's about 1.5 miles away. It's crazy listening to the orders and what food costs there.

Normally I can hit the Shaw Butte repeater on North Mountain but for the last 2 days I get nothing, not even the static from the repeater opening. Does anyone know if they're still up or are they down for repair or something else? Thanks.

All 22 non-repeater channels are shared GMRS / FRS. "Need" is a strong word. Like @OffRoaderX said, no one knows you're not using FRS radios, which don't require call signs. Especially when you're out in the woods in a hollow where no one else is going to be listening in. Basically no one I'm out and about with 'doing stuff' (and using radios for comms) with is a 'radio person' and we basically use them like FRS radios.

I did end up getting the BF-F8HP and my first impressions are WOW!, this is THE radio I've been looking for. It just works,no craziness, you just program it(with your software, thank you for that) and it does what you ask of it. I'll have to pick another one up with the coupon code when funds allow. Another HUGE plus for me is that batteries are the same as my 5 AR/UV 5RM radios so I can stock up on them and use them in both radios. Anyway, thanks for the reply, I can't wait yo do a review on this radio for my YouTube channel.