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You’re welcome. Doing things as you can afford is smart. It’s way too easy to start buying radio stuff that you only need once. It’s possible to do a manual sweep using your SW-102 by incrementing the VFO frequency a couple kilohertz at a time across the entire range and writing down the SWR for each frequency. Put the two values (frequency and SWR) in a spreadsheet or put the values on graph paper with frequency as the X (horizontal) axis and SWR as the Y (vertical) axis. You’ll end up with something like these. Sorry for the rotation of the paper one. Neither of these are for GMRS but all the same principles apply.

Thanks for the text file MarkinTampa. I’m surprised it’s from a 6.30 version (mine is a 4.21 version) cause it reads like a dos file, but I’m not complaining…..I knew it would be difficult to reference. Thanks again. And Lscott, thanks for the reference but I’ve tried that, and the x64, and the x86 versions and none of them will download, they just spin in a loop. Not sure what to do next but use the text files.

More and more, every day!

It doesn't remove them from channel memory; it suppresses them while you hold the button down. Squelch and tones are different ways of suppressing audio, but they do interact through that magic monitor button. Ain't radio fun!

Okay. With 5 MHz between the 462 MHz channels the the 467 MHz channels there’s usually some swings high or low that will appear on an analyzer in the off channel frequencies (463-466) or higher and lower than the GMRS channels. There should be a dip somewhere along the spectrum. Also, instead of the ground plane devices you asked about, a lot of people simply attach the antenna mount to a big cookie sheet. You could try that. It’s especially easy to try if you have a magnetic mount and a steel cookie sheet or pie plate.

No I don't have one just my Surecom SW-102. I'm trying to afford things as I can right now. Thanks for the help. I'm to the point I could use some physical help but, I don't know anyone nearby who has time for it or wants to travel this far, even if I pay them.

Yeah I checked the entire band it's only a few decimal points between channel 1 and 32.

You know, for someone who is "too good to help people [and] just want[s] to complain about them not knowing anything but, don't [sic] want to help, just start crap," you're remarkably helpful. I was only familiar with the latter part of the definition, the "carrier squeltch" side of it. Today, I have learned a thing.

Gotcha. So the same with CB. You know, all you radio dorks are about to have another member in the fold. I've been talking on CBs for almost 30 years and I never gave it a single thought. They were just channel numbers, not frequencies. Then awhile back I got the President CB in my Jeep and started noticing mHz numbers below the channel numbers. That got me thinking and then I started digging into HAM and GMRS and slowly began realizing why 4 watts was the limit on CB band because HAM techs were in that band on HF and talking across the country. So essentially the Kilowatt Klub on CB is bypassing the FCC in the same way the Pistol Brace Bois are bypassing the ATF and NFA. And then I realized that I really don't have enough contempt for federal regulation. But I digress...

Matching tones (CTCSS or PL) or codes (DCS or DPL) are both ways of squelching the audio. The other way is commonly referred to as “carrier squelch” where the radio requires the signal to surpass some level before unsquelching (desquelching? I’m not sure what the verb is). Pushing the “Mon” (short for “monitor”) opens all forms of squelch so you can hear anything that is on the frequency.

I would have liked this post but apparently "I can not give any more reactions today." As to your advice. I plan to. Reference my avatar.

This not trivial: The SWR should be checked in the middle of the band or sweep 462.0-480.0; it's just wide enough to see the peripheral readings. When trimming the antenna, and it no longer goes down, start trying different length rods. If you have aluminum tape, you can make a round ground plane, ~10" from the center, cut a hole and slide it in position then, using a compass or similar device, shave down until the SWR stops dropping and starts going up. That is the diameter you need; cut rods accordingly. The physics is different for a solid plane opposed to a waveform-rod plane but it is a cheap way to test. Cut a circle out of cardboard, cut a center hole that will collar tightly and then tape it with the aluminum. Gaps look sloppy but the wavelength is too large for them to matter (e.g. rods). When you tape over the center hole, cut a cross and fold over. This makes the electrical contact. Just snug is enough but tilting won't work. You have asked about metals. Don't worry about that. Mixing metals can cause corrosion (chemistry, not 'antenna' specific) over time but will not affect your tuning. Antennas form photons in at the quantum level, they don't 'glow' like most things that make 'light'. It forms a near field and that pops off photons. At our level, different metals are just accounted for with trimming/tuning. If you can die the rods with threads, you may feel 'safer' but drooping rods is actually a contested discussion; I'm surprised someone has not posted a troll about drooping being desired. About the 'plane' not caring about the metal If you make rods that work, thread and are weather resistant, you can keep using them and have no need to butcher the rods that shipped. The tips are unnecessary; they are to mitigate eye pokes. Finally: . This Frankenstein's monster gets a 1.004 SWR across the entire GMRS band (according to my Nanova-H). Paper plate, 7mm 25lb magnet under the can, to pull the antenna firmly to the aluminum tape. It's dual-band for aircraft but I don't Tx on that band. I cut one down 4 times and that was the size that worked best. Just to demonstrate 'perfect' is relative. The antennas are perfectly tuned out of the bag so I knew my high SWR was my ground plane.

Yeah, looks like it's almost in Wando. That's certainly in the "Charleston area" but it's not going to help the Holy City Proper.

I'm familiar with the button and it is on my radio. It removes tones, too? I thought squelch and tones were different?

Gee that sounds like a ham radio conversation. Seriously, at a bare minimum the way to report it is saying that the repeaters are being keyed with out the person accessing them being within the coverage footprint of the repeater. This is causing harmful interference on that frequency / frequencies in a specific location or area. That is spelled out in the blurb the FCC put on the their web site about why they don't want people linking repeaters. No way to monitor the frequency in use before accessing it and causing interference. Mind you I am all for linking GMRS repeaters, and have even come up with ways to mitigate this and other issues that were cited as being the problems with linking. But the FCC says the rules are what they are, so until they change the rules, I don't link repeaters. Now I will say this, that group has backed themselves into a corner. If someone is interfering with their linked repeater system, they have ZERO recourse to deal with it. It's like having a house full of drugs and calling the cops because someone stole their bag of weed. The FCC is the only governing body with GMRS. If they call the FCC, then they open themselves up to being looked at for what THEY are doing. So that's not really an option for them. Local police and government in general have no ability to enforce FCC regulations. So, the option they are left with is the redneck thought process of "I'm gonna *insert dumb redneck statement of violence here* and that will get it done. Of course the problem with that is the local police DO have the ability to deal with that. And although I'm not sure what Georgia's laws are but if they are like Florida then doing that sort of thing might involve a free trip to a hospital or even the grave yard. While people may claim that they will just go drag them into their yard and throw them a beating, it's rarely done for that reason. And can escalate quickly if they do. And the police will still not give a rip about the GMRS interference, the assault, battery, menacing and all that WILL get a response.

Every radio, or at least every one I've owned/used, that supports tones (my CB doesn't) including the original UV-5R and some 25 year old Cobra GMRS radios, allows you to use the MON button to temporarily open squelch.

I don't know what radio you have, but I have the upper (50 watt) channels duplicated with CTCSS/DTCS tones for such a contingency. It's not perfect, because when the tone opens your squelch, you still may pick up the other traffic on the frequency. It also requires that your buddy program his radio the same way. Still, it mostly works because if you're traveling with someone in another vehicle, likely you're close enough that your signal will "beat" another signal originating further away.

I suppose he heard people talking about it before it was ready. But as it is now, this won't come close to covering the Charleston area. It will take one on a big tower to do that.

Ignore him. Anything you paid less than $1,000 for isn't a "real" radio to him. The rest of us actually live in the "real" world.

Interesting. I feel as if I have a real radio. It was sitting on the dash of my real Jeep. Attached to a real Bulletpoint Mounting Solutions Rubigrid tray. As I was driving down what I very much perceived to be a real highway. Your suggestion, then, is that I imagined the whole thing? Because I can't, for the life of me, imagine what else you would be implying.

It will depend on the signal level difference between the two signals. It takes about 6 dB or more of a stronger signal level to capture the weaker signal and anything less you will be hearing a bunch of wah wahs and worbles.

That rule existed in the 70s and may have been in existence in the late 60s. Effective February 1999, the FCC allowed all GMRS operate on any main and interstitial channel.

OK, so...new guy with egg on his face, again. I guess I didn't realize that "Channel 20" occupied the same frequency as some local repeaters. You are indeed correct. I was picking up chattering from a repeater in the city but the tones were wrong. So there's that mystery solved. But leads me to another one. What about people who want to use simplex on Channel 20? I understand offsets and working repeaters. I guess I've just never thought about simplex on the same frequency. And FRS for that matter. Say you're in range of a repeater and you and your friend key up radio to radio, what happens to the TX from the repeater?

With a real radio you can have a programmable button programmed for PL Defeat/Disable and all you have to do is push the button at any speed while you are driving so you can hear all the traffic on that channel.

Atlanta is a big enough place that I wouldn't be at all surprised if you were in range of two or more repeaters on the same frequency with different tones.