All Activity

I went to brand new HAM radio club meeting this weekend, and everyone stared at me when I walked in. I'm 49, and covered in tattoos. I was definitely at least 15 years younger than anyone else there.

I absolutely would if I lived there.

Does this site have the ability to send notifications on new repeaters being added? I'd love to get an email anytime a new repeater comes online in my state.

Yes. Try getting closer to the repeater and/or confirming that you have the correct code and that the repeater is actually online.

I'm trying program an open system repeater that is 8 miles away from me with a 051 DPL input/output tone into my Tidradio TD-H3 Plus. I tried it programmed with the 051N DCS code in the radio and I have not been able to hit it, I think I'm programming something wrong. Does 051 DPL correspond to 051N or am I supposed to use the DCS code list in my manual and look up 51 and select the corresponding DCS code (in this case D274N)?

Not between Gaviota and Ventura. Someone needs to put something on both Santa Ynez and Red Mountain for you.

The issue is, as far as I can tell it, there are a lot of people who are very upset by what the group is doing and who are also, simultaneously, completely unaffected by it. If I lived in the North GA area and I wanted to put up a repeater so that me and the boys could talks fars, only to find out that all the channels were already occupied, I might be a little upset. But I don't and so I'm not. I don't have the emotional bandwidth to virtue signal over things outside of my control. I have interacted with the group over the air and each and every one of them has been polite and professional. They invite "non members" to participate in there talk arounds. There are some trolls and there are some people kerchunking and roger beeping just to annoy but I kind of liken it to public transportation. If everybody's on the train, someone's going to be annoying. Having the ability to talk across the state without a HAM license is, I think, the major appeal. Again, some might say, that is not what GMRS is about. I heard it put this way once and I thought it was very accurate. GMRS is the radio you talk on when you're doing an activity. HAM is when the radio is the activity. Either way, Cotton, I'm looking to see how it all plays out.

This is also an accurate assessment of the situation. Can confirm.

This is an accurate assessment of the situation. Can confirm.

I'm on the South Coast between Gaviota and Santa Barbara, south of the Santa Ynez mountain range. If I drive out of the canyon and get out by Hwy 101, I can sometimes hear repeater traffic from way over in Ventura and even LA across the water. Nothing to my north. I've checked the maps, and I've monitored all GMRS channels for hours with only a little occasional simplex traffic here and there getting into the canyon where I live. If you are aware of some dormant repeater with high enough elevation on the south coast, to get a signal into these canyons, I'd love to know about it!

The average age of GMRS users in my household is 24.5. The average age of ham radio users in my household is 42. Your math checks out. I would like to get my 7 year old into amateur radio to bring that average age down.

Unless you are living near Piedras Blancos, San Simeon, Los Oso, Cholame, or New Cuyama there are several repeaters up and down the central coast. What particular area are you living in where you think there are no repeaters?

Interesting back story @SteveShannon. Thanks for sharing that. For me: Like many, I dabbled in CB in the 70's and later in the 80's I was a first responder and used radios daily. But I've also been involved with horses for most of my life. In the 90's (and for a subsequent 20+ years) I was recruited to be a volunteer announcer at an Arabian horse show and was asked to setup improved comms that could be used by show officials. Having a limited budget to work with, we used cheap blister-pack FRS radios to communicate between the announcer booth, the arena, the barns, the show office and patched thru the fairgrounds PA system. I used CTCSS tones to eliminate external chatter from creating interference with our activates. It worked really well. After retirement, I decided to look into GMRS where more power and range could be obtained. I got a license, a few handhelds and a mobile and have had some fun with it on the road. At home it is a different story. I live in a fire prone area on the pacific coast less than 2 miles from the ocean; however, I'm in a canyon where most VHF/UHF radio signals tend to be blocked by a lot of earth and lots of trees. There are no GMRS repeaters (or GMRS radio clubs) in my area. Everything I have at home (Phone, internet, TV, Cell) is via satellite, so the use of GMRS for any type of SHTF emergency comms is totally futile. However, the local ham club has 2m & 70cm repeaters on the mountain tops near me. That prompted me to get licensed and get a dual band radio so I could hit those repeaters. But I've yet to assimilate into the more formal, radio-for-the-sake-of-radio, ham culture. There is no doubt a lot to be learned from those guys, but I find GMRS in many ways much more practical and fun. Everyone can easily participate via FRS, and anyone with $35 to spare can be licensed to use GMRS. Like @WRUE951 said, I'm more comfortable here as it is not as rigid and structured. My recent attendance at the local ham radio club meetings has been an eye opener for me and that is what makes me very curious about the membership and demographics of GMRS specific radio clubs. Maybe if I could get my signal out of this canyon, I might setup a local GMRS group in my area...

I think the dad has close ties with the PD, which is fine in my book.. Nothing will stop this guy but at least he stoped bothering kids.. I think the real issue with this guy is on the mental side. So we live with him making his rounds jamming repeaters.. This guy has an Extra Ham lic so its a bit more strange why he plays these games.

As usual, it's got little to do with the radio usage, and a lot more to do with what he was actually doing (ie: harassing kids). If it wasn't kids, would they have done anything? Because it doesn't sound like it's stopped his general radio dickery. He just realized that screwing with people's kids MIGHT be a step too far.

I’ve been flying high power rockets for 25 years. I got GMRS radios to enhance my enjoyment of my high power rocketry hobby. Most of us in my rocket club got Garmin Rino radios so we could see where each other were while out recovering our rockets. After several years of being a scofflaw I decided that I wanted to do the right thing and get licensed as well. Somewhere along the line I started watching Notarubicon videos where Randy (@OffRoaderX) spoke about Baofeng UV5R radios. Also a friend showed me his UV5R radio and I ended buying one. I discovered that I really enjoyed programming it which gave me confidence. Playing with the Baofeng radios reawakened a barely dormant interest in ham radio that I’ve had since eighth grade. So three years ago I finally got around to applying myself to ham radio. For me (not for everyone) ham radio has been a fascinating experience. It keeps my brain working and is something I will be able to do even as I eventually get old. (I’ll be 70 next month but I feel 40 most of the time.) GMRS is something that can be done in conjunction with other activities, including very dynamic and energetic ones, and without becoming an expert on radio operations. Ham radio is a government sanctioned hobby intended to develop radio operators. It’s structured in such a way that older hams can (and sometimes do) mentor younger hams with differing levels of licensing and activities that are relatively sedentary. So, I think it’s natural to perceive GMRS as a younger person’s hobby. Now why did I come into this room?

WRYS709: Dude, end the crusade and get a life.

They (police) did one time here when a 70 year old jack wad started cursing at two kids talking on the radio Ch3.. The kids dad, with help from some of us who knows this menacing idiot gave the dad information who and where he lived.. The dad had a recording and took it to the police.. The police made a visit to the idiot, it shut him up for a few months.. He is now occasionaly out there jamming repeaters and making belching and farting noises over radio conversions.. We no longer hear him cursing and harrasing young kids anymore..

I don't think it keeps you young but i think Amateur Radio including GMRS becomes more popular as you age. I've had my Ham Lic for over 20 years and never really started using it until the last 5 years after i retired. Although i use to HAM quite a bit, i now spend most my radio time on GMRS... Way more comfortable over here where on the HAM side you always have someone breathing down your neck..

Bingo.

OK, then try the attached file. I clicked on the file and navigated to one of my old Kenwood programming installs. It opened the help file just fine. winhlp32.exe

Old Man's Hobby A while ago I attended an amateur radio club meeting. The club is over 100 years old, and I wanted to see what it was about. There were about 30 guys there and I was surprised at the average age. I'm 62 and I was probably the youngest one in the room! One guy said he joined the club 60 years ago and another volunteered that he had received his amateur license in 1953! They tended to say things that illustrated their years. A lot of "I remember when...", "we used to...", "in the ol' days" etc. etc. This seemed to be presented as if somehow, in spite of the evolution of the technology, mere longevity was sort of prima facia evidence of expertise. Likewise, nobody there suggested that they use their radio for any specific activity or purpose other than radio for the sake of (QSO, QSO) radio itself. It was interesting to observe. Nice guys, but true radio dorks and gadget fanatics. One guy was carrying a portable spectrum analyzer in his pocket! (Not that there is anything wrong with that!! ). To me, this all seemed to lend credibility to the stereotype that radio is an old man's hobby. When I listen to amateur nets it is often the same; old guys talking mostly about radio. But this does not seem to be the case with GMRS. We have young people! Since we share frequencies with unlicensed FRS, while traveling, I hear many young voices (mostly kids playing). At the beach and on the lake, I hear chatter from boaters and people fishing. GMRS is used by some businesses, so I periodically hear people at work. In the area where I live, GMRS is actually fairly quiet, but I do sometimes hear farm workers and people going about their daily activities and doing "stuff". I hear folks living life. It is not just old guys blustering and jabber-jawing about radio or nothing in particular. That said, I do not share the misconception that GMRS is only for specific activities. GMRS can be for any activity desired even if that activity is just random chats with strangers. So, what about GMRS radio clubs... I don't have any GMRS radio clubs around me, but for those of you who do, what is the average age of the members within the club? And since it is specifically a GMRS Radio Club, do they view GMRS radio itself as the activity or as a tool for other random activities?

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!