Leaderboard

it depends which handhelds you mean. the GMRS-V1, yes, since it's certified for GMRS use. ... Technically, the GMRS-V1 is not a Baofeng. Although manufactured by Baofeng, it has customized firmware and is sold under the BTECH brand name and it Is BTECH who have certified the radio with the FCC. AFAIK, no Baofeng branded radios are GMRS certified. The sole requirement for legal use on GMRS is FCC Part95-E Certification (Previously Part95-A). 47 CFR § 95.1761 - GMRS transmitter certification. (a) Each GMRS transmitter (a transmitter that operates or is intended to operate in the GMRS) must be certified in accordance with this subpart and part 2 of this chapter. (b A grant of equipment certification for the GMRS will not be issued for any GMRS transmitter type that fails to comply with the applicable rules in this subpart. [... ...]

My 90 feet of LMR400 arrived earlier today. My swr is about the same but my power output (40w capable) has jumped from 24 to almost 37 according to the meter. I can now hit pretty much all the repeaters in the area and I now can cover the better part of 15 miles, terrain changes and elevation notwithstanding. This is great since not only can the Mrs. get ahold of me anywhere on the property but running into town is now covered as well! Thanks everybody for all the suggestions and info!

So I *think* I am learning that part of my trouble may revolve around the possibility that these units only have 30 programmable channels that can be both TX and RX, and the other 100 + channels are there just for listening. Do I have that right?

That was very helpful PL is ham for QT/DQT, or another words, the 141.3 tone. You seem to have everything set properly. You said you can talk to the armored repeater ok. Im wondering if the Oconomowoc675 repeater went down for maintenance or some other issue. Try using the midland radio to access the Oconomowoc675 repeater. If it works then we know for sure it has to be something with the kenwood. If that's the case, there isn't much more you can do until you purchase a meter and dummy load, or take it to a radio shop to be looked at.

My bad, I thought it was an issue going the other way around. I looked up the Oconomowoc675 repeater and you are right, they are showing 141.3 so that is an odd one. Lets do a default check. First, check that the channel is in WIDE mode. Sometimes this causes an issue when distance is involved. When you confirmed that, we can use the Midland radio to test the Kenwoods PL tone encoder which could have gone out of whack. You only need one antenna for this as the midland doesn't need to transmit, only receive, though a dummy load would be a better option. Power up both radios on the same simplex channel and PL codes. Key the kenwood and see if you can hear it on the midland. If you can, it means the PL encoder is working as it should. We can reverse this to test the kenwoods tone decoder. Simply switch the antenna to the midland radio and key the midland radio, listening on the kenwood. The last thing I can come up with would be that the radio is off frequency or low power when transmitting on 467 which you would need a meter and equipment to test.

Well I ask because there are only 22 channels in total between GMRS and FRS, plus 8 additional repeater inputs. (which use channels 15-22 as outputs) So if you are able to connect on the 22 FRS channels, that only leaves the 8 GMRS repeater channels.

Looking up the listing for Armored 1 you are using the wrong codes to get into that repeater. Rich, if it is ok with you I can post the correct tones, or the direct link to the system and that should correct his issue I think.

That sounds like everything is set up right. All I can think of off the top of my head is that maybe it's not putting out the PL tone on TX like you think it is. If you have a scanner or another radio that can be tuned to 467.675, you can rule that out by having the scanner listen for the tone before it opens squelch. If the scanner sees activity but won't unmute, then you're transmitting without the tone. Could the Kenwood be in talkaround mode? Where it's set to TX on 467.675 but it's trying to talk direct on 462.675? I doubt that only because you'd hear the Kenwood on the Midland just direct and not through the repeater. Hopefully someone else has ideas or has that software so they can take a look at your programming.

Check to see if you can still hit the repeater with your midland radio. If your able to hit repeaters that are further away from you than the repeater in question, it leaves only three thoughts in mind. A) the repeater is down, B ) closer higher power traffic is getting in, cutting you out of the loop, and C) there is an issue with the PL tone encoder on the kenwood that is not allowing you into the system.

And last, MAKE SURE THE ANTENNA IS CONNECTED!! >.< I drove myself nuts for three weeks trying to figure out why my radio wouldn't TX more than a few houses, turned out when I reprogrammed the radio I forgot to plug he antenna back into the radio. DOH! Just saw your reply, does not seem to be an antenna disconnect issue.

No, you got the right idea. The problem is I do not run anything on Windows except in a VM to program radios as-needed. Otherwise, I use MacOS and Linux. BTW, The third package you noted is no longer being distributed. However, I sort have made progress... I installed Svxlink on a r-Pi and can connect top it using EchoLink software on my phone and desktop. I don't have a sound-card yet (next week) so audio is one-way. But, it works. And, I know how to use the GPIO to trigger the PTT and get COS from the Audio-out of a radio. But, the whole thing comes to a crashing halt because EchoLink expressly prohibits anything but Ham uses. I am looking at PulseAudio, some people have gotten that to work for APRS, and maybe I should look at Asterisk... though I am hoping someone knowledgable on Asterisk can confirm whether it could work.

not sure if this would work as you are intending but i have tested it with minor issues that could be sorted out had kinda same idea but the project got set aside for now' echostation http://www.synergenics.com/sc/ also some more interesting tools http://www.w1hkj.com/index.html and of course remote access could be done several ways I use PhoneMyPC http://softwareforme.com/?page_id=6 forgive me if I missed your idea or intent

In very broad terms, Radio receiver spec's are measured in 2 parameters. Sensitivity (the ability to hear a weak signal) and Selectivity (the ability to distinguish between wanted/unwanted signals). Those two parameters are both important, but usually work against each other. It's difficult to engineer a radio receiver that can pick out a weak signal - while also distinguishing between wanted & unwanted signals. The reason to tell you all that - is that less expensive radios usually don't bother spending the time & money to engineer and build a really good receiving system - what we term a "front end" in the radio business. Most of the inexpensive radios people are buying for GMRS have a poorly designed front end - one that is sensitive, but not very selective. I have a feeling that is why you're seeing (hearing) what you have experienced with your radios. After all that's been said - move the two radios apart 100 feet or more, and your problem will most likely resolve itself.

as far as i know: (others, feel free to correct me if/where i'm wrong) it depends which handhelds you mean. the GMRS-V1, yes, since it's certified for GMRS use. most others (uv5r, bf-f8/f9-hp, uv82, etc), no, primarily due to lack of certification required for legal gmrs use.

Good to hear!