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Not on a linked repeater but still valuable info. Two people getting off at an off ramp half mile from my home during rush hour… male- where are you? female - I’m stuck at the intersection, no one will let me in. male - well you got to just get out there. female - gee thanks, I hadn’t thought of that. male - uh… um… well (clearly knows he’s now in trouble)

Maybe this can help people understand: If a GMRS repeater has more than one licensee operating on it, the repeater MUST identify. Reason: If there are 2 or more valid licensees operating on a repeater, the FCC needs to know who is responsible for the repeater.

Why yes, I have one 70cm turnstile for smaller animals like squirrels and a 2m turnstile for larger animals like opossums and raccoons.

The Laird BB4503 and NMO mount upgrade definitely made a difference. Much less popping static now while in motion and the only interference I notice is the common multipath and/or obstruction dropouts which you cant do anything about. In addition the antenna is shorter with no external spring so it doesn't move and has a much lower profile on the roof. Thanks for all the responses, especially @gortex2 for the Laird suggestion. I like the quality of these antennas so they will likely be my go to.

It's like being at the zoo. Don't feed the monkeys. When you do, they tend to throw more poo at you.

Repeaters are required to identify. You have to read the whole thing. You do see where it says “if” don’t you? You can’t decide to stop reading something in its entirety and glean only the meaning you want. I mean you can but you’re still incorrect.

Thanks for the help! It must be my slower home internet connection. I got to work this morning and looked at the map. All the repeaters are there! My work internet connection is lightning fast. I did let my home computer sit for a few minutes thinking that maybe it was my speed (I'm on Starlink, and speeds vary) but it never did populate. Least its not the site, its me! yay.

https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-47/chapter-I/subchapter-D/part-95/subpart-E/section-95.1705 Any individual who holds an individual license may allow his or her immediate family members to operate his or her GMRS station or stations. Immediate family members are the licensee's spouse, children, grandchildren, stepchildren, parents, grandparents, stepparents, brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews, and in-laws. There is nothing in Part 95 E about where these folks live.

Any individual who holds an individual license may allow his or her immediate family members to operate his or her GMRS station or stations. Immediate family members are the licensee's spouse, children, grandchildren, stepchildren, parents, grandparents, stepparents, brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews, and in-laws. I mean pretty great right.

I don't see why not. I know it's more of a Ham thing but I like it. There is a guy about 20 miles away that frequently says he is monitoring the GMRS repeater that is on the hill between us. Nice to know he's there if I want to test something new out or whatever. Once I heard him on a Ham freq. while my radio was scanning and he was inquiring about something and I was able to jump on the GMRS repeater (I don't have a Ham lic.) and offer an answer because I knew he'd be there too. WRUU653 I'm eating breakfast who's with me?

I just picked up some UHF M1225's and P1225's (Genuine Part 95 Motorola gear!) on a trade-in, so I'll probably be getting one of my kids to start up a small GMRS resale business here on the classifieds. About 40 portables, chargers, 6 mobiles, and a base/control station package.

I will second this..there is one that showed coverage, but I seriously doubt the circle it shows, and both of the users associated with it show their licenses to be expired (unless they renewed with a new callsign). The topography just doesn't lend itself to getting signal into the valley from many places outside the park, mostly the high Sierra peaks, and getting one set up IN the valley, or anywhere in the park seems...unlikely. Imagine if you could get one up near Glacier Point with some downtilt to cover the valley.. ?

The KG-S88G is UHF only, it's more basic but uses superheterodyne and has great quality, it's waterproof, and seems rugged in it's build. easy to program in the radio. Chirp is not available for it but if your a windows guy they have their own software. Great for GMRS coms, using on a jeep trip or kayak. No FM, no weather channels. The KG-935G is UHF and VHF receive, FM and weather channels. It's going to be better if you want to scan. Not a superheterodyne but still really good quality sound for TX and RX. It's not waterproof. both the new KG-935G Plus and the KG-S88G have USB charging but you'll have to remove a plate with screws for the KG-S88G because of the waterproof rating. I have both of these and I like them both. I keep the S88G programmed fairly basic and use it for GMRS coms, GMRS scanning and to take out in the world for talking. The 935G Plus is my go to if I want to scan and listen but still be able to communicate but it's not going in the boat with me or in the mud off roading. I hope this helps.

Look at Notarubicon’s website and videos: https://www.notarubicon.com/wouxun-kg-s88g-gmrs-hand-held-radio/ https://www.notarubicon.com/ham-radio-extreme-durability-test-wouxun-kg-uv8h-kg-935g/

Many of the MSI radios support ADP/ARC4 encryption. The APX series used to ship free with it but have since changed the model and its still a $0 option. I think RELM also supports it. I use a KVL - key loader for all keys, ARC/ADP, AES, DES, DESXL as that's the most secure way to operate. Never was a fan of typing a code in a computer. MSI does allow software key for ADP only. As to the use case alot of folks use it. All our SAR Radios support ADP and we use it when needed. Nope its not the best encryption but 99% of the scanner world cant decode it so for the "bring the body bag" or similar messages it suites our needs.

According to the map, there is no repeater coverage in the Yosemite Valley. The sites you see on the map will not provide coverage info the Park.

That's always the best policy I think. In my experience ignoring these things seems to work better than the public attempt at shaming them on the air. It's a good practice.

I would agree. These jokers don’t play the siren because they want to hear it. They do it to get a response. A complete lack of response might result in their boredom and moving on to torturing bugs.

Ain't that the truth. I don't know if the someone that played the siren even made a comment or did a drive by and waited to hear the response. It's been my experience on any repeater that when the clowns show up they wish to be entertained and noticed by follow up comments from the regular users. When they get that feedback they seem to enjoy it, and come back again later to try it again. Especially when it's things like name calling and passive aggressive innuendo, that goes on longer than the siren did. I find the best way to respond to a thing like that is silence. If they don't get feed back, they don't get their ego massaged, they don't get the feeling of power over those other users...and sometimes....just sometimes....they go away and bother someone else. Just an observation from yesterday.

For comparison, a half-wave vertical dipole -- no ground plane required -- is twice as long as a quarter-wave vertical -- ground plane needed. That makes for more antenna sticking up to be hit by tree branches if off-road, parking garages, etc.

Hello GMRS "gang", After a few postings and reflection, it is clear that GMRS owners need to make an orientation video, and/or hold a group zoom for new users before allowing access. This will be my approach 100%. In this meeting or video, politely addressing operational guidelines and expectations up front would really help! Because new users have no idea what to do, and seasoned and fresh "hammy's" are already going down the wrong path, sound mentorship is the answer. Not a rigorous military drill set, but a practical and open discussion. New users WANT to know what to do, and many "hams" think they know what to do. It is an unhealthy combo for sure. It's about getting along, sharing the resource, and not making the repeater owner want to get two sticks and gouge their eardrums out...

These are definitely repeaters. I can tell the difference between a radio squelch tail and a repeater squelch tail. The same thing on Ham as well. I'm only new to GMRS but have been a Ham for a while. I have listened to known repeaters in my area and only one auto Id's. I guess the GMRS repeaters (the cheap ones) don't do it, or the owners don't have that enabled. So, I guess I've already answered my own question. I have unlisted repeaters in my area. I am sure of it.

The clearest description with the least words I have seen. Nicely done.

I resemble that statement. I certainly jumped to some conclusions that I should not have. I do think if you are running a business then put it in the budget to do things correctly. As for talking to friends in a rural countryside, I for one don't hold it against you.

As @Sshannonsaid, i think the map data gets cached locally, and it's something glitching there, perhaps due to age of the cached data. Mine was initially not displaying on mobile, even after loading for a minute or more. I went in and cleared the cache and reloaded the page, and it loaded within a couple seconds with the repeater dots loading as they should.

I was also trying to figure this out. Not type 95e Radios? Non licensed people using GMRS channels and repeaters? commercial use? Is that a thing? ? Anything that couldn’t be easily rectified or is a real problem? I’m no radio cop, just curious also as you brought it up.

I’m curious. How are you stretching the letter of the law?

I guess I believe that un-enforced rules are more like Suggestions. Given the history of the FCC retro-actively re-writing the rules to allow what people were doing anyway (everything from unlicensed CB to unlicensed MURS), I think it's just a matter of time until the FCC catches up to reality.

Yup, I’ve understood tones to be more of a “filter”, filtering out the rest of the chatter.

As @WRHS218 mentions the valley floor is fairly flat and a lot of the trails go up and have a potential to put you at a good line of site advantage to people down below. No repeater coverage but I would certainly bring the radios. That would be some awesome coverage.?

Sometimes "privacy" means "We want fewer interruptions." Privacy tones help in that sense, but they do not prevent you from being overheard.

Thanks Steve, much appreciated. ? I'm one of those research something to death guys before a purchase so this was right at my fingertips. Also it helps to justify why I need both...?

I'm going with the S88G because of the receiver being superhet. I wish it had VHF scanning...but I'll live. In the meantime I bought a GM-30 to play around with. It has VHF scanning, NOAA Weather, and FM broadcast reciever. It is not water proof.

Well done!

I think some other members here have clarified that for you. Don't be one of those that fail to ID. There are a surprising number of Hams on GMRS. The DF equipment that works on 70cm works just fine on GMRS too. ?

On my ham repeater, zero. We have a hard and fast rule not to respond to or even acknowledge jammers. A response is what they are looking for. It is the reason they do what they do. If no one responds, and if we continue to talk over them as though they don't exist, generally they move on. It may take a few minutes, but they eventually go away.

No... ALL Stations MUST ID -- a repeater is a station. There is an specific EXCLUSION for what is a private/family-only repeater, since the repeater ID would be identical to the ID used by all family members (that of the license holder). Paragraph (c) was quoted previously.

The Technician license is focused on regulations with just a touch of theory. This is to ensure you don't cause interference with others or misuse the privileges. You get more radio theory/practice (circuits) at the General level, and a lot more at Extra level exam. I started as a "no-good" (no-code) Tech when they created the VHF/UHF-only option decades ago. Lockheed (Sunnyvale) radio club had their own repeater, and membership to get auto-patch (telephone linking) was much cheaper than a cell-phone at the time. When they finally dropped the code requirement a decade or so ago, I spent two weeks with a General class study guide. Found an on-line practice test site. Was passing all tries with 90% scores. Tried (without study) the Extra class practice exams, and managed to pass about 3 of every 4 I did. So -- that weekend I drove up the Bay area to a license session and took both tests. I felt that if I didn't pass Extra, I could study for two weeks and get the next exam session down where I lived. Passed Extra by 1 question. There are post-2017 radios that are also NFM only... But these radios will be marked as FRS (the 2017 reorganization banned radios marked FRS/GMRS, and gave FRS the typical power of pre-2017 dual-marked bubble pack radios). My recommendation was to remove the FRS NFM config UNLESS you have a lot of associates who are using FRS radios. If most are using licensed GMRS, stick with FM setting and put up with the slight audio quality mis-match for the rare FRS user. Technically -- there is NO privacy for GMRS/MURS/FRS/Amateur. Setting a tone only controls who YOU HEAR (they have to be sending the same tone). Anyone with a radio that has no tones set will hear /everything/ on the frequency. "PL" ("Private Line") is Motorola marketing speak. To the rest of the world it is just CTCSS (Continuous Tone Coded Squelch System -- though newer systems also support Digital Coded Squelch). Granted, many radio programming software separates it as "CT" (send a tone) and "CTCSS" (send and receive tone). Skip is for scanning purposes -- it says "skip this channel when scanning" Offset is for repeaters. For GMRS it is supposed to be +5.0MHz (listen on 462, transmit on 467) Cross mode is a confusing entry -- depending upon the programming software. Some radios can be configured to use CTCSS tone in one direction and DTC tone in the other. As I recall, in CHIRP, "TONE" means SEND-only, "TONE SQUELCH" is SEND/RECEIVE. And to confuse matters, CHIRP uses different columns for the tone specification itself (my Amateur gear, OTOH, doesn't require first selecting mode, then picking tone -- just encode/decode [send/receive] tone columns, and if that column is set to "None" then no tone is used for that side).

Thanks for the reminder of my signature. I did remove it and had forgot it was there. Did not want to insult you, as if I did it would be done directly only. You had posted some thoughtful comments that I appreciated. My radio friend and I have known each other since age 11, and we have called it this since that time and referred to CB as "chicken band" at the same time. One time we saw a guy pull a spiral cut ham out of the fridge, jam an upside down coat hanger into the top, and then a microphone into the front and key the mic, develop an intense stare, push his hat back on is head and say, "CQCQCQ"... We just don't take ourselves that serious. Alas, can't please everyone.

Like anything, it's a mixed bag. The folks I've talked to on the local GMRS repeaters have all been pleasant. I got my ham license not long ago and discovered a good community there too locally. Many of the local GMRS users and the repeater owners also have ham licenses and I found out I work with quite a few hams as well. As for MURS, I don't think there is as much a community around it, but I found that it is useful for outdoor simplex comms in the woods away from town where you won't find the band busy with business users. However, in the next town over there's a group running a bunch of linked repeaters on GMRS requiring paid membership and the impression I get from the outside is that they would put the sad hams to shame.

GMRS on linked repeaters sometimes starts to sound like ham. GMRS does have the offroad crowd adding to its overall popularity and the corresponding equipment demand, which is probably a good thing. And Midland may not be everyone's favorite but at least they're bringing people in, and their everything-in-the-mike units sure are nice for many vehicles, although I wish they also had named channels and such.

Sorry, but that is not correct. Amateur repeaters (just like operators) are required to ID at the beginning of a transmission sequence, every 10 minutes during, and at the end of the transmission sequence. If no further traffic is repeated, the machine may then sit silent until the next sequence begins. Normally, when a ham repeater is first keyed up, or "cerchuncked", it will send an ID immediately. If no one then uses the machine, it will ID again in 10 minutes, then stay quiet. If someone does use the machine, it will ID every 10 minutes during the conversation. If the conversation ends after 27 minutes, then after an additional 3 minutes, the machine will send the final ID at the 30 minute time slot, then be silent until keyed up again. For GMRS, there is nothing in the rules that require a repeater to ID, but the operators must. Just for good measure, most repeater operators ID their machines as well. I have mine set up just like a ham repeater, except the ID timer is set to 15 minutes rather than 10 minutes. It stays silent until I key it up, then it will ID after the first transmission. If I talk for 3 minutes, then sign off, it will stay quiet for 12 minutes, then send the final ID before going back quiet. By the way, I use Bridgecom repeaters as you mentioned, and they already have this Morse ID function built-in. At set-up, you type in your call sign, and set the ID timer for 10 or 15 minute intervals.

To my understanding, GMRS users are required to identify, but repeaters are not. I do use a CW call-sign on my repeater just in case something goes wrong or there's interference someone can identify it and contact me, but it is not required.

This thread does bring up a point. Do answering requests count as activity?