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I was able to figure out the input tone. I can hit this repeater! Barely. They say I sound like dog doo-doo. One guy told me where it is, not surprising it and me sound like crap, it's 20mi away. And I'm in heavy woods. And this is all flat land. I guess it was stood up just yesterday. HT to HT simplex all I can get is about 1.25mi in these woods. Anyway, mystery solved!

Sounds like WRHW499, a GMRS call from Michigan.

I agree with that. Myself and others have occasionally gave the wrong call signs while on our GMRS repeater and while on our 2m and 70cm repeaters. It's going to happen now and then. Now if it is constant then there is an issue.

Yes, feedback from the speaker to the microphone. The cure is don't try to listen to your transmission while talking. That's the reason for the feedback.

Quite a few of us in my local club have both licenses. And whenever any of us give the wrong call sign, the rest will give the guy trouble (in fun).

I'm going over to my mom's I think for that. Where I am is not quite in the path of totality, but her house will be for sure.

I've seen people do close to 200 Miles but its peak to valley desert and it's usually not consistent. Ive gotten 400 miles on VHF ham before Mountain peak to valley but VHF pushes a little father. GMRS Suburban Typicals: HT to HT 2 miles or so max Base to Base 10 miles or more if good antennas and good area. I routinely talk ~25 miles on my HT to another HT but we live across a lake from each other. With UHF/GMRS the antenna matters 10x more than wattage basically so if both users have a directional and are line of sight they can go pretty dang far. And even just putting a higher antenna makes it that much easier to have line of sight.

My cousin has a nanoVNA. I might see if he can help me - looks beyond my skills

We had a GMRS guy on my 2m repeater last week so I diplomatically helped him realize he was on a ham repeater. He apologized and left. It happens, but if it's intentional and repeated, then it's an issue.

I was thinking that is was a GMRS repeater since there is enough space between 70cm frequencies and GMRS channels. As far as conversations, I hear all kinds of topics on 2m, 70cm and GMRS. If I don't want to listen, I turn the dial to a different channel/frequency.

Hams do talk about other things but yes, ham equipment is a big topic. Ham has a lot of bands and modes and therefore there is a lot to talk about when it comes to equipment.

And yes the Moni button is monitor. It turns the squelch off so you can hear everything even very weak signals that will not open squelch even on the lowest setting.

Figured I'd give an update in case someone is interested. Ended up with this one off Amazon and so far seems to work decent. Paired up with my Bose earbuds no problem and the included push button worked out of the box. Need to get a little more time with it to see if the mic is consistently good in various environments. Also need to pair it to the truck built in handsfree to see how that works. Amazon.com: BAOFENG Walkie Talkie Wireless Headset, Hands-Free K1 Plug PTT Earphone with Noise Cancelling Mic UV-82 UV-5R Walkie Talkie(K Plug, K Connector) : Electronics

I would agree that it sounds like it’s something to do with either the feed line or the antenna. It could be that the antenna has a high SWR on the repeater frequency but it could also be that the cable or the mount are damaged or that the antenna itself is broken. I had a capacitor fail in an antenna once and it made the antenna go high SWR. Do you have access to a different roof mount antenna you can try? I use an MXTA26 antenna on a Midland NMO mount. My roof rack doesn’t seem to bother it in any detectable way. A few other random thoughts. An SWR meter shows the SWR of the antenna and feedline combination. It doesn’t show where the antenna is resonant. It’s very commonly thought that resonance is where the SWR is lowest, but it’s not true. A reasonably low SWR (usually described as 2.0:1 or better) is helpful. Cell phone antennas frequently have SWRs around the 4 or 5 to 1 and they do fine, but I have tried to use a GMRS antenna (the MXTA26) on 2 meters, a frequency that wasn’t even considered when designing the antenna and couldn’t be heard 6 blocks away with 20 watts.

Call or e-mail Remtronix & ask them to e-mail the software to you I have a loaner unit to test & they e-mailed me a copy of the software You'll need an Alinco ERW-15 USB cable, or, the RT Systems USB-29A cable also works, that's what I used, the cable terminates in a 1/8" stereo/two-band plug I used it today in the car with a 1/4 wave NMO mag mount, it sounds great on receive, it has a clear speaker, I was told the transmit audio is good I'm going to give it more of a workout this week, both in the mobile & portable with different h-t antennas

That’s correct. Not only that, but you are expected to control their operations.

OK first impressions. A real review will have to wait until I can actually use the thing. I was planning to take it with me when I went out of town this weekend and test a new GMRS repeater but it was delivered on Saturday instead of the expected Friday. I'd say it's definitely based on the DJ-A446. Actually I would bet it's the same radio with different firmware. The inclusion of the "Emergency Alarm" and "Jacklight" (Alinco's words, not mine) nails that for me. Seems like typical good Alinco build quality. I found it interesting that it came with the antenna attached (making for a long skinny box) but it IS removable. The manual talks about programming software being used to change various settings, but so far my quest to find it has been in vain. More to come ...

Glad to see that “Advertising Law School“ is making a difference.

Usually, in most cases, generally speaking, most of the time, for most people, on average, and assuming there are no issues with your cabling or connectors, you will get better send and receive performance using an external antenna vs using the HT antenna INSIDE the car. I would expect the external antenna to work a little better than the stock antenna outside the car, but not hugely. Dont forget that you are losing some power through the coax, connectors and patch-cord, so that could negatively impact the performance.

I keep my Roger Beep on - when someone complains about it, I remind them that its my radio and nobody is forcing them to listen to me.

If you have both licenses it’s easy enough to accidentally use the wrong call sign. I also have made this mistake before especially talking with a friend who has both licenses also and both a ham repeater and a GMRS repeater in between us. This usually is followed by razing the other for the faux pas.

I’m checking with some buddies to see who is interested in traveling to the Toledo/Lima Ohio area on April 8 to watch the total lunar eclipse. https://www.timeanddate.com/eclipse/in/usa/toledo?iso=20240408 Anybody around that area planing on going to watch?

Nanovna Saver is a software program that makes the nVNA much easier to use and visualize antenna characteristics.

I slowed the playback on your recording enough so I could write down the dits and dahs then translated it. Don't be fooled into thinking I know Morse code.

Sounds alot more interesting than the talk I hear around here! Not trying to ruffle feathers. It was just an observation. You can talk about anything you want to talk about, well, I might have to report you if I start hearing any talk about Taylor Swift.

What would you like us to talk about? Is there an approved topics list? Additionally, it isn't all we talk about. This morning, on the way to work, on my repeater, we talked about yesterday's football game, breadmaking, bathroom remodels, cargo ships, appliance repair, and automotive repair, all within a 40-minute span. Not once did the subject of ham radio equipment come up.

Dude.. The chicks must be flocking to you! I need to make a leather holster for my Kenwood TH-75A. Not for the chicks, just because I want to. @scott418 Sorry, haven't used Windows 7 in several years. Hope you get it figured out.

Since they are using your callsign you will be responsible for their action on the airwaves. If they violate the rule, you're the one the FCC comes after since it's your callsign their using. (Just as a reminder)

I stand corrected and I need to pay closer attention to my radios. I went out and took a photo of my KG1000G Plus mic and it is labeled differently. I never paid attention to the labels when swapping the mics between the two radios. Either way it is button 6 that you use to change from frequency, channel number, or channel name.

I have to agree with @Sshannon. Definitely try an external antenna first. Even a mobile mag mount antenna on a cookie sheet outside is better than an antenna inside the house. If you can afford it and have a place to mount it, I will recommend the Comet CA-712EFC antenna. And getting a 200 mile range is definitely not the norm with GMRS. Most guys in the wide open desert are getting 75 - 100 miles tops. Terrain, foliage, buildings and other obstacles will affect and limit your range. GMRS is line of sight. So the higher your antenna is and that of the person you are trying to talk to is, the better.

I'd say, GMRS isn't a ham facsimile. I know that a ton of people on it seem to really want to treat it as such, but it isn't what it's for. It's closer to FRS. It's aim is to be a utility/domestic/family service. That's why the call isn't for an individual, but a household. It's for house:main radio, family cars:mobile and some handhelds for ski trips. Nobody constantly yelling out call signs and whatnot.. But, it's a novel radio service that attracted the ham nerds who took liberties with the 8 repeater channels and here we are.

You can see some really weird stuff on the pages of some repeaters. I can think of one, this week it is "Permission Only". Next week it is "Open to any licensed user". Week after that it is "Permission Only" again; and on, and on, and on.

That roof rack may not be doing the 72G any favors. There are many things that can cause issues like that.

Try tapping the '6' button.

I'm just being careful to not answer like "some people" that come in and decree something as if it is set in stone and has no variables and could never be anything different from what they once experienced or read in a book.. Those guys make themselves look like R-tards, and they're all over this forum. I crave to be different!

Amateur radio licenses and HF radios on 40 meters with a wire antenna is your best option. I use it every Monday, Wednesday and Friday morning to very reliably chat with folks from Canada to western Washington, distances up to 450 miles.

I can’t wait to see one AI arguing with another about Roger beeps!!

Don't get too excited Steve, A.I. will soon replace most such jobs. It's already replacing Randy.

I got a promotion!! Woo hoo!

Obviously, I had no such compunction. Maybe there should be a forum called “Ask Randy” where his favorite viewers can ask his AI alter ego questions. @OffRoaderX, what do you think? Should we ask Rich @rdunajewski for an “Ask Randy” forum?

That's why I didn't respond. Didn't want to impose.

You might as well have.

All of this is just my opinion, but since you asked... I don't like or use linked repeaters. Not on GMRS, not on amateur radio. I have three stand-alone repeaters on a 6,000 foot peak and one out in the desert near Barstow. None of them are linked to anything and never will be. There is an amateur radio system called the Winsystem with linked repeaters all over the U.S. as well as nodes linked in internationally. Not only do you have to hear conversations possibly taking place in other states or countries taking up valuable local repeater bandwidth, the entire system is a target for jammers. Many of the nodes sound like crap. I find little value in linked repeaters.

No no no.. You've got it all wrong! Its just that "some people" know everything and love to show everyone how smart they think they are.

The more succinct answer is that repeater antennas are up high. If your friend with his handheld was dangling from the same tower, he'd hear you fine on his Baofeng too. It's about line of sight. But at that same distance if he were standing down on the ground, probably not.. So yes, they increase YOUR capability of reaching them because they're up high and listening with relatively clear line of sight.. It's why we all try to put our VHF/UHF antennas up as high as we can. When you get up on your roof, how far can you see on a clear day? And how far can you see from the sidewalk? It's basically that simple.

Your Baofeng and the hypothetical baofeng standing next to the repeater have 6 inch antennas, low quality components, and output only a couple of watts.. The repeater has (probably) a perfectly tuned 10-foot or larger antenna, (probably) very high-end expensive and very sensitive components, and is outputting (probably) upwards of 50 watts.. So not only can the repeater hear everything much better than your $19 Baofeng, but it can squirt it's RF electricities many more fars as well.

Hello Max. Here is a good article for you. https://www.buytwowayradios.com/blog/2024/01/how-to-buy-your-first-gmrs-radio.html Good place to start.

It is interesting how people grow accustomed to full duplex conversations. I'm kind of the opposite since I talk on two-ways as much as anything. I find I don't say much in Zoom meetings. My habit is to hesitate a couple of seconds to make sure the speaker is complete (e.g. subconsciously i'm waiting for the repeater tail or squelch drop). During which time someone invariably jumps in and starts speaking!

95.179 sections 1-7 do not state that immediate family must reside with you. the language is specific § 95.179 Individuals who may be station operators. (a) An individual GMRS system licensee may permit immediate family members to be station operators in his or her GMRS system. Immediate family members are the: (1) Licensee; (2) Licensee's spouse; (3) Licensee's children, grandchildren, stepchildren; (4) Licensee's parents, grandparents, stepparents; (5) Licensee's brothers, sisters; (6) Licensee's aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews; and (7) Licensee's in-laws. there is no place listed under this ruling that states they must or shall be domiciled in the same household. what is said is that you may allow those listed to be operators of "his or her system"...system would include handhelds repeaters etc. the FCC set the case for what they are declaring immediate family members, having listed aunts, uncles and nieces etc as well as "in-laws"...so how likely is it that the in-laws will be living in your house?

GMRS travel is 141.3 and is one of the various PL tones available. the travel tone allows for easier travel from repeater to repeater and could work well with the ORI= Open repeater initiative. Our local repeaters use travel tones and ORI with advance permission, but were all open to formal "open air request as well. My repeater operates in mixed tone mode. PL tone to open the repeater and DPL on the output. hope this helps.