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I'm fairly new to the GMRS world, but I personally hope the FCC shuts down or severely limits linked GMRS repeaters. I get why folks want it and I see the appeal, and I also hate government over-reach just as much as the next guy, but I also am getting tired of hearing the exact same conversation on every single channel. I'm lucky/unfortunate enough to be smack in the middle of a fairly large club's repeater network that spans literally every single repeater pair.

I write down a few people's calls signs when I have an interaction with them on a local repeater, or if I find out they use simplex in my area. But after I learn their names, I typically just refer to them by their number or first name (WSBV579 to ###, hey *name*, how you doing?) But the simplex guys around here know I monitor 19 for family use, so they'll just get on and reach out to me by first name...likewise, I do the same for the channels they typically monitor. It kinda makes sense to log call signs on repeaters until you get to know everyone...just so you can remember and associate a call sign to a name.

Just because I am new and trying to recognize people in the club I joined. Want to be able to recognize who I am talking to or who is talking if I have talked to them before or not. that is all.

Good chance just remembering the last 3 numbers and their name is good enough. "456 Mark, you out there?" One of the repeaters I'm on offers a "membership number" It has nothing to do with your callsign and is just an incremental uptick of numbers as new people come on. So you are just saying 120 to 322 and as long as you remember your number you're all good.

I like knowing people's call signs if I talk to them frequently just because it's easier to call them on the radio. If I call someone's call sign I'm only going to get a response from the person I'm calling versus if I say hey Mark are you out there? I might get four people named Mark trying to reply to me. Something I do that helps me is I have a radio that records both sides of the conversation. That way I don't have to remember it. I just go back and listen to it again if I want to know.

I have specific vehicles for off-roading and for staying on the pavement.

That’s all?

You don't need to make excuses for or rationalize recording call signs you hear to anyone on these forums.

I don't know anything about them but I googled this GMRS club in your state... https://upstatescgmrs.com/announcements

For those that may have missed it, and because someone was asking for more threads about it: How it started: How its going: How It's Going A Few Months Later:

GMRS n00b. Haven't used a call sign since 1976, so this is going to take some getting used to. But, I'll learn: That's why I'm here. Jay

Thank youfor the welcome.

I did the same thing last year. Someone there sent me the text of the current 95.1749 regulation. I found their response to be of zero value.

For future reference.

Too late.

I know it is a pain in the rear, but if you feel up to it, and you really do need to be in the mood to do such, try sending the FCC a request that they address this festering issue. I did last year. They acknowledged receipt but that was the last I heard of it. The more requests they get to fix this problem, hopefully prohibiting ALL forms of repeater and "node" linking on GMRS, the more likely they are to act. Wish I could help with a link or such but once I finished the task and cleaned up all the hair I had pulled out of my head and armpits while trying to navigate the FCC site and processes, I forgot much of it. You are a GMRS licensee so you have some understanding of what I mean about that.

LOL. Well the muscle car is basically a garage vehicle...only 1200 miles on it... Wife kinda took over my JT once we took her JK for off road stuff. I have a work truck for most of my travel stuff.

They may want to log it on Cue Are Zed? I don't know that I know close to half of the callsigns of few people outside my group of family/friends that I've spoke to on GMRS in passing. Their first names, sure, but I also don't see why I need to know their calls. The only one I need to remember is mine, so I can remind the wife to say it when she's done talking (on the radio...)

What? Why? WHY do you feel it necessary to record/remember/care about someone's call sign?

The system in question did not charge members. Nor was the system linked to PA or NC. Only some Western NY stuff.

I'm going to go with if you don't get over the majority of the foliage then the height isn't going to matter that much. I started at about 3 ft above ground as a test, then I went to 16 and then went to 40. I really never got much range increase from doing this in the direction that had to go through the trees. As a matter of fact at 16 feet it got worse because it was in the thick of the leaves where at 3' it was only going through the trunks. Just an observational opinion.

So that makes Zello against regulation. I hear that on one of my repeaters a lot that they were talking on Zello. But since I don't have or use Zello I'm not exactly sure what it is.

I vagely remember this article. Our numbers are a bit differnt - but I dissagree with Jay on the 6 dB degradation. If you reduce the receiver bandwidth by half (25 kHz to 12.5 kHz), the receiver noise floor should drop 3 dB (improving C/I by 3 dB), offsetting his 6 dB to 3 dB. But the rest seems right on the money.

Thank you, I do live in the green circle, I am still reading the manual, it can’t be as hard to use as it appears in the instructions, I will figure it out with a little help on here !

cool, so I don't know this particular radio, but see the button VFO/MR? That selects between channels and frequency (MR is probably "Memory Recall" and VFO is "Variable Frequency Oscillator", or what humans call "tuning") it looks like you have some channels programmed already. use the arrow up and down to scroll through them. see if channel 015 shows the frequency 462.550 you can also select VFO and enter the numbers 462550 (should tune to that frequency) good luck!

That has been mentioned more than a few times on myGMRS , but the regulations don’t say the same thing. The difference is why lawyers and judges are well paid.

Hi WSDE521, let us know what radio you have so we can give you specific tips. I'm sure you'll be able to get up to speed quickly. I don't live near you, but I did see this ham club that might be able to help you for local info: https://w4gs.org/ Use the map feature (on mygmrs.com) to find a local repeater like this one: https://mygmrs.com/repeater/1675 If you live in the green circle, click the blue button on that page to request access. You can listen in to see if there is activity by tuning into 462.550mhz (channel 15), but you will only be able to listen. to talk, you'll need to program the repeater channel using tones. once you tell us your radio, someone will be able to tell you how to program the radio for that repeater. take your time and read the manual. -jc

Welcome!

I occasionally do some overlanding with what's left of a 1992 Mazda Miata (with a Honda engine and a NASCAR transmission ). I have a couple of KG-905Gs that are my go to. Headset for my kid up on the tower or pit wall, and a wired in 'car harness' setup in the car (plugs into the radio, PTT button on the steering wheel, and plugs into the helmet for mic and molded ear buds).

That's what I was missing. I forgot the setup/install manual was part of the service manual for this radio. @Skunkworks Go through that manual starting at page 16, go through every item for your setup and install. Then go through the programming and make sure all the options match your hardware setup (speakers, remote head, etc.)

I think I found that for you. I wanted a copy for my records. I keep a collection of Kenwood radio programming software, even for radio models I don't have. Yup! I had a used TK-3180 once that showed up with the SJ-180 firmware. Lucky for me the firmware update feature was enabled so all I did was load the new firmware in the radio and used KPG-89D to program it. TK2180K_TK3180_7180_8180_V122_035C_Firmware.zip

No, I forgot to count 3 more remote mobiles I have, and I just picked up another one yesterday and it's on its way on the little brown truck and that will make 16 total. Not sure why I bought it other than it's a great little compact radio which I'll end up using it as a loaner for my radioless Jeep and Porsche Club friends on Trail and driving tour runs so they don't have to use their useless CCR radios so they can have radio communicatioms in the group.

I keep coming back to this thread because it’s only a matter of time and one of you will tell us you wear your wife’s shoes around the house.

Just another Tuesday at the MyGMRS forums..

There are some problems with your logic. First.. Amateur radio rules have exactly zero to do with GMRS rules. Don't waste time comparing them. Second, we (members of this forum and the GMRS community) have been debating on the rules and requested verification from the FCC if linking repeaters over public internet for the use of simulcast is within the scope of rules or a violation. There are several contradictions and vagueness in the rules about network connections that the user community just can't say for sure and the FCC is refusing to comment. (plenty of posts here about that) Last... this wasn't an FCC action. It was reportedly two people (FCC employee and a GMRS repeater owner) who are either friends, acquaintances or have some type of professional association, and the FCC employee started some unofficial communications with the GMRS repeater owner. It's unclear if it was a warning or a courtesy from an acquaintances/friend, or if an agent was subverting processes due to some pre-existing work relationship. In either case, there will not be any official documentation in the FCC database. Also, I personally am aware of several people in the professional comms world who are aware of this situation and asked their FCC POCs about this specific situation, as well as GMRS simulcast over public internet, in general terms. Those FCC POCs are refusing to comment on anything. Until formal action is taken and it ends up in court, everyone is just guessing at the regulation.

I don't have any DMR repeaters to use it on. HT to HT simplex on DMR is fine. Analog thru repeaters or to my Motorola XTL1500s on simplex works fine. Wish they were >1 W but even that 1W does a surprisingly good job thru a decent repeater. Audio is great.

Put in place centuries ago for the specific reason to make lawyers rich with the right manipulation over the years. (QUE: X-files theme jingle)

DORKS.. The politically correct term is radio-DORKS... "Radio geeks" is offensive and hurtful to geeks.

@wqnd300 and @WRXP381 You both are being obnoxious jerks. @Lscott has just as much right to be here and talking about what digital might bring to GMRS as either of you. He brings much more intelligent discussions and less judgmental rhetoric than you also. If you don’t agree with him, that’s no problem. He and I have disagreed about digital modes also, but it’s easy enough to disagree without becoming disagreeable.

That is really weird to hear. The REACT team in the DCA doesn't own a single repeater. I don't think they charge to be a member either. That would be some shady stuff... for sure.

This cannot be stressed enough. People routinely talk to the space station using 5 watt radios and it’s more than 200 miles away, but there’s nothing in the way.

I always tell those clowns that while I am an honorably retired cop, I will not contribute to them because most of these organizations speak out against restoration of our gun rights, such as "Constitutional"/ Permitless Carry bills. Funny, they never try to argue. They just hang up on me.

I didn't realize the bushing was incorrectly installed until I was poking around and checking grounds. The bushing in between the cable grounding point the bracket was an obvious clue.

Poppycock! I for one think that more threads with links to those videos are what society and the world needs! Think of the children!

Hello all, do alot of offroading and our group is getting to big to stop and talk so decided gmrs is the way to go, just got my license and bought a pair of baofeng GM-15pro. Plan of getting a mobile permanent one for the jeep at some point but figured i would cut my teeth on these 1st.

Welcome, Leo. Nice review. I suspect you’ll find that you seldom use it as a base station and instead just use your handheld radios to talk through it to other radios. That’s an ideal use for a personal repeater. Let us know which location you decide on and how it works. And feel free to disregard wrxp381’s negative comments. Most of us do.

Never mind that other users in a local area of a linked repeater might want to try and communicate using 50W simplex or via a repater but multiple or all (of the eight available) 50W/repeater channels are clogged up with the same people, having the same conversation about raising chickens, fishing, cooking beans, or whatever. This is a waste of scarce available spectrum and terrible stewardship of the available channels for GMRS.

it exist already, it's called ham.