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You might not be sending the tone needed to open the repeater, or You might be transmitting on one of the simplex channels rather than the corresponding repeater channel, or You’re transmitting with 5 watts and a rubber duck antenna from your driveway and transmissions of the people you are hearing are being retransmitted at 50 watts by a repeater from a high gain antenna that’s 300 feet in the air, or All of the above.

The legal requirement is yes, you all use the exact same call sign. You do not need anything except for that. Some clarifications... 1.) There is zero obligation to start your communications with your call sign. The rules state once every 15 minutes and at the end of the conversation. 2.) Your call sign does not need to the the last thing you say. I hear this happen a lot, where people end up saying their call sign 2, 3 or more times in 60 seconds or less. An example, if you ID thinking you are done talking and a family member asks you a brief question, like what time will you be home. Unless you engage in an obvious continuation of the conversation, you do not need to ID again. Meaning if you say something like "Around 4:30". That's it... you are still covered. 3.) There is zero need to append anything to your call sign to differentiate between multiple stations. However, many people do add what is commonly referred to as a tactical call sign to eliminate confusion among the group. For example, if I am convoying and my son is in another car, if I want to call him, ahead of time we can workout that I am Mobile 1 and he is Mobile 2. So, if I call him, I can say "Mobile 2, this is mobile 1. Do you copy?" and that is perfectly fine. When we ID, I can (but not required to) ID with my FCC call sign followed by my 'tactical call sign'. An example would be "WABC123 Mobile 1". Hope all that make sense and helps.

I sent an email recently asking for the basis of the line a restriction. Not due to my doubting of its validity but from curiosity due to Canada now using the frequencies listed as prohibited for their GMRS service and to see if the fcc had plans or if it was just a relic on the license. Dear FCC OMR, I am inquiring as to a discrepancy in the license provided for General Mobile Radio Service, Title 47 Part 95 Subpart E. Line A is mentioned on the license issued for GMRS prohibiting certain frequencies and I am curious as to the current code reference for that text as quoted: "Exception: Licensees who operate North of Line A and East of Line C may not operate on channels 462.650 MHZ, 467.650 MHZ, 462.700 MHZ and 467.700 MHZ unless your previous license authorized such operations." I was unable to find any code in the current eCFR Title 47 Part 95 that this exception refers to. Although I am aware of similar restrictions existing in Part 97 and Part 90 regarding other radio services but neither of those contain code that reflects a range that includes the frequencies referred to in the GMRS license restriction. Is there a current code reference that could be provided for that restriction? " I got a very nice email from the FCC in response. "Good Afternoon, This email is in response to your inquiry below. When you applied for your GMRS license in the Universal Licensing System (ULS), the application process required that you certify that you would not use the channels below when operating above Line A or East of Line C (see the snippet below from the reference copy of your application). This requirement was originally put in place due to incompatible uses in Canada. 95.309 provides that the operator of a personal radio service station may be subject to operating restrictions if the station is to be operated in certain locations described in the rules. We are evaluating if this restriction is still necessary based on Canada’s current usage of the channels. With that said, your license is currently conditioned to restrict use of these channels North of Line A and East of Line C so you may not operate on the channels in these areas as long as your license is conditioned with this restriction. I hope that this helpful Joshua Smith Assistant Division Chief Mobility Division Wireless Telecommunications Bureau " I think the important part here is that they are reviewing the current restrictions. Which gives me hope for a potential laxing of that rule. But for now Line A/C restrictions remain.

And how come the lines aren't in order? As you go north, it's A,B,D,C instead of A,B,C,D. I mean, the real question is how can we trust they made good decisions when they got the order of the alphabet wrong?

To add to what @marcspaz said, you may want to think about how family members sound on the radio. My father has passed away but while he was alive, he and I sounded exactly the same on the radio, phone, intercom etc. The same was true with my mom and my sisters. The additional unit number or whatever you want to use can be helpful in cases like that.

No.

I agree that the 771 antenna, be they Nagoya or Abree, should be all you need. For what it’s worth, I did the Nagoya 771 and 701 on some of the Baofeng handhelds I bought. The 771 outperformed the 701 as expected. Then I read about the Smiley Antenna “Slim Duck” and picked one up. I found it performed as well as the 771, but was significantly more compact. This in the foothills on the west side of the Cascade mountains in Washington State. I like the Smiley enough to have one on my Icom ID-50 too. Happy Hunting!

@amaff good info, thanks for sharing. I think manual programming is something we all should become familiar with on our radios. It can be quite confusing and it's nice to have it figured out before you are out in the field or after a hurricane and need to make an unexpected change.

look at the repeater coverage map here at MyGMRS to see if there are any other repeaters listed. monitor the repeater frequencies for a few days to see if you hear anyone.

Keying the repeater is just "using the repeater" He wants you to ID with your call sign when you first use the repeater and then again when you are done using the repeater. If you are talking with someone a long time, every 15 minutes you need to ID using your call sign. That's just standard FCC protocol. Radios are capable of putting out multiple sets of tones to activate or ID or call another radio. And there's a thing called a Roger Beep that usually goes off when you release the PTT button to let the other party know you are done talking. It takes the place of saying "over" at the end of each conversation. Since you are new to the radio world it's very doubtful you have any of these programmed into your radio other than the PL tone which is used to activate the repeater.

It’s not even possible. They are not licensees. You are authorizing them to use your stations and you are required to have them identify according to the rules Marc mentioned earlier. You are entirely liable for them following the rules.

Just for fun, I punched these in on 1 of our TD-H3s. So, this isn't a feature exclusive to expensive radios. Tho I did notice you had to do Rx first before Tx. First time I tried it, I set the Tx first then the Rx, which changed the Tx to match the Rx. If I set the Rx first, then the Tx, both stayed where I wanted them. So, order of operation might matter on your radio as well.

Excellent, thanks. I have a TID H8 in GMRS mode that I've programmed with the local GMRS repeaters and started showing my wife how to use it.

Height is might doesn't mean a longer antenna, it means get up above the terrain, because the real rule is that if two antennas can see each other, they can communicate. And if they can't, and the reason is due to terrain, lots of buildings, or dense forest, they may not be able to communicate. In this case, a longer antenna might not change much for you other than making your radio more particular about being held very close to vertical.

It came up during discussions of people I know who live above Line A who asked me and so I asked the FCC. I also was curious and I read through a couple of related treaties and regulations on the origin of those lines. Its relatively interesting. It got to the point where I was like I really want to see the code reference here. It had nothing to do with questioning the rule more to do with where does this rule still live.

I've had this one for a long time, and it still works -- only 4 memory channels and 2 meters only It still works but has no PL so I use in on simplex most of the time. Yaesu FT-207R

@WSEW953 In the end, you will just have to do some practical testing in your area of operation. There are just too many variable for anyone to predict for sure what your propagation will be like. @dosw idea of starting off inexpensive is not a bad idea. You will learn a lot in the process and be in a better position to make a good decision on a more expensive radio. If the vast majority of your coms will be between some point and your house, you could set up a decent mast and antenna with a base station and possibly achieve what you are looking for without use of any repeater.

Also, be aware that repeaters have a 467.### input and a 462.### output. The repeater output frequency matches up with a simplex frequency. As a result, you can here repeater traffic on certain simplex channels. Don't try to program a simplex channel (1-22) to access a repeater. It must be the appropriate repeater channel (23+) which will have the appropriate +5 offset.

There’s something that some people do when testing to see if they are on a repeater. It’s called “kerchunking” and it simply refers to clicking the PTT without saying anything, which caused the mechanical transmit/receive relay in older equipment to make a clack-clack or kerchunk sound. Most repeater owners (and many people who monitor the repeater during the day don’t appreciate that, so this owner is gently urging people to identify themselves rather than simply kerchunking. So, simply say “WSEZ526 testing”.

Ya, that can be annoying when you set the Tx first and the Rx wipes it out. But that's the nature of the radio when programming from the keypad. If you do it from a computer or bluetooth you don't have to deal with it.

Introduced the HOA to GMRS and it was well received as an all-else-fails comm backup. We agreed to use a specific channel and establish a net protocol if the internet goes down -- which has yet to happen.

I have the same exact radio and antenna, which I have tested in my local urban environment with some so-called mountains in several directions. I did some testing with a buddy, and found the combo to be perfectly acceptable. Pretty consistently, in different directions, we could communicate just fine out to about two miles. To be fair, this was not with both of us at street level among buildings, but we picked our less obstructed areas, and sometimes it required just moving one radio 20 feet. We dropped pins on googleearth from each location so we could accurately review the facts. By doing so, we could see the change of elevation at some locations, as well as how much of the mountains were between our locations. In other words, you splurged $50 on a pair of radios, so take Pops out, drop him off at the shack, then take a hike/drive to do your own testing from various locations you expect to traverse. THEN, if results suck, you have a reference point and can decide on the possible value of additional expenditures, as well as provide clear data for discussion here.

Most do, it’s sometimes called “cross”, but if you just turn off the receiving tone you don’t need to do a split.

Good evening folks, I'm just looking for some advice, and hoping you can educate my ignorance. I bought a set of Baofeng GM15 pros a couple of months back to get into GRMS, and I'm loving them (see the other post I made a few weeks ago). I think I've gotten a pretty good grasp of how the settings work, what frequencies I need to use for certain aspects, and have picked up several conversations in my area of construction workers going about their day to day. Pretty cool. Now on to the next step. I bought the kit on Amazon that came with the standard antennas, but also with some Abbree AR-771 GRMS antennas. I have been using the 771 almost exclusively, and they seem to work great around where I live. I bought these radios with the intent of being able to keep in contact with family members during hunting season as we live in West Virginia (keep that in mind), and we hunt in a area that has yet to be graced by the wonders of cell phone technology. My father is too old to venture into the woods much anymore, so he sits in a hut he built in one of our fields, and I'm not getting any younger, so I figured comms may not be the worst of ideas. Now like I said, this is West Virginia, and I hunt down in the mountains. I won't be too far from the old man, a mile at best, but I'll be in the woods, maybe in a hollow, or on a ridge, hard to say. I'm wondering if the 771 antenna will be ok, or if there is something I should look for otherwise. I've tried doing research, but every video has a different answer. One says "height is might" so if I want to go that route, I can get a decent folding antenna, again from Abbree, that fits my radio, is tuned to GRMS, and unfolds to 42.5 inches. Another person says that in hills and dense areas, a low gain antenna would serve better, so maybe I need something lesser in size and the smaller rubber duck that came with it would be better? What says the hive mind? Just a little more information to add, my dad should be golden in his shack. I also purchased a nagoya UT-72g for my Jeep, mostly because I kept hearing it mentioned everywhere, and I figured it would be a good bridge to allow me to use my handheld radios in my Jeep until I decide exactly what I want to purchase as far as a mobile unit goes. I'm going to take that antenna since it has a magnet mount and stick it to the roof of Dad's shack. That way he has an external antenna and shouldn't have any interference. He won't even have to open the door or anything, and we cant let the heat from his propane heater out now. And lastly, there's a repeater that I can tag onto with a pretty good success rate not terribly far from where we will be, but if I'm down in a hollow, well we all know that success rate will drop.

There they are.

Hmm... that really is a head scratcher, eh? I will chalk it up to that magical and mythical "Government Efficiency" thing I always hear about.

My old stuff from the 80's. The emergency CB kit has never been used. The others are in mint condition and they all work perfect.

Excellent! Yep you never know until you actually try. Glad it is working for you!

Awesome. Good you got that sorted out. Welcome to the hobby and the forum!

Why would a GMRS user in Utah care?

So, update. With the rubber duck, on a BAOFENG gm15Pro, I was able to reach the repeater 13 miles away, and speak to someone who was about 17 miles from that location

The Roger Beep may be on by default on your radio. Function shortcut F+7 toggles in on and off.

Educated! Thanks so much for the kind replies. I'm on my way!

That's an interesting response. Expect any change to take decades. The US is still bound by international agreement with Canada, anything above line C, exceeding 5 watts ERP, must be coordinated with Canada, regardless of FCC "service" (industrial/business, public safety or federal) or end user. Page 10, item 4 (a): https://transition.fcc.gov/ib/sand/agree/files/can-nb/above30.pdf This is why there is a Line C comment on itinerant business licenses over 5W stating "Location X Special Condition: Area of operation is restricted to south of Line A and/or west of Line C" and the note on itinerant business licenses of 5W or less stating "Operation on this frequency is on a non-interference basis to Canadian operations and you must accept all interference from operations in Canada. Licensee is responsible for resolving any complaint of interference to Canadian systems arising form operations on this frequency, including, if necessary, cessation of such operations." After discussions with the FCC, it's a Catch 22, because itinerant cannot and are not coordinated by definition, thus you are stuck with the restrictions. This is the same with GMRS, without revision to the previously coordinated 50W channels, or reduction of the allowable power to 5W, we are stuck with Line A & C. I can wish it would be changed, I don't see it happening. It does beg the question of why those 2/4 frequencies were not previously coordinated, as well as the itinerant frequencies, but the Government rarely makes sense.

Always wide band.

Thanks guys for the advice.

Put your radio on scan and listen to the repeater channels making sure you have no Rx tone encoded. The stations that seem to have no traffic are probably good. Look at the repeater list here and on a few other websites that list them to see if there are any known site near you (35-70 miles) After you find a channel that seems unused in your area hang on that channel for a week to see if anything comes across. If you can hear one sided conversations it's likely not a repeater and just people on simplex. It also matters what you think your repeater range will be. If you are sticking it on top of a mountain and plan on a 50-200 mile circle then you have more to worry about than if you plan on putting an antenna up 50' which will limit your range considerably.

Before buying a nice, expensive KG-1000 Plus and a nice antenna, get an inexpensive Baofeng UV-5G Plus kit that includes a 771G style (longer) antenna. Get to high ground in your area, and try to hit that repeater. BUT, if I understand correctly, a repeater has advertised a range of 35 miles, and you're 20 miles past that. My guess is you're not going to reliably hit that repeater. However, you can set that radio to scan, and leave it on for a few days (in its charging cradle). If you hear traffic that sounds like repeater traffic, take note of the channel, and then start doing some research, or reach out on simplex in hope that someone will be listening with an open radio (no tones). That way you might find a repeater that isn't listed, and can discuss access. Once you've found actual access, you can spend on the KG-1000 Plus. If there are no repeaters, you may be better served by going for an amateur Tech license, because there ARE 2m/70cm repeaters in your area: https://www.wr9g.net/links/repeaters.html (Looked up your town via callsign lookup)

No

Did you sign in to the main site ? Its the same login but different location. The forum has nothing to do with the main site for login.

Thanks guys. Sounds like I'm about as set as I can be. I'd like to do some experimenting prior to my actual hunting trip next month, but I live on the other side of the state for work. If I can get a weekend free, I'll pop down and try it out. I appreciate the feedback!

Some think it tilts the steering wheel up and down.

I think he’s saying to install the firmware for the UV-13 Pro into the GM-15 Pro, and then you would be able to load configuration files created with the UV-13 Pro.

It's just two channels over from the baby monitor net, one down from the Tuesday Mr Microphone Simplex group. MURS net? That's the Walmart all hands meeting. Sorry it was just funny. You should be able to scan for it Monday.If you don't hear it, it's because it's too far away, and MURS doesn't have repeaters. You're allowed external antennas with MURS, though, so you might try using one, and getting it as high as you can. I imagine people doing a MURS simplex net are tinkering with external antennas to see what kind of range they get. Can you get to higher ground somewhere close, like an overlook point? That may help in hearing it so you can ask the participants a few questions. Also, if you hear it mentioned in the GMRS net, you could check in with that net and ask for more details.