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Like some of you I usually quote a post or a portion of a post so the context of my comment is clear. On occasion I have written a comment, thought better about it and backspaced to the beginning of my comment to start again. Sometimes I backspaced one too many characters and I end up inside of the quote block. If you add your comment there it’s not easy to know what you quoted and what you commented; both appear within the quote block. At first I couldn’t figure out how to get out of it. It’s not always possible to click below it. But then I discovered that if I just go to the very end of any text or spaces in the quote block and hit a couple of returns, the forum software would move my cursor out of the quote block and underneath it, right where I wanted. You probably already knew this, but just in case you didn’t, I thought I’d mention it.

It's beginning to make sense why you have no friends in real life, and you spend all your time here.

In medicine, we have a saying, "When you hear hoofbeats on the prairie, think of horses, not zebras." which is a way of saying that common things happen more often than uncommon things. In radio, the most common cause of poor range is obstructions, and the way to defeat that is with elevation and a good antenna. There absolutely are people who work the repeater on the International Space Station with a 5 watt HT. The only real difference between them and the OP is what's between the two radios -- basically nothing in the case of the ISS. I'm a believer in approaching anything except an emergency in a stepwise fashion. That way, when you get it right, you'll know what made the difference. And, yes, I've been called a liar for saying that I can work a repeater 52 miles from my house with an 8 watt HT, but I have the advantage of highly favorable topography. Both the repeater and my home are the highest things for miles in that direction. I wouldn't say GMRS can't be a hobby. There are a couple of guys near me who frequently use Ch 19 to discuss their day and what's going on in their lives. They could easily use a phone, but to some of us, a radio is more fun. But, yes, in general, GMRS is a communication tool whereas amateur radio is much more focused on the equipment and how to get the most out of it.

Good to know. I have been on forums so long i remember when i manually had to type in the code with quotes, pictures ect... Now its gotten a little fancy and hides the formula so your tip is helpful. lol

Alas, Wouxun... Ocean did not include the "NotARubi" theme in the KG- XS20G Plus... Plus. In these difficult times "some people" say this is only a minor oversight, but they are wrong.

The technique I described above can also be used to break a single quote box into multiple boxes so that the original statements may be commented on separately. For instance, a series of statements like below: By placing the cursor inside the quotation block where you want to break, and then giving two returns, then backing up to the blank line between statements and giving three more returns, the quote block is divided: Of course the same technique can be used between the second and third statements as well: becomes: So you can reply to the statements separately.

Gmrs is not really a hobby, it’s a radio service hat one uses while doing a hobby. As for clubs I’d start here on this site and check for repeaters in your area. Also if you have line of sight to your family you may be able to talk to them simplex depending on distance and topography as well as radio and antenna

Not all repeaters have squelch tail and some radios have squelch tail elimination. If the repeater beeps after it repeats a signal that’s sometimes called a courtesy beep. If the repeater did the courtesy beep before you got the new radio but makes no sound now I agree with you that you’re not activating the repeater. That can be caused by you transmitting on the wrong channel, being out of range, sending the wrong TX tone, or filtering out the signal by using the wrong RX tone. New radios always introduce new peccadillos. Try getting rid of the RX tone if you’re using one. With no tone you’ll hear everything on the channel. Then double check your channel and your TX tone. Finally, try getting closer. Try the radio that previously worked just to make sure. Good luck!

Not all dual or tri banders are less than their single band sisters, it is just more likely that it is so. I have been lucky enough to get triband antennas that were dead on for the band I used that one the most for. With antennas, there is no substitute for testing in actual use.

Yup. No amount of watts, money, “quality” can make up for location. Antennas help greatly aswell. I can put a good antenna up on a 20w radio and reach much further then a junky antenna on a 50w radio.

Don’t know you but I like you. You say what I always say. This post sums up gmrs. I see people all day long that spend big bucks on 50w set ups, cant get more then a few miles, they come on here and get bad advice and spend a bunch more money on differ lent High priced stuff then quit because they couldn’t transmit 500 miles into 10 different repeaters. Then I see people spending $20bucks on an HT and getting 10-20-30 even 50miles simplex from a cheap 5w ht because they have good height and line of site. And those people get called a lier oh and to the original post… gmrs is not a hobby its a radio service one uses while doing a hobby. Ham is a hobby gmrs is not.

I discovered it accidentally, but it has made my life easier.

This is good info. A much simpler way than doing multiple individual quotes. Thanks for the tips @SteveShannon.

I read about the rash of robberies happening to GMRS users, so I started using FRS instead. /s

Since we've heard nothing about someone getting fined for using a base station when a fixed station should have been used or vice versa I doubt anyone at the eff sea sea is going to be coming knocking on any of our doors to check compliance. It's probably something of a holdover that they copied in for some sort of larger station. I'm not worrying about it.

Hey everyone, my name's David, I'm in West Anchorage. I just got my first radio and license this week, so I'm pretty green on all this. I am into a bunch of the outdoorsy things that we love here in Alaska and wanted a reliable way to communicate on ski trips and such. Trying to learn about repeaters and such right now, it's cool that there's a community around GMRS here.

if you mean as a way to get help if you become stuck or injured then NO.. GMRS is NOT a good choice .. GMRS is great for talking to other guys in your group while off-roading, but in the event of a real emergency where you need assistance or rescue, then something like a Sat-phone, a Garmin InReach or Starlink is advisable.

GMRS band is primarily for contacting people you already know.