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Stop with the negativity. We all know that you are just a hateful rude person with no friends. You really need to pull your head out of your forth point of contact and then see a doctor so that your headspace and timing can be reset. And to answer why someone would want to listen to the NOAA channels, the internet might go out during a bad storm or the person might be somewhere that there is no internet or cell service.

Is that what you kids call it these days?

Okay, here's a silly question. Why can't the collection and use of gmrs radios be a hobby? Folks will say they're for use as an adjunct to other "hobbies" such are hiking, off roading, fishing, hunting, etc. But I'd bet more that a few folks here have considerably more radios than they actually need for these activities. The whole programming thing seems to be an area that sounds hobbish. Then you get into setting up and maintaining repeaters. Other than for your personal use that sounds very much like a hobby. GMRS clubs, well that's definitely in hobby territory. Personally, I'm looking at it as just another hobby for my retirement years. Another new field to study and learn. And actually for the most part cheaper than some of my other hobbies.

In reading threads here I’m left with the opinion that some of you guys have never seen a woman naked.

Although GMRS regulations constrain us to transmitting on one of 30 designated frequencies, some GMRS radios allow us to program those frequencies into empty memory channels in our radios so we have more memory channels than just the 30 frequencies. In that sense they truly are DIY. Fortunately we no longer need to polish our own crystals.

Not exactly progress in my book. But it's a start. Got the tracking # for the antenna and waiting for the cable to be shipped. I assume a few days for that to be assembled since I'm having the ends put on it. And then the big wait for the bucket truck to become available for my use.

The "Digital Transition and Public Safety Act of 2005" mandated that TELEVISION move from Analog to Digital, to free up space for public safety. It did not mandate that public safety move to digital. Either you misunderstood your friend or he is misinformed. Federal grants for new communications systems mandate P25. That doesn't mean a new DMR, NXDN or analog system can't be set up, it just means that system won't qualify for those grants. There is nothing "illegal" about analog or non-P25 digital public safetey radio systems.

Why? If they are using narrow band FM they’re OK. The government recommends P25 for communications across agencies etc. However I’ve seen more smaller departments going with NXDN since it was cheaper than P25. Plus they has little to no need to communicate with outside agencies.

If they happen at night, would they be considered "nocturnal" ? Asking for a friend...

You’re exactly right. I asked a while back (slightly tongue in cheek) “What if my hobby is talking to people on the radio?” Unfortunately there’s always someone who thinks they’re qualified to dictate how someone else enjoys their life.

One other factor would be the individuals own sweat. The "salinity" of folks sweat varies. We ran some tests using a conductivity meter across the palm of numerous folks and the numbers were all over the place.

I'll let you in on a secret - if a Lovense toy is turned on but a) isn't connected to a controlling Bluetooth phone / etc. and b) doesn't have a password set (no password is the default and they don't explain why setting one is a good idea), they're discoverable via BLE (they will all be named "LVS", the firmware version, and the short product code for the device). Get a BLE scanner app for your phone and you'd be surprised how many of these are around and broadcasting. Since they're broadcasting, it's OK to monitor them with a BLE app. Installing the Lovense app and actually connecting to one of them would most definitely NOT be OK.

He's referring to the RT97L, 50W GMRS repeater. I'm curious - was your 40Watt repeater new, with a warranty, is it FCC Part 95 compliant, did it come pre-programmed with the GMRS repeater pairs, was the duplexer pre-tuned for GMRS, is it portable, and water proof, and does it automatically heat up to remove snow/ice when used outdoors in cold weather?

Just FYI, New repeater will be online soon near the cross roads of rts 51 and 48 in Elizabeth. It will be on 462.725 with pl tone of 131.8 Hopefully online by April 5th 2025 Hope it will be of use to the gmrs operrators out there. Now Online and open for your use.

So this weekend was the first time I had really interacted with folks doing POTA. Generally speaking, they were coming in here to Delaware at 5-7 on the S-meter, with periods of QSB. Which is understandable as they were probably operating at around 10-20 watts, I would guess. I had about 20 QSOs with them. BTW, my rig is 20 watts. My question pertains to "Activating". What does that even mean? What are they "activating"? Thanks in advance.

I will share my experience as soon as mine arrives.

Pretty much the name of any bill is the exact opposite of what it actually will do.

One is dyslexic.

Something in the 50s, yeah.

Activating a known state or Federal Park in the US, that's already recognized as a POTA site.

Yes I am aware of that. I've seen clubs setup in Walmart parking lots during summer field day for the public exposure too.

Yes is it only a joke, most of the time. I will mess with friends on occasion that work at Walmart.

Isn’t that radio inhibited from transmitting above channel 54? Or am I thinking about a different radio?

I'm really hoping that's a joke.

And Walmarts on the air!

Well I can tell you that not all have switched over to digital modes. The Montgomery County Missouri Sheriff department and Mexico, Missouri Public Safety (fire and police) most definitely are still using analog. And again a lot of the rural/small town volunteer fire departments around me are still using analog. Now the MCSD is currently in the process of switching over the state wide trunked P25 system. But they are still currently using analog at this time. And even the Mo Highway Patrol still have analog radios in their vehicles so that they can still communicate with agencies such as the MCSD that are still using analog. We were listening to a car chase on Interstate 70 in Montgomery County just yesterday afternoon. MCSD and MoHP were using analog radios the entire time. MCSD is on 158.730 analog and Mexico Mo PS is on 155.925 analog.

They are activating a park. If they receive a certain number of contacts (10) while operating from that park they have activated it. It’s all spelled out on POTA.app. https://docs.pota.app A successful activation requires a minimum of 10 QSOs from a park in the designated list within a single UTC day (Zulu day). Courteous activators will still submit logs for unsuccessful activations to ensure their hunters get credit for the QSOs. Multiple activities at the same park in the same state/province/entity and the same UTC day count as a single activation, provided that the ten or more QSOs combined were made.

As always.... Thank you for the info. I keep learning more from you guys every week!!!

I can activate my stove if I put my 5 watt GMRS near it. Only on 467MHz though. And my neighbors motion activated light is activated by my 20 watt mobile, again on the 467MHz frequency. Not sure but my base station doesn't seem to turn on the light and it's the same radio I have in my truck. And I have headlamps that will turn on or change over to flashing if already on and my Fein vacuum sometimes gets activated. I don't think it's from SE's, I think it's from the direct output of the radios.

We were running under our call sign of W0CSR. We mostly worked 20m, 40m, and 80m. 10m and 15m was pretty dead. Most of our contacts were on 20m and 40m. And KOR is definitely a valid call sign. KOR has a New Florence address but is actually located south of there closer to Big Springs. He has an old 100 foot cell phone tower setup and runs a 1500 watt amp all of the time. He actually lives in another state and remotely operates his station most of the time. He does come to Missouri for special events and such. His station is in a remote part of the county in the river hills and the road to get there is more of a goat path. We could have used a 1x1 call sign but we have always just used the club's call sign.

1x1 call signs are typically used for special events and issued for less than 1 year at a time. Sometimes they are only issued for a few days. However, if no one else asks to use the call sign and the person currently holding it asks for an extension or re-issue, its typically not a problem for the current holder. Because there are so few of them, those of us who do use them, will coordinate among ourselves prior to going to the actual/formal coordinators.

I have a couple Repeaters programmed in my Baofeng AR-5RM radio now. Reached out to a local contact who took me to GMRS school yesterday.

While it's a good question and one that can be fun to ponder upon, I let the people that get paid to worry about these things earn their salary. Of course you'll always have your traditional forum creatures with way too much time on their hands worry about splitting hairs that nobody cares about.

Fair question. It must be okay because the FCC specifically mentions it. “GMRS and the Family Radio Service (FRS), which share many of the GMRS channels, are intended for individuals such as family members and friends, scouting troops, emergency response groups, and hobbyists to communicate with each other over short distances, directly or through a repeater station. Linking repeaters, via the internet or other networks, undermines the purpose and usefulness of the GMRS and FRS.”

Only for some people.

Didn't know Spurtious Emissions caused woman to be naked. Good to know.

Oh Boy. I think I know where this thread is headed.........

There are not 54 GMRS channels, there are only 22 with an additional 8 (Typo Corrected )repeater channels, that's how the FCC made it and the H3 can do simplex and duplex for accessing repeaters in GMRS mode.. if you can't change the settings you need with the the radio then use the odmaster app or the computer software is real nice. Well laid out.. and if you still have issues just unlock the radio and program the GMRS channels manually! Hold ptt, *, and turn the radio on then tap 3 for unlock.. then you have GMRS, and 2 ham bands.. just don't transmit on ham channels till you get a ham license but you can listen to anything and you can transmit on any GMRS frequency... Really easy to program them it took me litterly 5-10 min and I'm using 2 local repeaters and all 22 channels and even have access to all 5 MURS channels.. so no limitations! Now the TD-H8 has 1 limitation! It's a 10 watt radio but even when unlocked it still backs down to 5 watts on the GMRS channels, and 10-12 watts on the ham channels... Oh, and with the newest firmware for the H3, you can unlock transmit for 200mhz, 300mhz, and 500mhz along with being able to listen down to 18 mhz! Including cb

Do you have a GMRS radio? If so, set it to scan channels 1-22 with no privacy tones. If people are using GMRS and they’re within range, you’ll hear them.

The Wouxun KG-935G and 905G both have group scan capability. Or the 935H if you want the HAM version.

I get what you’re trying to do and I wanted the same. I created a list of all the repeaters in my region, and those in the areas I travel frequently. I wanted to create groups to scan my home area, plus groups to scan other regional areas when visiting those areas. It’s true there are only 22 channels, but I wanted different area repeaters with their respective tones, so I wouldn’t need to fuss with it and could dial in a channel (that I named) and go to town. Now keep in mind, it’s technically not legal to use a Ham radio to transmit on GMRS frequencies, but I’m pretty sure you can listen with whatever you like. ;-) I didn’t find a “legit” GMRS portable, but the Icom ID-50 can do the job nicely. It’s expensive, especially compared to the China made stuff, but it’s legit quality. It has 500 channel capacity and can be programmed easily into groups using RT Systems software. I initially created two groupings, then expanded to three. You can have up to 100 in a group on the Icom. The software on device allows you to chose the group you wish to scan, or scan all groups. You also have dual watch / dual-scan options. Having recently got my Technician Ham license, I’ve since updated groups. If you understand the rules and chose to color outside the lines, you’d find the Icom products really really nice. I also like that it can charge in the car with USB-C. Best of luck with your search.

Pick up a used Xpr 6550 for $125-200 bucks and assign what you need to zones, and just turn on/off your zones from the front panel.

Look at the Kenwood TK-3170, but only 128 channels and 128 zones. It also has Part 95 certification. I carry one of these around for UHF Ham and GMRS. It uses the typical K1 type plug, like most or the Chinese radios use, for programming and speaker mic accessories. https://forums.mygmrs.com/gallery/image/263-tk-3170jpg/?context=new

As I said and I'll say it again not everyone is into Ham and I'm getting tired in people keep pushing ham to GMRS users that have no interest in doing so. Just leave us alone about Amateur Radios PLEASE!!!

Unfortunately, I hear more unlicensed business chatter than GMRS license holders making random contacts - would be nice to see that change considering the money I put into setting up a base station. I have been monitoring most of the day and heard a man tell a couple children NOT to use HIS business frequency. Jerrod (J-Rod) Grand Junction, Colorado WSBY849

Can you hear anyone else? Can you communicate with the FRS radio? Put them both on channel 15 (462.550) and start pushing buttons. Hang in there Frank. You'll get it working. Feel free to check here for more info.

WSHJ950, nice job. Most of us knew what you meant. Learning how to use repeaters with their radios is a stumbling block a lot of new users encounter. So I am glad things seem to be working out for you.

It will transmit and receive on all GMRS frequencies 1-22 plus others you program. Not sure what 55 and up means. Love my H3, definitely the best radio by far in its price point.

Is anyone else here running an H8 and randomly have the radio make a beeping tone and then display "P call" on the display? I see nothing in the manual that calls it out.