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Thank God you have zero authority over who can or cannot use GMRS. There are many people who use it for many different reasons. Neither you nor I have the authority to say they don’t belong.

I dont publish the actual/*exact* elevation of my repeater antenna because its connected to my house and knowing its exact elevation would make it easier for all the mentally-ill people that send me threats to locate it.

The butt-prints smell fresh so your story checks out.

That is correct. There are several other threads that started with someone pontificating about how others use GMRS incorrectly. None of them settled anything. This is one place where GMRS is similar to ham radio; someone thinks their way is “the only right way” even though the regulations don’t support that.

I'm afraid that I am not familiar enough with that topic to make a video about it..

They have a mental/emotional defect that makes them crave power and control - often because in their life, they have none.

Actually, no, the rule is that GMRS communications may not be placed onto a network. That extrapolated into not linking repeaters.

I sign on and off with my callsign and use it frequently throughout the conversation. I don't know why people refuse to believe my callsign is BR549.

What I hear is that one guy is going into town to get parts for the tractor or a load of feed. He and his friend get together on 70 cm DMR for maybe 10 minutes every day just to check in with each other. It’s nice to hear.

A guy on one of the FB Groups for GMRS/FRS/MURS/CB posted: "I'm thinking off throwing out a call on my MURS Radio to see if anyone is around to talk, what do y'all think?" Besides the obvious reply about it being pretty much used for businesses for short distance comms. etc., my question back was, "what will you do for a callsign, given there are none for MURS; 'This is Cleanup on Aisle 9 monitoring, anyone around?' "

I wish it was that boring around here. We have the most uncouth people on the radio around here. One lady got on the repeater (not simplex) to tell her husband to go break-up the kids from fighting because she was taking a crap and couldn't get off the commode.

"Well, you see, little Timmy, sometimes a man buys a radio so he can meet other men and exchange signal reports and talk about antennas." "What about talking to friends and family?" "Yeah yeah, they do that too, but first, let's talk about mag mounts and ground planes..."

Sven, I think you’ve lost your marbles, That’s exactly why we have call signs and why we’re required to use them: to identify ourselves to others and have a way to look them up when we engage in the personal or business activities of “making contact”. Although it’s not explicitly encouraged like ham radio it’s absolutely not discouraged in any way, explicitly or implicitly.

Im often mistaken for an adult because of my age.

This doesn’t sound “utilitarian”. In fact it sounds pretty social. § 95.1731 Permissible GMRS uses. The operator of a GMRS station may use that station for two-way plain language voice communications with other GMRS stations and with FRS units concerning personal or business activities.

That TV does not sound like it's smart.

I just say let them do what they want. It hurts no one. If it annoys you maybe you should work on that. It a style, a personality. Now it they start demanding you do the same then maybe it's them with the problem. If this is their "fun" why should they need to stop. Just sitting here now and someone came on with their phonetic call sign just to say they were on the repeater. Not talking to anyone. Didn't bother me.

@OffRoaderX went far beyond sharing an opinion. I genuinely cannot imagine why anyone would be annoyed by use of the phonetic alphabet unless it's because "some people" think it's a symptom of trying to be a ham in a GMRS community. I think part of the reason hams use the phonetic alphabet so much is that amateur radio is international. It can be pretty hard to understand someone whose first language is not the same as your own, especially the pronunciation of some letters. Just think of how much "B" and "V" sound alike in Spanish. GMRS users almost never talk to someone in another country, so being understood is not as much of a challenge (unless you're in California). Furthermore, shorter wavelengths have higher frequencies, which typically improves clarity in voice signals. Even the difference between 70cm and 2m can sometimes be discernible. If you're playing around on 80 meters, you're going to repeat yourself quite a bit. GMRS, being at the higher end of the spectrum, rarely suffers from poor quality of voice signals. For the most part, if you can punch the signal through, you'll be understood. Simply put, GMRS users don't use the phonetic alphabet because we don't need to. It's easier for me to say "WRTC" than "Whiskey Romeo Tango Charlie", but sometimes I'm going to use the phonetic anyway. I have 33 years of using the phonetic alphabet in uniformed service and I also participate in amateur radio. It happens. I just don't understand why anyone gets their undies in a wad over it.

That's just what they do around here. Its the only way to find out who the smartest one is!

I Would Have To Disagree. Think His Story Has A Crack In It..........

Okay folks... Leo sent me a new SGQ-450D duplexer. We gave this one a tune-up and it's looking good. I am very impressed. First, I swept it while it was factory tuned. It looked really good and if it was mine, I probably would have left it alone. On the transmit side, we had a good notch removing the receive frequency at almost -80dB. On the receive side, the notch looked even better at -85dB. Leo asked me to see what I could squeeze out of it, and I have to say, I am impressed with how well it tuned. On the receive side, we got the transmit frequency notch out -95.5dB. On the transmit side, I was able to notch out the receive frequency -95.5dB. Very well balanced. I recorded a quick video of the sweep showing notching as deep as -100.2dB, which is fantastic. The video demos the benefit of a hi-res VNA (mine goes to 1024 points), the sweep results, and the SWR at power. On the receive side, I was at 35 watts, but when I switched frequency to demo the transmit side, I forget to turn the power down. That SWR reading was at 50 watts, even though I said 35 watts. I really hope this helps someone on the fence about buying a B-Tech repeater or the SGQ-450D duplexer. @LeoG, can you share your opinion on the real-world results?

I will guarantee the FCC knows about all the issues with ham/GMRS radios on the GMRS/FRS channels. Are they going to do anything about it? It's extremely unlikely because the issues are 1) low power, 2) local to a small area, and 3) it's not worth the effort to enforce the rules for something this trivial to the majority of the users.

There are only 3 possibilities: You're on the wrong channel You've entered the wrong code(s) You're too far from the repeater The repeater is no longer online

"Making contacts" with anonymous men certainly counts as a personal activity... Very.. very personal..

Do not confuse me with "some people" who apparently only come here to try and make themselves feel better about spending way too much money on their toys by making fun of or demeaning other people's toys.

That's why I made my comment about people needing to eat a Snickers Bar as they seem to be very hangry over stuff that doe not matter. In the end it doesn't really matter how you use GMRS as long as you follow the FCC regulations and guidelines. Same goes for amateur radio too.

When I'm conducting tests (on air and not into dummy loads) I announce my call sign and "Testing" and when done, my call sign and "Clear". That way if I'm interfering with someone they can specifically refer to me by call sign to get my attention. If I hear a request for a radio check I'll reply with my call sign "copies you 5 by 5" or whatever reception quality I think I'm receiving. There's a couple of guys who rag-chew for several hours on .700 simplex every evening without ever IDing. Most boring conversation imaginable. My repeater ID's every 15 minutes if continually up, then 15 minutes after the last transmission and then goes silent until somebody keys it up again. There are some near me that ID every 15 minutes in both Morse and voice and announce the (incorrect) time regardless of traffic (and I've never heard any traffic other than the automated announcements).

That’s a tee shirt right there!

There's your mistake, right there.

Success! Looks like I may have not been transmitting with the correct offset! I manually input a repeater pair, and got a successful (though faint) signal check response. Excellent. I've just ordered a programming cable so I can go ahead and program in my local repeaters more easily. But, at last I know the radio is working. I appreciate the help and patience everyone!

They'll be a judge to sign a TRO in 3....2....1.....

Overruled!

I agree. Use of the phonetic alphabet important for hams in order to accurately discern call signs for all the reasons you listed. Unlike GMRS logging calls in amateur radio is important. Almost nobody logs calls in GMRS. I would say nobody but there have been a very few people on this forum who have expressed a desire to log calls. But I find it very easy to ignore people using their call signs frequently or using the phonetic alphabet.

Sir, I am a serious Youtuber.. I don't "do" comical videos as they are beneath me and my audience.

It’s simple. If you’re not with a concerned group of people with utility of the GMRS service. Beat it… It’s not a radio AOL chat room. It’s concerned groups and families doing THINGS. Don’t clog up a repeater pair with your money if you’re not with that vibe. The technicians class and the 440 is SOOO available for you guys… And you’re right at home there. You can just pour over your latest dialysis treatments and all the rest, and they’ll hang on your every word. But the GMRS/FRS is just for the groups, friends, and families just trying to keep in touch in the field. It’s wives, 13 year old girls, and dads. If you made a repeater, and this type of traffic isn’t welcome, then actually… YOU need to vacate. Free up that repeater pair for the 5 watt repeaters that actually need to be there..

The GMR2+ is a GMRS radio so you dont have to worry about, or even think about offsets - you just select the correct "Repeater Channel" and enter the TX tone and (optionally) the RX tone.. Steps for that are outlined in your user-manual. HOWEVER - To use a repeater the radio must be GMRS repeater-capable, and based on the Rugged Radio Product page for the GMR2+, it does not appear to be repeater capable - and if that is the case, then you bought the wrong radios. EDIT/UPDATE: After reading the user-manual for you i can see that this radio is repeater capable.. I can also see that this is probably the most confuckulating to use GMRS radio I have ever seen. I give it two thumbs down and would NOT recommend this radio to someone that does not know anything about GMRS, Tones, or repeaters..

I'll add to what Steve posted. Here is a link showing the only authorized channels for GMRS. https://www.buytwowayradios.com/blog/2022/11/list-of-gmrs-frequencies-and-channels.html You can't just pick any frequency between 462 MHz and 467 MHz and use them on GMRS. You have to stick with the designated channels. Midland radios will not transmit on anything other than designated GMRS channels. I have yet to see anyone hack a Midland radio.

When it comes to radio electronics nothing is impossible as long as you have the funds and the know how. It is really basically manipulating electrons and passing audio from one device to another device. Crossbanding in-band and out-of-band multiple radio devices can be accomplished in several ways, audio tie with a logic controller, voting comparator using COR, console patch, or an interoperability gateway. I've designed several crossband package configurations back in the 70s, 80s, and early 90s and some of them have been written up in various trade magazines. Back in the early 80s, I designed an airborne repeater package using a GE Porta-Mobile II Low-Band Radio and a GE MPD Portable with a Sweet Electronics Logic Controller and put it in an Airplane so two vehicles (car on a VHF Highband Channel and a motorcycle on a Lowband VHF) can directly communicate over 15-20 miles apart in hilly terrain while in motion traveling across the State for a special event. "Some People" not in the know couldn't figure how in the hell I was able to make a Lowband radio talk directly to a Highband radio. My answer to them was "I used the "PFM" technology method. I truly missed those days creating solutions like this to make the impossible possible.

Interesting results, pretty maxed out for a "mobile" duplexer. As for your coverage, I have to wonder if your antenna is mismatched for priority coverage. It's not uncommon to go for higher gain, then shooting your RF pattern over your intended close coverage. This isn't an uncommon problem. No doubts that neighbor's household items and the vegetation can be part of the issue, but unless its all pine, I have my doubts that it is the next biggest issue you have to correct/improve.

I'll just say that there are many flavors of the SGQ 450D duplexers out there and this particular one came directly from Btech and who ever they use to manufacture them. The original one that came with the repeater had the same numbers but it definitely wasn't made in the same place. The replacement they sent me and the one I purchased are the same. Thanks again for all your hard work tuning these for me Marc

This is the kind of detailed real world data that's useful.

I am so glad that people don’t act like that here in Montana.

Both MURS and FRS lie just above the Ham 2M and 70cm bands. The ratio between the mid point of the 2M band frequency range to the mid point of the MURS band is 0.953. The ratio between the mid point of the 70cm band frequency range to the mid point of the FRS band is 0.946. It's an almost identical ratio so a simple reduction on the element length would likely work just fine for both to modify a Ham dual band rubber duck antenna.

The MA09 antenna isn't all that bad. I found that mine wasn't really omni directional. We had a wind event and it bent the flimsy bracket I was using. When I used it while it was at a 15º tilt it was working better than it had in a while. I replaced the bracket and all of a sudden my signal went to crap again now that my antenna was vertical again. I had oriented it in the exact same direction because I have a cell phone booster antenna and I keep it pointed at the cell tower on the mast. I got this crazy idea and I rotated the antenna about 10º and reoriented the cell phone antenna and my GMRS signal got substantially better (from my house). Found that really odd that it made that much of a difference. Must have moved one of the lobes and now it's pointed at my house.

to sticky the thread, right?

It's not permitted on GMRS but digital is in no way exclusive to H.A.M.. I do not have a H.A.M.s radios license but my FCC Business License (LMR) lets me transmit digital and encrypted.

Overuse of call signs are the guys that set their auto CW's on their repeaters every 15 mins of the hour regardless of traffic. Especially the ones that have to announce the date, time, temp, and city.. Crazy as hell

It kind of seems to me like so many GMRS users are eager to police what other people do on the air. Why?

Indeed. Our group is 100% open to GMRS users...and nearly half of our group has GMRS licenses. We also maintain a GMRS repeater (SARC 650). It's used every day.

My understanding is that if the radio itself is branded as BTECH, it is contract manufactured for them to their specs (by someone other than Baofeng). If the radio itself is branded as Baofeng (regardless of whether the box only says BTECH), it is a customized model from Baofeng which is usually (always?) exclusive to BTECH. For example, the UV-82HP is a BTECH exclusive, although there are generic tri-power UV-82s. My work on the BF-F8HP Pro (a BTECH exclusive) shows that BTECH is listening to customer feedback (many requests from Facebook, here, and other places) and it has been incorporated into the two firmware updates released so far, with more to come). It is also quite ahead of other analog Baofeng handhelds in terms of features, bug fixes, and programming software (Disclaimer: I write the Windows CPS programming software for the BF-F8HP Pro and co-manage firmware development, as well as dabbling in documentation. However, nothing I post should be considered an official statement of BTECH.) Speaking of the BF-F8HP Pro, if you use coupon code "CPS" at checkout you'll get 20% off (on that model only, and only on the BTECH website, not on Amazon). I should point out that the BF-F8HP Pro is not type approved for GMRS use, but since the equipment reviews rules were relaxed a while ago to allow discussions of non-GMRS equipment due to the overlap between the GMRS and ham communities, mentioning it here should be OK.