Durake

Dallas County REACT has intermod from an 400MHz trunking system every now and then, not too bad but it does get annoying. Seems like the same situation there.

I got my M1225 35 Watt Repeater setup for me. I'll get a link when I get home. It included: 2 Motorola M1225 Mobiles (20 channel version, 20 channels = 20 different tones for input and output.. ) Celwave Duplexer (tuned to GMRS) Power Supply (car charger or wall plug) All cables supplied It was put into a little tool box, plug and play operation, all I needed to get was a antenna. In terms of getting it to repeat he wired the back of them together, I bought online a plug you put into the back of each and it has a hang timer, although I'd rather get a real RICK to do some of the cool features. All for about $330 not including the antenna, but he did provide free programming.

If your telling me the brand spanking new radio I bought from a Motorola Radio Dealer is stolen because it has MDC, check again.. Most of my radios have MDC loaded.. lol.

Idk about y'all but I have my XTS3000 set on some local ham repeaters as well as the calling frequency set for transmit and I'm curious how many others have this set as well. Because in the event of an emergency I'm not going to sit on my computer and uncheck receive only and then plug in the input freq and tone However whenever I do monitor the ham band I turn on the Transmit Inhibit feature from the concentric switch just as a safe guard.

I agree with you 100% Jim. I don't believe there is any reason to encrypt all the PD and FD talkgroups full time. In fact I think it would be harder for interoperability, I know we don't have any portable repeaters or anything of that type if something does happen though. So think of all the departments with the talkgroups in it, and depending on how often they rekey them using otar can get annoying, I can think of a few work arounds I mentioned, like the 7/800 IOP channels or have a dedicated ICS talkgroup, or even have encryption as a selectable feature. I wish they'd see our side. I know the world has changed quite a bit these past few months in regards to Law Enforcement, but at least leave FD open.. I mean I get the BIOTEL, Arson, etc. But I mean I used to help with the local scanner page and ride around and report calls, now their shutting down because of it.. How do we keep the citizens informed if the traffic is encrypted? They gave us no options.. And the relationship we have with them is incredible.

I love his antennas! I've ordered lots. I'm looking into making my own for the fun and learning of it. I couldn't hit a GMRS Repeater about 15 miles away with a 25 watt base unit with an antenna about 8 foot up, but when I got Ed Fong's antenna, I put that up in a tree about the same height as the other antenna, and with 4 watts, I could hit it and receive it clear as day.. And nothing was wrong with the base or antennas, I tried 2 different radios and 3 different antennas, and 3 different locations, Ed's antenna worked great, and I appreciate the hours he spent with me on the phone talking about repeaters and the process of building his and everything.

I love how with almost every thread there is some kind of humor.. Like the "State Forestry Division" encrypting due to "Bigfoot sightings" lol. Thanks y'all. Hopefully I'll get to meet with them again once the system is complete.

I was kinda confused! I figured thats what you meant!

Dang.. I will have to invest in one! And a 15' antenna? YES! I'll look into getting one!

Dang.. I'll have to take a look into that..

AHHHHHHH I was talking to my dad about the EMP and CME thing yesterday.. Quite crazy..

I'm sure this has topic has been on here before, but hear me out. December 26th, 2015 my city was hit by an EF4 Tornado, and guess what the first thing was to go? The Power.. Your probably wondering where the encryption part comes in right..? Let me put this in order for you. I have a Motorola XTS3000 800MHz Model II that scans my cities Public Safety Trunking System, So I was in my room as usual, playing games and talking to friends on Skype, when I noticed the lights flickered, at the time I didn't think much of it, then it happens 2 more times within 3 minutes, so I get up and go to the living room and see my parents and my older brother watching the news. The weatherman is stating there is a tornado watch for Dallas County, and this thing was far away from my city, I live in Northeast Dallas and he was reporting the storm in far South Dallas, so we didn't think much of it, and I go back to my room playing and talking to friends on Skype. A short 10 minutes go by and the power goes out for about 5 seconds then flips back on, I opened the door to my room and my dad and brother were opening it just as I was, and said "We're getting your bed and moving to the laundry room!" Before leaving I grabbed my Motorola XTS3000, flicked it on and then ran to the laundry room, passing by the living room I see on the TV it says "Tornado Warning for Eastern part of Dallas County" and continued my way to the laundry room, mom was already in there and my brother and dad got back with the mattress and we all sat down, power went it again and we began listening to my radio as it scans through PD and FD talkgroups, we hear: "40 hold all traffic, 50, I can still see it, looks like its North of 66, still East of Dalrock" "500 to all units, be advised we've lost power and our phones in here, we're going to try to get some off duty employees in here to help us out!" then FD tones out the FD for an entrapment and the reply is "Firecom from Station 3 be advised the station does not have power--" and then he literally cuts out During this whole time we have NO Cell Service, nor do we have any AM/FM Radios to listen to the weather service, so here we are, stuck with my 3000 listening, trying to figure out where this thing is, and guess what.. That radio may have saved our lives, think of someone equivalent to us out there, with either a scanner, or some type of device to listen to the PD/FD.. That may have saved their life. Lots of cities came from all over to help out with the disaster. Then the next few months pass and I set a schedule to meet with the city who runs the system and talk to him and his team about the new system that is coming up and ask them specifically what the backup plan was if the current system went down, great example was the tornado. Anyway, the whole deal is that my city is encrypting ALL of their talkgroups, PD and FD, all of them, every single one of them.. That is what they decided. Yes I 100% understand the things these officers go through and the risk they take, I back them up 110% but to encrypt FD? Like, I submitted an FOIA Request to gather the radio audio, and heard they told all the stations of the weather situation, so when you think about it, that could save someones life, by listening to that broadcast, as the power was down, so no way to look it up on the internet or receive updates. I suppose they assume everyone has an AM/FM Radio? I mean we did at the time, lost in the garage.. Lol.. What do y'all think about encryption when it comes to Public Safety Communications, because think of if they were encrypted when it hit.. And don't even get me started on encryption when it comes to Interoperability, I suppose that's where the Statewide 800MHz IOP Channels come into play..

I've always been recommended LMR, I suppose depending on what type it could be "bad" for portable repeaters, I've only ever had one person tell me to use RG. I'll have to try it sometime.

Everything's bigger in Texas, glad to have you.

I agree with Steve, although I usually will monitor CSQ and transmit 67.0, we have a lot of users on FRS, so many they stretch over to GMRS, unlicensed. Most use 67.0 so I'll yell at 'em to get off the freq, or toy with 'em and give my callsign on a different tone. I'll reprogram today with all on CSQ, I like that idea. And let me know how you like that TR, I've been wanting to get one!

I was talking to some operators on the Dallas County REACT System and they said there is a form on the ARRL website that you can put in your callsign and it will print up a paper to give to your HOA stating the laws regarding antennas, they said something about a legislator passing something that allows Ham and GMRS Operators to keep their antennas up, because when the Public Safety Systems goes down? Who do ya call! Lol. I've tried looking and have only found more details regarding the passing of it. Maybe someone can find it? If I hear them on today Ill ask for more info. Otherwise I've heard them talking about using a push up pole and put it up at night, although I'd get tired of doing it every single night..

I've been waiting to do this for a while.. My Middle School was on GMRS so I explained licensing and all that, thankfully they cooperated by switching over to FRS, if not I probably would've gotten suspended for setting up a simplex repeater so they hear themselves repeated, but with what was going on back then and still these days with school shootings that probably wouldn't have been the smartest decision..

Thanks!

When I try to setup my coverage on my frequency it says "* Frequency not allowed for this account *" How could I put it on GMRS? Closest thing is 450

I'm checking out the tool your using right now, the Radio Mobile Online

Hello.. So I've seen a few post here regarding groups of users not using their GMRS callsign but instead using a "tactical" or "alias" in place of it. I went to my local REACT and they stated they are covered under their old grandfathered license, could this not be the case for anyone else? I have yet to see it mentioned.. Its just assumed they are in violation, haven't seen anything mentioned regarding the possibility of groups using a grandfathered license. For example, I'll go to Walmart every now and then and play around with the employees on their MURS frequency, I've heard multiple times they have a grandfathered business license, so even though MURS is now unlicensed, they still have "priority" as they have a license..? Am I making sense? Lol.

I use MDC with the last 3 numbers of my callsign as well. We have a REACT Repeater here they've opened up for non member use and occasionally you'll hear: "SQUACK-SQUACK-SQUACK-SQUACK-SQUACK-" just over and over again.. Lol. Sometimes I'll hear it on DPD, I'm sure the Dispatchers get tired of it.. I heard it one time last for about 3 minutes straight, Dispatch trying to talk over them: "Units, check your mics!" and it just kept on going.. "All units go to channel x" Looooord man.. The funniest thing was the ID on it decoded to 0069 for me..

I could never get that one to work for me, or at least it never seemed like it was. I use http://www.solwise.co.uk/wireless-elevationtool.html for most of my coverage mappings.

Interesting..