jsneezy

I still have yet to receive a response to my request. I've been on Pinal Peak lately.

I'm starting to wonder if it's something wrong on site with the repeater. Maybe one of the storms we've had caused some damage to the antenna or cable? I was headed east on Cactus from a friend's house in Peoria, and what I was hearing on the mobile was kind of in and out. I used to be able to hit it pretty reliably from inside the house with my HT, and now it's hit or miss. It's also sounding pretty scratchy when I'm listening. I really miss having access to both of the Towers Mountain repeaters. Those 2 probably have the best footprint of any of them in the state, including the 2 I've used on Mt Lemmon.

As far as I know, Shaw Butte hasn't changed tones. I think he's just been turning it off at times due to someone constantly disrupting. One of the rumors that I've heard is that he knows who it is, but I don't know if anything has been done beyond that. I've had a request in for Towers Mountain 600 since May of this year to hopefully get the new tones, and have heard nothing back. It's a shame too, both that and 575 have some amazing coverage throughout the area.

I hit Shaw Butte a little while ago from San Tan Valley on a Boofwang UV-9G with an NA-771G antenna. It's definitely still there. I know it sometimes gets shut down for a little bit when the drama ramps up, though.

Have you tried any of their other repeaters, any of the SWCRS repeaters, or one of the several open repeaters around the Phoenix area? Shaw Butte 725 has very good coverage.

If it's an antenna similar to the NA-771G, I had to sand down the inside of the antenna opening on the case to get mine to fit. There's a few videos on YouTube about it. I used a piece of sandpaper for a small sanding drum for my Dremel to open it up. It only took a couple minutes.

I came to this thread expecting a "Ghost Busters" response. I'm a bit disappointed. Have you talked with anyone on your local repeaters? There is likely to be someone there that can direct you to someone who can help you out. Someone had to climb somewhere to get the antenna up for the repeater you are listening to, after all.

Negative. I has Boofwang and Radioddity. Also been thinking about getting a Wouxon (Ocean).

I have the exact same radio, which came with that same antenna. The adapter would be useful if he expects to change the antenna out a lot, since SMA connectors can be pretty fragile.

This OP reads like the rantings of someone who got a pinned comment on one of his videos.

In the picture he posted, there is a stock antenna on an adapter. That antenna is SMA.

Double check your tones. I was on the mobile out of town a few weeks ago, and tried hitting the local repeater there. Somehow, I managed to mix up the split tones for the repeater and couldn't hit it. It wasn't until I got home and double checked the Radioddity software that I realized I had the right tones saved, but they were backwards. Also, just to rule it out, I would try putting the antenna directly on the radio rather than having the adapter(s).

That seems like it would be too logical. Then again, some of us have learned to tune out the parts we don't want to listen to. My wife calls it selective hearing. Apparently I only hear what I want to. I guess "just do whatever you want to" doesn't actually mean what it sounds like.

How far away are the closest repeaters? I've been able to hit some around 70 miles away with my UV-9G both with the rubber ducky and NA-771G.

The Queen has spoken.

I don't have a problem with paid access to a repeater or a system of repeaters. Your equipment, your access to the site, your choice kind of deal. I'm just irritated that some of the best open repeaters in the area are going private and paid access because someone or a few people want to be children and cause problems.

He owns a few repeaters. I think Diamond Point is his as well. I didn't know Towers 600 went private. As far as I can tell, it's still using the same tone, at least from my HT sitting in my bedroom as of now. I'll go request permission before any further use though. I don't want to make things worse than they are with everything going on with the repeaters up that direction. Since I live in San Tan Valley, I tend to stick to Pinal 675, Mt. Lemmon 650, and webhiway-tucson 725, for the most part. If work takes me out that way, or if the other repeaters are quiet, I'll monitor Shaw Butte or Towers 600. Maybe a PTT-ID system like SWCRS is using on the Pinal repeater would be beneficial on Shaw Butte. It would at least filter out anyone not using a specified and allowed PTT-ID.

The other pictures my wife captured were very similar to the one I posted last night. That one just had the most color in it. I don't think we are in the best area to really get any better pictures, but I had seen some really good ones from all over Arizona.

That's essentially the Towers 575 repeater that was mentioned previously. That particular repeater has a massive coverage area. There's also Towers 600, which is in the same general vicinity with similar coverage, and is still an open system. But lately, I've been noticing a couple to a few people bickering and arguing a lot on the Shaw repeater. There is another local repeater on the same frequency pair as Shaw, but it's a private club repeater. And yet another open repeater on a mountain outside of Tucson that also has a massive coverage area, but I never notice any traffic on it. At the end of the day, I wouldn't be surprised if Shaw ends up going private with paid access like Towers 575 did. The "temporary" shutdowns with Shaw seem to be more and more frequent over the last few months. I've also been noticing that there has been a lot of bickering and arguing between some of the people using it, while using language that I wouldn't want my young daughter listening to.

My wife is actually out taking pictures of the Aurora now, just outside of Phoenix. If she gets anything good, I might post one up. So far all she's sent to me just looks like a giant flood light behind a mountain.

Looks like it, too, suffers from the only complaint I have about my Boofwang UV-9G. That belt clip design is pretty annoying. I have considered talking to a friend with a 3D printer to see if they could design one that wouldn't allow the radio to swing around so much while I'm out moving through brush during hunting season.

I'm not 100% sure, but I believe the Mesa 725 is set up at someone's home. That particular repeater is the reason I wish there was an output tone on Shaw Butte. When I'm monitoring, I can never tell whether I'm hearing Shaw or Mesa.

I would have thought more of their repeaters would have some kind of backup, but that may also be dependent on what's available at the site the repeater is set up at. Generator and backup systems can get pretty expensive.

Also both Towers Mountain 575 and 600 and Diamond Point 575. I think a few of the SWCRS repeaters do as well. Possibly Shaw Butte 725, but I could be mistaken on that one. I'm not sure how many of the AZ GMRS Club repeaters are on battery backup, as I haven't joined.