Goldstar

That has to be entertaining! There’s a guy in my area who is putting out some serious power on CB Ch. 18 and he bleeds over into the surrounding channels pretty badly. I wouldn’t say he likes to hear himself talk, but he makes sure everyone else can hear him for sure. But I’d rather hear him all day than Mr. Down-in-the-Desert.

Freddy Kruger

Good discussions…. For myself, I got started in radio with CB. I had to talk to truckers at my job and the best way to do it was with CB, so I asked one of my CB-using coworkers to set up a “base station” for me. He walked me through some of the basics of radio and it sparked my interest. It wasn’t long before I started researching CB, and, in the process, I discovered a fascinating, powerful alternative called GMRS. I realized that GMRS could help me communicate with my family in several cellular dead zones we travel through (though not perfectly, cf. line-of-sight), and after I started talking on repeaters to extend my communication range (and also to chat with like-minded old-schoolers that use my local repeaters), I was permanently hooked. Now, I’m studying for my Technician license for ham radio and will be taking the test in a week and a half. But even so, I’ll probably use GMRS more than anything else.

Anybody ever get tired of hearing that guy out in the Desert? ”Aaaah, sounds like you’re running a splatterbox—shut up, you windowlicker!” ”I told you, these people don’t have any integrity!” ”Rollin’ and strollin’ down the highways and byways.” ”You all play nice now, okay?” ”I’m down in the Desert now, back to the bench.” Maybe I’m just ignorant but it seems to me that there ain’t no way that guy is operating within legal limits! Plus he just gets on to irritate people…if you listen to him, he isn’t even giving anyone a chance to talk…he “replies” to no one most of the time and repeats the same phrases so often that it sounds like he’s reading a script. Sure, there’s good days on skip when the atmosphere is charged just right. But then there’s those renegades…. Still, CB can be fun when you’ve got your RF gain turned down and your squelch turned up so you just hear the local stuff.

Interesting…thanks for the tip. I’ll give it a try when I get home this evening. It’s currently serving as a base station of sorts.

I use a Radioddity DB20-G. As others have noted, it’s the same radio as the AnyTone 779UV; and Retevis makes a virtual clone. I’ve never tested its power output but I’ve heard some say it’s slightly over 20W and others that it lingers at around 12W. All I know is that, for my own purposes (family travel communication and repeater conversations), it gets the job done very well. Unfortunately, due to its Chinese origins, quality is hit and miss. I have bought three of these units…one works like a charm and has never given me any problems; the other two both had the same issue of sporadic received audio muting: when listening to the NOAA channels, even with a strong signal, the audio mutes itself sporadically for no reason, causing the listener to miss parts of the transmission. I am still in communication with the Radioddity Customer Service team to resolve this issue. The programming software for the DB20-G is cumbersome and no where near as intuitive as CHIRP; but it’s not unbearable. The strengths of my working DB20-G make it my favorite GMRS radio (though I’ll note you can also make it a dual band ham radio through a simple unlocking process, as I have done). However, the jury is still out on the model itself…if Radioddity can resolve my audio issue, I can recommend it even more highly.

Hello, all, I'm in NW North Carolina and I have a couple questions about the regional repeaters here. I have successfully talked to folks on the Stone Mountain 550 repeater (my thanks to TangoKilo and all parties responsible for maintaining that unit) and have made contact with the Kilby Gap 675 unit (though I haven’t talked to anyone using it yet); but I cannot seem to make contact with the Linney’s Mountain or Barrett’s Mountain 600 repeaters. I have programmed the correct input and output frequencies for both units (according to the myGMRS repeater database) but cannot make contact with either or hear anyone on them. I don’t believe it’s a radio issue or even an antenna issue as I have used two different radios (a Midland MXT115 and a BaoFeng GMRS-9R HT) to make successful and clear contacts with the Stone Mountain unit at two different locations that are several miles apart. Is it possible that the input/output frequencies listed on myGMRS for the Linney’s and Barrett’s units are incorrect? Thoughts or suggestions are appreciated. ~ WRWP982 ~