LeoG

Tell us how you really feel.

It does not have this capability. The bluetooth is strictly for accessing the programming software from a phone.

Really depends on how you look at it. I have some 5W HTs that can go about 1-2 miles in my area because of hills and trees. I have a repeater 17 miles away that I can reliably hit and talk with my families towns away from me. As the crow flies 5-20 miles. The signal is traveling much farther than from point A to B. And like you said if you were on opposite sides of the repeater in simplex you can't communicate but with the repeater you can. So you can double the range of the simplex or more in reality with the repeater between you at 180º straight line transmission. But if you have a 20w simplex and a 20 watt repeater and you are next to the repeater you aren't going to have much more distance advantage other than the repeater is likely to have an antenna that is higher up. That alone can give an advantage. If you have a 5 watt HT and a mobile RT97S which is also 5 watts using an antenna on top of the vehicle you will likely see little to no advantage in distance if you are near the repeater talking to someone away. But just like the 180º scenario you can double your distance if it's between you.

From the manual Optional Connections 12V Vehicle Power Adapter The KG-XS20G includes a 12V vehicle power adapter for use as an alternative to the hardwire installation. Note: The KG-XS20G typically draws less than 4.5 amps of power when in use on high power. Confirm that your vehicle’s accessory port uses a minimum 10 amp fuse before attempting to use the 12V power adapter.

And that is probably on purpose. Give a broad meaning to something to cover all aspects when you want them to and to give leeway when you choose. That is an illegal regulation. It needs to be very specific and broad meanings that can be interpreted many ways isn't allowed. They do it all the time.

I sort of disagree with this. The custodian didn't get a letter or a warning from the Ef Sea Seas. He got an email from an employee at the Ef Sea Seas. It is not the same thing. He may have had a heads up on something that was going to go down but I don't think this was an official anything.

Ok, I'm starting to think there is an open repeater on RTP7 around here. I don't need a tone to make it ping, and if I put a tone on it, it still pings. Same with RPT6. When I go on the other RPT channels I get no response. So I'm going to try those now. This is weird.

Just took a stroll outside and walked another 560 feet further from the repeater with another drop of 23 feet in elevation and was able to ping the repeater. So now I'm that much farther in the shadow of the hill and still able to ping the repeater. Gotta get that antenna up another 20 feet or so and I think this might be a thing.

In theory the repeater should be tuned to 467/462.550 because that's what the mini duplexer is tuned to. Dropping down one station really shouldn't be that drastic. Originally I started on RPT3 and had the same results as RPT8. I've tried CTCSS and DCS tones and it didn't seem to make any difference. I thought maybe the DCS might work better than true tones. But I came to the same conclusion as you that I should at least try to go through the range of 8 channels to see if there is any difference.

OOOOoooooooo K I've been operating on RPT8 and CTCSS 100.0Hz on the repeater. I noticed some morse code on that channel a few times indicating another repeater in the area. It's very weak and likely out of range. But I can still hear it. So I dropped down to RPT7, same CTCSS and now I can hit the repeater inside my house. On RPT8 I had to walk up the hill to hit it. Now I can do it inside the house. Ummmm.... why? I did try to do voice but it couldn't pass it through. But it really is significant that I could ping the repeater in the house on 7 vs having to go up on the hill to ping on 8. And then we had some storms come through and wet everything. I figured that might kill it off. But I can still ping it in the house.

They even took the 3 repeaters out of the listing here.

I think the intentional service when they put it in there was to have a family system for camping, hiking and maybe on the farm communication. And as with all nerds we go and try to innovate and expand and make it much bigger and better (?) than it was originally intended and the Ef Sea Seas didn't intend for it to be a communications platform, just a means for close communication.

My thinking is more along the lines that something is coming down and they don't want alternate means of communication to be in place. Single repeaters are just that, somewhat localized. The string repeaters cover large areas that are normally covered by more elaborate systems that when down effectively quash communication. Ya, I'm one of those.

Well asking is better than getting issued a subpoena to give up the names. And it also seems like they wanted the names of the people who knowingly used the linked system. That leaves me out. I didn't know anything about that. I was just using the information from here to find systems in the area.

Technically the Ef Sea Seas didn't send him an email. He was given an unofficial notice by and Ef Sea Seas employee that was in the know of something up and coming.

11:19

Thanks Randy

Even if they are gullible enough to fall for it, you don't shut the whole thing down when they are only complaining about a small part of the system. You disconnect the offending part and continue on until notified otherwise. Just to be on the safe side that this is an actual email from the Ef Sea Seas.

I also don't understand why they shut them down. Just shut the linking system down and keep the repeaters working in the local area. You fix the violation, not burn down the house.

So if and when this is found to be fraudulent they'll need an investigation to find the guy who put this fake letter out and took the system down.

Like I said, I was just listening to people that had been using this way more than me. It was my first time on it and I only discovered it was linked a day later when I noticed how far it reached when it shouldn't have been able to. I could only assume these people knew what they were talking about. I had no way of knowing otherwise.

The only issue of calling them is it puts them right in the face of the FCC for them to scour over the situation which is something they may not even know exists if this is a prank/scam.

I was on that repeater when I visited my son. I didn't know it was a linked repeater until I realized there were several of them with the same name. Pretty cool I was listening to Niagra Falls talks while I was near Utica. 166 miles. After I realized I heard some of the members say it was linked by RF. So no foul.

Think he meant here. But you are the queen of GMRS! OffRoaderX I have the Midland MXTA26 and the Nagoya UT-72G and the Midland is a far better antenna for range.

Yep, we have one of those on a repeater making it "popular". But it is fun to hear some of his stories. He did get in my way one time while I was traveling trying to contact a buddy in my hometown to see if we could connect. Between him and whoever he was talking to they left no space between each other for someone to say excuse me, I'd like to use the repeater. By the time they shut up I was at the range of another repeater and used that one.