TrikeRadio

You all need to stop rag-chewing and chatting about this subject here on the forums because that is not covered in Part 95 and is not allowed you know.

So... if three out of five do not open the repeater... and you think it might be a PL tone issue... it kinda sounds more like a problem with your setup than the radios themselves. Or maybe you are actually hitting the repeater but just not hearing the squelch back. or you are "testing" by listening to the repeater with one H3 and transmitting to the repeater with the other, but the two radios are too close together so they are de-sensing each other. too many variables to give you a single answer without more information. But for you to just say it is the radio's problem seems a bit more like your frustration speaking than what the actual issue is. 1. how do you know that they all are "transmitting"? just because the screen shows the bar going across or do you know they are transmitting? 2. do you know if they are all transmitting at the same output power levels? 3. have you cloned the working radios to the "not working" radios (using the wireless cloning feature) to assure they are all setup exactly the same? 4. are you using the same antennas on all of them? 5. are you using stock antennas that came with the radios? (In my experience the stock antennas are ok... but not best... )

I created and 3d printed a holder to go on the vertical bar on my ride... also made a wooden box to keep some of my radios, antennas, and other junk in.

I like how you have the batteries stored right there but not connected to the radios.

I always use GMRS properly. I Never, never never put the antenna in my mouth when I push the transmit button.

I had trouble trying to get an Arcshell AR-5 (which I assumed was just setup as an FRS radio because it was supposedly a "no license required" radio that a friend bought on Amazon) to communicate with my GMRS radio on simplex. the big assumption was that the channels 1,2,3,4... up to 16 I think were FRS/GRMS channels/frequencies. but when I downloaded the programming in CHIRP... they were frequencies all over the place (NOT FRS or GMRS at all) So, while you may have checked or turned off all the CTCSS or DTS codes... you might want to connect it to CHIRP or it's propitiatory programming software and download it's programming. Confirm that the frequencies assigned to channels actually are FRS frequencies.

Here is a funny idea... put that pie pan you were using between the car roof and the antenna and see what you get. Seems like that roof of your car is not working as the ground plane .. but your hood is.

if you are within .5 - 1.5 km of each other you probably do not need a repeater at all. Get GMRS handheld radios (or mobile for your cars) - pay the $35 for 10 years license and talk simplex (radio to radio) without a repeater.

If you look on the map of repeaters here on myGMRS.. there are at least two or three repeaters that cover your area pretty widely.

I guess. For someone who knows how to program them and use them I suppose they are useful. For the regular joe schmoe who buys it cheap off Amazon and just uses it or hands it to their kids... they are going to be spouting transmissions all over on frequencies that are not permitted except for Ham licensed or other licensed users. My gripe is not really with the radios per-se.. more for hte fact that they sell these to unsuspecting consumer level users who have no clue about what they are doing.

Yeah, that is why I set them up with FRS frequencies ... weird that it was SOLD that way on Amazon without any information about it! These radios are sold to unsuspecting consumers with no knowledge of radio, or how to program them (they don't even come with a programming cable or a way to change them from the face of the radio!). Consumers who know nothing about radios or FCC requirements are buying these things!

Yeah, which is weird that they sell these on Amazon as cheap unlicensed walkie-talkies with no mention of licensing!

Not sure... I don't have them anymore. Gave them back to my friend who bought them after setting them to only transmit as FRS radios. They will likely never use them for much more than that.

possibly... i tried setting those on LOW power for the channels, but still would not transmit. However, seeing as how it does not seem to have any restrictions about what out of FRS/GMRS frequencies it transmits on, I don't know why it would enforce the half watt FRS/GMRS restriction on those channels. it will transmit out of FRS/GMRS bands - some seem to be Marine Radio bands, others probably HAM or business bands and at least one or two I think are frequencies for the UK but not the US. The frequency/channel assignments are all over the place, and I know that the friends who bought them have not modified them... they are not tech savvy and did not have a programming cable or even any idea that these could be programmed with a computer.

Some of the friends who go cycling with me use FRS radios for communications during our group rides. We usually use an FRS/GMRS channel with a CTCSS tone. Usually this works fine between FRS and GMRS radios we have, but one of our riders bought an Arcshell AR-5 which would not communicate with other radios in our group. I assumed it was just a regular cheap FRS HT, but when I downloaded its factory setup into CHIRP it came up with this weird assortment of frequencies (and preset CTCSS tones) assigned to its 16 channels - most of which are out of band for FRS or GMRS and none that actually match FRS/GMRS frequencies! It's a 2 watt radio and also has a removable antenna, so it is like a weird not quite FRS, not quite GMRS mutant, and for sure not on any frequencies it should be on for an unlicensed transceiver! I was able to change the frequencies in it to use legal channels for 1-7 and 15-22 but it would not even transmit on legal 8-14 channels (like the firmware was not allowing it). Weird junk radio. Anyone else ever seen on of these? How can they even sell these legally on Amazon? Does anyone know if these frequencies are for some other country? UK? Europe? Elsewhere? (image shows what was in the radio when I first downloaded it on the left, compared to the legit GMRS frequencies on the right)

Fair enough.

Any success yet @iyakonboats ? any other ideas?

Another thing you can do, remove the RX tones on both radios... jsut keep the TX tones for the repeater and see if that lets you hear your transmit to the repeater coming back in the other radio.

he did say he was getting a squelch tail back from the repeaters with each radio when transmitting... so that seems to be working

hmm.. if you followed the instructions on that video for both radios, and are getting squelch tail response from the repeater on both... then I am not sure why you are not hearing your transmit from one to the repeater and back to the other. Have you just tried calling for a radio check with your id to see if someone else out there can hear you and respond?

can you reverse the process? use the other radio to transmit and see if you get a repeater squelch tail noise back on that one too?

Does your radio have a setting to turn ON repeaters? (Some do, some are set on automatically without a setting) also... there are usually pre-set SIMPLEX GMRS channels that only do simplex... an then above channel 22 there are repeater channels for those same frequencies... what channel slot are you useing? if it is below 23 you may not be able to hit a repeater.

if your two radios are too close together when you test hitting the repeater, they could be desensing each other. Move them apart... like across the room if necessary... or get someone else to monitor the other radio further from your transmitting one.

Agreed, if it does not say there is an output tone for your RX... you should only put the TX in. If they do say there is an RX tone on the output... well then you can choose to put it in to ONLY hear things from that repeater.. or leave it off to hear anything else that might be on that frequency as well.

Personally I find the squelch tail burst of static almost more "unpleasant" than a beep... but I'm so used to either of them that it really does not phase me or matter to me anymore. It's just part of using two way radios at this point.