pantherpaw9

I may be incorrectly assuming that this is in response to the kerfluffle that occured previously in the post.  I would like to say that I'm very sorry.  I suppose I should keep in mind that not everyone appreciates or understands my humor.  It was honestly an attempt at a joke, and while I will admit, I was definitely being snarky, I truly didn't intend to ruffle anyone's feathers.  I should have been more respectful and appreciative of Steve7010's advice, and I should not have been such a smarta$$.  So when he suggested I was being rude, I didn't respond very well to that either.  I think everyone is "chilled out" now, and Pastor Gary was kind enough to step in and get us back to the discussion.  This occurred over a week ago, so I'm not sure why it's being revived here now, but I thought I would at least make an attempt to apologize here now, so that we can continue with the discussion and solve the mystery of programming the M1225.

In a perfect world some boy genius would market a repeater package with the bugs already worked out. IMO the "perfect" repeater for many GMRS applications would be a weather resistant package consisting of the repeater and hardware hooked directly to an antenna with a short lead and a water proof AC power cord. It would be designed in such a way that it could easily be hoisted to the top of a 100 ft tree or mounted on a tower with the power cord trailing behind. No line losses to worry about but the equipment would need to be of a rugged design that can thrive in an outdoor shelter with no heat or cooling. The light weight exterior would be water proof but allow air flow for cooling. I've seen transceivers build into water proof packages with additional instrumentation and speakers, why not the whole repeater assembly? I'll bet that if someone builds it, they will come. 

Yes, I think so.

CDM1250 will program just fine on either 32bit Win95 or Win XP "DOS Box" using the USB cable. I programmed two of them for a portable repeater I built and sold several years ago.

That video also explained my next forum question topic, which was about bandwidth.  I see now why the frequency needs a defined bandwidth to take care of the deviations from the carrier frequency.  The radio is simply using the deviations from the carrier frequency to determine how the speaker should vibrate.  The vibration of the microphone causes fluctuations in the carrier frequency and these fluctuations are "de-coded" at the other end so that the speaker reproduces the same "vibrations" (sound).  It's brilliant!  I think I'm very close to understanding this entire mystery.  Correct me if I have totally mis-understood bandwidth.
 
So when I hear people talking about how the FCC has narrowed the bandwidth allowed from 24ish down to 12ish, to make room for more frequencies to be allocated for use, this explains why the sound quality goes down.  Because there is less elbow room for the audio signal to be squeezed in.  So its kind of like the resolution of a digital photograph.  The lower the resolution, the less detail of the original image is visible, thus effecting the quality of the image.  This is really fascinating stuff.

HI Pantherpaw9,
I was not able to try and reach a repeater from 285,  After I left home I found out my radio's battery was dead.  Oh well,  I will try again later.

The Midland MXT275 discussion has drifted off-topic to include a discussion of used commercial quality radio equipment for GMRS use.  I thought, perhaps, there might be a benefit to have a listing of specific radios, accessory requirements (programming cables and software), availability and resources.  It would be nice to have this information in a database of some sort, but a thread, perhaps sticky, might also do the job. The goal would be to give people a place too look for options to buying new GMRS equipment.
 
The basic information, as noted above, would be:
Radio manufacturer, model, and, if applicable, variants. Price range for used equipment, and potential sources (usually ebay) Warnings or tips on what to look for or avoid. Programming hardware requirements. (I.e. programming cables) and, if available, sources. Software. Application name; most recent version; download location; and price. (for legally available software only)  Any other usage and programming notes that would be helpful to users. Part95 compliance information. Recent radios discussed were: 
Kenwood TK880-1 (25 watt) or TK880H-1 (40 watt) TK863G (25 watt)  Motorola M1225 Motorola XPR7550 Motorola CDM1250 Motorola HT1250

Definitely try to be ready to take the General in your first test session. If you don't pass it, no biggie. There will always be next time.
You're in for a whole world of fun with your ham license, even if it's just Tech to start with.

You're gonna make a good ham!

That video also explained my next forum question topic, which was about bandwidth.  I see now why the frequency needs a defined bandwidth to take care of the deviations from the carrier frequency.  The radio is simply using the deviations from the carrier frequency to determine how the speaker should vibrate.  The vibration of the microphone causes fluctuations in the carrier frequency and these fluctuations are "de-coded" at the other end so that the speaker reproduces the same "vibrations" (sound).  It's brilliant!  I think I'm very close to understanding this entire mystery.  Correct me if I have totally mis-understood bandwidth.
 
So when I hear people talking about how the FCC has narrowed the bandwidth allowed from 24ish down to 12ish, to make room for more frequencies to be allocated for use, this explains why the sound quality goes down.  Because there is less elbow room for the audio signal to be squeezed in.  So its kind of like the resolution of a digital photograph.  The lower the resolution, the less detail of the original image is visible, thus effecting the quality of the image.  This is really fascinating stuff.

Yes all my friends and family are baffled as to why I have added radio as a new hobby at 50 years old.  I am absolutely hooked!  Fun is what it's all about.  I can't wait to get my HAM technicians license in January so I can join up with my local SOTA group and go up on the mountains and learn all about mountain top activations.  I'd better start studying for my General class so I can get in on all the HF action.

If there's two repeaters with the same tone, using TSql will prevent the other repeater from unmuting your receiver. Simplex activity is probably on a different tone (like CSQ or 67.0) and wouldn't unmute your receiver. If the simplex signal happens to have the same tone as the repeater's output, both will unmute. Not all repeaters transmit an output tone, so some require Tone mode.

According to the Cambridge dictionary, squelch means:to stop something quickly and completely:
One professor claimed that the university tried to squelch his criticisms.
 
So, yes, you are correct!

Just to state the same thing a slightly different way, in case it helps your understanding: Tone squelch is a filter that is applied to the receive side of a radio or repeater. If it's turned on (as it is with most repeaters), the receiver or repeater will ignore anything that doesn't transmit the proper tone. So you have to program the proper tone in your transmitter, or you won't be able to get into the repeater. Likewise if you are trying to call another station that has a tone squelch programmed.
To recap: to transmit to any station or repeater that has a tone squelch programmed, you must have the same tone programmed into your transmitter.
 
Tone squelch is optional. Even if you have to have a tone programmed to talk to a station or repeater, you don't have to program a tone squelch at all. You will just hear any and all signals on the frequency, whether they are transmitting a tone or not.
If you do decide to program a tone squelch, it must be the same one the repeater or other station is transmitting. Otherwise you won't hear them.
 
Personally I leave the tone squelch off most of the time, so I can hear any activity on the channel regardless of tone.

How about video?  I found this on YouTube: https://youtu.be/DAQYfpETDdM

That was a great explanation, and I think it just took hearing the explanation presented in a variety of ways, but I definitely understand this much better now.  This explains why my radio is able to communicate with the repeater without any T Sql settings programmed.  I only have "Tone" selected in my program.  So, if I want to filter any and all other traffic on that frequency, (and only hear signals going through the repeater), then I would have to change my "Tone Mode" from "Tone" to "T Sql".  I can read back in the thread and see now that this was explained already several times but it just wasn't sinking into my thick scull.  haha

Well I was able to reach Sassafras repeater to talk with a gentleman in Cleveland GA today on the 4 watt TERA TR-505 and I was in Gainesville so I was about 30 miles from Sassafras and 10 or 15 miles from Cleveland. I think the problem is exactly like you explained, I’m losing contact with the repeater when the 4 watt handheld is in areas without line if sight. That explains why the radio works sometimes and does not work sometimes. I also have to keep in mind that since the Sassafras repeater is not linked at the moment there are simply fewer people listening.
 
Anyways, my son is coming up tomorrow and he’s going to help me run some Simplex testing around the local Dahlonega area, so that should be even more educational.

Hi Pantherpaw9,
 
The 4Seasons repeater is not part of the North Georgia GMRS network so they would not be able to talk to you on the Sassafras Repeater.   If they can reach the Pine Log repeater from their location, you would be able to talk to each other since the repeaters are linked.  They may be able to reach Sassafras from there.  I can not say for certain, but I think I am able to reach Pine Log from I285 and Roswell road.  With out being in the area I can not remember, getting too old.   Looking at the NG GMRS membership list it appears that you also got the Zello link and they could use that with their smart phones.

I think MURS is 2 watts max.
 
ETA: It is 2 watts.
 
§95.2767   MURS transmitting power limit.Each MURS transmitter type must be designed such that the transmitter power output does not exceed 2 Watts under normal operating conditions.
 
Source: FCC

Wiki has a couple of great fact-filled articles on Squelch systems, CTCSS, and DCS.  It a good semi-technical read, if you are interested.
 
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Continuous_Tone-Coded_Squelch_System
 
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Squelch

No, actually I never used the incorrect 000 500 offset. I caught the error before programming it. So basically I went from no offset 000 000 to the correct offset of 005 000. So technically I was broadcasting my callsign on the repeaters output frequency so no FCC improprieties were executed on this very fine day...LOL. However; You make a good observation sir! So basically I was Simplexing with myself, which is kind of like talking to yourself with radios! As long as you don’t answer back, YOU’RE GOOD!

Just made contact on the Sassafras Mountain repeater to a gentleman in Ellijay, GA so I would like to thank all of you for your assistance and patience with me in solving my startup issues.  I can't say enough positive things about this group and the organization.  I look forward to tuning in to the next NET meeting.

BTW, my avatar image is borrowed humor from a post I saw on here in the General Forum (I think) and I saw a discussion on radio testing and the comment was "test...test..." and it had a link to a video on youtube that showed a Baofeng being set on fire as a "test" and I laughed so hard I almost fell out of my chair.  So I made an image of the burnt radio from a screen capture image.  So I wanted to make sure to not take credit for thinking up that joke.  I hope that user doesn't mind...haha...

It wasn't the PL tones, but it turned out to be the + 005 000 offset that I was unaware of.  I thought the offsets only applied to HAM repeaters, and I failed to grasp that when I did the initial programming.  I used some settings for the offset that GaDalek sent me and PRESTO!  Now let's see what kind of trouble I can get into next (hahaha)...  Actually, I surprised myself, because the offset GaDelek sent me was 000 500 and I somehow managed to figure out it was 1 decimal point off and fixed that part on my own (which is a minor miracle).