GrouserPad

I think I want easier adjustment because I’m looking into a vehicular mobile mounted unit. When traveling it’s rather common to get electrical interference breaking the squelch often enough to be aggravating and a quick reach for a knob is far easier than getting fiddly with menu access buttons and what not. For instance I’ve got a stretch of state route I run regularly that has old powerlines that just bleed noise into the radio frequency spectrum badly…. And when I’m in unfamiliar areas this same type of interference can come and go throughout a days drive. Maybe the higher end gmrs mobile radios are capable of programming a special button to expedite the squelch adjustment process?

I am curious; Why doesn’t it seem any mobile GMRS radio units have a knob dedicated to squelch adjustment. It seems like this would be far more intuitive and useful…. most gmrs units I’ve looked into have a bunch of menu hoops to jump through to access the squelch control gate. And then when you do access it you have to enter your squelch adjustment then exit or save it to see if it’s at the level you want rather than it adjust in real time. Seems like a simple thing that is missing amongst gmrs units. Am I alone in thinking this ?

That makes sense. The local amateur radio club owns the repeater far as I know and does it for a service to the GMRS community as it is listed as open and welcome for use by all licensed gmrs operators. Super cool of them!

I’ve used 2 way communications my entire adult life for work. I’m new to recreational gmrs. Ran radios in all sorts of work scenarios so I guess I’m just unsure of the proper etiquette of gmrs repeater usage as it is new to me. Glad to hear you guys mention that’s what repeaters are for. I kinda assumed they were for making communications when you were in a tough situation and simplex wasn’t enough reach. Maybe I should use my local repeater more. I never hear anyone on it but when I call out a radio check I always get a reply. It’s like everyone is monitoring never transmitting.

Nobody uses gmrs around here that I can tell. I’ve had my ht’s on scan in the car for 2 weeks straight and I’ve heard 2 conversations during my travels. Only way to talk to other gmrs users here far as I can tell is to use the local repeater and I’m Leary of doing that because I don’t want to be rude and tie it up for radio checks and rag chewing.

My opinion on why CB isn’t used is because it’s allocated to a terribly volatile frequency range. 27 mhz is too susceptible to solar skip and this makes the CB incredibly annoying for any individual to use. When all 40 channels are receiving “9db” of a max signal because of radios tx’ing from 1000+ miles away it makes using the cb as a means of local communication absolutely impossible or at best unbearable. I have the patience and “skill” to use cb and get around a lot of the skip most days but that’s because I’m a radio hobbyist to a degree(not an advanced one that is )and I’m willing to learn the details on when the best time to talk on them is and what channels not to pick, as it seems at least half the channels are now designated skip calling frequencies. Anyways that’s my take and as mentioned the antenna length is absurd and nobody wants a 106” whip on their vehicle.

I had something similar happen recently I just received my GMRS license and scanning the band and getting to learn my radios. I kept coming to a frequency that was obviously a VOX triggered transmitter being used as a baby monitor. I’m not sure if people are using FRS radios to do this or not, but that’s where my mind went at first not knowing a whole lot about the imported Frequencies that are being used by Chinese model monitors. This went on for three or four evenings when I would scan the channels, and then on the same channel, I started hearing children talking, which kind of confirmed my thought of it being an FRS radio as they were using it for two a communication around their house from the sounds of it . Seems uncool to run an FRS radio as a baby monitor. That’s just my opinion. And another night I heard a group of children somehow transmitting from a repeater for a few hours. Couldn’t have been over 5 or 6 years old. Curious how a cheap frs children’s talkie could make it onto a toned repeater so effectively.

That works perfectly. I didn’t even think to do that. Thank you very much.

I can edit my email address and my pwd, but it will not let me edit my username. Maybe I’ll try on the desktop computer tonight. Thanks for your reply.

In my haste to create an account on this wonderful website so I can broaden my knowledge on all things GMRS and radio; I used my call sign as my account name. Is there a way for me to change that? After reading through the GMRS BOT thread about personal information I thought it would be smart to probably change my username from my GMRS license how do I do that in my profile? thank you very much appreciate all the information you’ve added to this forum.