Northcutt114

It is. And they call it a "tactical unit number." I have no idea what is "tactical" about it.

So, I've done some research and I can't figure out what a "tac number" is. There's another metro area repeater that is not part of their network that has also asked me for a "tac number." I assumed it was something GMRS related that I was too green to understand. It is unique to them? As to Zello, I don't think so. I heard some guy the other day saying that he missed it. I guess I'm a little late to the game as I didn't even know what Zello was until a few weeks ago. I downloaded it and put it on my phone for about 10 minutes before I deleted it. Couldn't figure out what I would use it for.

Indeedily doodily. What gave it away?

Ok, cool. So it is a game. You've been very helpful, Midwest. I appreciate it!

I know that none of you will care, but I'm listening to the paid-for repeater tonight and this guy just keyed up, ID'ed himself as new to group, gave his tac number and callsign, and then asked for a radio check and then roger beep. I should mention that the club has a "no roger beep" rule on the repeater. A couple of seconds go by and this other guy keys up and gives him the appropriate feedback and signs off. Original guy keys back up and thanks other dude and then signs off. Roger beep. About ten seconds go by and this third guy comes on, completely unsolicited, and tells the guy to turn of his roger beep, there's no roger beeps allowed. You should know that if you're a member. Turn it off. A few seconds go by and new guy kerchunks the repeater and roger beeps again. I spit water all over my desk laughing. Carry on...

I lived there for awhile. Married a local girl and still have family in the area. It is kind of amazing to me that there isn't one. There's a large HAM community and when Hugo and Matthew hit, they were instrumental in getting help where it was needed. GMRS just has never taken off in the area. My father in law's best friend is a HAM and has a whole outbuilding dedicated to it. He thinks GMRS is a "toy" so, there's that.

I'm certainly and self-admittedly new to all of this, but I wasn't even aware that one could test the SWR of a handheld antenna. I'm running a Nagoya NA-771 on my 5 watt HT. I don't have any scientific data, but from a bit of practical testing, I have found that range is much improved over the OEM rubber ducky. I am roughly 40 miles - as the crow flies - from a local repeater and I hear it clear as a bell and have, on two occasions, hit it and gotten a response on that HT with the Nagoya NA-771. I suppose the stars were aligned just right because I have tried several times since and not had success. I was never able to hit it with the rubber ducky on.

I watched an HRCC video last night and he talked about HAMRS. Thanks for the info. You mentioned "park to park." I've overheard Mike on Ham Tube Radio use that language to. The idea being that you aren't talking to a base station in someone's home? Helping activate from another park is preferable than getting a contact from someone at home? Is that the gist?

I appreciate the sentiment, however this ole boy is done summiting. I spent the better part of my early 20's on the Appalachain Trail and a large portion before and after that climbing. I'm more looking for Beaches and Plains on the Air at this point.

As someone whose end goal is to RV full time in retirement, I feel like this might be my focus when I enter the world of HAM. I appreciate the insight.

I agree with @UncleYodain that I would change the name of the thread. Assuming you are looking for GMRS repeaters, I don't think there are any. At least none that I can find. There are a good many HAM repeaters in the low country, though. If you're on facebook, maybe this group can help you?

OK, so it's about what I thought. Do you have any insight into the "app" they use?

Can someone explain to me the purpose of POTA? I've been watching Mike on Ham Radio Tube and he's had several videos up where he is using various objects as antennas for his G90. I understand that there are "hunters" and "activators" and that the goal is for the activator to go into a park of some sort and get a certain amount of contacts in a certain amount of time and then that is plotted into an app of some sort? Simple question, is this just for the gamesmanship of saying "I can do it!" and it's something HAM guys do for fun? Or is there a broader sense to it in that they creating a map whereby other HAM people will know that contact can be made from this location to that location? And in that regard is it prep for a grid down situation? Or am I reading too much into it? I've been all over their website and still don't really "get it."

I understand your position. But in our case, it makes sense. We can currently sort of daisy chain comms as Steve lives about 3 miles south of Bob who wants to talk to Billy who lives 3 miles south of Steve. Bob calls out for Steve who relays it on to Billy. But if Steve would just put up a repeater, Bob could get Billy without bothering Steve. The spot we have to put up a repeater is above the line of sight of all trees and buildings in the area so while it won't get us to the moon, we feel confident it will link us all up.

I, unfortunately or otherwise, do not have a castle atop a golden hillside. It's a split level in a depression, surrounded by foothills. I can hit their repeater to get over the hills but within the bowl, my friends and I are trying to put something up to link us all without having to simplex around the bowl, relaying messages. We wouldn't and couldn't compete with this other local group. Our thought is, though, if we can take our traffic off the mountaintop and keep it in the bowl, it's a win-win for everyone. We don't have to pay and they have more bandwidth to talk about smoking meat, going to Wally World, eating at Sonics, and talking about the good old days of CB and sending postcards. Or whatever it is they talk about. But your point is well made about the rent/lease of a repeater. I had no idea it could be that expensive. Dues, at that point, make sense. Like I said before, go easy on me. I'm new.

I'm currently looking into it, actually. A few of us, actually. And we're looking at the Retevis RT97L to do the job. The problem is that they have the high ground; literally on top of a mountain on a tower. I've been around long enough to know that you're being sarcastic, but explain it to me like I'm five years old. What are the costs associated with maintaining a repeater? I know you did it for awhile. Am I naive? $600 for the RT97L, another grand, say, for a good antenna and some coax. Mount 'er on a pole and voila? Fix stuff as it breaks? I assume, for some, there might be a lease or rental for the space on a tower? That wouldn't be the case for me as a member in our group has space for it on his property and is willing to host it. Tell me, Queen of GMRS, what am I missing?

Forgive me, I misspoke. You are, as I presume is usually the case, correct. To the last part of your post, I think the issue that most of the people local to this group have is that the group doesn't publish any data regarding their intake and expenses. I'm too green to know if that's a requirement or not, but they hold Thursday night nets and do them live on YouTube and their production studio looks like it would put an NFL TV trailer to shame. People wonder where all that money is coming from. Not to mention one of their senior member started an online radio sales company and advertises for it over the net every week. It's...odd, to say the least.

Agreed, but, they did so knowing that the "airwaves are free." There's a very large group in my area that is currently charging to use their repeaters. I'm wrestling with it because I understand that someone spent significant time and expense to put the repeaters up, but I also realized that GMRS, by definition, is a public service. It seems counterintuitive to me.

It seemed...I don't know? Appropriate?

I think it largely depends upon the repeater. Most are maintained by an individual or group. Ascertain from the owners what the their terms of usage are. If it is a repeater listed here, contact information can be found by clicking on the repeater. The more, I suppose, unpopular answer is that you really don't need permission. Certainly civil behavior might imply that you should obtain it, but there's an equally salient argument that "mUh fReE aiRwAvEs" or something.

Direction set to "+" correct? I had a few issues with the offset not saving and I realized that I had the direction set to "-." Not sure if it will help, but that was my (limited) experience. Best of luck to you!

My initial set up involved the top of my Big Green Egg, a cookie sheet, and the mag mount antenna. I was able to hit the repeater but my traffic was unintelligible I was told. That's when I went to the Jeep hood. It terms of elevation, the repeater is roughly 800' higher than I am at about 40 miles away. Looking at a topographic map, I was surprised this morning to see that I do have a relatively unobstructed line of sight to it. I mean, Obviously I can't see it 40 miles away, but from my elevation at about 800' and it's elevation at about 1600', there's not much between us and with the 3db gain on the Motorola stubby, I guess it gets "up" there well enough. I'm still in shock, honestly. I had zero idea that GMRS could go that far....especially not a 5W HT and slapdash mag mount on my Jeep in the driveway.

Well, in case anyone is waiting with baited breath, I did it. Turns out I had my tones wrong. With a 5w HT and a Midlands MTX-25 stubby attached to the hood of my Jeep with a mag mount, I was able to hit the repeater and get a contact. Repeater is roughly 40 miles from me, as the crow flies. I am absolutely gobsmacked I got it to work.

I thought that, too. I'm currently using a Midland MXT-25 Ghost antenna on a magnetic mount attached to the cap of my Big Green Egg. It's on a deck about 15' off the ground so I'd say it's 20' in the air, which I know isn't much at all. I'm surrounded by Army Corps property and pine trees but have nothing but clear sky over head. Using this set up, I can simplex roughly 3 miles, but that's with an HT and a rubber ducky so I'm not really sure how many fars I'm getting as I lose TX from the other person after 3 miles and so they come back. I guess I could get them on a cell phone and just keep driving until they couldn't hear many anymore...but haven't tried that.

OK, here comes the part where the new guy learns something, I guess. I'm on the simplex channel that I hear the repeater on. Or at least I was. But then I learned about offsets, so I programmed in a channel with the RX frequency of the repeater and set an offset for 5mhz higher, still no joy. Repeater is listed with DCS tones. I have tried both with them programmed and without and still nothing.