wayoverthere

I've got 2 of the main 3 covered: Picked up a ft-5dr on black Friday, primarily for APRS, and very recently grabbed a ftm400 (while I still can, to have a mobile with APRS) DMR is well covered between the btech dmr 6x2, the Moto xpr6500's, and the Vertex evx's (all handheld) Also have p25 covered on both 2m and 70cm, again handheld. The digital landscape here is mainly DMR, with a little p25. I think there may be a c4fm repeater nearby with minimal activity, and one aimed for a few towns over that I haven't actually heard yet...we'll see what i can pick up when I get the mobile into the truck.

Looks like the bottom of page 24 has the info you want. CA-MDF, CB-MDF, CC-MDF, and CD-MDF choose for each of the 4 display slots if they display frequency,channel number, or channel name

I'll have to remember those for next time I'm up that way....didn't get much chance to play radio the last time, but didn't catch much on the handheld in Walnut Creek. Poking at the CARLA page I noticed they're now linking with SCARA as well to cover some of the further north parts with VHF.

Or Carla #6 and Carla #36, operating at 1 watt http://www.carlaradio.net/thesystem/systemdetail.php?sysid=06 http://www.carlaradio.net/thesystem/systemdetail.php?sysid=36

Glad to hear you're back in business! I'm thinking a fresh flash from the software would've done the trick...there's just something in the base 816 configuration the radio doesn't like, so that read first is pretty critical .

I grabbed that out of my folder of radio images, so that may have been a work in progress file (the base read, post reset). I'll try to pull a fresh read from the radio this evening, or I can reset it to stock and read that. In terms of the radio, it isnt actually limited itself, but the combination of it normally having no vfo access in the menu and the software only allowing programming within bounds for gmrs are the limiting factors. It does go into VFO mode when you factory reset in the wouxun software, but thenwouxin software would normally prevent loading any tx channels not in bounds.

had this on my mental to-do list today, as i saw this post this morning, but needed to dig out the stick PC i've done most of my programming with (slowly transitioning to a recently acquired laptop). I think this is the latest version i had loaded, rather than a fresh read from the radio...chirp seemed to limit channel names a little more than the factory software, so i did another read/write with the factory software and poked at the names a little after this. sharing this with the disclaimer that it wouldn't be a 95e compliant configuration, since there's some 70cm stuff in there. i didn't find a clean factory gmrs configuration file, but i may be able to make some time this weekend to flash it back to stock and read that out if that configuration is preferred. Wouxun_KG-805g testing20211224.img

One other idea that comes to mind is what channels this is occurring on. The usual 15-22 (462.575 through .725) are shared between simplex and repeater outputs. One easy reason to be able to hear them at that distance is if you're hearing them via a repeater. To talk back to them through the repeater, you'd need to use a channel set with the appropriate offset and tone for that repeater.

I've had this sitting in my open tabs for a bit to try out https://www.reddit.com/r/amateurradio/comments/vtyqdq/2071_homebrew_6m_dipole/

If that's both radios on the same antenna, coax, etc, where the radio is the only variable, alignment would be my next thought. The line of sight nature of UHF can mean moving the antenna just a foot one way or the other can affect reception though, so.i'd want to rule out all the other possibilities first The beauty of identical models though, being able.to carry over the programming between Them.

I still hear the ID occasionally, but not much actual activity. All I have for 1.25m right now is a handheld, so i haven't tried keying it up.

16/.575 here as well...I have 2 repeaters in range, and a hotel housekeeping on simplex...pl tones are a great thing there. We also have the bubble pack call button pounding kids on channel 1, which is why I don't feel too bad using that as a default frequency for unintended key ups for things I have for receive and REALLY don't want to interfere with.

On a side note another quirk is the scan...needs the mic holder grounded, and stops when you pull the mic from the holder, but it's also dependent on a ground wire inside connected to the hanger pin. It finally came to me the issue I had ..it was a squelch level setting, there's 2 places in the software to adjust squelch, and one defaulted on the high side.

https://forums.mygmrs.com/topic/3939-vertex-standard-vx-2200-and-ce-82-software/?do=findComment&comment=39296&_rid=2738 Here is the post I was thinking of, it was more narrowband not working in that case, and I was wrong on both guesses, it was @PACNWComms

I'll try to get a look at version numbers this evening. As for other possibilities, is the signal you're trying to receive wide or narrow? the other thought to look at is squelch level and tones. I have a vague memory of running into something similar with one of mine, with it not receiving, and it did end up being something small and seemingly silly in the settings. One other thing I have a vague memory of (I think it was @Radioguy7268may have mentioned it, or maybe @Sshannon) of there being some problems with the filters on some of the vertex radios. Ill see if I can find the post.

I must be in a bad spot, or need to move my antenna. Heard a couple blips with no audio, but otherwise nothing.

Yep, it came through, thank you. Haven't tried hitting it from home yet...my "shack" is a pair of monoband vertex LMR decks, so I'll need to dig out the cable to load the new channel (at least until I shuffle radios again) I CAN hit the CARLA machine okay, and can hit it better on the mobile, so I should be able to get into the PAPA machine as well.

On another note, I discovered PAPA now has a repeater on Joaquin Ridge near Coalinga, in the same general area as one of the CARLA sites (#15)..was picking up a new signal recently, and discovered it's a PAPA machine that went up in September.

Yeah, unfortunately we don't have a good equivalent to the SWCRS here in CA. On the ham side, outside of CARLA, I don't know of any that have the same level and breadth of coverage. The WIN system covers more area, but not as thoroughly. N6LYE has some coverage into Sacramento, but not much north or into the bay that I know of. There's also WB6ECE and W6DXW (Salinas Valley Repeater Group) covering the bay area and down the central coast, and a bit of the valley...I know the SVRG Fremont Peak machine can be reached from a fair bit of the sierras, both east of Sacramento and down into central CA.

Both of my wouxun handhelds do this as well, both the kg805g and the 2m/1.25m version of the uv7d (was eyeing the 6m version too, but scored a vx7r from ebay)

The only one I was able to find that isn't emergency use only is https://californiagmrsnetwork.org/ which is mostly in central CA. http://www.barnsys.org/sys_stat.html BARN was trying, but as far as I've seen never got the additional nodes they had on the map as "pending" on the air.

Hm, either I missed that (more likely) or it wasn't there when I looked ?

Ditto...while I've messed with vertex gear a bit (I have a couple 4200's as my 2m &70cm radios, and the 4207 will be taking over gmrs duty at some point, I haven't dug into the DTMF settings at all, and unfortunately have nothing to test them against.

Looks like it's been up and running a bit by the comments, but maybe not networked yet? ? Thinking coincidence, honestly. Pittsburg is NorCal, not far from the San Joaquin river Delta

It's possible. Another possibility (though distant) is that there's another strong signal nearby causing it to desense, and the Midland is just less sensitive to whatever it is, so it can still hear those weaker signals. I think of desense kind of like when you're watching TV, and an ad comes on LOUD, so you turn down the volume....then when whatever you were watching comes back on it's too low to hear.