kirk5056

"PL Tones do not give you more channels they just cover up other users." Just cover up other users is how you get more "channels". If you define a "channel" as a conduit through which users can communicate with each other with little or no interference. "Little or no interference" is not a bad standard for a $7/yr license that requires you accept some interference as a condition of license. "This does nothing for interference or cross talk.Two or more radios on the same frequency will cancel each other out. the one with the most power will cover up the others." This is true ONLY if two infrequent things occur simultaneously. First, two radios have to TX at the same time. If you listen to GMRS you know even one TX at a time is rare. But that is only part of it. Second, the potential interfering radio has to be closer or stronger than the radio you are trying to hear. YOU can affect both by changing channels. If you do your comms on 1-7 (where no radio can TX more than 5 watts) then the offending transmitter has to be closer to you because none can exceed your radios wattage. This move alone can limit the potential for interference. If both are not present then there is no KNOWN interference. If you are listening to all 22 rx frequencies with out filters so that you can hear the most that you can hear. Then dont complain about hearing all that you DO hear.

If you really hate FRS then use your CTCSS/DCS and the bubble pack traffic vanishes. It looks like everyone wants to add DMR and NXDN, some even P25, but no one uses the PL codes we already have. We only have a few frequencies (30) but with PL codes we have several thousand "channels".

Thanks. This is what I wanted to learn. I did not mean to ruffle any feathers. I like PLs and how they expand our radios. But I now see why some don't. Thanks.

If you can fit 120-150 conversations on the same freq at the same time and 98% of the time they don't know the others are there then they ARE extra channels. That is the beauty of GMRS over CB.

Radioguy If PLs only work when your are far from interference and other traffic then we never need them. If you believe in the 95-5-5% then we are already near zero. If we dont use PLs we will become CB. Wild west, If you are really worried, most radios have a "busy channel lockout". If someone is talking when you PTT you will get bonked. Businesses have using PLs to create "channels" for 50 years. That is how trunked radio got its inspiration. Kirk WRHS673

Thanks, everyone. You make some good points. I based my original comment, in part, on what seems to be the most made complaint on the forums: "I hear too much unwanted stuff-Christmas syndrome, businesses and highway flaggers". I ONLY use PLs and never hear any of that. Unless I am scanning, and then I want to hear unwanted stuff. I read somewhere mostly in reference to trunked radio systems, that radios tend to be used 90-5-5%. That is, when on, 90% do nothing, 5% listen to something you want to hear, 5% transmit. So I have felt I am very unlikely to talk over someone on a different PL. I hope I am not wrong, I really dont want to be impolite. (BTW, after a whole life as an LEO, I think radio are closer to 98-1.5-.5% usage.) So when I hear complaints like "I hear to much" or the the opposite "no one answers my calls" (I think because of unmatched PLs) i conclude people are reluctant to use PLs. Now I am reading about having a distress channel and usually suggested without PL. A distress channel, also used as a "hailing" channel, is very much needed. But no one will "watch" a channel without a PL and have to hear the other 125-150 conversations using PLs. I have read that channel 20 (PL 22) was, or is, an unofficial distress channel. WE should push that idea. I "watch" that channel when I travel, just in case. Sorry for the rant, thanks for the insight. Kirk WRHS673

I have only been in the GMRS comunity for a year. I have noticed in this, and other forums, that people show a reluctance to use CTCSS/DCS (PL codes). Or the apparent belief that they are only for repeater use. With GMRS radios we can transmit on 30 frequencies and listen on 22 frequencies. Using PL codes we increase those to 3-4,000 CHANNELS (freq + PL). Can some one enlighten me on the reluctance?

My next radio will allow me to have multiple Channel 7 memory locations, each with its own PL. That radio finally exists, so all I will need to do is a channel change (which I can do while driving). Would am not seeking, nor would I use, a radio that allowed more than one PL on a frequency at the same time.

oops, multi post

This is not JUST a repeater issue. Where I live we use GMRS/FRS channel 7 with a PL code for comms from cottage-cottage or golfcart-golfcart. At my hunting property we also use channel 7 BUT with a different PL code. So with my Midland 275 I have to stop and change PLs when en route from one place to the other. All of this is on simplex.

Do you hear the other repeater all of the time or just when your system is active? When YOUR PL opens squelch on your radio on a frequency you will hear ALL active traffic on that frequency regardless of the PL used by the other transmitter.

If you want to talk to RANDOM strangers then you should use CB or HAM. If, however, you want to talk to SPECIFIC strangers then GMRS might be for you. I say this some what tongue in cheek. If you meet someone (or group) at an RV/campground, NASCAR race or football game and you would like to communicate during the event and you are licensed and they are not. You can use the ever present (at those types of events) FRS radios or loan an FRS to them and communicate all day. That is our system on our hunting property. We use GMRS for the range but strangers (usually guests) use their (or our) FRS radios. Kirk WRHS673

It is the limited number of channels on GMRS that makes multiple places to put the same frequency with different PL/DPLs even more important. I find it very frustrating to have to manually re-program my radio just to change PLs. If the channel I use at home uses GRMS 7 with PL 162.2 but a jeep group I sometimes ride with uses GMRS 7 with another PL then I have to stop on my trip up north to re-program the different PL. I think it is the thousands of channels (frequency plus PL/DPL) available on GMRS that gives GMRS such a powerful potential. Kirk WRHS673