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Sbsyncro

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Everything posted by Sbsyncro

  1. https://mygmrs.com/repeater/6209 https://mygmrs.com/repeater/7496 And I think I said "700" but meant 650 and 675 (not 700) I'm assuming the name comes from the El Paso mountains in that area.
  2. Found this thread because I too picked up this repeater during my last drive to Death Valley. I was picking its automated message all the way out past Mojave until just about Ridgecrest or perhaps slightly beyond. (FWIW, the 650 and 700 El Paso repeaters appeared to be online but no one home as I passed through the area on a Thursday evening). I'm just starting to tinker with repeaters, so I was very curious about this "LA Echo 1" repeater that I was hearing from San Dimas all the way to Ridgecrest!
  3. In fairness, this is a very common limitation; even with the higher end Midland base station radios. It seems weird to me, since I don't think it is a "weird" request to want to have the "open" GMRS channel available while at the same time having a "custom" version of that channel with tones saved as a DIY channel - it certainly doesn't break any FCC rules that I can think of.
  4. Is it possible to set up a "DIY simplex channel with tones? I don't want to overwrite the existing CH 15, but instead want to create a copy of it but with tones. I was able to do this with my DB20-G by "unlocking" it, but there does not seem to be such a capability with the GM-30. Thanks,
  5. reviving an old thread here.. I'm setting this radio up for a friend using the software. I don't see any options for locking the keypad/mic buttons. He apparently has it mounted next to his knee in his jeep and is constantly changing settings. Is there way to lock the keys like there is on most HTs (and my Wouxun KG1000G)? A couple other questions: The "Vice-Machine Display" option under the Function Setup offers three options: Frequency/Channel, Battery Voltage, and Off. It seems that the only way to disable "dual watch" is to set this to "Off"? If scanning both the A and B channels, does the "Revert Channel" option under the "Information of Scanning Channel" tree determine the behavior when a signal is detected on one of the channels? If so, would the "Last Called" selection cause the next transmission to go to the channel that received most recently? If so, what is the difference between that choice and "Selected+Talkback"? Lastly is there a BCL (busy channel lockout) setting somewhere that I just don't seem to be able to find?
  6. But doesn't this only apply to *transmitting* and not to receiving? In other words the HT was RECEIVING signals that were being transmitted by a 15w radio and ghost antenna and a 50w radio with a 1/4 wave mag mount antenna on a big ground plane. (the latter came in much more clearly than the former).
  7. In the Jeep I have the Wouxun KG-1000G with Midland MXTA24 cable routed to a home-made aluminum mount that is attached to an aluminum Rhino rack that bolts to a backbone frame which in turn bolts to the body tub (all painted/finished connection points). I'm running the Midland MXTA26 6db antenna. I also carry a Radioddity GM-30 HT for jumping out and spotting, etc. On a recent outing to Panamint Valley, I headed back to camp early and left the rest of my group as they headed up a new trail a few thousand feet in elevation above camp and about 5 air miles away. They then climbed higher and farther back into a canyon, but crossed a few ridges during their trip. They ended up a good 10-12 miles from me and deep back in a canyon. From camp I was monitoring them from both my fixed and HT radios. I was able to talk to them almost the entire time from the Wouxun radio but there were MANY times when I did not pick up their comms on the Wouxun but I did on the HT (clearly enough to understand them). I dropped the squelch on the Wouxun all the way down to "1" and it made no difference. The Wouxun seemed to be overly selective and did not open the squelch. I did not have a chance to turn the squelch off entirely to see the difference. It was not consistent - sometimes the Wouxun would pick up traffic that the HT did not, but it was usually the other way around. I found this extremely puzzling. Should I be re-thinking my in-Jeep setup after convincing myself that I had "the best" setup using the highest quality gear? Could it just be that the antenna is not grounded properly? Or is it just that the Wouxun is overly selective? I definitely found it disconcerting that a $30 HT was essentially outperforming my $600 setup in the Jeep in a "real world" scenario!
  8. Thank you. I had no idea that the choice of Coax could have such a profound effect! Nor did I realize that I'd have to spend more on cable than I did on the radio. LOL
  9. Here's the one I'm using. what would you recommend, and why? https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0912QL2JT/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&th=1
  10. Thanks for the info. The use case for me is to have a "base camp" setup for coordinating with multiple groups of hikers and/or off-roaders in my club, not for hitting a fixed station, so a beam antenna would not be optimal. The mast will always be affixed to my small camp trailer, but needs to be omni-directional. Often I am in desert areas with no trees, so tossing a wire into a tree isn't normally an option. I'm currently using a very heavy duty milsurp aluminum section mast (I linked to it in my original post) (6 x 4' sections) but its a PITA to set up solo, so I am also considering a telescoping pole like the one you describe, which would lighter weight and easier to extend to its full height).
  11. I have a Radioddity DB20-G base station setup I use with my off-road camp trailer. Typically I will put up a 25' mast that I top with an extra Midland MXTA26 antenna. (yea, I know it is intended as a mobile antenna, but I have an extra, so why spend more money...?). To mount it I use a Tram NMO-UHF antenna mount with radials. The mast is a Milsurp sectional aluminum mast. The aluminum mast is usually clamped to the tongue of my trailer and centered over a spike (sharpened rebar) that I drive into the ground. I do not do anything specific for grounding. I'm doing this based on casual (and perhaps inaccurate) knowledge gleaned over the years from sources like this forum. I'd like to optimize what I have (and not reinvent the entire setup). Questions: Are the radials necessary/beneficial? (they are a hassle to install and are easily lost!) Should I be taking specific steps to actually ground the mast other than just having contact with the earth? (does it matter) Is there anything inherently wrong with using the 6bd MXTA26 antenna? I'm sure there are $400 base station antennas that would be "better" but is there anything inherent;y *wrong* with using this one? Would swapping to a low gain (2db) 1/4 wave or "ghost" antenna be useful when in hilly terrain? (I carry several NMO antenna with me when on trips so I can swap the rooftop antenna on the Jeep if there is a lot of overhead obstacles). Thanks!
  12. Thank you. I saw the listing for the JT repeater and added it to my radio for the next time I'm up that way. I have not dived (dove?) into the repeater side of GMRs yet because there are no repeaters up in my area (not open ones at least). Looking forward to getting more into it while on some desert trips this winter.
  13. I'm heading down that way and planning to link up with some other friends. It would be handy if we could all tune our 'B" channel to a local repeater to have comms as we try to find each other. In reviewing the repeater listings here, I don't see anything that looks like it would cover the area between say Borrego Springs (or perhaps Fonts Point)-Ocotillo Wells-Salton City which is the general area where we'll be.
  14. Thanks I'll look for that unlock capability. This one? FPP - front panel programming. Sorry Double clicking the >> top open the dialog allows me to backspace over the frequency and name but when I click OK it still takes up that slot. There is no way to select a slot (row) and "delete" (one would expect it from the Edit menu, but alas....
  15. Thanks. So the intended purpose is that I want two *additional* channels saved under custom names which are channels 15 and 17 respectively, but with CTCC tones programmed in. I've done this with my Wouxan and Baofeng radios, but it appears that possibly this radio only supports custom "scanning" channels only. In other words, I have to cannibalize "regular" channel 15 by adding tones so that I can use it with my club and then I essentially lose the ability to use "regular" channel 15 (without tones) unless I fiddle with the front panel programming (which is what I was trying to avoid). Hope that adds more context. Do you have any idea how to DELETE channels from the software or can that only be done from the mic/panel? Thanks again
  16. there appear to be 500 slots on my radio plus the ones for PL, PH, and VFO that I mentioned. The only Rx only channels are 8-15 (because they are limited to 1/2 a watt). All the rest that are pre-programmed from the factory between 1 and 30 will transmit and receive. Are you looking at the programming software or scrolling through the radio?
  17. I went in and programmed two additional simplex channels with CTCC tones. I used slots 492 and 493 (right before the Wx channels) and saved to the radio. The problem is that I can receive on both those new channels, but I get an error tone when I try to transmit. The "Tx Off" box is NOT ticked, but it is grayed out on both of these channels when viewed in programming software. I am able to add these tones to the corresponding GMRS channels (15 and 17) and they work fine, but will not allow transmitting from the same freq/tone pairs that are custom added. I notice that there are also slots labeled "PL1" "PH1" "PL2" and "PH2" as well as slots labeled VFO1 and VFO2. Does one have to use specific slots in order to enable transmitting from a normal GMRS frequency? What are the PLx and PHx and VFO slots for? Thanks in advance for any help - Also, is there a trick to DELETING a row in the programming software or can that only be done via FPP?
  18. So if you wanted to set for "DCS/DPL tone 26" then you'd scroll down to the choice that says "D026N"? The manual definitely messed me up, too!
  19. Update on this. I received a replacement mic and it did not solve the issue. Next step is to send the radio in for testing and repair (out of warranty so it’s on my dime). Disappointing that I’m having this issue after a year of use. I am anxious to determine the cause and get it resolved because I really like this radio when it is working properly. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
  20. I'm using this speaker and its working great. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B007841794 Note that there are separate connections for the A and B radios, so if you want to hear both, you either need a Y cable or you need to buy two of these. I'm also curious about the Bluetooth mic, but my experience with a Bearcat bluetooth CB mic was not good. It had to be VERY close to the transmitter and people complained about my voice being very tinny (more so than normal CB)
  21. I spoke with Buytwowayradios this morning about this and they are sending me a replacement. (again). GREAT customer service! They are aware of the issue, but I'm the first person they are aware of that has needed to replace two mics in the year since these units hit the market. I suspect that the PTT switch is not tested/designed to handle the number of cycles it is seeing in my hands (I tend to lead groups and will be on the radio for 4 to 6 hours several days a month). That doesn't sound extreme to me, but its probably 2x or 4x the amount of use most of these radios are seeing in the field at this point. I'm tempted to get a bluetooth mic as a backup (available from B2wR for $80) but I've not heard great things about the performance.
  22. OK, I just had my second mic fail on the KG-1000G unit that I've had for about 1 year now, and I'm wondering if anyone else has had this issue since I believe it is a "thing". I use this radio a lot - it is mounted in my Jeep and it is used all day long for a couple of days every third weekend or so. My first mic failed after about three months of such use. My replacement mic just failed this past weekend (incredibly frustrating when on a group trip and I lose primary comms!). Luckily I had a couple of backup HTs, but I digress....] The "failure" seems to manifest itself in the PTT button losing its tactile feedback (it becomes difficult to tell whether it is being "pushed" just by feel, if that makes any sense). This physical failure is accompanied by a deeply attenuated transmission - where people report that my voice has suddenly become "washed out" or "drowned out" by static. This is exactly what happened the first time, and after checking everything about my install (including replacing antenna and cable) I verified it was the mic. A replacement mic fixed the problem. I am going to reach out to Buytwowayradios today to hopefully discuss this issue, but since I have had it happen to me twice, I'm wondering if anyone else has had this issue? I LOVE this radio, but this mic problem needs a permanent fix! Brent
  23. One thing I'm always curious about - let's say you have 5,000+ people running around in an area of the desert (say, like at TDS in Anza Borrego) and there are dozens of people on every GMRS channel because of how popular GMRS has been made by certain people on the YouTubes. I and my group use PL tones to not have to listen to everyone. It works GREAT. But what does it sound like to all the people that don't know about using tones? I know they can hear our comms, even though we can't hear theirs. I assumed that we'd be constantly stepping all over people, and that our comms would also be compromised by people stepping on ours (even though we can't hear them). But that didn't seem to be the case a couple weekends ago... It was like we had the free airwaves all to ourselves all weekend... In this situation, does the "strongest signal win" or something else like radio quality? (I'm using a KG-1000G, so a "good" quality radio and maybe those on Baofengs had more issues...) If the strongest signal wins, I would have expected a lot more problems with our comms over the weekend, based on the traffic I heard on the same channels but without using tones...
  24. I have not spoken directly with the repeater owner, but have spoken with someone local to it that has his own repeater. We discussed the oddity of being able to make regular contact, and I confirmed with him the location of the repeater. That being said, I think you might be on to something with the "wave guide" idea. Check out this enhanced map (enhanced to show slope angles). It indicates a pretty clear "channel":
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