Raybestos

The PL is posted on the repeater's page on My GMRS, so no big deal. Also, it appears to be part of a linked system that is known for tying up multiple channels at a time with one conversation.

That's some crazy stuff! I am sorry for the loss of your old antenna. When your new antenna comes in, here is some music to assemble it by.

Box car is correct on all points. In addition to greater power and altitude, many repeaters use land mobile public safety/business grade gain antennas and low-loss feedline (hard line). All of this contributes to the extended range you enjoy on a repeater, versus ht to ht, ht to mobile, etc. This is why people who can afford it, spend the extra money on repeaters.

Uhhh....no..... I am not going to ask or demand that the FCC allow unnecessary clogging up of the eight few channels we have for repeater and 50W simplex use, thereby turning GMRS into something it was never even remotely intended to be.

There was the "pay to play" group. They rightly dropped their link. Then came Helene and they used the excuse of "disaster/emergency" to re-activate their toy. From monitoring them, the re-linking, as before, served no useful or legitimate purpose. It just ensured that multiple repeaters across a 75-100 mile stretch were clogged with conversations that sounded like 99% of the time, were taking place on one repeater. As before, one conversation on one repeater rendered multiple repeaters useless while it was in progress. As before, it was poor stewardship of available repeater and frequency resources. But hey, "we are in a disaster/ emergency". It also ensured that some clown playing with DTMF tones was "enjoyed" by all, as were occasional lengthy bursts of white noise in the system. They seem to have finally de-linked, at least until something else can be used as an excuse to re-activate their toy. Then, there is the more local bunch that was part of a network with a name that sounds like something to do with fuel effeciency. Looking on-line, that network appears to have all but fallen off of the map, yet listening to that system, it sounds apparent that it is still hooked into something and not a stand-alone.

Hi BradleyRN! Sounds like you figured out the tone thing and its purpose pretty well on your own. Believe it or not, I have known hams, including one Extra Class, who did not understand the tone thing, even after being licensed for years. Congrats! WRXB215 brought up an interesting point and it is possible that I misunderstood part of your message. Did you send the $50 to MyGMRS or to the repeater owner? If MyGMRS, WRXB215 is correct. That is to the people who graciously maintain this site. The repeater owner will not be made aware of it. If to the repeater owner, then check your e-mail for a message from them, advising you of the PL Code. I apologize for any misunderstanding. Also, when you hear an active conversation on that frequency, try activating the "tone scan" feature on one of your radios while a conversation is in-progress. If you do not get an indication of which tone is in use after a while, try the DCS tone scan. If you get a hit, enter that tone in your transmit "encode" and try to communicate. Ask what you need to do to get permission to use the repeater. Good luck!

You will need that "tone", whether PL or DPL. Check your e-mails if you sent in your money to them on-line. They likely sent you one with the PL or DPL they use in it. You will need to transmit that tone to access the repeater. Being that you are new to GMRS, I have a feeling that you will need additional help getting the tone into your radio. If so, no shame in that. Let us know once you have the tone, what type radio you have. Somebody else or myself will be glad to get you where you need to be with this process.

Thank You!

I have heard this is necessary. Ideally, the antenna would be designed, engineered, and made so this was not necessary. What materials are needed and what areas would need this treatment?

Thank You for reposting that, Steve! Yes, on my Android, where it went to yellow print on a white background, I could not read it.

That was interesting! Wish I could have read all of it. Unfortunately their webmaster didn't understand the importance of having a decent contrast between the background and the lettering on the latter portion. Hilarious that they blame OffRoaderX for their problems when he was just the messenger. I guess there really are people still who would "shoot the messenger".

"A GMRS user can expect a communications range of one to twenty-five miles depending on station class, terrain, and repeater use. GMRS stations cannot be interconnected with the public switched telephone network or any other network for the purpose of carrying GMRS communications, but these networks can be used for remote control of repeater stations. In other words, repeaters may not be linked via the internet—an example of an “other network” in the rules—to extend the range of the communications across a large geographic area. Linking multiple repeaters to enable a repeater outside the communications range of the handheld or mobile device to retransmit messages violates sections 95.1733(a)(8) and 95.1749 of the Commission’s rules, and potentially other rules in 47 C.F.R. Repeaters may be connected to the telephone network or other networks only for purposes of remote control of a GMRS station, not for carrying communication signals. In addition to violating Commission rules, linking repeaters is not in the public interest. Because GMRS spectrum is limited and used on a shared “commons” basis, the service only works well on a localized basis when users can hear each other and cooperate in the sharing of channels. Linking repeaters not only increases the potential for interference, but also uses up a limited spectrum resource over much larger areas than intended, limiting localized availability of the repeater channels." The above pretty much says it all. In particular, the part about: "In other words, repeaters may not be linked via the internet—an example of an “other network” in the rules—to extend the range of the communications across a large geographic area. Linking multiple repeaters to enable a repeater outside the communications range of the handheld or mobile device to retransmit messages violates sections 95.1733(a)(8) and 95.1749 of the Commission’s rules, and potentially other rules in 47 C.F.R. Repeaters may be connected to the telephone network or other networks only for purposes of remote control of a GMRS station, not for carrying communication signals." Any connection to another repeater constitutes one of the dictionary definitions of "a network". "From Vocabulary dot com: noun (broadcasting) a communication system consisting of a group of broadcasting stations that all transmit the same programs “the networks compete to broadcast important sports events” see more noun (electronics) a system of interconnected electronic components or circuits" FROM IONOS "Definition: Network A network is a group of two or more computers or other electronic devices that are interconnected for the purpose of exchanging data and sharing resources." Regardless of the method of linking used to attempt to circumvent FCC rules regarding GMRS linking, it is still an obnoxious practice that attempts to change the scope of GMRS from its intended purpose of personal communications into a hobby in and of itself, aka "ham radio lite".

True! The same as using a FRS/GMRS ht in the terrain I live in, as far distance goes. Please see my reply to dosw elsewhere regarding scanning/hailing on all five. Thank You for the reply!

Hi dosw! LOL@ "the baby monitor net" and "Mr Microphone simplex group". Seriously, I was just curious as to whether or not there really was such a net. At least the guy who started the GMRS/FRS Ch 19 thing put some thought into it and, in some areas at least, it has yielded results. While you "could" scan the five MURS channels and even call out on all five, that is unnecessarily cumbersome, even with only five channels. I am just double checking to try and find evidence, if any, that a MURS net with a suggested meeting channel exists. If not, I was going to suggest to the local area net that this entry be dropped from announcements as it serves no purpose. Thank You!

Hi! I have a question that I have been unable to find an answer for using traditional internet searches. An area GMRS net that I occasionally listen to lists other area and adjacent area nets. They occasionally mention a "Monday Night MURS Net At 9 PM". I presume this "net" (if it indeed exists) would be similar to the "GMRS/FRS Friday Night 9PM (local time) Net on FRS/GMRS Channel 19 Simplex". Unfortunately, unlike the FRS/GMRS Net, no channel number or frequency for such is ever provided, adding to the uselessness of this information. Does anyone know if there is such a Monday night MURS net and if so, on which channel it might occur on? Thank You!

I don't understand the people trying to come up with some loophole for this. A linked GMRS system in range of me has finally done the right thing and de-linked their repeaters. The other night, I heard about four to six guys having a pity party on the repeater closest to me about "how wrong it is" that the FCC has taken away their linking. One or two trotted out the false notion that RF linking will be legal once they figure out how to do that. What was missed by all of them was that they were all on one repeater, having a nice, friendly, conversation, and it was working just fine despite the absence of linking. Also unnoticed by them I feel sure, is that three or four other repeaters were open and available to others in the respective local areas of each repeater, for similar conversations, contact with family or friends on the road, or other originally intended uses of GMRS. I have yet to hear a GMRS conversation taking place on one repeater, that the world would suffer if it were not simultaneously broadcast over multiple other repeaters. I spoke with an old regular contact and over-the-air friend last night who lamented the loss of linking on that system. I mentioned the advantage in that now, each repeater can carry its own, local area, conversations without disrupting that ability over a 100 mile long path for others. As he thought about it, he agreed with me. He did wish for the ability to at least link as needed, but I think he will adjust well to the change, with time.

Interesting point, Mark! Another possibility I had not considered!

I confess to pondering weird stuff, probably quite a bit. I used to think about how cheap (Red) Chinese radios have all but replaced higher-end, traditionally Japanese, radios like Kenwood, Icom, and Yeasu, in the ham and other markets. I used to wonder if the Chinese may have produced, or at least pondered such, radios with a "kill switch" code which could disable hundreds of thousands of these devices if our country were to be at war with them. I pondered the likelihood of carcinogenic chemicals in the radios. I never pondered what the Israelis are said to have done, adding explosive charges to the radios. Now that cat is out of the bag, it is a viable concern to ponder, especially when receiving radios from a known adversary. With ham or GMRS, not on a known network, delivery of a signal to start harmful processes might be difficult, but "where there's a will...". Oh, and think about where all of our I-Phones and many Androids come from. With a huge connected network, delivery of harmful processes might not be so difficult.

A man worked in a factory and augmented his meager income by playing guitar at bars and special events on weekends. He was in a terrible industrial accident that claimed one of his arms. The factory fired him, saying they had no work for a one-armed man. Of course he could no longer play guitar, something he enjoyed doing, with one arm. The poor man decided to end it all and was standing in a chair, rigging a noose on the ceiling of his third floor apartment. Just as he was about to put the noose around his own neck, the man, facing the window on the front of his building, sees a man with no arms, walking down the sidewalk, whistling, and occasionally jumping in the air and clicking his heels. The man felt bad. Here he was, about to end it all and yet here goes a man with no arms, walking down the street, happy, and apparently content with the world. The man threw the noose to the side, jumped off of the chair he was standing on, and ran downstairs to try and catch up to the happy man with no arms. It took the man about a block to catch up to the man with no arms, who was still jumping in the air and clicking his heels at regular intervals. He asked the man with no arms to stop and he did, growling "What do you want?" "Sir, I was about to end it all a minute ago. Then I saw you walking down the street, apparently very happy, whistling and clicking your heels every few steps. How do you do it? I must know", said the one armed man. "How do I do what?", snapped the guy with no arms. "How do you remain happy with your disability, which is worse than my own?" "I'm not happy", snapped the man with no arms. "Then why are you jumping in the air and clicking your heels every few steps?, asked the one armed man. "My butt itches."

I recall when I first got into CB (Class D) in 1970, there were a few, actually a VERY few, guys with an echo feature on their radios. All of them were running some type of homebrew echo device and all of them sounded very cool. It was (at least, to me) a rare auditory treat when one of them activated their echo device. Those echo boxes were very clear and had a resonance and quality to the sound that the store-bought ones never had or never will have. One guy told me that his was built using the reverb from an old electronic organ. It was one of the best of all. Around the late 1970's or early 80's, store-bought echo boxes began to appear. Every truck driver, for whatever reason, had one. They didn't just run them on "special occasions", but on every single transmission. They sounded like absolute $#!^ on the radio. They made the voice of the user distorted. With wind and road noise feeding into them, they made hearing what the driver was saying, a real chore. They were incredibly obnoxious. I hope they NEVER catch on, on GMRS.

Two things I wish the radio companies would do. The first one is practical. Make the Roger Beep Off/On feature a "per-channel" feature. In other words, you could set the Roger Beep to be on or off on each channel and choose which Roger Beep option, just as you do CTCSS tones. That way, you could have it "off" on repeaters that prohibit its use and on for simplex and other repeater channels, rather than the global Roger Beep settings that they all have, currently. The second is a vanity thing, but make nature's original Roger Beep, the squelch tail (.5 to .75 seconds of white noise) as one of the ending Roger Beep options.

Thank You for the input!

Check out this one by Bridgecom. https://www.bridgecomsystems.com/products/bcr-40u

Hi Marc! Not trying to be contrary, although I do have a knack for it at times, but consider the following scenario. Your wife (or any GMRS licensee's wife) is about to take your (or their) kids to visit her parents, four hours away. Your job won't let you off to make this trip with them. She has a GMRS mobile in her car and operates under your license, as your kids occasionally do, also. She has packed enough GMRS ht's to allow one for herself and each of the kids. The kids love exploring the expansive farm their grandparents own and the radios provide a measure of convenience and safety while they are away from the house. You (or any licensee) see what she is doing. You go out to the car and disconnect the microphone from her mobile radio. You also collect all of the GMRS ht's she packed and replace them with non-licensed FRS radios you had laying around from the days before you took the plunge and got into GMRS. She is walking to the car to be sure everything is packed before getting the kids ready to get in the car. She encounters you, walking towards the house; a mobile mic and several GMRS ht's burdening your arms. The dialog that follows goes something like this: Wife: "Where are you going with my mobile mic and the GMRS ht's????" Licensee: "You will be four hours away and 95.1705(f)(2) says "The licensee must maintain access to and control over all stations authorized under its license." Being 4 hours away is definitely not maintaining "access to and control over" the licensee's station. Sorry, but I am not risking the sanctity of my license by trusting you guys with GMRS radios while you are four hours away." Being this is a family-oriented site, I will not go further with the dialog which followed. Yes, this is a reduction to absurdity, but there are some people out there in the world who practice absurdity and practice it often. Going back and reading the original poster's comment, his mom will be using ht's and simplex to communicate with family. I doubt anyone will notice or know if they are using GMRS or FRS since all frequencies are shared, except for repeater inputs. In fact, if they don't use call signs or have a license, I doubt anyone would care on simplex. The only way anyone would probably care is if his mom finds she enjoys chatting on repeaters in the area. In most areas I am aware of, if on a repeater, all the owner(s) cares about is that you are using a valid call sign not pirated from someone without their permission. I know the repeater that I am part owner of, that is all we care about. Of course, there are some really an-l owners out there, too. In my state, there is one guy who I understand, wants to know your name and call, and the names, Unit numbers, and their relation to you, of anyone operating under your call, before granting permission to use his repeaters. In another part of the state, the owner wants to know what make and models of radios you will be using. My group, we just want you to ID and generally follow the rules. Any discrepancies regarding relation to people using your call sign or type of equipment is between you and the FCC, as if they care.

There is a smaller linked system with at least one machine in range of me. If they dropped the linking, I would much more want to join them so I could use their repeaters as stand-alones, rather than listen to the blather from another part of the state.