Raybestos

Just be cautious in applying that technique. Sadly, it has its limitations. My ex did not buy into my story that the other woman in the house had always been there.

The key is to play it off very smoothly. My last wife, not a radio or a gun person, would occasionally question a new radio or gun in the house. "No, it has always been here. Don't you remember it?" Or, you can try, "It was at my mother's house. She was tired of it taking up space there, so I brought it here." Best of luck on your new acquisitions!

Nodes are kind of like a linked repeater, but in some ways even more annoying. Like a linked repeater, they frequently pipe in blather and useless conversations from other parts of the state or nation, that have little or zero relevance to anything in the local area. Like linked repeaters, they have the potential to tie up one of the precious few (8) repeater pairs/50W simplex channels that GMRS has available, with useless chatter that has no relevance or bearing on the local area. Unlike linked repeaters, people using a node may not be in range of one-another and as a result, will not always hear each-other when communicating with someone via a node. This may result in doubling and unintentional interference in the local area around the node. For instance, you may have a node piping in conversation from another county or state in your local area. You are located fifteen miles west of the node and hit it and receive it with ease from your home. Another guy lives fifteen miles east of the node. Likewise, he hits and receives the node with ease from his home. You and the other guy, however, cannot hear each other. Let's say the two of you are each in a conversation with a third guy who is coming in via the node. Each of you will hear and talk with this third guy. If it is a lively conversation, since you and the guy fifteen miles on the other side of the node cannot hear each other there may be doubling, or stepping on each-other's transmissions when trying to talk to the guy on the node. It will create difficulty for him in hearing the two of you. While there might be legitimate useful potential in having a node at a remote site for limited use by you and close family or friends, most are just a cheap way to clog up one of the few channels on GMRS that are available for repeater or 50W simplex use.

I know it is a pain in the rear, but if you feel up to it, and you really do need to be in the mood to do such, try sending the FCC a request that they address this festering issue. I did last year. They acknowledged receipt but that was the last I heard of it. The more requests they get to fix this problem, hopefully prohibiting ALL forms of repeater and "node" linking on GMRS, the more likely they are to act. Wish I could help with a link or such but once I finished the task and cleaned up all the hair I had pulled out of my head and armpits while trying to navigate the FCC site and processes, I forgot much of it. You are a GMRS licensee so you have some understanding of what I mean about that.

...or better yet, WHY? Is it to make oneself feel important by tying up as many of the eight (and only eight) channels available for repeater and/or 50W simplex use in as many areas as possible, with the same conversation at the same time?

I used to see this in ham, a lot. At one time, the American Radio Relay League put out a paperback "Repeater Directory" each Spring. Others and myself couldn't wait to see the new edition, each year, curious to see what (if any) new repeaters might have gone up in our area. Often as not, the "Repeater Directory" was full of "paper" and "vapor" repeaters that had either been off the air for years, or had never existed to begin with. For reasons I have never understood, some people got a perverse ego trip from seeing their call sign next to a non-existent repeater or repeaters in the Directory. For reasons few if any understood, the ARRL would only accept the word of the alleged repeater owners or trustees with regard to the status of a repeater (on-line, off-line, never existed, off-line for decades, etc). This enabled the paper and vapor repeater "owners" to keep their names up in lights, so to speak, practically forever. I tended to associate such behavior with the same kind of mental disorder that fuels the stolen valor hacks, who claim to have served in the military, received certain medals or honors, have been Navy Seals or Green Berets, but in real life never did any of those things. Sadly, we see the same illness here on GMRS, too.

I always tell those clowns that while I am an honorably retired cop, I will not contribute to them because most of these organizations speak out against restoration of our gun rights, such as "Constitutional"/ Permitless Carry bills. Funny, they never try to argue. They just hang up on me.

https://www.westmarine.com/icom-m37-floating-6-watt-handheld-vhf-radio-19684471.html?&utm_medium=cpc&utm_source=google&utm_campaign=[ADL][PLA] Electronics %26 Navigation_ Control&utm_content=autoag0000x21019817508x19684471&gad_source=1&gclid=Cj0KCQjwsuSzBhCLARIsAIcdLm5R3bZDsgyfgwSgHAqaSYQXMVfFFi9lFyQCJLynFeH_nPuZ1HKc94saApobEALw_wcB This might be a bit closer to the model in your pics. Unlike the other one I posted above, this particular radio has three buttons in the center vertical column of the keypad, where the first one I posted only had two, there.

Sorry, this left me hanging, too. My gut tells me this "might" be an Icom product. Not sure if it is or not and not sure what model if it is. Edit: I don't think it is the exact model, but it looks similar to this. https://www.westmarine.com/icom-m25-floating-handheld-vhf-radio-20816591.html?&utm_medium=cpc&utm_source=google&utm_campaign=[ADL][PLA] Electronics %26 Navigation_ Control&utm_content=autoag0000x21019817508x20816591&gad_source=1&gclid=Cj0KCQjwsuSzBhCLARIsAIcdLm6UnSdYHqjMjU4kjsh8GqP5Ymq9Dwfg_N7UO3JY24gEGz-tpp37MVgaAiTREALw_wcB If you don't mind my asking, is this related to a poaching or trespassing issue?

Why pollute the limited spectrum of GMRS with blather from other parts of the country? A stand alone repeater allows for better, uninterrupted local coms than one linked to a net or other repeaters.

In case anyone missed it, Not A Rubicon has an excellent interview up on YouTube now, with the President of the impacted club in New York State. Things are different than what most of us guessed but it is NOT a hoax. Thanks Randy!

Okay! I will be anxiously awaiting the Paul Harvey on this. Thanks for the reply! Out of "likes" for today but I will come back tomorrow and leave one.

Oh no. That wasn't my meaning at all.

Hi Amaff! In the comments on Not A Rubicon's most recent YouTube video (New Midland GMRS ht's), a poster said that the FCC had shut down a repeater in New York state for "linking to the internet" or similar. Randy asked several important questions in trying to get to the bottom of the alleged issue, with the poster swearing that this really happened. Randy provided his contact info. It appears from the OP above, it may have all been bs.

So, it was just more empty bs?

Aye, but in many parts of the country, this goes on every day. The annoyance these Chatty Cathy's generate on one repeater is multiplied by each additional repeater in whatever network or linking system they are connected to. The thing that makes the whole linking system thing so annoying is that these marathon filibusters often take place on one, maybe two at the most, repeaters; yet they jam up multiple repeaters and pairs in a county, state, or larger geographical area. In areas where these linked systems are prevalent, not only are repeaters in said "network" tied up, but so are other repeaters owned by different people, or people just trying to use those few (eight) 50W Simplex channels to keep in touch with family and friends.

Some, though thankfully not most, repeater owners have some major control freak issues going on. They have lengthy lists of "thou shalts" and "thou shalt nots" which may be frequently added to. One such repeater, a friend sent me a link to last night. The dude who owns it sounds to be on the verge of a major mental/emotional breakdown of some type. The group for the repeater I am a part owner of try to be laid back about it. All we ask is a reasonable effort to follow the rules (ID at appropriate intervals, no profanity, etc). As has been noted, try not to argue too much with the owner if you want to use it as it IS their repeater.

Thank you and gortex2 for having actually read and understood my comment! As of now, the problem seems to have disappeared so maybe someone at MyGMRS rectified the problem.

I see reading comprehension is not a strong suit on this thread, today.

Hi Steve! Once again, ads were always here and were not a problem. "RECENTLY", in the last two or three weeks, they intermittently would cover the bottom portion of the repeater page for my (or other) state, making it impossible to see any but the top few repeaters on the page. Not only does it cover the bottom ones listed, it also makes inaccessible, the selector which allowed you to choose 10, 20, 30, 40, or 50 repeaters that could be viewed per page. THAT is the problem, not that there are ads. Before today, I could usually make the offending ad go away by refreshing the page or similar. Today, the ad just sits there, blocking the lower part of the page and nothing makes it go away.

Oh man, that used to be so annoying on ham. Some guy would get his license and do that unnecessary "over" thing after each xmit. Every newbie for miles around would then think it was somehow necessary or proper protocol and start emulating it. I know how Brian felt with Stewie doing it.

I get that there will be ads, but ads covering a large portion of the page which renders it unusable is not good in any way. As I noted above, this problem is a recent development. It has been going on about two, maybe three weeks. It was intermittent until today. I could make the ads go away by refreshing the page or similar maneuver. Today, the ads won't go away.

Recently, on occasion, I note obnoxious ads taking up the bottom half of the page on my Galaxy S22 when trying to view my state's repeater list. This is annoying as not only does it block the bottom half of the page, it also makes it impossible to select the number of repeaters available (10, 20, 30, etc) for viewing. BTW, is there a way that you can set the number of repeaters viewed, go view a given repeaters page, then not have to select the number of repeaters viewed on return again? Or better yet, how about do away with the selection for number of repeaters viewed and just default it to 50 (or even 100)? In the recent past, shortly after these ads started, I could make them go away by refreshing the page. At the moment, they are there and I cannot make them go away and cannot view any repeaters on my state's list but the very few at the top of the list.

Aye! Also ignored was OP's observation that, "Some days this can go on for a long time as if someone is having a conversation.", which leads me to believe this is a CW QSO rather than simply a repeater's Morse ID.

Yeah, let's just go with the simplest explanation, even if is likely the wrong one.