Blaise

Yes, they share output frequencies with simplex channels 15-22. That's the point, but not the question. When scanning, if your simplex channels have no squelch codes on them, they recieve repeater outputs just fine. The "predicament" is that during a scan where three channels might pick up a transmission, you would assume, statistically, that you would pick up on the correct channel approximately a third of the time, not effectively never. Likewise, you would assume that if there were only *two* channels that might pick a transmission, that you would pick up on the correct channel approximately half of the time, not 20% of the time. This is not good-mathy, and makes my brain ache.

Hey all, here's a persnickety question for you. My primary interest in GMRS has been to set up family communications, both for emergencies and to give my young kids a bunch more freedom without handing them a phone. However, in line with being prepared for emergencies, I scan a lot of the time so I can make contacts with regular users out there and know where/when they are likely to be monitoring. However, I have a scanning problem. I keep my radios programmed with three channel blocks. The first is the basic 22 simplex channels, the next is the 8 repeater channels, not set for any CTCSS/DCS codes, for use when travelling/discovering new repeaters (So I have a quick way to program new repeaters in from the radio on the go), and the last is my local known repeaters. When I scan, what I've found is that I invariably first catch new transmissions on one of the simplex channels or on a "blank" repeater channel, rather than on the programmed repeater channel it's actually on. So, I removed the blank repeaters from scan to decrease the chances of a wrong channel stop, and have discovered that I *still* almost invariably first catch new transmissions on one of the simplex channels, rather than on the programmed repeater channel it's actually on. then I tried reversing the direction of the scan (on units capable) or reprogramming the locations of the respective blocks so that the scan hits the repeater channels first, and found that now, I pick up a new transmissions on the programmed repeater channel about 20% of the time, rather than the 1% I was getting before. Progress, but still not super-effective. So here's my question. What the hell is going on here? With the three block scan, shouldn't I have been picking up on the correct channel approximately 33% of the time? With only two blocks scanned, shouldn't I be picking up on the correct channel approximately 50% of the time? With the reversed scan order, shouldn't it be *more than* 50% of the time? This isn't a major issue, of course, but math seems to be broken, and that makes me angry on a very deep level!

The serious kind, obviously!

I'm still new to radio, but for the last year, I too run a Radioddity DB20G, with a Tram through-glass antenna. Folks will tell you this antenna is garbage, and it may be, but I get a 1.1 SWR with it, and can hit repeaters 40-60 miles away, depending on my altitude, so I guess the 20 watts deals with the 'bad' antenna issues pretty well! Advantages to the DB20G are that a) it's so small I was able to securely mount its rail to the dashboard with removable alien tape, b) it had a 12 volt plug built in, and c) it's unlockable, so I now I can monitor marine band, MURS, and ham frequencies in addition to GMRS while I drive.

OK, so it looks like this topic isn't getting much love, but I gotta tell you, this thing has an amazing feature I just found. One of the action options for the programmable buttons is "PTT-B", which lets you transmit on your displayed B-channel without switching to B as the selected channel! Since I always keep one channel searching, while the other is set to my family's channel, this makes it super easy to call my kids without having to stop and fiddle with settings. It *does* terminate the search on the A channel when I transmit on B, but I'd much rather have to just fiddle to restart that after I'm done than fiddle to stop it and change channels beforehand when I want to talk, then still have to change back and restart after. This thing just moved from new toy to favorite radio!

They *don't* make a tool for that...

Hey all, so in a moment of weakness, I snagged the hot new toy, a Talkpod a36 Plus. The reviews are just about all spot on. The menus are a goddamn nightmare without a real manual to explain them, but otherwise, it works about as well as several other GMRS HT's I have, but with a super-low price. Some of the Baofeng options cost more! I ran into one piece of weirdness, though. I normally keep a UV-5R with a Nagoya 771G antenna scanning in my office at all times, just to know what's happening in my vicinity, so I thought I'd try using this for the same one afternoon. It worked just fine, but had trouble picking up some of the more distant sources, so I figured I'd pop the 771G on it for a little boost. What I discovered was that I couldn't receive anything at all outside of a quarter mile from my desk! I immediately swapped back to the stock antenna, and it worked just as before. I retested the 771G on a Baofeng, and *it* worked just fine. So I guess Nagoya antennae and Talkpod a36 Plus radios are incompatible???

It took me this long to finish reading this!

You, ah, might want to dial back the belligerence a bit if you want anyone to be willing to help you the next time you have a question...

Sorry to join in late, but I've been watching this fight for a while, and I've boiled it down to 2 apparent positions: "20 is great because I remember using GMRS decades ago, so I assume that everyone else will remember that somebody decades ago said the frequency currently assigned to 20 was a general calling channel for repeaters, so this will be easy to 'sell' to the three other people who used GMRS back then." "19 is great because I remember CB when people used it, so I assume everyone else will remember that CB used 19 as a general calling channel, so this will be easy to 'sell' to the three other people who still think CB is relevant." If I have an opinion, it's that both positions are arbitrary and the fight is dumb, but one (19) is legally inaccessible to nearly 20% of the US population because of the "lines" drawn with Canada, so that one is slightly stupider...

Hipsters are doing this in NYC right now. Swarm to live in the "cheap" meatpacking district, then sue the hundred-year-old slaughterhouses because of the smell...

I feel like intentionally cutting residents off from emergency transmissions and news *has* to be illegal!

So if you put your GMRS antenna on your TV antenna...

Well… I don’t hate you. And everybody *already* thought you were weird....

Also, radio frequencies aren't ionizing radiation, so there is no risk from exposure *unless* the flux is high enough to heat your skin. No one's cooking with a ten watt microwave...

I can tell you from experience, if you carry a radio and put on a black shirt that says "STAFF" on the back, you will definitely get a lot of attention from those "chicks". For the duration of the concert, anyway...

So when I first got my license, in 2021, I discovered that I lived in a GMRS dead-zone. I could scan for hours a day, and maybe hear a conversation (that wasn't kids with bubble-wrap FRS units) twice a month. There were 4 repeaters close enough to connect to, two of which you could only find if you turned on stale/offline on the map and two of which were private/membership, and they were all basically unused. Toward the end of 2022, a couple of new repeaters popped up, I started hearing conversations on the repeaters once in a while, and some simplex conversations would turn up from time to time while driving. I even talked to a few folks on repeaters. Now, in early June of 2023 I pick up repeater conversations multiple times a day, simplex all over, and I just went to the map, and without turning on stale/offline repeaters, there are *12* in range and open for general use. What the heck happened in the last year?!?!? I know GMRS is growing in general, but this is explosive!

At the risk of once again sounding like an ignoramus, what is a "TRA"?

Exactly this.

Is this a thing? I've been using a 5 watt ht around the house and yard, and it works great when I'm on the second or third floor, but at ground level, it's got maybe a 1/4 mile range. I'd love to be able to leave one for my wife so I can talk to her when I'm in town with my mobile, but 90% of the time, she wouldn't hear me. I know a relay would solve this, but it would be super-limiting since we'd only get to use that one channel/code, so communicating with others or scanning channels would be impossible. It occurs to me that if I had a base station in the attic that we could use remotely from the kitchen or yard, we could easily communicate with my mobile or local friends from maybe 5-7 miles, which would be super useful, but I'm not aware of the existence of such a magical device. Do they exist?

This one brings me joy, too!

QUD! (Quite Unnecessary, my Dude)

Am I the only one who enjoys imagining what those hammy initialisms stand for? I read "QFT" as "Quite Fucking True". I have no idea what it really means, but I like mine!

I buy all my radios on the dark web with crypto. Does that count?

Yes, I was teasing just to make the point that you *don't* take your discussion to emotional hysteria, like we see so often in say this thread (and so many others)...