SteveShannon

That makes my day!

I can’t wait to see one AI arguing with another about Roger beeps!!

I got a promotion!! Woo hoo!

Obviously, I had no such compunction. Maybe there should be a forum called “Ask Randy” where his favorite viewers can ask his AI alter ego questions. @OffRoaderX, what do you think? Should we ask Rich @rdunajewski for an “Ask Randy” forum?

The Garmin Rhino series GMRS radios have had it for many years, as well as very well done mapping and location exchange. It works well. I use that, but I’ve not used the GMRS pro.

If you want the ads to go away when you’re looking at the forums you have to pay to become a premium member of mygmrs.com.

That concept of “additional tools” is why our club is discussing putting up a commercial repeater at the same site of our Amateur repeater so that in an disaster we could hand out commercial radios to specific unlicensed people.

I’m not Randy, but it’s a well known problem and the subject of several threads on these forums. The best thing to do is send them back to the vendor and get replacements that work, but there is a firmware upgrade that is reported to fix it. Just search for “channel 15”. Welcome to the forum! Here’s one of them:

Thanks! I see it there under the operations tab.

I’ve seen that before also but when challenged I was unable to find it again. Would you post the link?

Of course, and the people that do them deserve credit, but those are not technical challenges that I have overcome, so making a QSO using a linked repeater is very little more challenging than dialing the phone. I celebrate other’s accomplishments, but with ham radio I derive satisfaction from my own accomplishments in overcoming technical challenges.

The tones don’t prevent interference. They just prevent audio reproduction. The signal must be received before the tone has an effect. So, two transmitters on the same frequency can interfere with each other, even if they have different tones, as long as a receiver receives them.

You might as well have.

I think networked repeaters have their place, but I agree with you for the most part. I want at least a few unlinked repeaters so I can contact people who use the same repeater. I don’t understand hams making QSOs on networked repeaters. I do understand enjoying the challenge of “conquering the airwaves” to make distant contacts, not for the joy of talking to strangers (nothing wrong with that, just not my thing), but for the technical challenge it represents.

Dealer mode for some devices that I’ve seen places the device into a repetitive demonstration routine designed to highlight its features. I wouldn’t be afraid of putting it into dealer mode, but I would back it up first.

Are you getting into the repeater when you don’t program the tones? What frequency are you transmitting on to the repeater? What frequency are you receiving on from the repeater?

All seven (I might have a problem ) of my Yaesu radios are marked made in Japan, including the two least expensive, the FT4x and FT65. I heard that the FT65 was briefly manufactured in China, but mine definitely says made in Japan. My Alinco DJ-MD5 doesn’t say, but the firmware and CPS looks just like Anytone’s so I suspect it’s made in China.

There’s a procedure that manufacturers go through to get their radios certified for GMRS and pretty much any of the other services except amateur radio. That’s why ham radios are prohibited. Other than regulations I don’t know why FCC doesn’t want us to easily use a part 95e certified radio on the ham radio bands, but they don’t. But I just don’t think they would ever be able to know that a person’s type 90 or 95 radio has been opened up for use on a ham band based strictly on transmissions. I think the only way a person would ever get cited is if they act like an idiot while transmitting. Then the citation would just be an additional charge on top of the charges they earned by being idiots.

Welcome, Mike!

Depending on local traffic, it just makes sense to buy a bunch of FRS or MURS radios and pass them out as long as you don’t need security for your communications or long range. I checked into a hotel one time and when I pulled the covers back there was a nice little Motorola radio laying on the sheets. It must have fallen out of the housekeeper’s pocket when she made up the bed. I took it to the front desk. We stayed there frequently so she knew me. She looked at me, sighed, and said “where did you find it?”

The regulations allow it. In fact, business GMRS licensees with grandfathered licenses are still allowed to hand a GMRS radio to their employees without additional licensing. Some businesses do use MURS or FRS already. I hear the local hotel talking on one of the GMRS/FRS channels. It’s about the only regular traffic that I hear.

Which we’re already probably paying. And it doesn’t do simplex, but hey, none of us get everything we want.

There is one radio service that encrypts conversations, doesn’t require users to ID, and doesn’t require users to own a license. It even has a worldwide network of repeaters. What’s more, it fits in a person’s pocket. In fact most adults and a lot of kids already have these wondrous radios.

Contact the owner, @rdunajewski. He has to do it.

If you’re using a radio that requires a license to use, you’re required to identify the license you’re using. It’s a very simple concept. If you’re authorizing someone to use your license, they are required to identify your license. Equally simple concept. If you are the license holder, you are responsible to ensure that they do. Still simple. Inconvenience or the opinion that a rule is stupid has never been recognized as a justification for violating regulations. However, the FCC almost certainly won’t enforce it.