SteveShannon

And I believe that the FCC has issued some experimental waivers to some repeaters to allow them to test digital on GMRS, so we cannot immediately assume that a repeater with occasional digital users is in violation of.

Here’s a link to the R56 document: https://www.blm.gov/sites/blm.gov/files/Lands_ROW_Motorola_R56_2005_manual.pdf

I agree that the interface is less than intuitive. And it’s inconsistent. Sometimes you have to use the up and down buttons on top of the microphone to scroll through options, other times it’s a pair of buttons on the front of the microphone next to the FUN buttton.

I think it really should be 2 channel mono to single channel mono combiner. Yes, it’s taking two outputs, which we typically considered stereo, and combining them into a single speaker, but specifying a mono to stereo Y adapter may result in one of the connectors being a stereo connector. @OldJunk2 really needs an adapter that has two mono plugs (tip and sleeve only, no ring connector) with the tips connected to each other and the sleeves connected to each other leading to the appropriate mono connector (depending on what the speaker he’s trying to use has; if it indeed has a stereo plug then you’re right, but if it has a mono plug then he needs a mono jack with only a tip and sleeve connector.) Most of the adapters out there are two TS (which is mono with a tip and sleeve) to a single TRS (which is stereo with a tip, ring, and sleeve). Someone who is hoping to combine two separate mono speaker outputs to a single mono speaker doesn’t want that. Instead they want two TS to a single TS, mono on all three connectors. Here is the one I found on Amazon: https://a.co/d/2wMGnEy

It wouldn’t hurt to connect it at both places, but the NEC says to use at least one right where the coax enters the house. The bible on this is a document from Motorola named R56, and it has been linked many times, but for a person wanting to understand the basics I really like this document: https://reeve.com/Documents/Articles Papers/Reeve_AntennaSystemGroundingRequirements.pdf

Well said!

Electrically this should be simple. Are you certain both output ports work? If a single mono speaker works fine plugged into either of the outputs individually then you know the ports both work and are active. Better yet, plug two separate mono speakers with mono plugs. Do they both work simultaneously? One last thing to try is to use a mixer to combine the two separate audio feeds. Most mixers are meant for line level outputs rather than speaker level, but if you can find something that matches the impedance and will accept speaker level output it should work. Or you can use speaker level to line level converters and then run the outputs into the mixer, and then take the mixed output and amplify it to feed a single speaker, but that seems like a lot of work.

PL is the same as CTCSS.

Which function?

So you were pulling our legs. Given that fact that silver, copper, gold, aluminum, brass (5% Zn), calcium, rhodium, tungsten, zinc, brass (30% Zn), cobalt, nickel, ruthenium, lithium, and even iron (in that order) are more electrically conductive than either platinum or titanium, there’s simply no reason to expect any performance improvement from their use singly or combined as an antenna material if all other factors are equal. Source: chart of electrical conductivity on Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electrical_resistivity_and_conductivity

I’d be interested in seeing data supporting that claim.

There are no FRS exclusive channels that allow you to operate a GMRS radio without identifying. Every FRS channel is a GMRS channel. Technically, if you want to operate without identifying, you must use an FRS certified radio. Whenever you are using a GMRS radio you are required by regulations to follow the GMRS regulations, which require identifying.

Good job! Yes, water could get into the antenna and migrate down into the connection.

@Sonicgott, thanks for the well written and complete review. Also, if you’re new to the site, @Socalgmrs has a social problem that none of us understand. Apparently the only way he can feel self worth is to denigrate others and his most frequent targets are new members. The best way to deal with it is to simply place him on your ignore list until he bails out of this site like he did before. It should be a sticky somewhere for new members.

I was thinking of the kind of regularity that bran flakes help, but okay.

If he goes further in the list he should see D754I (yes, that’s an I) or you can change yours to D754, which is the same as D754n. N stands for Normal. I stands for Inverted. Or there’s a separate choice that asks Normal or Inverted. None of them provide privacy (security).

I don’t understand your question. Are you looking for irregular guys?

Most radios just give either a number, like D1051 which is the same as N, or the Inverse D1051I. You won’t see a D1051N.

That sounds good! Congratulations!

Well, they did change their website to address it….

You don’t have to enter the TX transmit frequency if you’re using a GMRS radio and you have selected one of the repeater channels (which you have!) but you do have to make sure that you have entered the proper CTCSS tone or DCS code that the repeater requires or the repeater wil, just ignore any signal it receives from you. No, kerchunking the repeater is not a very reliable way to confirm that you’re activating the repeater, especially if you’re relatively inexperienced. The best way is to push the PTT, say your call sign, and ask for a radio check.

Would you rather turn it on if it identified as Roger? Not that there’s anything wrong with that. We have a member whose bypass switch was stuck open on the external microphone jack on his handheld, disconnecting the internal microphone. He didn’t know that. We discovered the problem when he tried to check in on our Net. The call went out for check-ins and we heard a full quiet dead silence followed by a beep. Because he was the only one of us who used a Roger beep we had some idea who it might be so one of our senior members called out to him by name with some suggestions. It turned out that by plugging in the external mike we were able to hear his voice. A week or so later he brought his radio to my house and I soldered a bridge across the stuck-open switch. If it hadn’t been for the Roger beep we wouldn’t have known who it was. So maybe we out to require that each radio include a unique Roger or Susan beep. My Alinco (Anytone inside) has the ability to customize the Roger beep with up to four separate tones. This could be fun.

Hello and welcome!

It’s not needed, but fortunately that’s not a criterion we get to impose on each other. Nor do we get to tell you what rules you can have on your repeaters.