SteveShannon

No, for simplex you use the same frequency. A typical repeater must transmit at exactly the same time as it receives, so it must receive on one frequency while it transmits on another. In the case of GMRS the difference is 5 megahertz. So you transmit to the repeater on a 467 MHz frequency and the repeater receives them and immediately transmits on a 462 MHz frequency for your friends to hear.

There are 30 numbered channels on that radio (plus a bunch you can customize). 1 through 22 are simplex. 23 - 30 are reserved to transmit to repeaters. Those eight receive on the same channels as 15-22. Some manufacturers label those eight channels with the letters RPT-15 through RPT-22 to display the common receive channel. So, the channel labeled RPT-19 is actually number 27 in your radio. You shouldn’t delete the channel (and I doubt you can delete any of the first 30, but I don’t know that for a fact. You must have the correct transmit tone or code programmed into your radio to open up the repeater or it will not repeat your transmission. You’re doing the right thing in learning to program your radio from the front panel. It is easier to program with a computer but it’s much better to be able to program without having a computer. Don’t give up. Look up the tone needed for the repeater (PL or CTCSS, same thing) or code (DPL, DCS or DTCSS, they’re the same thing). Don’t worry about programming a tone or code for the receiver, at least not yet. Leaving it open will allow you to hear everything on frequency 19. You can always add a receive ton to match what the repeater transmits later, but leaving it off for now might simplify things as you learn. Don’t get down on yourself. Once you see how it works you’ll be fine.

I think you probably intended to say the db20g wasn’t certified for MURS. It is certified for 95E, GMRS, as shipped.

I think I have five GMRS certified radios, beginning with a Motorola Talkabout set of 2, nearly twenty years ago, then 2 Midland handhelds. At about that time I got my FRN, but the $70 for five years seemed too high. Then I felt I needed a Garmin Rhino because my rocketry friends had them and used the location sharing feature. Then, in 2021, I got my GMRS license at $70 for ten years. About then I started watching Notarubicon videos. My interest in radios was rekindled and the following year I got my ham license. Then I bought two more GMRS certified radios, both DB20Gs, but I converted them both to ham frequencies. They’re the only 95e certified radios that I have capable of operating on ham bands and I no longer use them on GMRS. If I buy better mobile ham VHF/UHF radios I’ll probably revert them back to GMRS use. I’m not sure what I was supposed to be a perpetrator of.

On startup it can be configured as either GMRS or wide ranges of frequencies, including ham, but when you do all the memories are wiped out. As it ships it can only do GMRS, in compliance with regulations.

Slip the battery off the radio when stored.

Also this Compactenna from DX Engineering: https://www.dxengineering.com/parts/can-2m-440?seid=dxese1&gclid=CjwKCAiAh6y9BhBREiwApBLHC1IcGA0rH-N1a1wQXIhDuTekfGba_nQh9ZEpj9l1uJz_W3QNi1ECGhoC2kUQAvD_BwE

I don’t have firsthand experience with this but L-Com isn’t a fly-by-night company: https://www.l-com.com/144-430-mhz-omni-antenna-4.5-dbi-gain-nmo-connector-black-abs-radome-lcanom1081?utm_medium=cpc&utm_source=google&utm_campaign=Shopping - PMax - All Products&keyword=&gad_source=1&gbraid=0AAAAAD9ns-k-oAGD00ZYuX-bs141csFCp&gclid=CjwKCAiAh6y9BhBREiwApBLHCxp5d-GsMPw5o8VbQPxZGLsAhj2PdPREyFZJINegJsie_crDDwZ-0hoCJg4QAvD_BwE

Welcome!

I guess I think the premise of this thread is wrong. It’s not up to me or anyone else here to say whether someone else is using GMRS “as intended”, as long as the regulations are followed. And it’s not up to me to enforce the regulations I’ll gladly help somebody understand the regulations (as much as I can) but I don’t get to reinterpret them to fit my ideas of how GMRS is intended to be used. If you want to have a conversation on the repeater with someone you’ve never met who announces they’re “monitoring”, it’s not my place to pass judgement. If you want to run your family ranch, good for you! If you use it while you’re out boating or hiking, do it. I think there are way too many people who want to decide what’s right for others to do

I think people want to use it like ham radio. I’ve seen lots of that on this forum, people wondering why they are not finding people to talk with. But at least in my experience, those are not hams coming to GMRS; they’re people who want to use GMRS like they imagine ham radio to be. But ham radio isn’t very often like that on VHF and UHF, except for some new people. People call CQ on HF, looking for further and further contacts. Most seasoned hams I know use VHF and UHF like GMRS, to communicate while doing something else. And for Nets of course.

I don’t think I cast doubt on your experiences. I just disagree with your opinion.

We disagree then. People should feel free to ask about the radio that someone else is using. And I really don’t think that radio nerds moved in on GMRS to the extent you imply. Certainly some people do use both. I do. I started with GMRS and became a ham, not the other way around. GMRS made me want to learn more about radio. To say that asking about the technology while using it is not allowed is completely impractical. People will be curious. Just like any other aspect of life. There are those who want to absorb information and those who just want to use it. Both are perfectly acceptable.

I use it to recover rockets or for my wife to reach me when I am outside and she needs me or for my grandkids to play with (they get the FRS radios and I listen on my GMRS radio. I might someday put together a Retevis RT97S in a go-bag to extend the range for my rocket buddies. Maybe I would put a repeater at the cabin so the grandkids have more range. I’d have to get them GMRS radios then and train them to ID appropriately.

I could understand people being curious about that, especially if the conversation was about how strong or weak the signal was, but they shouldn’t have made her feel uncomfortable.

I’m sorry that happened to your wife. It shouldn’t have. Not on GMRS and not on any of the ham bands. As long as people are not intentionally violating regulations in a way that interferes with others, we should be welcoming and supportive.

I haven’t embraced it as a hobby, but I respect anyone who gets such joy from something.

The KG1000G is marketed that way. @OffRoaderX tried it. It worked, but not as simply as it was marketed. He has three or so videos on YouTube as Notarubicon about it.

Either should be fine. Choose whatever is most convenient. The radio is its own heat source.

Like some of you I usually quote a post or a portion of a post so the context of my comment is clear. On occasion I have written a comment, thought better about it and backspaced to the beginning of my comment to start again. Sometimes I backspaced one too many characters and I end up inside of the quote block. If you add your comment there it’s not easy to know what you quoted and what you commented; both appear within the quote block. At first I couldn’t figure out how to get out of it. It’s not always possible to click below it. But then I discovered that if I just go to the very end of any text or spaces in the quote block and hit a couple of returns, the forum software would move my cursor out of the quote block and underneath it, right where I wanted. You probably already knew this, but just in case you didn’t, I thought I’d mention it.

How can you tell?

1. Are you on repeater channels for the local repeaters? If not, they’ll never hear you. 2. Do you have the right TX CTCSS tone or TX DCS code set for your local repeaters? If not they’ll never hear you. You can hear everything without an RX tone/code, but you must have the right TX tone/code set.

Using GMRS is infinitely better than not. Nothing is gained by having silent channels. If you have long conversations, pause every so often to allow someone else to use the frequency or repeater. Help someone else get started with GMRS.

Yes

Zero to hero! Well done!