SteveShannon

Was there an emergency? If there was, 95.1731(a) says: (a) Emergency communications. Any GMRS channel may be used for emergency communications or for traveler assistance. Operators of GMRS stations must, at all times and on all channels, give priority to emergency communications.

That’s correct, with a patch panel you run coax to each antenna and then switch at the radio end like an old fashioned switchboard. That allows you to use multiple antennas with multiple radios simultaneously. I think I understand better now what you’re talking about. You’re trying to use multiple antennas with a single piece of feedline, using a remote coax switch near the antennas. Is that right? Are you then switching that single coax to multiple radios at the bottom also?

A patch panel is cheaper and more flexible than two coax switches connected common to common, if that’s what you’re thinking about doing.

Power output is much less important than antenna and antenna placement. I easily get 20 miles to a repeater with a 5 watt handheld and rubber ducky because the repeater and antenna are on a mountain. I use the same antenna and mount as you on my vehicle. Are you in a vehicle or using this hardware in a house? You and your buddy should find a couple hills and see if things get better.

What antenna? And what is your buddy using?

It depends on the city and your antenna as well as your buddy’s radio and antenna. Also, are you really getting 50 watts out? The firmware in many radios will reduce your power to remain in compliance with FCC regs.

This kind of crap doesn’t belong here.

What map are you looking at? Here’s what it looks like on mygmrs.com:

Post the zip file.

I think the classified section is only available to Premium members.

Garmin Rhino handhelds are made in Taiwan. I think most other part 95 radios are all manufactured in China.

I don’t think anyone would argue that it’s the best, with all the other devices that are available, but the fact that it doesn’t rely on special hardware or cables makes it potentially valuable in the absence of those devices.

It’s covered (poorly) on page 25 and 26 of the manual - menu 10-13: https://baofeng.s3.amazonaws.com/BAOFENG_UV-9G_GMRS_User_Manual_20210806.pdf

@Blaise, So, I finally installed Rattlegram. Everything you said is exactly what they represent. I don’t understand how the speakers and microphones in smartphones can transduce ultrasound, much less the speakers and microphone in a two way radio. I also don’t understand how the radios modulate signals in the ultrasonic range. I’m intrigued.

Yeah, but I’ve kinda been wanting to pick up an Android tablet for ham radio anyway.

Fascinating. I haven’t loaded the app yet. My iPad says it’s too old and I don’t load test apps on my iPhone usually. I probably need to pick up a couple inexpensive Android tablets to play radio.

I’m not questioning you, please don’t take it as a personal attack. We see too much of that. Here’s why I’m questioning what really happened. Because we use FM the frequency of the RF signal varies with the frequency of the audio which modulates it. But the government (and courtesy) stipulate how much bandwidth we’re allowed. For FM stereo broadcast transmitters are allowed a wide bandwidth so they can broadcast a wider audio spectrum. But two way radios is only expected to reproduce speech. In fact I would expect our radios to have a filter between the microphone and the modulator to avoid creating too wide of a bandwidth. I would also expect that neither the speakers nor microphones on the inexpensive radios to be able to reproduce ultrasound. I thought I read in their PDFs, that Ribbit attempts to send digital data by converting data into audio tones that are in the center of the spoken voice audio spectrum, between 500 Hz and 2500 Hz. Their centerpoint is 1500 Hz and they go 1000 Hz either side. 20,100 Hz is way above that, but 2100 Hz is right in there. If you were able to transmit at 20100 Hz, I would be interested in what an RF spectrum analyzer would measure. But, I always say you can’t argue with empirical evidence, so I’m trying to understand what really happened.

UncleYoda, Ribbit is an application that sends text messages between two smart devices using two way radios. The smart devices emit an audio tone that’s picked up by the radio’s microphone. A burst of white noise is emitted first to activate squelch at the other end, but at the sending end the person pushes the PTT. At the receiver end the radio speaker reproduces the sound for the smart device to translate into the text message. No cables or modems are involved. A Talkpod is a just another brand of two way radio.

No, that is not supposed to . How did you measure the audio frequencies? Edited to add: I don’t know if you saw the other thread where Ribbit is mentioned, but if you did then you know I’m not against it. I intend to play with it in the amateur bands.

Yes. Where GMRS differs is that FRS users may not transmit on the main 467 MHz channels (23-30) that are (mostly) reserved for repeater inputs.

But there is a possibility :

If you’re receiving it it’s interfering with your station. But that’s not stated in the requirement anyway: a) In addition to the prohibited uses outlined in § 95.333 of this chapter, GMRS stations must not communicate: (1) Messages in connection with any activity which is against Federal, State, or local law; (2) False or deceptive messages; (3) Coded messages or messages with hidden meanings (“10 codes” are permissible); (4) Music, whistling, sound effects or material to amuse or entertain;

Just as I asked….why don’t you report it?

It’s difficult to know what you’re complaining about, but if it bothers you, why don’t you report it?

No, he was testing both the shield and the center conductor at once by putting a jumper at one end and the ohmmeter at the other end.