SteveShannon

This is the cable that came with the radios when I bought them. For this cable the correct driver is the CH340:

Hi Doc, First, make sure that you don’t have a tone set for receive. Or make sure the Tone mode is Tone, not T-SQL. That way you’ll hear everything you receive on the frequency. Second, if you’re trying to transmit with one of the two radios and listen with the other right next to it, there's a possibility that the one you’re listening on is being desensitized by being so close to the transmitter. Third, I strongly suggest that you edit your post and remove your cell phone number. You can always send it to one of us in a private message, but posting it on a public forum might result in your phone number being harvested by bots and you becoming targeted by scammers. I have obliterated it from the quote box above. Finally, It is possible that people just are not monitoring the repeater and for that reason you might not get a response. See if the repeater has any kind of net scheduled. If it does that might be a way for you to connect with others. In my experience ham radio repeaters are more likely to have people monitoring for unscheduled contacts. Welcome to the forum. Your goal to help others during emergencies is admirable!

Make sure Tone squelch is turned off.

There are a lot of different threads with a lot of posts and for the past several months the whole linking subject has been discussed a lot. It’s just impossible to see them all.

That was discussed earlier beginning with this post:

See if you can choose squelch mode “Tone” instead of TSQL. Then it will disregard the RX tone.

1. An amplifier is still a transmitter (anything that transmits is), but there are additional rules regarding amplifiers. 2. Try finding an amplifier certified for part 95E.

That’s not the rule. The limit applies to the output power from the transmitter. § 95.1767 GMRS transmitting power limits. This section contains transmitting power limits for GMRS stations. The maximum transmitting power depends on which channels are being used and the type of station. (a) 462/467 MHz main channels. The limits in this paragraph apply to stations transmitting on any of the 462 MHz main channels or any of the 467 MHz main channels. Each GMRS transmitter type must be capable of operating within the allowable power range. GMRS licensees are responsible for ensuring that their GMRS stations operate in compliance with these limits. (1) The transmitter output power of mobile, repeater and base stations must not exceed 50 Watts. But more to the point that won’t make much of a practical difference anyway.

This is absolutely correct. In traditional DMR programming you end up with a channel for every combination of talkgroup and repeater. It’s not uncommon to have a hundred different channels for every repeater. Then, in order to use any channel it must be added to a zone. It’s much, much easier in OpenGD77/OpenUV380. You build talkgroup lists and then you simply associate each repeater to a talkgroup list. Fortunately, extracts or even the entire database of talkgroups are very easily downloaded. But as @BoxCar said you don’t need to know anything about how DMR works to take any of the ham exams. If it’s even mentioned on the Extra exam I don’t remember it. There might be a question about digital modes in general, but if you never learn anything about it you can still easily pass the test.

You say Chirp works fine with your other radios, but is that with this same cable?

Same on my iPhone, but my iPad did just fine.

My name is Steve. After buying 2 Motorola Talkabout GMRS/FRS combination radios, 2 Midland combination GMRS/FRS radios, and 1 Garmin Rino, I finally surrendered my soul to the addiction. Now I am a ham radio operator (AI7KS).

I agree that it came off as whining about @OffRoaderX. It renders correctly on a tablet, but certainly isn’t legible on a phone. Here are the last several paragraphs that you couldn’t read, with all rights belonging to GMRSlive.com: ”You have many other groups that used it as a money making thing. Hell before Texas did what they did they told me they had thousands in the bank. These groups charge for everything. Membership fees, advertising and fees for using there repeaters are just a few. GMRS Live had none of this. We didn’t allow advertising to make money off our users. I promoted one company that makes a good product but we were in no way part of them. They did send a node for me to try out. For just over 4 years I accessed and maintained this network daily trying to keep it running smoothly. In the beginning we paid all the bills. We finally had to add a donation button. Be we didn’t hound anyone for donations. We didn’t bring it up. That was not the purpose. Some did send donations and we thank them for that. It helped to support the server costs. But with over 800 nodes online you would think more would support the network. So above are some of the reasons I have made this decision. I have looked for years for someone I could give the network to if I got tired of it or if anything ever happened to me. I had a few good prospects but for one reason or another it didn’t work out. I did have people email and tell me they wanted to help out or how much they liked the network. We appreciate the kind words but it isn’t easy to teach or know what a person is capable of. And with thousands of members how do you find out? On Monday the Registration Server, HUBs hosted by us, DNS Server, Email and the Website will be turned off. The VOIP Live Server and No Sad HAMs will stay online. There are other small groups out there that I’m sure a bunch will go to. Just be careful and check things out. And unless you have real deep pockets and can afford large fines and attorney fees be careful what you connect to. Or get your HAM Ticket and find us on NoSadHAMs.com”

I understood that. I also understood that you could enter air band channels from the front panel. I’m suggesting that you could maybe use the software to do most of the channel entry as regular channels, the tedious part such as channel names, etc. Then, from the front panel convert those regular channels to air band channels by changing the frequency and modulation. I just thought you could make it slightly easier for yourself. Good luck in either case.

The process is pretty much the same on any GMRS radio. Pick the right repeater frequency pair. There are only eight to choose from and for off the shelf radios they are programmed into your radio. If you’re on one of the preprogrammed pairs with no receive tone you should be able to hear the repeater, if there is any traffic. A lot of the time there is no traffic. Pick the right CTCSS or DTCSS transmit tone or code. Leave the receive frequency unset until you you know you’re hitting the repeater. Push the PTT button, give your call sign and ask if anyone can hear you.

Maybe you can use the factory software to create the air band channels you want but using frequencies in the two meter band. Then all you have to do from the front panel is edit the frequencies and change the mode to AM and then save.

Unless you have enabled squelch tail elimination, It’s mostly up to the repeater programming whether you hear a squelch tail. Not all do. As long as you’re within range for your output power, on the repeater channel, and transmitting the right tone there’s really nothing else to prevent you from activating the repeater.

It says Title 47 was changed; for GMRS there have been no changes to the rules since 8/24/2022. To see the changes click on Timeline over on the left and you’ll see this. If you click on the words “View Change” you can step through the actual changes. They’re minimal and have nothing to do with Linking:

How were they changed? 95.1733(a)8 still prohibits passing messages through a wireline control link. That hasn’t changed. 95.1749 still has the same language regarding telephone networks.

That’s what it looks like. Try changing to one of the channels where narrowband is required. What does it look like on that channel?

But again, you’re quoting the most recent FCC interpretation, not the actual rules. That’s why this argument hasn’t been settled. The rules say one thing and the FCC interpretation says another. For the record I am not in favor of linking GMRS. I am against government being overly restrictive in their interpretation.

It seems clear to me from the regulations that the most common kind of scenario foreseen by the FCC in writing the regulations would be like a family going on an outing or working together in a family business and the licensed adult handing out handheld radios to everyone else in the family so they can stay in touch. Access and control by the owner/licensee can be achieved by being able to communicate with those who have been provided with a radio by voice command. “Gil, stop talking about good looking women on the radio!”

Yes, it looks like you’re doing everything correctly. Maybe have your friend from AZ test the radios with you. As Gil suggested above put 50 feet or so of distance between you to avoid desensing.

@Slufooted, If you don’t set the right tone for transmitting, nobody on the repeater will ever hear you.

Does the 275 need to have repeaters enabled before the repeater channels appear?