SteveShannon

Group Monitor: See these videos:

Will it allow you to change it later? I would assume so. If so, put anything in there, unless you’re signing for a digital ID for C4FM. Also, if you put your GMRS call in your sig sometimes some wud might be able to find you in the ULS. Of course the problems right now affect that.

Those look correct if the repeater owner uses DTCSS on both transmit and receive and neither is inverted. I’m assuming that you entered the correct values. It’s not really necessary to have a value for receiving. If you leave it out you’ll receive everything on that frequency. Sometimes that is useful while making sure your transmitter is configured correctly. Then you can always go back and enter a code/tone for receiving.

I think you intended to ask if GMRS is long range communication. It is not. Without the grid it is limited to very short range between two handheld radios. Using a repeater a person might achieve a hundred miles, assuming the repeater has a 50 mile coverage radius. Ham radio has the potential of communicating at very long ranges and some of the newer software programs leverage that technical capability to provide an alternative to internet based email, file sharing, and chat. But I want to emphasize that getting that kind of performance out of ham radio is not as simple as passing the tests, buying a radio, throwing a wire over a tree, and getting on the air. It requires practice and trial and error to determine what works for your location and when.

https://www.radioddity.com/collections/consumer-radios-cb-radios/products/radioddity-cb-27-pro

That might cause a problem now, but he had his GMRS callsign wrong, like Rich explained. The fact that he had a call sign at all demonstrates that the ULS system was working at that moment. He just mistook the fourth letter ‘I’ for a numeral ‘1’.

Not hardly. They hit several agencies: https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2023/06/15/politics/us-government-hit-cybeattack/index.html

Since June 9. I don’t know if this is related to the Russian criminal hack of the US government computers: ” FCC ULS down, Amateurs Unable to Submit Applications, Filing Deadlines Extended The FCC Universal Licensing System (ULS) has been experiencing an outage since Friday, June 9, 2023. Amateur licensees are unable to submit applications or process renewals. Filing deadlines have been extended. The FCC has been communicating updates with VECs, including ARRL VEC about the situation, which remains fluid. As of late afternoon on Thursday, June 15, 2023 the FCC had no timeline for when the ULS would be back online. For the latest information, watch the ARRL News feed. The story about the issue posted there will remain updated with the latest information.”

Well… I don’t hate you.

How does “installing a repeater just because they want one” even remotely equate to “install a new repeater to save lives?”

If he wants a membership that allows him to post in the classifieds, premium membership is the only option that allows posting there afaik.

Doesn’t that describe wrqu797?

Try this: https://forums.mygmrs.com/subscriptions/

The classified section is only a few months old. It’s the only one. I’ll try to get you a link to join.

We use CTCSS for GMRS simplex frequently. We do so to keep our conversations separate (not private) from other people on the same channel. Before heading out into the field we make sure that we’re all on the same channel and tone. Our radios are not inexpensive; in fact they are probably the most expensive off-the-shelf GMRS radios available. I fully understand why @WRXN668 would like to save those settings as a custom channel. If his radio doesn’t support that simple capability I can understand why that would cause frustration.

Even though the receiver is tuned to a 5 MHz offset, without filtering on the receive side the 5 MHz offset ceases to be meaningful. The receiver front end will receive it. I don’t know whether it will overload it.

They’re all defined in Part 97 of the FCC Regulations: https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-47/chapter-I/subchapter-D/part-97 (c)The following terms are used in this part to indicate emission types. Refer to § 2.201of the FCC Rules, Emission, modulation and transmission characteristics,for information on emission type designators. (1)CW.International Morse code telegraphy emissions having designators with A, C, H, J or R as the first symbol; 1 as the second symbol; A or B as the third symbol; and emissions J2A and J2B. (2)Data.Telemetry, telecommand and computer communications emissions having (i)designators with A, C, D, F, G, H, J or R as the first symbol, 1 as the second symbol, and D as the third symbol; (ii)emission J2D; and (iii)emissions A1C, F1C, F2C, J2C, and J3C having an occupied bandwidth of 500 Hz or less when transmitted on an amateur service frequency below 30 MHz. Only a digital code of a type specifically authorized in this part may be transmitted. (3)Image.Facsimile and television emissions having designators with A, C, D, F, G, H, J or R as the first symbol; 1, 2 or 3 as the second symbol; C or F as the third symbol; and emissions having B as the first symbol; 7, 8 or 9 as the second symbol; W as the third symbol. (4)MCW.Tone-modulated international Morse code telegraphy emissions having designators with A, C, D, F, G, H or R as the first symbol; 2 as the second symbol; A or B as the third symbol. (5)Phone.Speech and other sound emissions having designators with A, C, D, F, G, H, J or R as the first symbol; 1, 2, 3 or X as the second symbol; E as the third symbol. Also speech emissions having B or F as the first symbol; 7, 8 or 9 as the second symbol; E as the third symbol. MCW for the purpose of performing the station identification procedure, or for providing telegraphy practice interspersed with speech. Incidental tones for the purpose of selective calling or alerting or to control the level of a demodulated signal may also be considered phone. (6)Pulse.Emissions having designators with K, L, M, P, Q, V or W as the first symbol; 0, 1, 2, 3, 7, 8, 9 or X as the second symbol; A, B, C, D, E, F, N, W or X as the third symbol. (7)RTTY.Narrow-band direct-printing telegraphy emissions having designators with A, C, D, F, G, H, J or R as the first symbol; 1 as the second symbol; B as the third symbol; and emission J2B. Only a digital code of a type specifically authorized in this part may be transmitted. (8)SS.Spread spectrum emissions using bandwidth-expansion modulation emissions having designators with A, C, D, F, G, H, J or R as the first symbol; X as the second symbol; X as the third symbol. (9)Test.Emissions containing no information having the designators with N as the third symbol. Test does not include pulse emissions with no information or modulation unless pulse emissions are also authorized in the frequency band.

@markskjerve First, I applaud your wish to help the repeater owner. In a world where generosity sometimes seems to be lacking it’s refreshing to see someone perform an altruistic act. I think there’s an easy way forward. You can use incandescent light bulbs or heating elements as a dummy load if you really want to surprise the repeater owner or you can surprise the repeater owner with an untested repeater and he/she can come up with a dummy load. At the lowest power setting you don’t really need to worry about power damage to your finals as a result of impedance mismatch.

They must have seen one of your videos. I’m only partially kidding. I do wonder what has galvanized them and I really wouldn’t be surprised if they saw one of your videos.

Correct; pressing the MONI button simply allows you to monitor everything on that frequency, regardless of squelch level, tone squelch, or even time slot or color code for DMR.

I agree with you that programming Amateur Radio handhelds with a PC is much easier that most front panel programming. You sure don’t need to apologize though. I could and should have said what I said nicer. Btech sells the 1701 and 1801 Baofeng amateur DMR radios, don’t they? If not, Radioddity does.

Thanks for the information. It’s really not too surprising. GMRS is right at the edge of the range advertised. What’s surprising is that SWR is that low that close to the edge. It would be interesting to see the SWR sweep for the entire advertised range.

The joke kind of lost momentum

In order to rock that you need to wear dark glasses, a suit, and talk to your wristwatch.

You’re doing it correctly. For future reference you can leave the code off the receiving frequency. Sometimes that’s helpful for troubleshooting. When you leave off the receive tone you’ll hear everything transmitted in that frequency. When you include the tone you’ll disregard anything that hasn’t been transmitted using the same tone.