SteveShannon

Seattle, WA Everett, WA Sandpoint, ID Kalispell, MT Minot, ND Duluth, MN Detroit, MI Lansing, MI Cleveland, OH Buffalo, NY Rochester, NY Syracuse, NY Montpelier, VT are all North of Line A. Detroit and Seattle are the largest of course, but significant metro areas representing millions of people are above Line A as well as vast swaths of outdoor recreational areas, such as Glacier National Park. I understand the desire to nominate 19 for nostalgic reasons, but people are smart enough to learn another number. Most young people have no recognition of “Channel 19.” Here’s the FCC’s guide to Line A with a zoomable map. It affects far more than just GMRS. https://www.fcc.gov/engineering-technology/electromagnetic-compatibility-division/frequency-coordination-canada-below

I agree. Having just a channel specified without any tones makes the most sense. Monitor 3 without a tone. Then, all a person needs to remember in an emergency is to switch to channel 3. They will be heard. Now if the person who’s having the emergency has a tone set on their receiver they might not hear a response. Other than public education or getting manufacturers to leave tones clear by default on channel 3 I don’t know a way around that.

More like a ? Deadpool. ?

Just be sure you know how to assign or change tones from the front panel and you have that option.

No. But I also never scan. I only use my radio to talk to people I know on prearranged channels.

To find a repeater in your vicinity, use the repeater directory that’s part of this site. You might have to search for all repeaters in Indiana. There you may be able to request access as well. If you are granted access they should tell you what tone the repeater requires in order to access it. Scanning for a tone only tells you the tone the repeater transmits. That may be the same as it requires, but not necessarily. If you are close to the repeater you may be able to scan for a tone on the input frequency (467.600 MHz). I usually tell people not to set a receive tone. If left unset you will receive everything transmitted on the output frequency (462.600 MHz). So, to summarize: find the repeater using the directory that’s part of mygmrs. Ask for access. Program the necessary input tone into your radio as the TX_CTCSS or whatever it’s called for your radio. Leave RX_CTCSS clear, or use Tone Mode instead of TSQL mode or however it’s called on your radio. Best wishes!

In the menu, click on Staff and then click on @rdunajewski. As far as I know he is the owner and administrator. Or you can simply report your own post and it will eventually attract the attention of a moderator.

There are no GMRS radios that receive P25.

The only way to do it is to ask the administrator to change it for you.

Those are extras for you to use so you can have more than one repeater programmed into your radio, for times when you travel or otherwise find a repeater with the same frequency but different tones.

The KG905G is a dedicated GMRS radio. It’s also a much better radio than the Baofeng BF-F8HP, which is simply a higher priced UV5R.

You may want to consider using a quality cable with an N connector rather than using an adapter. N connectors are sealed and less susceptible to weather related damage.

Welcome to MyGMRS. There’s a forum established for problems with the site. A question similar to your was asked a few months ago. Maybe this will help:

Right? Good airflow!

A J-pole is an interesting antenna. It is a half wave end fed antenna (long side of the J) connected to a quarter wave match (short side). It has about the same gain as a dipole. It can be easily made by hobbyists using copper tubing or stiff wire. If you make it out of twin lead (flat antenna wire) and your name is Ed Fong you can call it an Ed Fong antenna. For end of the world scenarios it's useful to know how to make one. Here's an interesting video describing how it works.

Well, a minimum 2 mile range is difficult to guarantee in the mountains. There will be times you can get 20 miles from five watts and times you can only get one mile from 50 watts. Power isn't necessarily the predictor. Terrain has much more to do with it. Almost any mobile GMRS radio will have similar range. If your line of sight range is limited to 1 mile because you're going through a bunch of switchbacks, it won't really matter whether you're using 5 watts or 50. Look at a bunch to see what features you like, rather than using range.

A J-pole has 2.2dBi gain and the specs for the MR004 are 6 dBi. That's four dBi better. You don't say what kind of a J-pole you would pick, but I don't know of any that are better materials. Stick with that antenna. If it disappoints you, then start looking at something different.

That's great!!! It could only have been better if it said "NOTARUBICON".

Pretty cool, Marc!

Ideally no tones are set. Most users generally resent a manufacturer presetting CTCSS tones. Some manufacturers have occasionally been stupid however. There is no standard.

Otherwise have a friend listen to the repeater while you transmit to see if he can hear you.

You’re fine ? I would suggest moving closer and ask for another radio check. Are you certain you have the offset right and the transmit tone? The Morse ID in response to your transmission should indicate that it is I think.

Best of luck to you. I’m no expert on Allstarlink, but there are some on the forums here who have a working knowledge. I suggest describing the problems that are giving you a headache.

It could be because it’s like a copy of a copy. It has to be modulated by the original transmitter, then demodulated by the repeater receiver, then modulated again by the repeater transmitter, then demodulated again by your receiver.