SteveShannon

This might be something you would want to try. It's similar to a Ventenna. https://w6nbc.com/articles/2018-tbdQSTsmallwonder.pdf

On the receiving/monitoring radio you must have the correct RX freq. You can put in the TX freq, but it’s not needed for monitoring. On the transmitting radio, you must have the correct TX freq and tone. Yes, the tone goes in TX CTCSS/DCS. Leave the RX CTCSS/DCS empty. It doesn’t really matter if you have the RX frequency correct for this test. Later on you’ll want to have both radios set the same so either one can talk to the other through the repeater, but for now I don’t want to confuse you with anything you don’t absolutely need. The default bandwidth is good. That’s wide band. I’m old and I’m going to bed. ? Ill check in sometime tomorrow afternoon. This should be enough to get you started. Go ahead and ask anything you need. There are smarter folks than me that might be able to help you more than I am.

Program one to monitor the repeater. (Correct frequency, no tones) Transmit with the other to the repeater input frequency and with the right input “privacy” tone. Transmit on one and listen on the other. In a successful test you should hear yourself. Keep them far enough apart that the transmission doesn’t de-sense the receiver. My radios work just fine on one end of the kitchen table.

Any time the repeater is unused should be fine. Using two radios is one way, but most people don’t mind helping another person with a repeater check. If the repeater has been unused for a while you may hear the repeater ID itself immediately after you stop transmitting. Or a courtesy beep.

So, Midian uses a notch filter: ”Notch Filter: As a notch filter, the NFBF-10 will remove the undesirable tone from the incoming audio while passing the rest of the audio. The NFBF-10A is commonly used to remove 2175 Hz keying tone from tone remote radio dispatch systems going into a voice recorder. The NFBF-10C is used to remove CTCSS tones from audio.” A notch filter has a response that affects nearby tones as well, but with a lesser effect. Here are three different graphs of frequency responses for notch filters. As I mentioned earlier, none of them affect only a single tone; all have some effect on adjacent frequencies, although the very sharp one would not have much, but still it would be a segment of voice frequencies that would not be reproduced. Probably not terribly noticeable.

It’s no different than listening for any other activities. Just scan channels 15-22 with no receiver tones. Maybe the real question is how to tell the difference between hearing a repeater or just someone transmitting on simplex. If it’s a repeater it should ID itself every 15 minutes while it’s being used. Also you might hear a courtesy beep, which is typically less annoying than a Roger beep.

That’s a hard question. In terms of greatest likelihood of helping you hear weak signals, the antenna on the house is best, but what if there’s nothing to hear. I wouldn’t invest in a more powerful radio without hearing something first; a more powerful transmitter won’t fix your inability to receive.

If you’re using a receiver that doesn’t filter out “privacy tones” they would sound like buzzing. Does the buzzing sound like it’s at or below 260 Hz? This thread is why I suggested it could be a monitor device: https://forums.mygmrs.com/topic/1969-new-interfering-ix-signals-baby-monitors-using-gmrsfrs/?_rid=6309

So, let's say you're listening to a repeater. You're able to hear the repeater because you don't have a receive tone set. But you're curious what the tone is that the repeater uses when it transmits. If you choose "Tone Scanning" your radio will scan through the tones to determine which one is being transmitted. If you're close enough to a repeater to receive the transmissions from others to the repeater you can use "Tone Scanning" to determine the input tone, which you would need to have to get into the repeater.

If I have added anyone to my ignore list, it’s certainly not your fault and it wouldn’t be entirely due to this thread anyway. And now we know that we all have the tools to ignore others’ signatures.

Here’s an article about grounding and high rise buildings: https://comm-omni.com/polyweb/rooftop.htm

It can be overwhelming; I don’t think anyone would dispute that. A high rise building like that should have a grounding system that you should tie into. Talk to the maintenance engineer if there is one.

See this thread:

There are literally books written about tower and antenna grounding. I’ll see if I can find you some links. The Bible is a document by Motorola named R56 something or other and there are lots of links to it on this forum. Be right back.

Regulations limit you to 50 watts, so it’ll have to do, but terrain and antenna height will determine range more than power. If you have the height 10 miles is well within reason. After all, those 5 watt handhelds have to reach you. I don’t own a repeater but I have seen a lot of posts recommending a Laird DB404 antenna. You will also want to minimize feed line losses by choosing the best feed line you can. Edited to add: Good reference post-

Happy Monday, my butt. It’s cold outside.

Filtering out just one tone is almost impossible. There’s always a certain width of frequencies that are also filtered out and it’s easiest to simply build a high pass filter rather than try to isolate a single frequency. Also, keep in mind that the bandwidth allowed for narrowband is only 6.25 KHz, so everything transmitted has to fit within that. For wideband it goes to 12.5 kHz, so no audio frequency higher than about that will be transmitted.

This may be helpful in future situations. The ignore list includes very useful granularity. You can choose to ignore posts, messages, mentions, or signatures, individually.

That’s what I was reacting to also, but I think it’s better to just let it go, at least that’s what I’m going to do. I can always put @MichaelLAXon my ignore list for awhile.

There are lots of nets, many weekly. Also, I believe there’s a YouTube recording of a MyGMRS net if you want to hear how they’re conducted.

Yes, tones below 260 Hz are filtered out intentionally by radios designed to receive and decode them. If you listen with a radio receiver that has no such filtering the tones could be pretty annoying. Think of hearing the 60 Hz hum of a loose transformer as part of every message, or the sound of a mosquito or buzz of a bee. Here’s an aftermarket CTCSS filter: https://www.masterscommunications.com/products/filter/plf15.html

You’re absolutely right. I should have ignored @MichaelLAX; it wasn’t my place to react. I have no excuse.

The radio that receives them filters them out.

Except that what you and @MichaelLAX refer to as Communism, really isn’t. What people commonly refer to as communism today is just militant socialism. In true or ideal communism (which exists absolutely nowhere as a functioning government) everyone contributes equally and shares equally and there is no state. But the point is that even if @Sab02r had an inaccurate signature, @MichaelLAX had no business taking him to task in a public post. If he was offended he could have written him a PM. Better yet he could have ignored the sig, or he could have turned off seeing that one sig (a function that I didn’t realize existed, but which is nice to have for this very reason). If we’re going to start criticizing each other’s signatures we’re in a race to the bottom. Better to just walk away.

For the win!