SteveShannon

I see amateur radio as something for nearly everyone. There are people bouncing signals off the moon, building equipment, fox hunting, rag chewing, and just about anything a person could want. It started as a hobby for people fascinated by a new technology. It continues to reflect new technology. ARRL simply reflects that.

I just joined ARRL and faced the same choice. It kind of depends on how you like to read magazines and whether you’re someone who keeps them and goes back through them. Look at the sample issues online before you choose. I looked at On the Air online and thought it had less content, so I ordered QST. I tend to keep magazines after I read them. 73 de AI7KS

Well, my wife and I did share a bottle of Prosecco this week and I had great baked clams for lunch today, so maybe that’s why I could find it… ??

That's what I get if I click on it from the Forum level or in my Account or Profile settings. I have to go all the way back out to the home page (https://mygmrs.com/), click on the bars in the upper left corner, and then click on My Subscriptions to get to the place where I can subscribe.

For $50/year (or $5/month) you can experience the site without advertisements and there are other benefits: https://mygmrs.com/profile/subscriptions

Here's some actual measurements. Sitting at my table the other day transmitted to the local DMR repeater. I watched the results using the "Last Heard" window on the Brandmeister website. The Brandmeister window displays a bunch of useful things, including the signal strength of each transmission heard on a repeater on the network. It's a great tool for diagnosing issues with DMR. Without moving from my chair, I swapped antennas back and forth. The long one was a 17 inch TIDRadio 771 (not sure if it's a knock off or privately branded by Nagoya) on a 70 cm DMR HT and the short one was the 6 inch rubber ducky that came with my HT. Using the longer antenna, when I transmit to the local repeater, which is 16 miles away with lots of buildings and trees in-between, I get an S8 reported by the repeater. Using the standard rubber ducky I get an S6, which is 12 dBm lower. In my opinion that's not insignificant. During our weekly network check-in, using a Baofeng and a 24 inch antenna, a guy 45 miles away hit a 2 meter repeater at the same site. I am impressed by the difference the longer antennas make. I'm sure there's something much better, but for the price, It may be good enough.

@rdunajewski is the one person who can help diagnose this. I'm not sure whether it's best to tag him, like I just did, or to report the content, which would get his attention, but could have a negative connotation. Good luck, Richard Leach!

Really, that’s interesting and good to know. So they must do something clever in the radio. Does it matter where the volume control is set like with some radios? Thanks! Added: of course that simply adds to the uncertainty for the OP. Based on WyoJoe’s comments the GM-30 requires an active cable, such as the FTDI. If the OP has a direct connect cable that could explain the issue.

Yeah, I was being lazy and not looking at the manual for the GM-30 (or remembering back three posts ?). I think any cable that plugs into the K1 style connector must be an active cable. It’s basically acting like a modem or UART.

I don’t know whether the GM-30 uses an active chip based programming cable or if the cable is completely passive, but you’re exactly right that the computer should detect a device on the port when the radio and cable are plugged in together, although it might simply see it as an unidentifiable device, which would then require a driver. If the computer doesn’t see anything on the port at all (which is totally consistent with everything you have said all along) then either the USB port is disabled (security rulz or BIOS settings) or as you say a dead cable. If the radio requires an active cable, such as one with the FTDI or Prolific chip, then simply plugging in the cable should trigger a USB response of some kind. If you plug anything else into the USB port is it recognized? If so then it’s not the BIOS. Are you logged in as the admin? I prefer not to run that way generally, but sometimes you have to to diagnose things like this.

Those are the frequencies to scan. For amateur radio users, the transmit frequencies are calculated by taking the correct offset for the band and either adding it to or subtracting it from the receive frequency, based on the sign in the parentheses. For 2 meter band the offset is 0.6 MHz. For 70 cm or GMRS the offset is 5 MHz. Maybe a couple of examples would help: For the 145.290 repeater the transmit frequency for hams would be 145.290 - 0.6 = 144.690 MHz. For the 444.400 repeater the transmitter needs to be set to 444.400 + 5.0 = 449.400 MHz.

That’s an interesting question. At first I was going to say that I believe the “transmitter output” refers to the circuit, not the physical box, but I’m not sure.

I asked a couple of times what you see in Device Manager, but you’ve never answered that question. That’s the best way to diagnose what’s going wrong with a driver. Until the driver works, you won’t get an acknowledgement. A screenshot is best, but if not, then look for an exclamation point in Device Manager.

Do you get a sound when you plug in the cable to the USB port? Are there any devices listed in Device Manager with exclamation marks? If so, click on the device to see what it says. I had a device the other day that the only way I could make it work was to log off from my usual user profile and log in as the admin (I don’t run as the admin). Once I did I could see the a device driver wasn’t working. It didn’t matter how many times I installed the driver I couldn’t make it work. Finally I removed the driver and the device, then reinserted the device and re-installed the driver as the admin. Other drivers must be installed before the device is plugged in. Good luck!

Ahh, thanks. I understand now.

I agree, but I didn’t say anything about a club GMRS license.

He still offers them on his website: https://edsantennas.weebly.com/about.html

A GMRS repeater may only be operated under a GMRS license. A ham club certainly could collocate a GMRS repeater at their repeater site, but it would have to have a GMRS call sign reflecting its operator’s GMRS license.

Based on WRKC935’s second paragraph in the section “Dropping to 190”, it sounds like with a high gain antenna, there’s probably an RF null beneath the tower and for some distance around. The pattern of the antenna directs the RF outward, closer to horizontal, rather than up or down.

Marc’s explanation is absolutely excellent and should be pinned. I learned from it. I would just propose one addition and I apologize to Marc if it’s pedantic. Privacy tones do not prevent interference. If two nearby groups are on the same frequency, but different tones, and one person from each group transmits at the same time, a receiver with receive tones set will lock in on the stronger signal, regardless of tone. It just won’t reproduce the audio if the tone sent with the stronger signal is incorrect. This could mean that your receiver remains squelched, causing you to miss a transmission that you were intended to receive. Another thing to consider is that having receive tones set prevents you from hearing a conversation on the same frequency before you transmit over the top of them.

If you want just for temporary use when your car club gets together, what about a suction mount? https://www.amazon.com/Rugged-Radios-NMO-SC-Suction-Antenna/dp/B08177PQPH

I have no experience with the model you’re asking about, but in case you’re more interested in what the settings need to be rather than how to set them: I recommend leaving the CTCSS receive tone off until you are certain the frequency is correct. Once you’re certain the repeater is transmitting on the frequency listed you can always add the receive tone. By leaving the receive tone clear, you hear all transmissions on that frequency. Also, just in case you didn’t know, you transmit to the repeater at 467.550 MHz, 5 MHz above the frequency you receive. That’s commonly called the uplink frequency. You receive on the downlink frequency. So, to summarize, what I would do is this: 1. Simply set your receiver to listen on 462.550 MHz with no CTCSS Code. It may take some time if it’s not very active, but If the repeater is active this may confirm it. 2. Set the receive CTCSS to 141.3 Hz and listen until you’re certain you’re still receiving the repeater. If you no longer hear the repeater, turn the CTCSS tones off. You don’t need CTCSS to receive; they just filter out anyone who doesn’t send using the same CTCSS tone. 3. Finally, set the transmit frequency to 467.550 MHz with CTCSS of 141.3 Hz and transmit, using your call sign, to see if anyone hears you “This is wrph848 doing a radio check on (whatever the call sign of the repeater is)”. Listen for squelch tail, a slightly prolonged sound coming from the repeater after you let go of the PTT. Hopefully someone will hear you and tell you how you sound. I apologize if I’m misunderstanding your question. Good luck!

I don’t really know, but there’s a third choice. The company that hosts the forum you’re currently on sells a slightly different version of the RT97, which is the RT-97S. It has an external controller port which allows the repeater to be linked to other repeaters, including the MyGMRS network: https://shop.mygmrs.com/collections/repeaters-and-accessories/products/retevis-rt97s-portable-gmrs-repeater?utm_source=mygmrs&utm_medium=banner&utm_campaign=rt97 The last time I checked it was more expensive than the US Retevis store, but if the addition of the external port is necessary for your application, there doesn’t seem to be an alternative.