SteveShannon

I would love to see the inside to see where the chips originate.

There are a couple on eBay. Here’s one: https://www.ebay.com/itm/156538580363?_skw=russian+azart+radio&itmmeta=01JFDFJWQS1HSZ5DNCCBPZDHT6&hash=item24726d2d8b:g:i-AAAOSwsgdmh17q&itmprp=enc%3AAQAJAAAA0HoV3kP08IDx%2BKZ9MfhVJKkX4zEjLnWi9fbtoqsfdhL7uO55Zr7nKYlkrSwkccdC34KJ0Nhw41%2B0cP2yv9ANcNzIusmuGKlA98MZKAUL0nP7tXk3aav1YI1yM%2BH4a1RKcPxS88eHVy2zQWlCFWUcjEbvuV%2BVzN9MqXUOtZrL4gIG1aAc4Zr7VOsSRMg1fj5LSx71xas9ayxu58mU3JMXm0ilZ6bP2r1Rey1c%2FbCSRsxIgUfq%2FDLlO3axEBBM5%2F8%2Bk2CzWCGdJZasvV1TRUwuZf8%3D|tkp%3ABk9SR_rLy6_7ZA

Apparently, UR3QQC has one (or at least had one long enough to make a YouTube video). Unfortunately, that call sign isn’t found in QRZ.com. I liked this section:

If the repeater is in the MyGMRS repeater directory just click on the button to ask for permission.

Then there are some search terms on your desktop that are filtering out the missing repeaters. Frequently it’s the check boxes for stale and offline but sometimes you have to go into the advanced settings.

I absolutely understand that feeling. Don't worry about it. Use the radio, get as much enjoyment as you can. That SWR isn't perfect (and honestly never will be), but it's better than what you had before, so don't let it concern you. I was thinking of your old antenna anyway. Thanks!

Good job! Did you measure the elements while you were there? You are still losing power, obviously, but you definitely deliver more power to the antenna now. Here’s how I cheat : I measure the swr at the antenna. I attach my Bluetooth capable antenna analyzer directly to the antenna and read it on my phone after raising the antenna, but of course I understand that I’ll need to lower the antenna and remove the analyzer. That’s a huge advantage that an analyzer has over a wattmeter; an analyzer generates its own signal and measures both the forward and reflected power then calculates the SWR. But I also generally measure the SWR before I put an antenna up in the first place. Lifting it up above the ground often lowers the SWR but I want to make sure it’s good enough before I put it up. You could also calculate what the SWR is at the antenna based on the measured SWR at the radio and losses anticipated for LMR400. It’s the same calculation I did earlier.

I would expect the settings in repeaterbook to be correct. This site, mygmrs.com, has a more comprehensive database of GMRS repeaters, but there’s nothing wrong with repeaterbook. As far as setting the right tone for transmit, that’s the tone that appears in either the Tone or the Tone Squelch column. In both instances the tone that’s listed is transmitted to the repeater. But, if Tone Mode is set to TSQL, your radio will not reproduce any transmissions that don’t include the tone shown in the TSQL column. If Tone Mode is set to Tone, your radio reproduces everything it hears on the RX frequency. So, when I say clear the receiver tone, I mean change the Tone Mode to Tone. For some radios, manually programming them you literally remove or clear the RX tone. For people who are failing to receive signals from a repeater, the first troubleshooting technique I use is to clear the RX tone (or set the Tone Mode to Tone, which is the same thing.) My concern about VFO usage was because I saw that you have 467.625 MHz in your B VFO. That could cause confusion because you’ll hear the other radio direct as it transmits to the repeater while you’re trying to listen to the repeater.

What service was the grandkid abusing? Must have been amateur radio?

Possibly, I see 94. Here are my search terms:

Okay, you should not be transmitting on 462.625 to a repeater. And you should not be receiving on 467.625 unless your radio is the repeater. You shouldn’t have to use VFO channels if you’re using a GMRS radio. Just change to one of the repeater channels, add the right transmit tone, clear the receiver tone, and use it. The repeater channels might be numbered 23-30. Simplex means that you transmit and receive on exactly the same frequency. The only time you should transmit on one frequency and listen on another is when you’re using a repeater. You always transmit at 467.xxx to the repeater. You always receive from the repeater on 462.xxx.

Good morning, Mozam, Welcome to the guest section of the forums. It might help to know where you’re located. I have no experience with ODMaster. Someone who does will come along shortly. My suggestion would be to go watch some Notarubicon videos that describe the basic concepts, including repeater programming. The concept is straightforward. There are eight frequency pairs in GMRS for repeaters they all transmit on 467.xxx MHz and receive on 462.xxx MHz where the xxx part is the same. Every frequency pair is a repeater channel. The second part of that concept is tones and codes. They both serve exactly the same function; they reduce the likelihood of your being interrupted by others on the same frequency. They do not provide any kind of security; what you say can be heard by anyone listening on the same channel without setting a tone. One of the first things you should do is get your GMRS license and register for this site. Then you can look at the repeater database and map to see what repeaters are near you, what tones are needed to get into the repeaters.

Welcome!

It probably won’t make any difference to the radio’s life at all having a 1.84:1 swr.

Unfortunately, as @marcspaz helped me understand a year or more ago, the manufacturers don’t calibrate their S meters to that table. Even the 6 db between levels isn’t very closely followed, even though 6 db between S levels is taught and tested on the ham exams.

It might be helpful if we could see all of that screen so we could see the rest of the parameters you programmed. I agree that it doesn't seem that desense is your problem. i

Okay, I yield. You and @BoxCar are right.

Your tuning is probably fine. Using two radios to talk to each other in proximity to each other often results in a condition known as desense, which is where the receiver of one radio goes deaf to a weaker signal when placed too near a transmitting radio. Its like standing next to a person who is shouting and trying to hear their words echo while they’re still shouting. Take the receiving radio a block away and try again.

As I’ve mentioned before, I have disagreed with Ken in the past, mostly about his characterization of all Chinese made radios as being the same shoddy quality. But that’s his opinion, informed by his experience with commercial quality radios, and I think we shouldn’t throw out the baby with the bath water in this case. Ken is very familiar with the high reliability of commercial radios such as Motorola. They are produced to a much higher standard than Retevis or Ailunce products and people responsible for emergency management should be made aware of the difference. And the second part of his statement was similar in ultimate meaning to yours and frankly we don’t know that this is a volunteer organization (although that’s probably a safe assumption) or how tightly incorporated it is to public safety: I understand that sentiment. An Emergency Management Team which is affiliated with a Public Safety entity should have better equipment, perhaps hot brand new Motorola, but used Kenwood commercial or Motorola. Finally, IP67 is no measure of reliability or quality although it can contribute to reliability. I would be more interested in statistics regarding mean time between failures and metrics like that.

Is the Browning a higher Q antenna? How wide is the dip? You’ve been aiming at 465.xxx MHz. How is it at 467.xxx MHz? Do you have someone you could borrow an antenna analyzer from? A cheap NanoVNA will sweep the SWR so you can see what the response is across a range of frequencies. It could save you the expense of going through antennas. Is it just a piece of stainless steel whip you need to replace the one you trimmed? Sometimes auto parts stores have replacement whips.

Good luck!

I disagree on both counts. Although Ken could have been more diplomatic in his post, his point is valid: those Emergency Management teams that are part of a public safety system have an essential function that should require highly reliable systems. By mission definition Public Safety Emergency Management Systems are most necessary when infrastructure is already stressed and possibly in a state of failure. Second, I’m pretty aggressive about adding people to my ignore list. I haven’t even been tempted to put Ken on it. I’ve disagreed with him pretty strenuously but I’ve always been able to discuss things with him.

Congress reassigned their responsibility to write regulations by passing laws that established regulatory agencies. Nobody has been successful in challenging that. You can rant until your eyeballs explode but you won’t change it. The most you can hope for is to gain a little here or there.