SteveShannon

That’s correct. When you specify TSQL you send a tone to the repeater and you filter out any transmission that you receive unless they match your receive tone.

If they refer to it as a tone, it’s CTCSS, but the decimal makes it certain. When a different tone is listed for receive, you can always just leave the receive tone empty. If you do use a tone for receiving, there are only two choices that make sense for Squelch Mode: Tone or TSQL. The difference is that TONE means you send a tone to open the repeater but you don’t filter on the receive tone. TSQL means you send a tone to open the repeater and you filter received signals, breaking squelch only when a matching tone is received. DTCS is only used when you send or receive digital codes (aka DPL).

The DILA repeater on 550 has no output tone. I replied to your other comment with that information. The Mt. Wilson repeater on 600 has a tone which is indicated on its information page on the mygmrs repeater page: https://mygmrs.com/repeater/4553

Did you look in the repeater database on mygmrs.com? It says there’s no tone on the output: https://mygmrs.com/repeater/5216

It looks like it’s just the same as a UV-5RM. Here’s its manual: https://baofeng.s3.amazonaws.com/BAOFENG_UV_5RM_PLUS_User_Manual_EN_20240304.pdf

It’s a single band UHF antenna so I wouldn’t expect good transmission from it. Without measuring the SWR it’s difficult to say. Maybe someone who has both an analyzer and that antenna would measure it. I tried using an MXTA26 for 2 meters and a friend six blocks away couldn’t hear me with 20 watts.

Also, @Billz, many beginner level questions have been asked in the Guest forum. In fact I wrote this post as a bit of an effort to help people who are new to the forum and asking some of the more common questions:

Welcome to the forum. There are a lot of us here who got started at a later age. If you enjoy watching videos there’s a YouTube channel called Notarubicon that has a lot of basic GMRS knowledge videos. There’s also an excellent video on this forum by @marcspaz that’s an introductory level. I’ll see if I can find a link. Here: If and when you decide you would like to learn more about ham radio the concepts you learn here will help. I can also recommend an online study site that’s free (although you can buy their app for your phone for less than the cost of a beer at a local bar.) It’s called HamStudy.org. But most of all feel free to ask questions. There’s one guy who tends to scold some people for asking questions but he is definitely unlike anyone else here and it’s easy to add him to your ignore list. And sometimes he surprises me and offers good advice. Again, welcome!

He didn’t like the way CBS edited the Harris 60 minutes interview, he didn’t like the way the ABC moderators fact checked him during the debate, and he was upset in 2017 when NBC reported that his first Secretary of State, Rex Tillerson, referred to him as a moron.

It sounded that way to me also. It’s too bad if he has. I wasn’t offended by anything he said. He wasn’t here long enough to get to know us very well or vice versa. I can’t imagine he was banned though. Perhaps he asked Rich to delete his account. I’m not sure what that would accomplish. In fact he nearly left in this post almost a month ago:

CTCSS or DCS are not preconfigured. You’ll have to set them. The only thing that is preconfigured are the channel frequencies and repeater frequencies with offsets. Repeaters can be programmed with many different tones or codes.

He also has an axe to grind with the broadcast networks. Several times he said they should lose their licenses because he didn’t like the stories they broadcast.

Could also be used between two or more family locations, a house and a cabin, etc.

With an antenna switch you could select the one that works best. Combining antennas is more complicated. If you simply connect them in parallel you end up with an impedance mismatch and a minimum SWR of 2:1. A combiner may be built or purchased, but you really need to consider what you hope to accomplish by combining the two antennas. Will the combined antennas cancel out each other? Will they result in greater gain? Which direction because increasing gain in one direction necessarily decreases gain in another. In other words, it depends.

The FCC like all other regulatory agencies has to follow NPRM. The FCC Chief can’t decree a change to GMRS regulations, although he could call for changes which result in NPRM proceedings. Based on his own comments I expect he will be focusing on freedom of speech in Social Media, election fairness for broadcast networks, and Trump’s grievances against “mainstream media”.

Although 3:1 isn’t optimal, it definitely deserves a yes answer to the question the OP asked: “Can I get away with using either of these antennas?”

Don’t hold your breath hoping for an improvement. The last time Trump was president the Agriculture Act of 2018 was passed which eventually led to the Forest Service wanting to recoup costs for radio repeaters at forest service sites.

Welcome!

It sounds like you’re listening and transmitting on a simplex channel. Simplex channels receive the same frequencies as repeaters transmit, but they don’t transmit on the frequency the repeater listens to. You must be on a repeater channel to transmit to a repeater. Or you have the tone wrong and the repeater is simply ignoring you. Most software is written for Windows because the market is primarily Windows users. It’s just that simple.

You’re sure welcome. And pay no attention to the guy who has thrown away more radios than Baofeng has manufactured. We all just understand that he only feels good about himself when he’s sniping at others.. The range you’re getting is reasonable inside a city with trees and buildings. He lives on the edge of a desolate valley and apparently doesn’t understand the difference.

That sounds like using DTMF to link to other repeaters. On our 2 meter repeater DTMF tones are used to control other aspects of the repeater or to ask the repeater for things like voltage, temperature, etc.

FYI - You can edit your original post and add that to it by clicking on the three dots in the upper right corner and selecting edit.

It’s probably the biggest reason why I don’t program GMRS frequencies into most of my ham handhelds. I had both programmed into my Alinco radio, (you know, just in case!) and I found myself transmitting my GMRS call sign on the 2 meter repeater with another ham standing beside me. He didn’t give me a disapproving look or anything like that, I just knew I screwed up. Split mode is often used to have ham radio conversations with hams from other countries who have different amateur bands. Using split US hams can transmit on approved US frequencies while listening on the other country’s frequencies. The ham in the other country listens on US frequencies but transmits on a frequency approved for their country. That’s legal.

That’s what we see when also we click on your screen name. It’s when we click on the image in your sig that we get the 403. I don’t think that’s anything you’re doing wrong. I think it’s just a permissions setting for the site where the image is stored.

All my life I’ve been interested in astronomy. When my class had its eighth grade graduation we had a skit where we dressed up to look like our future selves. I stood on the school stage dressed in a long black robe with a mortarboard on my head looking through a mocked up telescope. This was supposed to depict me as a future scientist. Yet oddly enough, despite my basic interest, I never really got into astronomy. Oh, I have a couple telescopes. Over the years I’ve used binoculars and spotting scopes. Maybe 20 years ago I bought a 4” Orion Dobsonian. I use it seldom, although I have used it to see Mercury pass across the sun and to view solar eclipses (with a solar filter of course. 15 years ago I bought a 10” Cave Astrola (big reflector scope with equatorial mount) that one of my engineer’s father was selling. I should have paid better attention. He was selling it because he was switching over to viewing streaming images on the internet. I believe it’s a nice scope but I have never looked through it. I ought to remedy that. @OffRoaderX I hope you love your new telescope and I hope that you will do a series of YouTube videos with your new equipment. Maybe that will get me off my butt.