SteveShannon

That is correct. There are several other threads that started with someone pontificating about how others use GMRS incorrectly. None of them settled anything. This is one place where GMRS is similar to ham radio; someone thinks their way is “the only right way” even though the regulations don’t support that.

We can break your bank guessing at what the problem might be. My feeling is that your antenna probably isn’t higher than the surrounding terrain and trees. Getting it higher can help but UHF does poorly in vegetation. Poor cable contributes by attenuating the signals in both directions, but antenna gain and visibility is by far the most important factor.

That’s correct. But RG-59 has been replaced by RG6. Sell it to someone for use on HF or lower. It’s just not suitable for VHF or UHF.

50 feet of RG-58 would attenuate a buttload of UHF RF.

So although the output frequency is 462.550, the frequency you must transmit to the repeater is 467.550 MHz. That’s usually taken care of automatically if you select a repeater channel.

What kind of range are you getting? If people can use it when they’re near, the most likely thing you have “wrong” is simply antenna height, as @LeoG said. The other possibility is that your signal is being attenuated between your antenna and your repeater. What is “50-3 pure copper coaxial extender cable for RT97L”? What cable type is it and how long is it? Perhaps the 50-3 refers to the length? 50 feet three inches?

Unless the output tone is different from the input tone … Which can be remedied by setting your radio to receive on the repeater input frequency and scanning tones.

This doesn’t sound “utilitarian”. In fact it sounds pretty social. § 95.1731 Permissible GMRS uses. The operator of a GMRS station may use that station for two-way plain language voice communications with other GMRS stations and with FRS units concerning personal or business activities.

Be sure to listen without any RX tones or codes so you can hear what’s transmitted on each frequency. If you have the wrong code or tone on RX you’ll hear nothing. With no tones or codes you hear everything.

There’s a database/map associated with this site that should help. Click on “Repeaters” on the top menu.

The only other thing I can think of is the transmit frequency. The repeater channels receive on the same frequencies as 15-22, but transmit on 467.xxx MHz channels.

Thank God you have zero authority over who can or cannot use GMRS. There are many people who use it for many different reasons. Neither you nor I have the authority to say they don’t belong.

I agree. Use of the phonetic alphabet important for hams in order to accurately discern call signs for all the reasons you listed. Unlike GMRS logging calls in amateur radio is important. Almost nobody logs calls in GMRS. I would say nobody but there have been a very few people on this forum who have expressed a desire to log calls. But I find it very easy to ignore people using their call signs frequently or using the phonetic alphabet.

Look at the repeater map/database.

Welcome!

DTCSS is the same as DCS or DPL. Different companies call it different things. CTCSS is the same as PL.

So, really it’s not the call sign, it’s that someone is trying to chat with your wife? Maybe he’s intrigued at hearing a female voice on the radio. Try using CTCSS or DCS so he can’t easily interrupt.

So doesn’t your wife just use your call sign WSAK691?

Why does it bother you?

Having R-DCS set will block everything that isn’t transmitted with the same DCS code. Leaving R-DCS cleared out allows you to hear everything that is transmitted on that frequency. If you set T-DCS nobody will hear you except those who have a matching R-DCS or those who have no R-DCS. My recommendation for someone who isn’t hearing an expected response on a repeater is to leave the receive tone off but you must have the correct tone or code (remember there’s both CTCSS, which is a tone, and DTCSS, which is a digital code) when transmitting. You might also try getting closer to the repeater. Finally, not everyone using GMRS wants to respond to an unknown person on a repeater. Have your daughter take the other radio and walk a ways away and see if you can hear each other on the repeater.

4 to 60 watts is nearly 11 dB. (4 to 40 is 10 dB).

You need the T-DCS code to get into the repeater. You can hear everything the repeater transmits without an R-DCS. If you’re using a GMRS radio and you’re using a repeater channel the offset is automatically added.

Does not matter in what way? Range? Clarity of reception within that range? I agree that in the open, two watt handhelds with a rubber duck antenna will transmit clearly as far as the curvature of the earth will allow. But if transmitting from inside some attenuating material, such as vegetation or even a building or vehicle, the extra 7 dB of power can make a perceptible difference.

37 continuously, 50 amps at a 50% duty cycle.

I’m wrong. My TYT and Wouxun radios arrived in white product boxes. One of my Baofeng (GT5R) arrived in the exact same kind of brown cardboard box as @WRTC928 showed in his photo. No product box between the cardboard box and the plastic liner. My original Baofeng UV5R arrived in a larger white box. It was the only Baofeng that I received with a long antenna.