kmcdonaugh

Most if not all repeaters will have a "squelch tail". I've heard different people call it different things. But if you can receive the repeater, when you transmit to the repeater, you will hear this "squelch tail" at the end of your transmission. Some repeaters have certain noises on their squelch tails, such as beeps, and some have none. That is why you will hear people "kerchunk" a repeater. They are just testing that they can hit it. When you unkey your mic, if you don't hear this squelch tail, you aren't hitting the repeater. It is kind of hard to explain this sound as it can be different on every repeater. One repeater in my area does a small double beep, and another one doesn't so it just sounds like a quick burst of static at the end of my transmission. Side Note: The squelch tail is actually the end of your own transmission. due to distance and time through the duplexer, you receive your own transmission, just a few hundredths of a second behind.

MyGMRS and repeaterbook are the two I keep an eye on.

It seems I do the same as others. I input an abbreviation of the name of the repeater. In the Austin area we have Flintrock Hill repeater. So the name of it in my mobile is FLNTRKHL

You would be surprised. I can hit that Troy Repeater with good signal all the way down in Briggs, TX. So your location should be fine

Out of all the masts we used, those were the ones a preferred. Lightweight, durable so they held up in high winds and easy to take down/put up for transportability. We would mount them on trailers and then just lower them for transport and raise them again at the new location.

I have actually used these on Oil rigs for their LTE connections with the Rohn 20' extendable poles

Not unheard of. Mobile unit to base station I get 20 miles simplex and HT to base station I get 12 miles in Central Texas

The one in Troy is WRAL242. It has great connectivity from Northern Austin up to West, Tx. If you search WRAL242 in the repeater list, it comes up. I've spoken to the repeater owner and it is an open repeater and free for use for all GMRS licensees.

I'm not sure if this is an issue on any other Midlands, but it has been an issue on every MXT400 I have ever owned. Sometimes when picking up the hand mic, the RJ-45 ever so slightly slides out of the jack, and then I can't transmit until I reach down (sometimes while driving) and push it back in so the copper can make connection with the jack. Anyone have an easy fix for this?

"it's like 4 times the value now!" made me think of "But wait, THERE's MORE!"

There is no such thing as privacy on any GMRS channel. They are all open frequencies free for any licensed user to transmit and/or receive. Just ask @OffRoaderX and he will tell you about all the "privacy" you get on GMRS.

https://www.arrl.org/news/fcc-proposes-record-34-000-fine-for-alleged-interference-and-unauthorized-transmissions-during-idaho Idaho man being fined $34k for transmitting on Rescue and Fire emergency freqs during an actual emergency. Don't be that guy, stick to your approved, licensed frequencies, and definitely don't transmit on unauthorized frequencies during a friggin emergency.

Creating a mygmrs.com account allows you to see the PL/DPL tones, as well contact info for repeater owners that require permission. Without an account, you will not be able to see it.

Have you created a mygmrs account using your license number? That is how you can get those secret tones.

Yup, you will not be able to see the info until you register an account with mygmrs.

I have also never heard of this for GMRS

I've never heard of anyone "depending on" a GMRS repeater for anything.

I have never gotten the audio on map to play anything, ever.

I have learned that pretty much everyone does what you do. Everyone is listening, no one is talking. I have learned that if I am bored and feel like talking I can do one of two things. 1. Throw a repeater check out there, someone usually answers, and then you can start talking distances etc, to get a conversation going. 2. I have previously acted like I was talking to someone on the repeater when in reality there was actually no one on the other end, and then HOLY S*** did people start joining in.

ONE YEAR LATER..... I'm in Leander. There are more and more GMRS repeaters popping up in the area every month. Flintrock Hill, Round Rock, Taylor, etc

It depends...

How long are you receiving this interference for? Is a second or two, or is it longer than that. I was getting the same thing for a while (a second or two at a time), when connected to a certain repeater, turns out it was someone kerchunking the repeater.

Setting up a repeater is great! However, I recommend waiting in doing so. Waiting does a couple things, you can spend that time, seeing what repeaters are in your area, so you don't possibly step on somebody else, and in some circumstances (if you are going to use it as an open repeater) it is not necessary for your area. After you have spent some time working these details out, if you still want to do it, then go for it. If you are going to use it as a private repeater for family and friends, then you would only need to verify that you won't be interfering with anyone else.

The "stale repeater" function needs a little updating. Repeater owners will not update their repeaters even if they are online. One year seems fair for a repeater to go "stale". However there should be a button or toggle to let other users, who can hit the repeater, let mygmrs know the repeater is in fact still online. A good example is WRAL242 repeater in Troy, Tx. That repeater is online and I use it almost daily, but the owner has not updated it in a while. It does not show unless you toggle "Show stale repeaters". It would be convenient for people like me who know the repeater is online, to simply hit a button that says something along the lines of "this repeater is not stale" or "this repeater is online". Then it could be on the main map without having to sort through stale repeaters that may be offline. It may also get used more.

I work in Briggs and can hit the Troy repeater no problem! I start to lose it when I hit Liberty Hill on my way home, then I switch to the Flintrock Hill repeater outside of Austin