WRBU799

Update: I have been in phone and email contact with an agent from the FCC's Portland office, and they are now beginning to investigate the the issue.

That's something we're trying to avoid. GMRS exploded in our area within the last year or so. So there's pretty much no options for moving as all of the pairs are occupied and, out of respect, we wouldn't want to intrude on other repeater owners. Thank you for making a complaint. Our hope is that if we bombard the FCC enough, we may stem the tide on these. Here's an example of the situation I found on youtube.

Yup. Someones always going to have one set to channel 1. And it's only a matter of time before someone accidentally hits the "MONITOR" button and starts throwing a carrier. I don't like thinking about how many are out there lying in wait for their moment to shine.

Jack in the Box intercoms was in my past as a youth experimenting with radios. So, we've silenced two more of them within one day today. I just came back from a really quick hunt where the homeowner thought it was pretty cool when our motley crew of radio operators came to his door and explained the situation. In this instance we didn't make him silence the intercom for good, but just change the channel. I'll explain why. Our first hunt this morning led to the homeowner simply surrendering his intercoms to us for experimentation, for which he was compensated for the intercoms and the time he spent patiently listening to our story. One of the members of our group spent the day going over the devices and learning how they function. He discovered that they are operating normally, however, the are defaulted to channel 1 (467.625) right out of the box. He found that people may try to change the channel, but unless they hold the channel button until it beeps, it will always revert to channel 1. So, we can allow the people to keep using them, but did counsel them about the harm it causes when it's on channel 1. It also really opens their eyes when you produce an HT to them that is clearly listening to the inside of their homes. I think this way compliance is better earned when we dont ask that they stop using their purchase altogether. The other cool discovery we made is that you can talk through the offending intercom while it is transmitting. We tested the group all call frequency (467.6125 726DPL) and we could be heard over the speaker while it's transmitting. For the next one I set my HT1250 up with the tx as the group channel and the rx as the channel 1 on the intercom. Just in case we encounter issues with users who are less than receptive to our requests. Here is a link the the FCC documents attached to the ID on the devices we recovered today https://apps.fcc.gov/oetcf/eas/reports/ViewExhibitReport.cfm?mode=Exhibits&RequestTimeout=500&calledFromFrame=N&application_id=nvB%2FzJMsBLczLOxMcRfJRg%3D%3D&fcc_id=2AJEM-777&fbclid=IwAR1w5_mEog4yWe_3nPtQfvPNnWqK8xVgG7ISNkwO89zD1LIS0sCwQmbKwvY

Supposedly FRS... It was actually transmitting a steady carrier on 467.625 with a 734DPL. We looked up the owners manual for reference, and they don't even list that as one of the frequencies used by the device. This has actually been the third occurrence where we've had to track down one of these within the last year. So we've actually become very good at identifying the interference it causes when it occurs. The DPL code causes a diesel motor type sound while "doubling" with other users. Sometimes when a user unkeyed, the repeater would rebroadcast what was being said in the restaurant for a quarter second. We've gotten very good at tracking down the sources. In the last two instances, they were emanating from a private residence so we never saw what was causing it. This time it was a public place, so we got a great opportunity to identify it.

Oh they had an attitude alright. They put it back on the air the next day around lunch time and their phone lines began lighting up. On the final call, they got very defensive and tried to lie, stating they unplugged it and put it in the managers office. They were then told, "Are you sure you're telling the truth? We hear a steak being ordered, and we know that you know you haven't unplugged it.". Seconds later it disappeared, and they were thanked for their cooperation. They promptly hung-up without another word, and the intercom has not been heard since. By the way, it was transmitting a 734 DPL just like the others.

Can confirm this was jamming the input to our local 462.625 repeater. After a fox hunt led to an in-person visit and conversation, followed by multiple escalating phone calls, it finally ceased operation. It was being used as an intercom, to talk through a plexiglass window, at a popular local buffet restaurant for patrons to tell the chef how they would like their steaks prepared. Hosmart HY777