WRQC527

We had a GMRS guy on my 2m repeater last week so I diplomatically helped him realize he was on a ham repeater. He apologized and left. It happens, but if it's intentional and repeated, then it's an issue.

I slowed the playback on your recording enough so I could write down the dits and dahs then translated it. Don't be fooled into thinking I know Morse code.

The stuff that drives me nuts is the old men who talk about their health problems. Strokes, gout, oozing wounds, cancers, the whole gamut of issues. Totally depressing. My friends and I are very active hiking, off roading, camping, shooting, fishing, metal detecting, rockhounding, candy making, beer making, meat smoking, you name it, there's someone in our club that does it. And sometimes we even talk about radios.

Sounds like WRHW499, a GMRS call from Michigan.

What would you like us to talk about? Is there an approved topics list? Additionally, it isn't all we talk about. This morning, on the way to work, on my repeater, we talked about yesterday's football game, breadmaking, bathroom remodels, cargo ships, appliance repair, and automotive repair, all within a 40-minute span. Not once did the subject of ham radio equipment come up.

If you want to operate strictly by FCC bandwidth regulations, refer to this link: https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-47/chapter-I/subchapter-D/part-95/subpart-E/section-95.1773 Everything you want to know about regulations for personal radio services can be found by following this link: https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-47/chapter-I/subchapter-D/part-95

Yep, and it doesn't appear that theft of the tower is even part of the story. In fact, theft or not, it would seem to be a massive undertaking to lower and dismantle the tower and remove it from the site. Call me overly skeptical, but the day I read the original story, my BS detector pegged and the needle broke.

There's an old saying that goes "I would never want to be a member of a club that would have me as a member."

I bet it's unfavorable. It's too bad radio forums degenerate to bashing other services. I mean, I guess all forums have that problem, but my take is that there's so much to share, and some folks would rather pee in the punchbowl.

That's better. Still hating on amateur radio, but at least your edit answered the OP's question.

The question was "Why did you choose GMRS", not "Why do you hate amateur radio". Without hating on amateur radio, why did you choose GMRS?

I chose GMRS as an additional communication mode to augment amateur radio. My friends who I spend time hiking and off-roading with are amateur radio operators, while my wife and I use GMRS.

Those arguments don't include me. If I'm asked, I would direct those folks to the website below, then go have a beer or something. https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-47/chapter-I/subchapter-D/part-95?toc=1 Also, I added control station to my post. Thanks for pointing it out.

Here are the definitions of Base, Fixed, Hand-held Portable Unit, Mobile, Repeater and Control stations, copied directly from the FCC Part 95 rules. Using these definitions, you can answer your question as though you are asking it of an FCC representative. Don't overthink it, and don't rewrite the FCC definitions. They are quite concise and leave little or no room for interpretation. BASE STATION: A station at a fixed location that communicates directly with mobile stations and other base stations. FIXED STATION: A station at a fixed location that communicates directly with other fixed stations only. HAND-HELD PORTABLE UNIT: A physically small mobile station that can be operated while being held in the operator's hand. MOBILE STATION: A station, intended to be used while in motion or during halts at unspecified locations, that communicates directly with base stations and other mobile stations, and with control stations and other mobile stations through repeater stations. REPEATER STATION: A station in a fixed location used to extend the communications range of mobile stations, hand-held portable units and control stations by receiving their signals on one channel (the input channel) and simultaneously retransmitting these signals on another channel (the output channel), typically with higher transmitting power from a favorable antenna location (typically high above the surrounding terrain). CONTROL STATION: A station at a fixed location that communicates with mobile stations and other stations through repeater stations and may also be used to control the operation of repeater stations.

You bet. It's on the Operations tab. https://www.fcc.gov/wireless/bureau-divisions/mobility-division/general-mobile-radio-service-gmrs

While I'm not interested in debating the legality of linked GMRS repeaters, or even expressing my opinion or interpretation of the following excerpt from the FCC website concerning the interconnecting of GMRS stations through various networks, I present it here to further muddy this thread. "You can expect a communications range of one to twenty-five miles depending on station class, terrain and repeater use. You cannot directly interconnect a GMRS station with the telephone network or any other network for the purpose of carrying GMRS communications".

I sometimes preface my responses here, on other forums, and in real life with some variation of "Do you know what I think? Thanks for asking". With your permission, I would like to include "Please be seated" in the future.

All of this is just my opinion, but since you asked... I don't like or use linked repeaters. Not on GMRS, not on amateur radio. I have three stand-alone repeaters on a 6,000 foot peak and one out in the desert near Barstow. None of them are linked to anything and never will be. There is an amateur radio system called the Winsystem with linked repeaters all over the U.S. as well as nodes linked in internationally. Not only do you have to hear conversations possibly taking place in other states or countries taking up valuable local repeater bandwidth, the entire system is a target for jammers. Many of the nodes sound like crap. I find little value in linked repeaters.

I don't have specific recipes to add here, because I have too many saved, but I do have probably a hundred pounds of cast iron, some of it over 100 years old, and I use it every chance I get for potatoes, cornbread, buttermilk biscuits, sausage links, bacon, Italian sausage and bratwurst, banana bread muffins, you name it. Once you figure out how to use it, cast iron is a game changer.

I would venture to guess that the requirement to use call signs on GMRS could be in part because of the power allowed. A user running the full 50 watts on GMRS, even without a repeater, has the potential to transmit a signal much farther, and possibly interfere with communications very far away, which is unlikely with unlicensed low-power services like CB, MURS and FRS. Licensing, and using your call sign, gives users the ability to identify those users causing interference, and it gives the FCC a way to take action against offenders who the FCC assumes know the rules... assuming the offenders are actually using their call signs. That's what I think anyway.

Sort of. Repeaters often have high-gain antennas that allow them to "hear" better than "standard" mobile or handheld radios. For example, the 70 cm, 2 meter and 1200 Mhz amateur radio repeaters I have use collinear antennas that are from 10-15 feet tall. Another factor is that high-end repeaters often have better receivers than your average HT or mobile radio, as well as better filtering and coax.

Just to be clear, your radios are not actually connected to the repeater. They are configured in such a way to activate, so to speak, the repeater when you press the push-to-talk button and hear it when you release the push-to-talk. And yes, if the radios are close together, pressing the push-to-talk on one radio can desense the other and you probably won't hear anything but noise. Like when your significant other is talking loud while you're trying to watch the 49ers spank the Lions. The whole reason for repeaters is to enable communication between two or more radios that are far apart or blocked by terrain or other obstacles and unable to communicate via simplex.

I just gave away a pair of these Radio Shack Space Patrol walkie talkies (circa 1978) to a thrift shop. I found them in one of my father-in-law's boxes-o-stuff. They worked, but my testing only involved from one end of the house to the other. Predictably, they struggled.

Sounds like my kids... But seriously, what kind of radio is your base station? Sometimes, knowing that will help someone here evaluate the problem.

I used to think I was never wrong. It turns out I was wrong once. It's when I thought I was wrong, but I wasn't. ~Anonymous