dosw

You are probably using simplex. If you both are using tones, you should both set Tx and Rx, same tone. Think of Rx tone as filtering out any transmission that doesn't have that tone. Think of TX as providing a tone that the recipient can listen for as he filters out everything that doesn't have the tone.

Power: The radios I've seen all connect their power either through a cig adapter (Radios outputting 25w or less) or using some sort of relatively easy to find plug connector so that you can remove them and leave the primary wiring still routed through the firewall to the battery (fuses, of course). So whatever that connector is, you'll want two of them; one to leave in place in the car, and one to leave connected to your 13.8v DC power supply at home. Or get a lower powered radio that can work with an easy to remove cig adapter. At home you'll need a cigarette receptacle on your 13.8v DC power supply. Antenna: It doesn't take much time at all to unscrew a PL259 connector. Keep an antenna mount on your vehicle with a cap over the NMO mount when not in use. And have an antenna mount at home. At home you might go with a more stationary antenna like the Tram 1486, whereas on the vehicle you would probably want an NMO whip antenna. Mount: Some of the cigarette plug radios have mounts where you can slide it in and out of the mount quickly and easily. You would probably order a second mount so that you have somewhere to slide it into in both the vehicle and at home. The swap would take just a couple of minutes. I do the same, with a Midland MXT-275; I have a mount for it in my boat, a mount in the RV, and a mount in my wife's car. We just put it where we need it. I never need it to be in more than one of those places at the same time.

Correct. There are many well placed 2m and 70cm ham repeaters in Utah County. I was suggesting that getting to know people in the ham community may facilitate a conversation on getting a GMRS repeater set up at one of those well placed ham sites.

Serious question: is there a grease you would use to help prevent water intrusion?

My MXTA26 hasn't become waterlogged like that either. However, I found moisture in my MXTA25 once. But after giving it ample time to dry out it was fine. I have gotten into the habit of using some diaelectric grease on the bottom o-ring and NMO threads of antennas. And I think I even put some into the whip hole of my antennas, to help prevent water intrusion. Dielectric grease is non-conductive, but it also doesn't prevent connections from being made. And I've tested with the SWRsometer to verify that I didn't suddenly drive the SWR through the roof by applying the grease.

It's really not a big scary thing to say, "This is ABCD123 doing a radio check." And you can append to that transmission, "I've got someone else listening, so I don't need a response" or "If anyone's listening, I'm also looking for a signal report." People will often respond, and usually politely, even enthusiastically. The worst that can happen is someone comes on and says, "Stay off the repeater." At that point, you cross that one off your list and move on. Either way, you learn a lot more by doing a real radio check than by just kerchunking repeaters. I don't rag-chew over GMRS or any other radio. I don't even rag chew on the phone. I do post too many responses in forums though. But even so, I'm glad when I get a response telling me how my signal sounds. I've never found anyone to be rude about it.

This has really gone too far. There are surely zero enforcements where the FCC checks receipts of grandma two miles away from her grandson, the license holder, to see if she owns the equipment she's using, and to see if her use is under direct control of the license holder. For that matter, if she and her radio were under direct control of the license holder, they very well wouldn't need to be talking over GMRS.

Yeah Capitol and Ogden repeaters, and more recently West1 get some socialites on them. Promontory occasionally too. But Capitol particularly. Not all day, but when they do light up it's hard to break in with a question, and it can go on for 90 minutes. I've never said more than three sentences to a stranger on a repeater, but it's pretty easy to get a response to equipment and propagation tests. As for FRS nets: Some local church groups run emergency preparedness simplex nets within their neighborhoods, and those tend to be a mix of GMRS and FRS users checking in.

Maybe it's a Utah county problem. In Salt Lake county I can hit Capitol (20, Ensign Peak), West1 (15, Oquhirs), East1, East2, Ogden, Promontory, Stansbury (if I'm in the northern part of the county), Bountiful, one in Sandy (GMZ01). And a couple others I don't use because they're rather short range. Capitol, West1, Promontory, and Ogden provide very good coverage in the valley, foothills and benches. I hear nets on Ogden, Promontory, West1, and Capitol. There is a simplex hobby net Sunday at 8 (can't remember the channel), and neighborhood self preparedness FRS/GMRS simplex nets on several channels Sunday afternoons and evenings. In 2m and 70cm I hear nets and traffic on repeaters in Draper, Lehi, Farnsworth Peak, and Ensign Peak, as well as some very short range ones in Sandy. I don't listen in Utah County much, though. If there aren't enough repeater options in Utah County, you might approach one of the 2m or 70cm owners and ask to work together getting a GMRS repeater on their ham tower.

The best way to monitor that I've found is to plug your radio into a VOX recorder or a computer running Audacity in VOX mode. Come back the next day and listen. Write down call signs, and if the repeater uses more identification you can also play that into software to decode the Morse, which will give the repeater owner's call sign if you don't already know it. But most importantly you'll know if anyone is using it, and can see how they interact: is it a rag chewing group, is there a weekly net, etc.

Four days? Just be patient. Repeaters are typically privately owned and represent the work and money of a hobbiest who may have other hobbies, other interests, other things vying for his time. If I were a repeater owner, and if I were to take a vacation for ten days and don't respond to an email from mygmrs about someone I don't know wanting access to the repeater, would that make me inappropriately slow to respond? Give it some time. If I didn't respond to someone in four days asking for something that I'm giving away for free, and the person got impatient I'd probably be inclined to say "Nah, this isn't going to be a good fit."

So we're saying that if I take a mobile GMRS radio and hook it up to an external antenna and an external power supply at my desk inside the home, which, I think, makes it a base station, at that point I'm not allowed to use it to hit a GMRS repeater?

Probably should have started a new thread, since this is a new question largely unrelated to the original thread, that hasn't been active since 2022. But I'll try to answer: If you hear the squelch tail it means you opened squelch on the repeater, which means you are at least getting enough signal through for the repeater to hear your PL tone or DCS code. Others should be able to hear you. Squelch tail is the sound the repeater makes when it is transmitting, but not still receiving a signal, but hasn't had enough time to stop transmitting yet. Here's the sequence of events: You key up. Repeater senses a transmission on its frequency. Repeater detects that your PL tone is the one that it requires to open squelch. Because it detected your tone, the repeater opens squelch and listens to you, while at the same time retransmitting your signal (which is coming in on a 467.xxxx frequency) out to everyone listening on the 462.xxxx frequency. Other peoples' radios hear a transmission on the repeater output frequency. Other peoples' radios decode the PL tone and open their squelch. You talk for awhile. You release your key. The repeater stops receiving a signal, but is still transmitting for a brief moment. The repeater notices the signal went away and stops transmitting. Receiving radios notice the signal went away and stop receiving. The squelch tail people hear is step 9 through 11. The repeater is transmitting for a brief moment without any input, so there's a short moment of some subdued static, your radio's squelch stays open during this time because the PL tone and carrier signal strength are holding the radio open. If you hear this, it means you hit the repeater. Now, why you can't hear yourself... why were you expecting to hear yourself (this is an actual question). Is it because (1) You think you should be able to hear yourself like you do on a telephone, or (2) because you had another radio nearby that was receiving? If it's "1", that just doesn't happen. GMRS radios operate on half-duplex while working repeaters. Telephones use full duplex. If it's "2", that's usually because the second radio is so close to the transmitting radio that its reception it totally overwhelmed by the power coming out of the transmitting radio, to the point that it doesn't hear the distant repeater's transmission. Think of it this way: If someone shouts at you from 100 feet away in a quiet setting you will hear them. If someone shouts at you from 100 feet away while you have your car stereo blasting at full volume, you won't hear them. The person 100 feet away isn't putting out any less volume, it's just getting lost in all the noise. The usual solution is to have someone take that other radio a tenth of a mile away and listen there, so that your transmitting radio's RF energy isn't overwhelming the listening radio's receiver.

I stand corrected. Apologies on that front.

A: The FRS channels predated GMRS channel numbering. When the services combined on frequencies, the frequencies were layered in. Additionally, the 15-22 frequencies, and the repeater input frequencies are the "mains", while the 1-7 and 8-14 are the interstitials; they are intentionally lower power (5w or 0.5w depending on the channel) so as to have less potential for interfering with the mains. B: Every FRS and GMRS radio I've used (Motorola FRS radios, Midland GMRS handheld radios, Motorola combination radios from before the rule change, Baofeng GMRS radios, Midland mobile radios, and Retevis mobile radios) use the same channel numbering. The earlier FRS didn't have channels 15-22. But aside from that the numbering has remained unaltered. You'll have to demonstrate model numbers that shipped with incorrect channel numbers per frequency. Or did you alter them with CHIRP? C : Yes, GMRS and FRS use all the same frequencies, except that GMRS adds the repeater input frequencies, as well. What you get by purchasing a GMRS license: A call sign. The right to transmit on a GMRS radio Repeater capability 5w instead of 2w on channels 1-7 50w instead of 2w on channels 15-22 50w instead of no right to transmit at all on repeater inputs. Right to use external antennas (FRS is built-in antenna only) Right to use mobile GMRS radios (FRS is handheld only) on channels 1-7 and 15-22, and repeaters. Right to use base station GMRS radios (FRS is handheld only) on channels 1-7, 15-22, and repeaters. Full access to all of these capabilities for your entire family (the license is family oriented). D : The NFM (narrowband FM) setting in Chirp sets the radio to 12.5kHz or less. The FM setting (wideband FM) in Chirp sets the radio to 20kHz or less. You will also notice from your chart that the channel spacing between 15, 1, 16, 2, 17, 3, 18, 4, 19, 5, 20, 6, 21, 7, 22 is only 12.5kHz. 15, 16, 17, and so on are all spaced 25kHz apart, but the interstitials are also spaced 25kHz apart, and sandwiched directly between the mains. This is why they're called interstitial frequencies, and why they are limited to lower power (5w for 1-7, 0.5w for 8-14); as mentioned earlier, to reduce interference with the mains.

For those who don't want to bother with downloading his powerpoint and fixing all the fonts, here's the slide he posted.

Why is this posted as a question, and wouldn't it be better to just post your situation, and how you solved it, so that people can learn something without having to DM you?

What equipment is used in testing that current draw?

That's what I was eluding to with my mention of "...honor system." Out on a fishing trip away from a populated area, talking to your grandson who is on an FRS.... you're one step ahead of the game already just by having your license.

I do remember in church with my parents, as a kid in the SF Bay Area, for a couple of weeks we would witness a ton of interference coming through the building's mic system. And the system was entirely hard-wired, no radio equipment involved. The interference was unintelligible but clearly some form of modulation of spoken voice transmissions. It would cut in and out, presumably as someone was keying up a mic and talking. I'm not sure how they got the situation resolved. In ham defense, it was probably a CB operator with a blowtorch of a linear amplifier; this was the 70s, when CB was a lot more popular. I do know it stopped after a few weeks. Someone nearby was putting out some serious power with unrefined spurious emissions to be getting picked up by a PA system that was completely hardwired.

It is perfectly fine for FRS radios and GMRS radios to interact with each other. They share all the same frequencies, except that GMRS has repeater frequencies too. If you're using a GMRS radio, you should state your callsign. He, using FRS, doesn't need to. ...honor system.

GMRS has become more popular than MURS because it's better laid out (a contiguous block in the 462s, and a contiguous block in the 467s), more channels, compatible with unlicensed FRS users, repeater availability (making it more attractive to hobbiests and people who need distance), and the fact that you can get a 10 year family-oriented license for $35 without jumping through ham hoops (a test, usually an in-person testing facility). FRS is a gateway drug to GMRS. MURS is the VHF band cousin to FRS. But MURS doesn't have contiguous blocks of frequencies, repeaters, compatibility with a gazillion FRS radios already in peoples homes, MURS doesn't have contiguous frequencies; there are licensed services sandwiched between the MURS frequencies. Repeaters will probably never happen for MURS -- offsets would be really strange, and power is unlikely to go higher than 2w, to protect the paid licensees. GMRS has become popular because of the fact that it is highly compatible, easy to get into, not terribly expensive to grow with, and it's useful. ...and because it has the Queen as a spokesperson; someone who is pretty entertaining, and a prolific Youtube content creator.

It's possible I have a defective 701. If I touch it exactly where the whip meets the base, the SWR drops to 1.01:1. Move my finger away, and it goes back up to 6:1

I have a Nagoya NA-701G, and a Nagoya NA-771G. I just wanted to point out some observations about the two. The setup: Antenna -> SMA Female to PL259 Male adapter -> Surecom SW102 -> PL259 Male to SMA Male adapter -> Baofeng UV5G The adapters don't use any cable, they're solid connectors. Methodology: Cradle hand behind the radio as I would when transmitting, select a channel, PTT and observe the SWR. I tested the NA-701G and NA-771G antennas with a Baofeng UV-5G connected directly to a Surecom SW-102, connected directly to the antenna. I also tested with a stock antenna. First test was a real world test: I drove around to a few locations within five miles of my home and tested sound quality (I was recording at home using SDR++ with an RTL-SDRv4 connected to a Comet CA2X4SR). In each of my tests, the sound quality recorded was best with the NA-771G, with the stock Baofeng antenna in 2nd place, and the NA-701G in last place of the three. I would expect the NA-771G to outperform the stock antenna, but I would not expect the stock antenna to outperform a GMRS dedicated antenna like the NA-701G. Next I tested the SWR with the Surecom meter and direct connections. I carefully held the radio as I would hold it when speaking; nearly vertical, hand cupped around the back of the radio, a few inches from my face. The SWR on the NA-701G ranged between 3.0:1 and 6.0:1. These are really awful numbers for an antenna that is advertised as <1.5:1 SWR.. Then I tested with the NA-771G, and it got a nearly perfect score of between 1.0:1 and 1.03:1. Excellent. Finally I tested with the stock Baofeng antenna. It got between 1.01:1 and 1.06:1 across all GMRS frequencies. My NA-701G and NA-771G both came in the same type of Nagoya antenna packaging. They appear to both be genuine, not knockoffs. Yet the 771G performed so well, for a handheld antenna (yes, it's quite long), and the 701G performed worse than a stock antenna. I'm not sure if perhaps I got a defective 701. It's rather hard to make a defective rubber-duck style antenna, I think, though. So this one is probably not going to get used now that I've tested its characteristics. On the positive side, it's about a quarter inch shorter than the stock antenna, and a lot more flexible. So the form factor is nice. The real silver lining is the NA-771G. Great antenna. I also tested the NA-771G on MURS, and it maintained an SWR of 1.4:1 or 1.5:1 across the MURS frequencies.=

There is not. There is nothing special about any GMRS frequencies other than the implications around power and what types of radios they can use. Channels 1-7: <= 5w for GMRS, <= 2w for FRS. FRS/GMRS simplex. Channels 8-14: <= 0.5w for GMRS, <= 0.5w for FRS, handheld ONLY. FRS/GMRS simplex. Channels 15-22: <= 50w for GMRS, <= 2w for FRS. FRS/GMRS simplex, plus GMRS repeater outputs. Repeater input frequencies 1-8: GMRS <= 50w, with outputs 5MHz lower. That's it, that's all there is to know about the GMRS channels. There are currently no special channels for emergencies, traveler assistance, nothing like that exists. A traveler assistance channel used to exist, but that stopped in the latter part of the 90s. This question does come up frequently and is answered frequently.