WRTT642

If you look close, 99% of them are actually sad-hams, disguised as GMRS operators.

I think the reason people care is because they paid and someone else didn't. It's just a matter of them feeling that if they are keeping the rules, why is nobody else?
 
Yes, hall monitor mentality.
 
I've thought about it. I paid my $35. I hear no call signs being uttered except for when there is a net in operation, or people working a repeater. And I do mean none. Nobody. Never. I never hear another person using a call sign on the GMRS / FRS frequencies except in formal nets or repeater use. Even some nets aren't identifying with call signs.
 
There's nothing that can be accomplished by being grumpy about it.  There are tens of thousands of GMRS or FRS radios that have been sold in the past few years within a 25 mile radius of me... of any of us. Maybe more than tens of thousands. One or two grumps are not going to stem the tide. Not even a few hundred.
 
Remember the Internet around 1993-1994? It was well behaved (or at least conformed to a consensus standard). Spam was almost unheard of.  Then ever fall a new set of students would get their school-issued accounts, and Usenet would blow up with stupidity for awhile until they were flamed into submission or departure from the medium. And then everything changed: The Internet became popular. AOL started sending out hundreds of million of CDs. There were news stories on the Internet. Books. Magazines. Globally the world was racing to get online. And these newcomers had no idea about, or no interest in stodgy convention. The net-police could flame all they wanted, but there was no stemming the tide of dumbing-down of the Net.
 
All was not lost. It turns out that the Internet became a whole lot more useful when there were droves of people using it. It expanded into use-cases none of the old guard could have dreamed of.  And of the unwashed masses? They're fine, it turns out. The real issue is the fraudsters, scammers, and hackers. So enforcement focuses in those areas.
 
All this to say, there's really no point for an end user trying to enforce a policy that not even those who made the policy have any  interest in enforcing. Let the FCC spend its time dealing with truly awful abuses, and leave the blister-pack kiddies and hard working businesses alone unless they're really, really causing harm.
 

Fox Hunt! You will need a black SUV to do it properly though. (That's in the rules somewhere, I believe.) ?

I'm waiting for a group of overly serious GMRS team members to show up at my door to tell me I didn't properly use my radio for a few minutes four months ago.  I can't wait to answer my door wearing nothing but underwear and an AR-15 hahahaha

As was said it's not that bad. Sad GMRS operators try to make it more than it is to pump up their importance. I just, out of curiosity, checked the number of GMRS licenses in my county, 37!! Yes 37 whopping people, wanna guess we have more lawless heathens than that using GMRS? OMG what should we do?

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Me personally, I won't publicly condone rule violations.  That's just stupid, for an unfathomable amount of reasons.
 
Also, if someone asks about the rules, I'll genuinely try to provide a good/correct answer.
 
Beyond that... I really don't care who does what. I just like to argue on the interwebz when I'm bored.

Hello I'm Rick I'm a Mat Su Valley guy off Fairview Loop in Wasilla. Looking to expand and learn more about GMRS. I'm a former military engineer and I currently work in Emergency Management and before that was a prepper, and semi professional firearm and outdoor gear reviewer. Looking forward to hearing you all on the nets 

Transmit on the repeater input frequency and call them idiots. If they clap back, they are on the repeater ?

Here is what I did if you don't want to spend the funds on a Reteveis. (Altho if I had a travel trailer the Reteveis with a extendable mass antenna would be my ideal setup.)
 
Now this isn't a epic high power repeater but is self contained and deployable while out camping.  Hoist it into a tree, or set it up on a hill.  It has run a couple days with moderate traffic. Worked decent for when people ventured out from where we camped surrounded by hills.  HT to HT at camp would not hit through the hill. Plopped this little box on the top and was able to bounce up and over the hit back to camp.
 
Its just a Baofeng, Surecom and a HF box with some random connectors.  Runs completely on their own batteries.  As long as you understand the Surecom takes and rebroadcast your transmission and everyone remembers to give a few seconds for the transmission.

Think maybe I am into it around 100 bucks give or take.  
 

There are some special packages almost all the time. Right now there are three different bundles where you get two handheld radios for no extra charge. 
https://www.retevis.com/rt97-long-range-full-duplex-mini-portable-repeater-promotion
I have no connection to them and couldn’t tell you which package would be better for you. 

2nd the RT-97.. Its portable, light, small, rugged, and it works great

This is a very good use for the Retevis RT-97, which is an all in one repeater and duplexer. Add an antenna and cable and you have a small low power repeater. 

I am looking into and thinking about building a repeater when I go camping with my family. It will be set up in a travel trailer.  Just trying to figure out what would be the best way to build such a unit. 

Hi Everyone,
 
It's come to my attention that a few members may be posting advertisements for their business in an aggressive manner. For example, they may not be interacting with the other members in a productive way, only pushing their products or services.
 
I think it's a good time to enact a new policy for the forums whereby member advertising is prohibited without written consent from me, the owner. I don't mind a simple signature line that includes your company name, but I do not want to allow posts that are advertising your business. We cannot be held responsible for these posts and we certainly do not endorse any companies other than our approved advertisers.
 
If you'd like to advertise with us, please get in touch with me to discuss. I'm very flexible on rates; doesn't matter if you're a small company or large.
 
Our moderators Gary, William and Scott, as well as myself, reserve the right to edit or remove any posts which serve as an advertising platform that isn't approved by me. This serves to protect the other members as well as myGMRS and its parent company, RepeaterFinder, LLC.
 
Thanks for your understanding,
 
Rich
 
WQEJ577
N2DLX

The ONLY offset setting in GMRS, when used, is +5 MHz.  Most GMRS radios will handle that.  Ham radios, on the other hand, usually need to be told what offset to use, especially if set to xmit out-of-band.  Even in-band ham repeater offsets vary according to which band they're operating in and what region of the country you're in.

FYI/FWIW, a repeater's output tone is only useful if you're getting interference on the repeater's output frequency OR there is another repeater (or repeaters) in the area on the same frequency pair.  If the repeater's output is weak, having that tone detection turned on can, per my experience, prevent you from hearing said repeater, as scratchy as it may be.

Thanks Rusty,  I've requested access to both Greenville and Denton.  Greenville responded back quickly saying I had approval, but I’m only in that area once a month..  Still waiting on approval for Denton.  Right now Im only using HTs and really want to buy a 50 Watt for the truck, but will hold off to see how much I use these.  I'm so new at this I couldn't say if I'm connecting to repeaters on not.  For instance:  Greenville 550 shows input and output tones of 141.3.  It doesn’t show a +- offset setting.  So I'm a still little confused even after reading manuals multiple times.  Ive watched almost all of Notarubicons videos and Im going to self label myself as one of the so called "stupid people".  I have 3 HTs: Baofeng UV-5R, BR-F8HP and a UV-9G.  I also agree that another local repeater would be pretty nice.  I pretty much listen to the trash pickup guys fighting in the 463 range and the occasional GMRS call out.

Nitro',
  The only GMRS repeater I've been able to bring up was in Sherman (I visit Denison every few months).  There's another one that I hear from time to time which, I think, is the Rockwall machine.  Supposedly, with repeaters in Denton and Greenville, GMRS really could use one right in between them along US380 right here in McKinney.   Right now, I have an Anytone AT-779UV (pretty much the same hardware as a Radioddity DB20 and Retevis RA25) for the car with a gaggle of HAM HTs that will listen ? to GMRS as well.  It's 20-watts which I think has more than enough power and is only about $100.  I've been having fun programming it.
FWIW, I'm fairly new to GMRS but I've been a ham for almost 30 years.
 
        -Rusty-

Thanks!  I’m just using a couple HT right now.  Not sure if I'm going to set up a base at home or in my truck yet.  Looks like we’re fairly close in proximity.  I'm Near Custer & Virginia by the Aero Club.
I still haven't connected to any repeaters and only made contact on channel 5 with a kid and his parent a couple times.

If you have an external antenna then try Channel 17 after 9 or 10pm.  There a group of guys that hang out there, simplex.  I'm not quite sure where they are but west Plano is my best guess from driving around.  I'm over here in McKinney just west of US75 and Virginia.

Hello all,  New GMRS user here.  Looking for other user contacts in the local area to radio check/chat with occasionally.  Unfortunately, I've had little success finding any contacts or repeaters in this area other than the occasional child asking if anyone is out there on GMRS5 ?.  

...as predicted...

..Like I said...

Just remember, that as predicted in the proclamation video, "some people" will always and forever spew reasons why Ch19 (any channel, actually) is not "the right choice", and will argue about it as they have for years, accomplishing nothing.. Those people are not invited to join with the rest of us normal people on Ch19..  They can go talk to themselves on some other channel..
 
My name is Queen Randy and I approve this message.

I'm really surprised there aren't more vids.

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Much of the programing is for stuff nationwide so there should be some good stuff for everyone to enjoy.