WRTT642

One of the upstate SC repeaters (ham) has been set up with a net controller out of Pisgah Forrest NC, and he's been collecting gas/fuel info from the surrounding areas to pass along to the Mt Mitchell repeater, which is organizing the relief efforts in Asheville, NC.  I've spent the last couple of days driving around southern Greenville County (SC) reporting back intersections with or without power, locations that are open, have gas and food, and take cash and/or card.  While most (including myself) may not see this as doing very much, it may have had a huge impact to someone somewhere.

It's a common attitude with emergency workers.  I had the same experience in my home county in SC.  They think citizen volunteers are more trouble than they're worth.  We are only good enough to help if we take the training courses and are members of one of the relevant organizations.  I think it's Federal oversight / FEMA training they go through now that teaches them that.  They claim that it's because they don't want us to get hurt or have to be rescued (which is bogus).   Even just being a ham isn't good enough for ARES anymore; you need FEMA courses and they only want people to staff the EOCs.  None of this extra super-qualification/certification/approval stuff is what ham was historically about.  If you have your ham license and a radio, you should be qualified to knock on doors etc. if you're willing to take the risk.

Several repeaters with wide coverage that could possibly serve the Waynesville area depending on location their radio and antenna setup.  I live in central NC and can hit several repeaters up in the mountain areas that are forty-five to fifty miles away.  BTECH GMRS 50V2 as a base and Ed Fong J Pole twenty-five feet off the ground. My elevation is 840 ft. above sea level.
https://mygmrs.com/repeater/5499
https://mygmrs.com/repeater/5148
https://mygmrs.com/repeater/8167

After recently programming a ham radio with a few sets of frequencies for listening, as it came with none pre-programmed, I decided to export the sets I made and post them here to save others the duplicate effort. Just download these files, then from CHIRP go to "File > Import".
 
A few things to keep in mind:
These files use Windows/CRLF line endings (hopefully this never makes a difference). I don't condone transmitting on these frequencies on with a ham radio (especially on the weather radio frequencies as they are for public safety), but am providing relevant notes should you dare do so. On this note, CHIRP does not export or import the "Power" column, so be sure to set power levels manually as noted (should you dare use a UV-5R on, e.g., GMRS). In a similar vein to 2.1., the "Comment" section you will see when importing describes settings you may have to set manually.  
I hope you find these helpful!
 
I have only been able to test these files with several Baofeng models: UV-5G, UV-9G, UV-5R+, and UV-5RTP. Regardless of make and model, please let me know if you run into any issues.
 
 
 
GMRS Channels
gmrsChans_20220706TZ.csv
Taken from a Baofeng UV-9G's defaults with tweaked names.
NOTES:
Channels 1–7 should be set to no more than 5W. Channels 8–14 to should be set to no more than 0.5W.  
Business Channels (UHF, Motorola CLS Series Enumeration)
motoCLSBizChans_20220707TZ.csv
Taken from the manual for the Motorola CLS1110 and CLS1410. This channel numbering scheme of 56 frequencies is used by several business radios, such as the aforementioned Motorola models, Advantage AWR series, and to my vague knowledge, some Kenwood and Midland business radios.
NOTES:
All channels should be set to no more than 1W.  
Business Channels (UHF, Motorola CLP Series Enumeration)
motoCLPBizChans_20220707TZ.csv
Taken from the manual for the Motorola CLP series. This channel numbering scheme of 90 frequencies is a superset of that used by the Motorola CLS series.
NOTES:
All channels should be set to no more than 1W.  
Weather Radio Frequencies (in order of allocation)
wxAllocs_20220707TZ.csv
 
Weather radio frequencies, with the first 7 numbered in the order in which they were allocated over the decades ("WX" order). This differs from, and includes more frequencies than, the numbering scheme used by most weather alert radios made since the early '00s; these tend to use the main 7 channels in ascending frequencies, available below.
NOTES:
Never transmit on these frequencies. These are for public safety (especially during severe weather events and other natural or man-made hazards). If you cannot disable transmitting on these frequencies on your radio(s), set power to the lowest setting possible to mitigate an accidental transmit should it occur. I have disabled scanning on these channels because weather radio stations operate 24/7/365.  
Weather Radio Channels (the main 7 in order of ascending frequencies)
wxChans_20220706TZ.csv
The 7 main weather radio frequencies, numbered in the order of ascending frequency ("Channel" order). I believe this channel order is mandated for weather radios wishing to be Public Alert™ certified. This differs from the numbering scheme used by many weather alert radios made before the early '00s, many handheld radios, and many handheld transceivers; these tend to use the "WX order", available above. 162.000MHz, 163.275MHz, and the 161MHz frequencies are omitted because they are not official weather radio channels in the United States (nor part of the Public Alert™ standard to my knowledge).
NOTES:
Never transmit on these frequencies. These are for public safety (especially during severe weather events and other natural or man-made hazards). If you cannot disable transmitting on these frequencies on your radio(s), set power to the lowest setting possible to mitigate an accidental transmit should it occur. I have disabled scanning on these channels because weather radio stations operate 24/7/365.  
Midland's "Extra" FRS Channels
midlandExtraChans_20220706TZ.csv
Based off-of a table on RadioReference's wiki. Channels 23-36 tested against a Midland T77A and confirmed working; channels 37-50 do not exist on this model so those are untested.
 
MURS Channels
mursChans_20220715TZ.csv
 
Based off-of the text for Part 95J.
NOTES:
Make sure your radio's bandwidth does not exceed MURS' odd (with respect to GMRS) maximum bandwidths. For a Baofeng UV-5R, this means you can only transmit on MURS channels 4 and 5, and you must do this on narrowband mode. All channels should be set to no more than 2W. Keep in mind FM is not the only transmission mode allowed on MURS. (MURS is weird.)  
 
 
Changelog (dates and times in UTC):
2022-07-06:
Added Midland's "Extra" FRS channels (only channels 23-36 have been tested and confirmed working as the only radio I could test against was a T77A). Added MURS channels. Populated the comment field in all rows of all files. These contain information on bandwidth and max TXP (transmit power), and other relevant information (bascially each row's respective "NOTES" bit). 2022-07-07:
Introduced a set of business frequencies used by the Motorola CLP series, which is a superset of those found on the CLS series. Renamed the original business channel set from "bizChans" to "motoCLSBizChans". Removed redundant set of asterisks from "wxAllocs" for WX01. 2022-07-15:
MURS channels 4 and 5 shared the same Location column value in the CSV, causing channel 4 to be ignored. Fixed.

My experience has been different. Using Chirp, with the 5RM profile, I first downloaded a stock code plugs from the radio, then added a few air band frequencies and uploaded them to the radio without any problem. I guess YMMV.

You are the best, sir. I don't care WHAT KAOS says about you!

I’m certainly not bothered by it. It’s impossible to know everything that has been posted. 

Interesting how so many are talking about how repeaters are dead and not much simplex use because modern tech such as cell phones has become the norm.
The school I teach at has gone completely cell phone-free. Meaning the kids can not have their cell phones from the time the morning bell rings to the last bell of the day. We have issued to all students Yondr Pouches, which are little bags the students have to put their cell phones in when the morning bell rings they magnetically lock and the kids can not get them open until we put the "keys" out at the end of the day.
With that being said, I have been able to use that to recruit more kids to ham radio. I have been showing the kids all the ways that radio can be used like a cell phone, such as text messaging, sharing pictures, and emails, and just plain ol talking with each other. Most of these kids all live in the same neighborhood or close enough to do simplex. The big thing when telling the kids this is that cell phones may be banned, but the principal never said anything about ham radio lol. I know there are caveats to all of these, but generally speaking as some of you already know these things are not difficult to do. I told them that even if they are grounded from their cell phones at home they can still use their radios to communicate with their friends and even share each other's locations etc. lol. Teaching these things to the younger generation has been a big hit and the school admin is all for it and super supportive of the kids using radio tech instead of their cell phones.
Please guys, and gals, don't give up on our younger generation. These kids are smart and catch on quickly, they just need more people showing them how to properly utilize ham radio and all the benefits it has. Man, I can go on all day on this subject as I have been working hard integrating ham radio into our school. The ham club I started at the school has been a big success to my surprise and has fired me up to know that ham radio is not dead and is alive and well in our kids, as long as WE do the work to show them. Sorry, rant over lol. 

Gee... I wonder.  LOL

I wonder how much bullying would happen if social media made them use their real names to sign in???
 

Interesting how so many are talking about how repeaters are dead and not much simplex use because modern tech such as cell phones has become the norm.
The school I teach at has gone completely cell phone-free. Meaning the kids can not have their cell phones from the time the morning bell rings to the last bell of the day. We have issued to all students Yondr Pouches, which are little bags the students have to put their cell phones in when the morning bell rings they magnetically lock and the kids can not get them open until we put the "keys" out at the end of the day.
With that being said, I have been able to use that to recruit more kids to ham radio. I have been showing the kids all the ways that radio can be used like a cell phone, such as text messaging, sharing pictures, and emails, and just plain ol talking with each other. Most of these kids all live in the same neighborhood or close enough to do simplex. The big thing when telling the kids this is that cell phones may be banned, but the principal never said anything about ham radio lol. I know there are caveats to all of these, but generally speaking as some of you already know these things are not difficult to do. I told them that even if they are grounded from their cell phones at home they can still use their radios to communicate with their friends and even share each other's locations etc. lol. Teaching these things to the younger generation has been a big hit and the school admin is all for it and super supportive of the kids using radio tech instead of their cell phones.
Please guys, and gals, don't give up on our younger generation. These kids are smart and catch on quickly, they just need more people showing them how to properly utilize ham radio and all the benefits it has. Man, I can go on all day on this subject as I have been working hard integrating ham radio into our school. The ham club I started at the school has been a big success to my surprise and has fired me up to know that ham radio is not dead and is alive and well in our kids, as long as WE do the work to show them. Sorry, rant over lol. 

My 9yo is way into radio, we did an exercise where we identified the owner of an unattended unused GMRS repeater about 51 miles away. Can't reach it with 5-9W and i've never heard anything but the semi-hourly (every 56mins more or less?) of a CW burst that we decoded together into a GMRS call that we used to lookup the owner! She was super happy to solve a mystery.
Man, some of my partner's 15yo's kids are not my biggest fan because I have walked a couple of parents through restoring backups from iCloud to another device when their darling child has intentionally wiped their phone when prompted to hand it over.
Bullying. I hear waaaaaay too much about bullying-at-scale via snapchat and other platforms. it's extremely alarming what parents are dealing with these days. I have not heard a lot about cheating but my two are 12 and 9, the 15yo says there's a lot of plagiarism evasion via gen AI happening in high school.

solidarity with the parents in this thread. /respect ❤️ 

I read in the big Facebook H.A.M. radio group that they were remotely activated via use of the roger-beep.

I confess to pondering weird stuff, probably quite a bit.  I used to think about how cheap (Red) Chinese radios have all but replaced higher-end, traditionally Japanese, radios like Kenwood, Icom, and Yeasu, in the ham and other markets.  I used to wonder if the Chinese may have produced, or at least pondered such, radios with a "kill switch" code which could disable hundreds of thousands of these devices if our country were to be at war with them.  I pondered the likelihood of carcinogenic chemicals in the radios.  I never pondered what the Israelis are said to have done, adding explosive charges to the radios.  Now that cat is out of the bag, it is a viable concern to ponder, especially when receiving radios from a known adversary.  With ham or GMRS, not on a known network, delivery of a signal to start harmful processes might be difficult, but "where there's a will...".
Oh, and think about where all of our I-Phones and many Androids come from.  With a huge connected network, delivery of harmful processes might not be so difficult.

Have yet to see that happen. Not saying it has not, but I have yet to hear that from any teachers or staff. We have a whole procedure we go through in making sure kids have their cell phones in their pouch. If they don't and when they get caught (they always get caught) we send their phone to front office and parent has to come to school to pick up phone. Once that happens lets just say the kid never forgets again, that's if they get their phone back from their parents.
 

Most of the users in my area don't seem to be Talkers, but mostly lurkers. I throw out Both my calls a few times a day, and locals respond but rarely anyone new. I hear several ops in the wisconsin , Indiana area but nobody in mine.  As far as I know, there's only 4 licensed gmrs ops in my town. 🙁

I can certainly understand that. Wasn’t necessarily questioning the policy - was questioning whether it was developed in conjunction with local law enforcement. There are still districts that want no LE involvement.
Appreciate the article - hadn’t seen that one.


Never engage in a battle of wits with an unarmed person.u

Rockland, Bangor, Portland. Many of the lobstermen use GMRS to talk home and other boats in the area.

I actually wish there was more general chat going on. It is usually quiet in my area but sometimes, the channels get going. I enjoy it. Just got my friend on GMRS, so my activity should become more. We also use the radios for off roading. 

Figured they were mostly used to cheat on tests.

I'd hope not...the little children don't need them. 

Interesting how so many are talking about how repeaters are dead and not much simplex use because modern tech such as cell phones has become the norm.
The school I teach at has gone completely cell phone-free. Meaning the kids can not have their cell phones from the time the morning bell rings to the last bell of the day. We have issued to all students Yondr Pouches, which are little bags the students have to put their cell phones in when the morning bell rings they magnetically lock and the kids can not get them open until we put the "keys" out at the end of the day.
With that being said, I have been able to use that to recruit more kids to ham radio. I have been showing the kids all the ways that radio can be used like a cell phone, such as text messaging, sharing pictures, and emails, and just plain ol talking with each other. Most of these kids all live in the same neighborhood or close enough to do simplex. The big thing when telling the kids this is that cell phones may be banned, but the principal never said anything about ham radio lol. I know there are caveats to all of these, but generally speaking as some of you already know these things are not difficult to do. I told them that even if they are grounded from their cell phones at home they can still use their radios to communicate with their friends and even share each other's locations etc. lol. Teaching these things to the younger generation has been a big hit and the school admin is all for it and super supportive of the kids using radio tech instead of their cell phones.
Please guys, and gals, don't give up on our younger generation. These kids are smart and catch on quickly, they just need more people showing them how to properly utilize ham radio and all the benefits it has. Man, I can go on all day on this subject as I have been working hard integrating ham radio into our school. The ham club I started at the school has been a big success to my surprise and has fired me up to know that ham radio is not dead and is alive and well in our kids, as long as WE do the work to show them. Sorry, rant over lol. 

Have yet to see that happen. Not saying it has not, but I have yet to hear that from any teachers or staff. We have a whole procedure we go through in making sure kids have their cell phones in their pouch. If they don't and when they get caught (they always get caught) we send their phone to front office and parent has to come to school to pick up phone. Once that happens lets just say the kid never forgets again, that's if they get their phone back from their parents.
 

Interesting how so many are talking about how repeaters are dead and not much simplex use because modern tech such as cell phones has become the norm.
The school I teach at has gone completely cell phone-free. Meaning the kids can not have their cell phones from the time the morning bell rings to the last bell of the day. We have issued to all students Yondr Pouches, which are little bags the students have to put their cell phones in when the morning bell rings they magnetically lock and the kids can not get them open until we put the "keys" out at the end of the day.
With that being said, I have been able to use that to recruit more kids to ham radio. I have been showing the kids all the ways that radio can be used like a cell phone, such as text messaging, sharing pictures, and emails, and just plain ol talking with each other. Most of these kids all live in the same neighborhood or close enough to do simplex. The big thing when telling the kids this is that cell phones may be banned, but the principal never said anything about ham radio lol. I know there are caveats to all of these, but generally speaking as some of you already know these things are not difficult to do. I told them that even if they are grounded from their cell phones at home they can still use their radios to communicate with their friends and even share each other's locations etc. lol. Teaching these things to the younger generation has been a big hit and the school admin is all for it and super supportive of the kids using radio tech instead of their cell phones.
Please guys, and gals, don't give up on our younger generation. These kids are smart and catch on quickly, they just need more people showing them how to properly utilize ham radio and all the benefits it has. Man, I can go on all day on this subject as I have been working hard integrating ham radio into our school. The ham club I started at the school has been a big success to my surprise and has fired me up to know that ham radio is not dead and is alive and well in our kids, as long as WE do the work to show them. Sorry, rant over lol. 

YES! and the FCC has really been cracking-down and issuing more fines lately.  If you want to talk that far you should get a H.A.M. license, but if you are willing to take the risk of a major fine, go for it.