MarkInTampa
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Posts posted by MarkInTampa
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13 minutes ago, WRYS709 said:
I am just curious, from the knowledgable, if this were say an illegal DMR use of the frequency, would a DMR radio capable of receiving/transmitting on this frequency, such as the Radioddity RD-5R, be used to listen and decode this transmission; in an attempt to track down the users?
Nope. I've got a MD-380 in promiscuous mode that I can use to monitor most unencrypted DMR transmissions as well as a SDR dongle on the computer but if it's encrypted you are basically out of luck.
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36 minutes ago, jas said:
We've had a real problem with "impact wrench" transmission here in Pinellas county FL for years. So much so that I had to stop scanning freqs because it would show up on each scanning revolution.
Then it stopped. It was wonderful! I did not heard it for over 3-months. Now it has started again!
Always on the same freq and channel (462.700 - CH21) and that makes it show up in repeater channel 21, 462.700 / 467.700. It is at not in My GMRS so it seems an unused repeater freq in this county. And because that dreaded "impact wrench" is L&C county wide I suspect someone is using a repeater in that freq.
Here's a short sound byte recorded 4 days ago of what we're up against down here (the whole thing lasted about 4.5 minutes).
Ah the infamous Tampa .700 DMR repeater. Somebody is running encrypted DMR with GPS tracking enabled but can't find much more about it since it's encrypted on my SDR setup. Sometimes very little traffic, other times more than all the other GMRS freqs combined.
The analog .700 repeater had to move to .725 because of the interference from the DMR crap. Then he moved from .725 to .600 (now the Tampa 600 repeater) but sits on the same frequency as the Pinellas .600 repeater and has all but wiped out the Pinellas 600. Gotta love GMRS life.
The DMR station has been reported countless times over the past year to the FCC but it's still there.
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I spotted this tidbit on the information webpage of a GMRS repeater and thought "what?".....
"GMRS as a Bridge Mode:
o GMRS Allows Non-Hams to talk to Hams (i.e., licensed amateur radio operators)
o Hams can communicate with non-ham-licensed family members, friends, and community members" -
1 hour ago, KBSherwood said:
All good questions and ones I’m hoping those who have been around longer than I might know the answers to.
I did look around and you are right I don’t think there are any published sdks or anything, at least not in the “non-commercial” segment.
I'm pretty confident I can get things working if I can just figure out/visualize how I’d interface to the radio with more ability/privileges than just uploading new configs. I didn’t want to have to resort to a Rube Goldberg machine that physically presses the PTT and outputs the desired audio via a physical speaker or something.
A SignalLink USB adapter perhaps?
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Don't know about that exact model but every radio I own will stop a scan as soon as you press the PTT (transmit switch).
- WRQC527 and SteveShannon
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56 minutes ago, WRYS709 said:
I think the statute of limitations has passed and I can tell this story:
Years ago I picked up the pair of ICOM R-7000 and R-71 receivers at a garage sale for $50.
The UHF model did not have the cellphone frequencies blocked and, it still being analog, I used to enjoy spending Saturday nights listening to guys calling their girlfriends from their cars!
I used to listen to the old analog 800MHz cell phone stuff back in the day. Still remember a guy talking to his mistress and she was ticked off because he had the nerve to "sleep with his wife".
More recently while scanning GMRS/FRS I picked up a transmission from a guy that said "Honey, next commercial break can you please bring me some toilet paper? I'm waiting". I just had a sip of beer at the time, laughed so hard it came through my nose.
- RayP and AdmiralCochrane
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23 minutes ago, Sshannon said:
If you’re mounting the GP-9 in the same place as the GP-6 was, I would suspect that the flatter propagation pattern of the higher gain GP-9 simply misses the repeater. I assume that the GP-9 is tuned correctly etc.
It's not just the one repeater, the performance is off on most of the more distant (greater than 15 miles) repeaters. My terrain is is such that I know I'm not getting very far going to the north or north-east but any other direction should be fine. The GP-6 had no problem hitting another repeater 46 miles away in another direction but the GP-9 doesn't like it at all. The GP-9 is tuned OK for GMRS, around a 1:1.2 SWR at 467MHz, the GP-6 is is outstanding with a 1:1.05 SWR at 467MHz. I'm in the Tampa area, pretty flat for the most part.
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I was running a Comet GP-6NC (MURS/GMRS) antenna with really good results at around 35ft with 50ft of LMR-400. Swapped it out a month or two ago with a Comet GP-9 and am disappointed. VHF performance went up just a tick but UHF/GMRS performance went DOWN. I mean noticeably down. One repeater I use 35 miles away went from full signal strength to about half. Other than the occasional band opening, I don't think I've ever heard anybody hit that repeater in my neck of the woods and folks on the repeater were amazed that I was hitting it at all much less full quieting. I was kinda proud of the GP-6's performance. The repeater can't be heard on a J-Pole at all. Don't know if its the radiation pattern of the GP-9 vs the GP-6, the height of the antenna, the huge oak tree 30ft away from it, my terrain or a combination of those and other factors. This mornings project is putting the GP-6 back up.
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Youtube video just for your radio if you haven't watched it yet.
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Just guessing on the SWR
But even with perfect SWR or dummy load, not much different
I'd guess the Bulkhead Lightning arrester might have a bit of loss. Don't know.
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1 hour ago, Sshannon said:
(1) The transmitter output power of mobile, repeater and base stations must not exceed 50 Watts.
(2) The transmitter output power of fixed stations must not exceed 15 Watts.
Stupid question, what is the difference between a base station and a fixed station?
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There is a emergency weather net around 20 miles away from me (huge retirement area, Sun City Center in FL) on 462.550 that has a bunch of users that check in using a color and unit number. Something like Unit Blue 1, Unit Blue 2, Unit Red 1, etc checking into base. All I can hear is the base station running the net just above the noise floor (NOT a repeater), the HT's are way to far away to hear any of them but in listening to net control there must be at least 40 units checking in during their weekly net. I have no idea how they are licensed though. My guess is the base unit is a licensed GMRS radio and operator. Since you don't need a license for FRS as long as your radios are the legal 2 or .5 watt depending on channel the HT's are probably FRS and you can identify yourself however you want. I don't know the legality's of a licensed GMRS base station talking to legal FRS HT/Users but I think that's what they are doing.
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I pickup television remote operations audio frequently that broadcast both the TV stations audio and the live reporting stream on a repeater. Not on GMRS though, they run 451.xxx in my area. Maybe you have something similar in your area running on a legacy license or picking up a harmonic on that frequency.
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2 hours ago, Sshannon said:
It’s also indicative that people are misusing the 2 meter national calling frequency as an emergency frequency. If a person is going somewhere where they might need emergency communications they should probably get a PLB of some
A few of us use 146.520 for a informal Friday night analog simplex net and have a blast. Guaranteed every now and then we get somebody complaining that we shouldn't be doing that because we are on the calling frequency that has very little if any traffic most of the time unless it is our group. Guess that is where the term sad ham comes from.
- DeoVindice and SteveShannon
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2 hours ago, Lscott said:
Depending on the DMR radio it might have a monitoring or promiscuous mode. That allows the radio to decode any DMR signal without the necessity of using the correct color code, slot number or talk group. For example my D878 has this feature. Turns out to be handy at times.
https://forums.mygmrs.com/gallery/image/270-d878uv-model-1/?context=new
There is a full blown MotoTrbo DMR repeater that has been eating up 462.700 in my area for over 6 months. Running my MD-380 DMR HT with 3rd party firmware in promiscuous mode ID's it as MotoTrbo but can't get much else because it's also encrypted DMR. It forced a long time local repeater to move frequencies because of it. It sucks but not much I can do about it, had to remove the frequency from my scan list.
- rockwithrick and RayP
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20 hours ago, WRXY704 said:
That's the reason why I took this route over reaching out over the forum.
I would NEVER use the option of using the database. I only used it to find out IF and how many licensed users are in my area.
Just to have a rough idea, if there is anyone out there who has maybe a GMRS radio.
Just for grins I ran the stats for my zip code through the FCC database.
Population for my zip: 29,629
GMRS active licenses: 23 (including me)
Amateur Radio active licenses (all classes): 92 (including me)
Hopefully the stats are better in your area.
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11 minutes ago, WRXY704 said:
@WRHS218 Thank you for the information. It seems like, I am in the same situation as it seems like there is nobody around me.
The FCC website allows me to search for people with ZA (GMRS) license and I have found at least 30 with their addresses even posted.
But I cannot reach out to them. I was hoping, that posting it on this platform would make it easy for them to reach out and respond to me
in order to create a community where we could utilize the license to our benefit.
I don't know how far my device can reach, as I am in the basement of our house. But it should reach at least 1 mile, which would be more than enough
in diameter to create a chain of people to contact in case of an emergency.I did a search awhile back for folks with GMRS licenses near me and found around 20 licensed GMRS users around me but have only ever heard one on the air in six months. If I google licensed user addresses and look at street view almost all of them have some serious 4WD trucks, Jeeps and no base antenna. My guess would be a lot of licensed GMRS users are not really enthusiasts but use GMRS for their 4WD adventures.
- WRUU653, gortex2, SteveShannon and 1 other
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6 hours ago, Lscott said:
For example on enough occasions I would talk to somebody for the first time on the air. Then was a bit put back when they knew my name and location that I never mentioned. Seems like people like to sit in front of the computer and look up call signs on the FCC's database while yacking on the radio.
I'm guilty of doing this on occasion. If I hear somebody on the repeater input frequency and I catch a call sign, I'll look them up online to see how my antenna and radio are performing on receive. Not a lot of local GMRS users here and I'll do a call out to them and let them know I'm local to them. I've made a few simplex friends this way.
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Stupid question....
I picked up 300ft Commscope LDF4-50A Andrew HELIAX at heck of a deal for a new antenna and 40ft tower. The tower is approx 100ft away from the radio room on the other end of the house. I can run the coax under the eave of the roof or underground but part of the roof is flat so no attic access. Distance would be equal. The game plan is to run two lines to the tower just incase or future use (I see a beam coming from Santa).
In looking at Commscopes spec sheet for the cable it doesn't mention anything about being under ground rated. Looking at retail shops online at the cable I see this statement:
"All HELIAX® coaxial cables are jacketed for direct burial or for corrosive environmental conditions."I'd like to bury it for aesthetic reasons but would like to confirm if it is really rated for direct burial. Can anybody confirm?
Thanks!
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Ran across a Tera TR-505 part 95 certified GMRS HT awhile back and was shocked to see in the product description "When purchasing the optional USB programming cable, users may program MURS license free VHF operation channels. A free MURS programming file is available for download." Always made me wonder how this was possible on a part 95 radio.
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48 minutes ago, WROC658 said:
Ok was able to get in. But no dealer mode to edit callsign.
Sent from my iPhone using TapatalkTo make sure you are in dealer mode, right click on a blank area on your desktop, highlight new then click on shortcut. In the "Type the location of the item:" field type this in exactly or cut and paste this line:
"C:\Vertex Standard\CE27 for Windows\CE27Win.exe" -d"
In the "Type a name for this shortcut:" field, type whatever you want the shortcut to be, for example "VXR7000 Dealer Mode" and click finish.
Just another way to make the shortcut.
New Repeater Channels for GMRS in 2024
in FCC Rules Discussion
Posted
Yes. About half of the DMR traffic on the commercial bands around here are encrypted and can't be received without a encryption key or your radio being authorized on the repeater.
You can still do "fox hunting" as long as there is traffic on the repeater but you can't count on traffic in this case. Folks around here have tried a few times for the repeater he mentioned.