[ERP or actual transmitter power?]

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? 

[What is the best to use for a group of neighbors?]

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.

[TELEVISION BROADCAST ON FRS CH7]

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.

[Hearing digital data sounds on GMRS8]

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.

 

[Hearing digital data sounds on GMRS8]

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.

[New to GMRS - neighborhood watch]

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. 

[New to GMRS - neighborhood watch]

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.

[151.6250 aka RED DOT]

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.

 

[Cable types and losses]

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!

[Approved for Ham & GMRS radios]

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.

[Dealer mode for vxr-7000]

Jus

48 minutes ago, WROC658 said:

Ok was able to get in. But no dealer mode to edit callsign.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

To 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.

 

[Dealer mode for vxr-7000]

Drag the "VXR-7000 Series" icon to your desktop (create a shortcut). Right click on the icon and go to properties. Add a -d" to the end of the target line and click OK.

 

[Any Tips For Someone Thinking of Getting A H.A.M. License?]

 

On 7/2/2023 at 7:26 PM, Lscott said:

If a young person wants brain dead communication the. by all means use their cell phone.

If they want a technical challenge then Ham Radio is where it’s at. 
 

Even a Tech class license you can get worldwide communications using various digital modes. Set up an internet connected repeater for digital and maintain it.

Then there is satellite communications to test skill level, moon bounce etc. 

Digital and sat are interesting but I got my license last month just because of monitoring a few 2m simplex channels. They sounded like a good group of folks. One of my GMRS friends got his ticket, joined the group and convinced me to do the same after letting my license expire 20 years ago. Kinda cool to do VHF simplex 30 miles but still primarily use GMRS for repeaters - just a bit more relaxed than ham repeaters are. Just got my 4th ARRL letter in the mail today asking to join in a month, that is annoying. They serve their propose I suppose but come on....

To OP (OffRoaderX), you are a smart guy and know your way around radios, probably more so than 95% of other GMRS users. Hit up hamsudy.org and take a sample test and see how you do or just run through the entire test question pool a few times and I'm sure you will ace it.

[interference]

In doing a quick search it looks like the Canton 700 repeater that shows offline is at the same location and same owner as the Kaufman 625 repeater that is online. I'd assume he changed changed the frequency not to long ago for some reason. 

I did notice the repeater owner is also vice president of the Canton Area Radio Emergency Services (CARES) club that run a dozen or so ham repeaters and two GMRS repeaters in the area. Almost all of their repeaters use a PL of 136.5. I'd take a guess that the Kaufman 625 repeater is part of that group.

[VXR-7000U programming questions PLEASE HELP]

46 minutes ago, WROC658 said:

All done. Some issues here and there. Their is a Morse code that transmits the previous users call sign. Would like to switch it to mine but their is no option. I’ll disable it for now and not use it until I learn how to program it. I am able to open the window to see the info but it’s greyed out like the rows for each channel. Weird. Won’t use it until it’s fixed.

Also has you see in the photo the pin or peg is spread open in the back from the pin from the cable forcing it to spread. RX side I didn’t connect yet and it will spread that pin open as well. Is that normal?




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

The TX connector is toast. It looks like somebody tried to force a SO-239 antenna connector into the Type-N connector on the radio.  

[Help with VXR-7000 Repeater setup]

56 minutes ago, WROC658 said:

with the programmming of the CW-ID how did you do that?  i just see an option for activating it not actually programming the morse code   how would i go about doing that?

Click on the "Common" option on top of the programming screen, then select CW-ID. Change the CW-ID field to what you want sent out as code. Also check the interval timer for how often you want CW-ID to be sent. 900 seconds = every 15 minutes.

 

[VXR-7000U programming questions PLEASE HELP]

26 minutes ago, WROC658 said:

also when prograammhing the TX and RX it is reversed on the repeater correct?  high freq is RX and low is TX ?

Correct.

[VXR-7000U programming questions PLEASE HELP]

22 minutes ago, WROC658 said:

that's cool.  does it have a duplexer in it or using two antennae?

i just plugged it in today to prgram some more and realized it was transmitting for no reason on its own.  no antenna was hooked up to it and it was for a very short period of time  i just hope its not burned out although their is a video on youtube of notarubicon doing a torture test on a mobile radio and it took a lot to bring it down 

If I had to guess CW-ID is enabled and it's sending out the CW-ID. Press the Repeater/Base button on the unit to disable repeater (LED turns off) and it shouldn't transmit while you are programming it.

[VXR-7000U programming questions PLEASE HELP]

9 hours ago, WROC658 said:

Sorry just figured out how to reply on here. I wrote a couple things above.

Thanks and how do you like your’s so far?
 

I bought mine a few weeks ago for one heck of a deal with the intention of giving it away to the guy here who runs my favorite repeater. The existing repeater antenna is up 400ft or so using two old Johnson mobiles linked together as a repeater. The repeater site is 30 miles from my house and is a bit noisy at about 1/2 to 3/4 scale on my S-Meter but usable. I'm just hoping the VXR-7000 makes it a bit more usable. I've got it all programmed to go in, gave it to the repeater site owner this week and he is planning on installing it sometime this weekend. If it works better great, if not it was a $100 gamble I lost.  

[VXR-7000U programming questions PLEASE HELP]

9 hours ago, WROC658 said:

My apologies I don’t know how to respond to individual reply’s until now.

I was able to connect. And program. I can only do one channel though. The other 15 are greyed out.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

That's normal. If there is nothing programmed on the channel (or it is disabled) the whole line is greyed out. Simply double click the channel number to enable it.

[VXR-7000U programming questions PLEASE HELP]

I just set one up last week. The software will show VHF by default until it connects and downloads the config from the radio then it will show UHF. First thing is to check what com port the cable is set to in device manager or if the correct driver is installed for the cable and the software is set for the correct port.

Check out this thread on programming it, it helped me quite a bit. 

 

 

[Best no-worries GMRS base antenna?]

16 hours ago, WRXR374 said:

Fair enough!  The answer is "yes"... I want an omnidirectional antenna that will let me talk to mobiles and repeaters.  I have no specific use in mind.  The topography is fairly flat.  I want to get it as high as possible with no goofy engineering... a length of pipe attached to the eaves.  No massive towers, no guy wires.  For budget, let's say up to about $200 for the antenna.  Cable will be >50'  I can't imagine the mast, mounting brackets, assorted hardware, and someone willing to climb up there to mount it all should be crazy.  Let's say $500 for the whole project?

Here a quick cost rundown on the antenna I put up recently. I just looked up my receipts, total was around $488 if it helps.

From DX Enineering:
Comet GP-6NC $170
50ft pre-terminated Type-N 400MAX cable $85
Wall Mount Brackets $44.00

From Home Depot:
30ft Aluminum Flagpole $167
Sika Fence Post Mix $14.00
Ground Strap $8.00 (already had a ground rod and wire)

 

[Do you use the NOAA Weather Radio feature(s) on GMRS?]

4 hours ago, back4more70 said:

Do you know if they are rebroadcasting the NOAA alerts?  I am curious.

Kinda sorta. They don't rebroadcast the actual alert but they do read it line for line as it's put out. It is a pretty cool network of 70cm ham repeaters that link across Florida's DOT microwave and fiber networks and covers most of the state.

 

 

[Do you use the NOAA Weather Radio feature(s) on GMRS?]

Don't see the need to use NOAA at least here. Any weather alerts are usually broadcasted out over the Florida Statewide Amateur Radio Network (SARnet) repeaters and I do monitor those.

[FM 11m CB Radios?]

15 hours ago, Lscott said:

The deviation for 11M FM CB I believe is 2KHz. The closest match would be narrow band FM at 2.5KHz.

Out of curiosity, I've got a late 80's Cobra 148GTL-DX somewhere in the shed I haven't powered up since the early 90's. Is the FM mode on the old "export" radios based on this chassis compatible with the new FM standard for CB?