wondering

[WSCC300]

I live in southeast Michigan.  I had my Radioddity G30, hand held out on the back porch to just listen.  I listened to two people just 25 miles south of the Mackinaw bridge which is 300+ miles from me.  Today I heard two people talking from Indiana, and two others from Cleveland.  Are they somehow jumping from repeater to repeater?  I'm sure someone has a answer to quell my curiosity.

Thanks for helping me understand...

 

[SteveShannon]

Maybe.  Some repeaters have been linked, so it’s possible that’s what you’re hearing, but it’s also possible that you’re receiving them directly via a phenomena called tropospheric ducting, which can cause UHF signals to travel farther than normal distances.

[WRUE951]

I would bet linked repeaters considering you are listening on HT's.  Lot's of them around 

[dosw]

Are you sure you were listening on GMRS frequencies? Could the radio have been set to pick up 70cm amateur? It's a lot more common to find repeater networks in the amateur bands. It still happens in GMRS despite the FCC clarification. But if you were picking up 70cm amateur it would be less surprising.

[WRUE951]

1 hour ago, dosw said:

Are you sure you were listening on GMRS frequencies? Could the radio have been set to pick up 70cm amateur? It's a lot more common to find repeater networks in the amateur bands. It still happens in GMRS despite the FCC clarification. But if you were picking up 70cm amateur it would be less surprising.

The Radioddity G30 is a GMRS Radio 

[OffRoaderX]

3 minutes ago, WRUE951 said:

The Radioddity G30 is a GMRS Radio 

...that can also receive VHF & UHF, including 70cm.
But chances are he was a a GMRS channel and was hearing linked repeaters.

[WRYZ926]

1 hour ago, dosw said:

Are you sure you were listening on GMRS frequencies? Could the radio have been set to pick up 70cm amateur?

GMRS repeaters are going to have the same coverage area and range as 70cm repeaters when antenna height and locations are equal.

We get 30-35 mile radius of coverage with our GMRS repeater antennas at 400 feet and  35-40 mile radius of coverage with our 70cm antennas at 900 feet. Both are on the same tower. And both 70cm and GMRS has the same dead spots when one is mobile.

[WSCC300]

I was on GMRS.  I also heard distant stations (along with local) again this morning.  I let the HT scan the gmrs channels it came with.  Thanks all for helping me make sense of this.

[WRYZ926]

Tropospheric ducting is more common in spring and fall when there is bigger change in temperatures between sunrise and a few hours afterwards. I live in Central Missouri and can talk to people in Springfield Illinois on GMRS when there are good openings. The distance is between 115-120 miles.

We also occasionally will hear out of state repeaters using the same frequencies and tones come across our repeaters when conditions are just right. This happens on our 2m, 70cm, and GMRS repeaters.

[OffRoaderX]

15 minutes ago, WRYZ926 said:

when there are good openings. The distance is between 115-120 miles.

I know a guy here on this forum that regularly/ALWAYS gets 200+ miles on all of his radios.. He apparently does this by purchasing every radio ever made and if it does not get 200+ miles, he just throws it directly into the trash.. All of his "friends" also do the same thing, so this method obviously works.

[WRYZ926]

4 minutes ago, OffRoaderX said:

I know a guy here on this forum that regularly/ALWAYS gets 200+ miles on all of his radios.. He apparently does this by purchasing every radio ever made and if it does not get 200+ miles, he just throws it directly into the trash.. All of his "friends" also do the same thing, so this method obviously works.

He is "that guy" and falls into the category of "some people".

It must be nice to have money to just throw away like that.

[dosw]

4 hours ago, WRYZ926 said:

GMRS repeaters are going to have the same coverage area and range as 70cm repeaters when antenna height and locations are equal.

We get 30-35 mile radius of coverage with our GMRS repeater antennas at 400 feet and  35-40 mile radius of coverage with our 70cm antennas at 900 feet. Both are on the same tower. And both 70cm and GMRS has the same dead spots when one is mobile.

GMRS repeaters have the same exact propagation characteristics as 70cm. I'm aware of this as you are. But 70cm doesn't have a prohibition against linking. The point I was making was that it's possible the OP was hearing a 70cm repeater that was legally linked -- a very common practice -- as opposed to hearing a GMRS repeater that is illegitimately linked -- a much less common practice nowadays.

 

 

[AdmiralCochrane]

Ducting most commonly occurs associated with strong temperature inversions, either the strong night to day change around dawn or along storm fronts.  I recall a few years ago consistently hearing a contact in Philadelphia PA for several spring mornings thorough central MD.  Other times as storm fronts approached MD, hearing repeaters on Long Island discussing traffic on the LIE.

If the long range signals persist mid day in stretches of calm weather, linking would be the main suspect.

 

 

[WRYZ926]

1 hour ago, AdmiralCochrane said:

Ducting most commonly occurs associated with strong temperature inversions, either the strong night to day change around dawn or along storm fronts.  I recall a few years ago consistently hearing a contact in Philadelphia PA for several spring mornings thorough central MD.  Other times as storm fronts approached MD, hearing repeaters on Long Island discussing traffic on the LIE.

If the long range signals persist mid day in stretches of calm weather, linking would be the main suspect.

 

 

The common GMRS openings I see in spring and fall happen around 8:00 Am to about 10:00 - 10:30 AM. And we do hear other repeater traffic on our repeaters when storms are near either us or the other repeaters.

[WSHH887]

Though here's an interesting one.  I'm down on the coast in Los Angeles.  Went to the store and turned on my radio.  I was picking up folks from Victorville and Barstow which is about 140 miles and over some relatively high (SoCal speaking) mountains.  This was not off of a repeater.  Radio waves can be some sneaky things.  Can't hear someone a block away, but hear someone from over a hundred miles away.

[nokones]

8 hours ago, OffRoaderX said:

. All of his "friends" also do the same thing, so this method obviously works.

For "some people", obviously not for me.

[nokones]

1 hour ago, WSHH887 said:

Though here's an interesting one.  I'm down on the coast in Los Angeles.  Went to the store and turned on my radio.  I was picking up folks from Victorville and Barstow which is about 140 miles and over some relatively high (SoCal speaking) mountains.  This was not off of a repeater.  Radio waves can be some sneaky things.  Can't hear someone a block away, but hear someone from over a hundred miles away.

Maybe the signal was working its way bouncing along through the Cajon Pass and up through the Santa Ana Canyon with the winds?

[WRUE951]

10 hours ago, nokones said:

Maybe the signal was working its way bouncing along through the Cajon Pass and up through the Santa Ana Canyon with the winds?

Them Santa Ana Winds work in mysterious ways 

[nokones]

6 minutes ago, WRUE951 said:

Them Santa Ana Winds work in mysterious ways 

The Diablo winds.

[WRYZ926]

35 minutes ago, WRUE951 said:

Them Santa Ana Winds work in mysterious ways 

 

30 minutes ago, nokones said:

The Diablo winds.

I hated those winds. They would always blow my little Dodge Shadow all over the place when going over Jack Rabbit pass in-between Ft Irwin and Barstow.

Though summer at Ft Irwin was no fun either. The summer winds came out of Death Valley.

[Socalgmrs]

12 hours ago, WSHH887 said:

Though here's an interesting one.  I'm down on the coast in Los Angeles.  Went to the store and turned on my radio.  I was picking up folks from Victorville and Barstow which is about 140 miles and over some relatively high (SoCal speaking) mountains.  This was not off of a repeater.  Radio waves can be some sneaky things.  Can't hear someone a block away, but hear someone from over a hundred miles away.

I guarantee that was off a repeater.  There is zero simplex in the Victor valley.   It was either crestline or mesa crest.   Both cover from Barstow to Huntington Beach and up into Beverly Hills.  This is my home I listen and use gmrs every day and I promise there is no simplex traffic in the Victor valley.   

[WRUE951]

17 minutes ago, Socalgmrs said:

I guarantee that was off a repeater.  There is zero simplex in the Victor valley.   It was either crestline or mesa crest.   Both cover from Barstow to Huntington Beach and up into Beverly Hills.  This is my home I listen and use gmrs every day and I promise there is no simplex traffic in the Victor valley.   

You are not listening,,  'It's the Winds'

[ULTRA2]

On 4/29/2025 at 2:30 PM, dosw said:

70cm repeater that was legally linked

If that's the case, it may be an amateur ham repeater I don't think GMRS does not allowed linked repeaters (Correct me if I'm wrong please)

[OffRoaderX]

5 hours ago, ULTRA2 said:

I don't think GMRS does not allowed linked repeaters (Correct me if I'm wrong please)

You are correct that linking GMRS repeaters is not allowed but you are incorrect if you think that means there are no linked GMRS repeaters.

[The219]

Its funny how "some people" using the internet that is free to use while paying an internet service provider hundreds of dollars a year, to access said internet will complain about paying less than $100 a year to access a privately owned repeater.