New to GMRS and looking for a better antenna..

[hxpx]

Just now, WSIZ258 said:

ah, it looks like that might be setup wrong on my radios! I'm gonna reset them and try to reprogram in a repeater pair by hand. Maybe that will help!

One other thing I just thought of... the repeaters I am trying to access use DCS codes. would that mean that they are digital repeaters> If so, the baofeng radios are analog right? Would they not be able to access digital repeaters?

 

Nah, you're good. All GMRS is analog FM. CTCSS vs DCS is just a different way of sending the squelch code.

I don't think you get into digital signals until you start getting into ham stuff.

[OffRoaderX]

8 minutes ago, WSIZ258 said:

the repeaters I am trying to access use DCS codes. would that mean that they are digital repeaters?

No.

[WSIZ258]

right on. Time to start doing more troubleshooting. Appreciate the things to look into!

 

[OffRoaderX]

1 minute ago, hxpx said:

I don't think you get into digital signals until you start getting into ham stuff.

It's not permitted on GMRS but digital is in no way exclusive to H.A.M.. I do not have a H.A.M.s radios license but my FCC Business License (LMR) lets me transmit digital and encrypted.

[hxpx]

2 minutes ago, OffRoaderX said:

It's not permitted on GMRS but digital is in no way exclusive to H.A.M.. I do not have a H.A.M.s radios license but my FCC Business License (LMR) lets me transmit digital and encrypted.

Fair enough. I forgot about LMR/business licenses. I was thinking about DMR/Fusion/D-STAR.

[WSIZ258]

Success! Looks like I may have not been transmitting with the correct offset! I manually input a repeater pair, and got a successful (though faint) signal check response. Excellent.

I've just ordered a programming cable so I can go ahead and program in my local repeaters more easily. But, at last I know the radio is working. I appreciate the help and patience everyone!

 

[Lscott]

10 hours ago, hxpx said:

Fair enough. I forgot about LMR/business licenses. I was thinking about DMR/Fusion/D-STAR.

Fusion and D-Star are Ham specific digital modes. DMR is used on the Ham bands, but was initially, and primarily, designed for business uses.  Other digital modes, primarily designed for business band usage,  you're likely to to encounter on the Ham bands are NXDN (ultra narrow and narrow), P25 Phase 1 and dPMR (typically used on the business bands in the EU). There are a few others but are almost specifically used on trunking systems, TETRA and P25 Phase 2.

So far I haven't found anywhere in the USA where dPMR is used, however I have some radios that will do that mode. The first radio I purchased used was from a US seller so somebody had used it, but the radio didn't have FCC certification, so it wasn't really legal to use on the business frequencies it had programmed into it when I read the radio on arrival before reprogramming for Ham use.

https://forums.mygmrs.com/gallery/image/500-ic-f3162dt-front-and-back-sidepng/?context=new

 

[GreggInFL]

19 hours ago, WSIZ258 said:

I appreciate the help and patience everyone!

You're in the right place. I'm new to this as well and have found this group to be very helpful and extremely knowledgeable. Come back any time.