If I can hear someone on Simplex, should they be able to hear me?

[WSIZ258]

Hello all,

Still very new to GMRS. I was jumping on GMRS Channel 19 tonight as I heard some local traffic (not repeater traffic). I keyed up for a radio check, but got no response. If I can hear others, they should be able to hear me on Simplex, correct?

Some of the traffic I was hearsing was definitely only one-sided... like I was only hearing one person in a conversation responding to questions. I'm not using any tones... is there a reason I'd only be able to hear one side of a conversation and no one could hear me?

[OffRoaderX]

16 minutes ago, WSIZ258 said:

If I can hear others, they should be able to hear me on Simplex, correct?

Usually, but not always.

Its possible his antenna is not as good as yours, or he's transmitting with more power/from a better location than you are, or your antenna does not transmit as well..  It's also possible that he is using an RX code, so he only hears transmissions using that code/tone.

Are you SURE it wasnt a repeater you were hearing?

[SteveShannon]

24 minutes ago, WSIZ258 said:

is there a reason I'd only be able to hear one side of a conversation and no one could hear me?

Sure, the other person might be out of range, maybe on the other side of the person you hear. 

[WSIZ258]

11 minutes ago, OffRoaderX said:

Usually, but not always.

Its possible his antenna is not as good as yours, or he's transmitting with more power/from a better location than you are, or your antenna does not transmit as well..  It's also possible that he is using an RX code, so he only hears transmissions using that code/tone.

Are you SURE it wasnt a repeater you were hearing?

Yeah, I double/triple checked, then jumped over to a repeater and had a quick convo to make sure things were working there.... then jumped back to GMRS19, heard a conversation going on, waited for it to end and heard that someone was monitoring, so I jumped on and tried a signal check and *crickets*... so maybe its something else in the setup.

 

[OffRoaderX]

16 minutes ago, WSIZ258 said:

so maybe its something else in the setup.

Or maybe they just dont want to talk to you.

[LeoG]

Could be a lot of trees in the way and they're using a more powerful transmitter and antenna.  Maybe your signal isn't strong enough to reach them.  They might be using a Rx tone and can't hear you.

Or they just don't want to talk to you like OffRoaderX said.

[WSIZ258]

Ha! So true.