New Guy - Am i setup right?

[WSJS759]

I just got my GMRS license and i'm unsure if i've set my handheld up correctly. I have a Baeofeng UV5RM and used CHIRP to setup my channels. I'd like to know if I set this up correctly, and are there any pro tips a new guys should know.

Thanks!

 

 

Baofeng Channel List 8.23.25.img

[amaff]

I don't know if it's right or wrong, but I have.....questions.

Why are there DTC tones on every "FRS" channel? (If you aren't aware, FRS and GMRS share the same channels for Simplex).
If you're trying to keep to the GRMS rules, your transmit power is wrong on 8-14.
Why are GMRS 17 and 19 labeled as FAM1 & 2? 

The order seems to be kinda all over the place but if that's what you were going for, and the radios you're trying to talk to are set up similarly, it CAN work. It just seems a bit of a hodgepodge mess, and without knowing the logic behind it (IE: did you copy someone else's cockamamie config blindly? Or is it set up that way on purpose?) it's kinda hard to know what you were going for.

[WRTC928]

I don't know how the airwaves are where you live, but here it's unnecessary to have "privacy" (they aren't) codes engaged on all channels. There's not enough traffic to keep me from communicating with friends and family, and with a DCS tone engaged, you won't be able to hear anyone else on the channel. The UV-5r has plenty of memory slots. I have the GMRS/FRS channels "bare" and another set of just the GMRS channels with codes engaged. If I'm talking to family, they'll have gotten the radios from me, so  we can communicate on the coded frequencies if we feel the need.

FRS channels 8-14 are restricted to 0.5 watt. The UV-5r is nominally 1 watt on low power, although a lot of times it's less. I recommend you set the power on 8-14 on low and then try to avoid using them unless you really have to. Most likely, nobody will notice 1 watt vs 0.5 watt, but it's the polite thing to do. 

[amaff]

42 minutes ago, WRTC928 said:

I have the GMRS/FRS channels "bare" and another set of just the GMRS channels with codes engaged. If I'm talking to family, they'll have gotten the radios from me, so  we can communicate on the coded frequencies if we feel the need.

Yep, same

[nokones]

And, all FRS Part 95, subpart B Type-Accepted radios are defaulted with narrowband emissions.

Also, the channels you have identified as FRS 1-8 are not FRS channels.  Those channels are GMRS 467 MHz Main Channels (GMRS channels 23-30 or RP15-RP22) for transmitting directly through a repeater only and if you are a GMRS Licensee, you can transmit up to 50 watts.  Non-licensees cannot transmit on these channels.

The channels you have identified as FRS 9-14 are the 462 Interstitial channels and are known as FRS/GMRS channels 1-6.  If you are a GMRS licensee you are only allowed 5-watts ERP otherwise only 2-watts ERP.  You are missing the 462.7125 MHz interstitial channel known as FRS/GMRS channel 7.  However, FRS type-accepted radios operate narrowband only on those channels, but as a GMRS licensee you can operate either wide or narrowband emissions.

[WSJS759]

THanks for the feedback. The intent here was to have all available GMRS and FRS channels. To have a few GMRS channels that were set for family communication, and then to be able to touch my local repeaters.  With that context, am i close or do i need to restart this whole thing?

 

[amaff]

With your frequency numbers on the channels being wrong / all over the place, I'm leaning towards starting over being easier, honestly. The nice thing with Chirp is that you can do that pretty easily. 

1. Read from your radio so you've got your current config (or open your current config).

2. go to File > Open Stock Config > US FRS and GMRS.

3. Do another Read from Radio from your radio so you can get a 2nd page open with your radios config, and blow the memory channels away on this one so you've got a blank slate.

What you're doing makes sense (having a few personalized channels for yourself + the standard GMRS channels) but not when your labeling (FRS1) doesn't actually match up with what frequency FRS1 should be (you have 467.5500, but it should actually be 462.5625...). Otherwise your radios aren't going to work with other people's. I have no idea where you got that frequency list from, but it needs to go in the trash haha

Compare yours with the file in #2 above and you'll see what I mean.

Also know that unless the person you're trying to talk to isn't transmitting the tone your radio is listening for, you will not hear them. So if someone is on a standard, no tones channel, let's say, GMRS1, and your GMRS1 (or FRS1, they're the same, more or less), assuming you've corrected the frequencies, but you have a tone, you won't hear them. So it's a good idea to have a set of "Open" channels on your radio as well. 

This is what my normal loadout looks like. The first set are what we use at the track when we're trying to just hear ourselves and not anyone else who might be on an open GMRS channel, the my local repeaters, then a full set of 'open' GMRS channels.

 

 

[WRTC928]

17 minutes ago, WSJS759 said:

THanks for the feedback. The intent here was to have all available GMRS and FRS channels. To have a few GMRS channels that were set for family communication, and then to be able to touch my local repeaters.  With that context, am i close or do i need to restart this whole thing?

 

Everyone arranges these things according to how their brain is organized, so you may not do the same thing I would do. If this were me, I'd save this configuration in CHIRP, open a new window, and load GMRS/FRS frequencies from <File> <Open stock config> and copy/paste the frequency list into a clean CHIRP page as a point to start. 23-52 in that chart are the GMRS channels and they already have the bandwidth, power, and tuning step programmed. That gives you a clean place to start. Then open the file with your current configuration and from it copy/paste the channels you want to add. You can do that as a block, for example Fam1 through Caravan, and the four repeaters as another block. I think you'll be happier if you get the GMRS/FRS channels together in order. Then, if you want some channels with "privacy" (they aren't) tones on them, copy/paste a block of frequencies to another set of memory slots and add your tones to them. I used GMRS 15-22 for this because that's plenty for family use and I can use up to 50 watts if I happen to be in a vehicle. Remember to change the names on this block; Fam1, Fam2, whatever. The way my brain works, it's easier for me to remember if I start each block on a number like 50 or 75. This is just a suggestion, though.

[amaff]

Just now, WRTC928 said:

Everyone arranges these things according to how their brain is organized, so you may not do the same thing I would do. If this were me, I'd save this configuration in CHIRP, open a new window, and load GMRS/FRS frequencies from <File> <Open stock config> and copy/paste the frequency list into a clean CHIRP page as a point to start. 

Get out of my head!

[WRTC928]

4 minutes ago, amaff said:

Get out of my head!

Rent free! 

[amaff]

12 minutes ago, WRTC928 said:

Rent free! 

Tell me about it. That place is a dump. I couldn't in good conscience actually charge anyone else to occupy that space... 

[WSJS759]

Thank you for the feedback. I've made corrections to the GMRS channels, but I feel like im not setup right for the repeaters. I pulled the details from this site, but my setup looks different than amaff. Any corrections i need to make here?

[amaff]

What you have should work.

TSQL means you're listening for and transmitting the same tone.
Tone means you're transmitting a tone (to get into a repeater, for example) but the radio will break squelch on *any* signal strong enough on that frequency, whether or not it has a tone. For repeaters, you only need to send a tone, to open squelch on the receive side of the repeater, you don't need it for listening (unless you're in a really busy environment and you want to *only* hear traffic from that repeater on that channel).

My area is fairly busy, so if I'm listening to the repeater on 20, there's often a bunch of other noise on simplex 20, which my radio will hear, so I like having the receive side tamped down as well.