"Wall to wall and tree top tall"...?

[PB92]

Hello all,

 

So, I'm in East Haven CT.  On my way home from work about 1230-1300) I listen to these two operators talking on channel 17 (462.000). Been listening for about 2 weeks. Now my MXT400 has 3 power settings, low is about 3w, med is about 15w, and high is about 40w.

 

I had the radio on low, when I could I keyed the mic, gave my call sign and said monitoring. Did that for a few days. No response. Then I went to medium power, same thing, nothing.

 

So today, 3/22/18, I listened to them all the way from about North Haven CT (about 1/2 way home). The closer I got to my house, their signal strength got higher, and then about 1000 feet before I got to my driveway, their signal pegged my meter all the way up. So I started looking for antennas on houses and vehicles, figuring these guys are right here, few houses away, basically right on top of me. Saw nothing.

 

Now I have lived here for 18 years, I know the neighborhood well.

 

I initially thought they were using a privacy code, I could hear them but they couldn't hear me..(if that's how the privacy codes work on GMRS)..don't know.

 

 Then they started talking about this last snow storm. Now in East Haven we got maybe 3 inches of snow. They were saying they got 14 inches. I said whoa, 14 inches, where are these guys??

 

Then one finally said......."yeah here in Suffolk County we got hit good". Suffolk County, that's in Long Island, NY. So I checked the distance, from East Haven, CT to the closest point in Suffolk County is 50 miles as the crow flies.

 

Sooo, if they are on ch17 GMRS, their signal is knocking my door down, I hear them crystal clear, and I keyed at 40w....how could they not hear me????????

 

Now if this was my CB, ok, I get it, I'm "shooting skip"........I have talked from CT to Indiana on skip...................but how is this working on GMRS??

[mainehazmt]

my repeater has been dead for about a year  just sitting there sucking electricity  thinking about shutting it down and just turn it on during hunting season  after all there are just 2 of us up here licenced

[coryb27]

my repeater has been dead for about a year  just sitting there sucking electricity  thinking about shutting it down and just turn it on during hunting season  after all there are just 2 of us up here licenced

 

I once had the same thoughts on my own machine. After several years of occasional use i decided to list it as open and publish the access tones for the world to see. Over the last few years I have seen a steady increase of users, most recently after linking several other repeaters for wide area coverage. Somethings I have learned since I started hosting a repeater. 1. Longevity is the key, the longer you have it the more users it will gather. 2. Do not change your frequency or access tones, some people dont enjoy programing radios or may have to pay for programing. 3. Make friends with other like minded people to encourage use and spread the word about GMRS. 4. Use the repeater, traffic attracts users, the more people that hear you the better. 5. Promote the repeater and GMRS in your area, be it a website, message boards, clubs or friends the more people you can engage the better. Without a way for people to find you and a lack of users in your area nobody will ever know you have the machine if you dont tell them. I have learned you can't count on any one outlet to promote your machine and hobby.

 

Just my thoughts

Corey

https://mwgmrs.com

[PB92]

Well, so far from what I can tell I believe a few "locals" here in CT (I cannot verify that) seem to be some "bubble pack kids". Along with these two fellows on ch20 in Suffolk County NY, I hear also a couple on ch20 man and woman. The guy is testing his equipment with the woman. They were giving locations probably to figure distances, I think they may be in West Haven, CT. Next town south from New Haven.

 

I keyed a couple times on low power (3-4 watts) but didn't get a response. I originally setup the MXT400 in my Interceptor as an addition to my prep comms. But I started to get into GMRS and I really like it.  I'll keep going with it and see if I get anything.

 

Maybe after a while if folks keep hearing "WQYX865 listening" they will realize it's not just kids playing around. But I'm having fun with it either way.

[gatekeep]

I'm not sure the full callsign, mainly because I listen to partial transmissions during commute times when my mobile is in scan mode, but ch 20 on LI is part of the Bridgecom group repeater system. IIRC the couple you keep hearing ID with a partial call of WRAT2xx.

[PB92]

Yes, yes gatekeep, that's the call sign. I call them locals because of two things, one is the signal strength, and two I thought I heard a street name in West Haven, CT.