Roger beep settings

[DonErle]

Seems to be some strong opinions on this subject, mostly folks that hate the feature. What are the pros and cons of using it? It's on just about every radio you see these days so I assume it's a feature that is needed. But I heard someone just a few days ago from an operator that simply asked for a radio check and he was berated for having it on.

[gortex2]

To me there is no need for it. None of my radios have it. I also see no reason for it. 

[JeepCrawler98]

Unless it's a repeater itself making the beep where it's being used to pace a conversation, there's no need for it; just turn it off - the person listening knows when you have released the PTT just fine without it. The only use case I think that could be valid is if a recording is being kept for record purposes that could be referred to later, but again, that's not really something you're likely to encounter on GMRS, moreso the public safety side.

MDC1200 or FleetSync bursts have a purpose; but its real-life usefulness is pretty limited for GMRS and I see it as more of a novelty. If you consider these as data burst transmissions they're also technically not allowed on the 467 Main Channels (repeaters intputs) per the rules - but that's splitting hairs.

I believe most consumer radios that come with the roger beep turned on just have it so that they "sound like the cool radios with the data bursts" but that's just my guess.

Edited June 8, 2021 by JeepCrawler98

[SkylinesSuck]

I leave mine on for my younger son's FRS HT just so I know it's him.  My older son I trust with a GMRS HT and don't use it.  They are 6 & 8 so their voices sound very similar, plus it's not going to upset many people only being in FRS toy with very limited range.  It doesn't really bother me when people use it though.

[DonErle]

Good feedback. Thanks.

[mbrun]

When I hear roger beeps, I immediately think of kids playing with toys and cheap radios, sort of like clipping playing cards onto one’s bicycle to rub on the spokes and make noise while you ridding. Fun for the person making the noise, annoying to everyone else.


Michael
WRHS965
KE8PLM

[OldRadioGuy]

On most radios it's easy to turn off but.....

Our Cobra PX880 FRS radios do not allow the roger beep to be turned off.  You're stuck with it.

I couldn't believe there was no menu setting for it.   I guess they figured lots of people like it.... or they're idiots.

Vince

[n1das]

Just turn the roger beep off and be done with it.  That's the first thing I always do with an FRS radio.

A radio whether it's an FRS bubble pack or a top tier commercial radio sounds way more professional without a roger beep.

 

[Lscott]

On 6/8/2021 at 6:58 PM, kb2ztx said:

To me there is no need for it. None of my radios have it. I also see no reason for it. 

Well that depends. If the radio supports operation through a repeater it may serve a useful propose. Most repeaters have a "hang time" which can be as short a a fraction of a second to several seconds or more. The hang time function is to keep the repeater keyed up and ready without the constant COR, carrier operated relay action. The Roger Beep lets everyone on the repeater know when the other party is done so you don't have to wait for the repeater to dropout, without the usual squelch tail, before commencing with another transmission. Of course it should be a common practice to wait a few seconds before jumping in anyway. That gives another party out there a change to announce their call sign and use the repeater.

At least people are not using "echo mic's" with their radios, which seems commonly used on 11M. Now that's annoying.

[JeepCrawler98]

3 hours ago, Lscott said:

If the radio supports operation through a repeater it may serve a useful propose.

Typically in this case the repeater operator turns on the courtesy tone if it's deemed necessary; if the repeater has one already and people run their own roger beeps it quickly gets old. In either case I wish manufacturers would default to them off - the Baofeng and Wouxun roger beeps are just awful to listen to; unharmonious and overmodulated. Some of the commercial units have the roger beeps which are just very brief and short 'blips' - these are much more tolerable.

Edited June 12, 2021 by JeepCrawler98

[Lscott]

2 hours ago, JeepCrawler98 said:

Typically in this case the repeater operator turns on the courtesy tone if it's deemed necessary; if the repeater has one already and people run their own roger beeps it quickly gets old. In either case I wish manufacturers would default to them off - the Baofeng and Wouxun roger beeps are just awful to listen to; unharmonious and overmodulated. Some of the commercial units have the roger beeps which are just very brief and short 'blips' - these are much more tolerable.

I agree with your points. If necessary a short simple beep is enough. Personally myself I don’t use Roger Beeps either.

I have used some Ham repeaters that had no courtesy tone. Trying to do a round table discussion with 3 or more people often resulted in somebody getting stepped on.

[SkylinesSuck]

8 hours ago, n1das said:

Just turn the roger beep off and be done with it.  That's the first thing I always do with an FRS radio.

A radio whether it's an FRS bubble pack or a top tier commercial radio sounds way more professional without a roger beep.

 

But who is trying to be "professional" on GMRS?  Courteous and a good neighbor, yes.  Anything beyond that and complying with the rules is just pretending to be something you're not.  

[OffRoaderX]

I keep my Roger Beep on - when someone complains about it, I remind them that its my radio and nobody is forcing them to listen to me.

[JCase]

Although I myself don’t use and am not a fan of roger beeps, if you have the option on your radios to turn off “squelch tale” and you have family members or friends that are new to radio, the roger beep actually serves a valid purpose of signifying that the transmission has ended. We shouldn’t belittle or berate anyone that chooses to use them. If it bothers you that much simply listen to a different frequency. The roger beep can be a very useful and helpful tool at times but regardless of that, each and every operator is able to decide for themselves whether to enable or disable the feature on their radios. 

Stay healthy, well, safe and in spite of the roger beeps, happy !

JC

[JeepCrawler98]

On 6/12/2021 at 5:04 PM, OffRoaderX said:

I keep my Roger Beep on - when someone complains about it, I remind them that its my radio and nobody is forcing them to listen to me.

Fair enough for simplex; but you have to remember that if you're using a repeater you don't own yourself you're actually actively using someone else's radio in addition to your own. This is why repeater owners may have their own rules and practices they want followed when using their hardware; sometimes these rules include not having roger beeps.

Since on repeaters you have people monitoring for traffic from others and are often dependent on them for communications, aside from the fact that they tend to be watering holes for radio traffic - you are forcing other operators to listen to you. Simplex, not so much a problem because you can tune out and not miss anything as you mentioned.

Edited June 14, 2021 by JeepCrawler98

[gortex2]

Exactly. If I hear it on my repeaters I give a warning, after that go use someone else repeater.

[JLeikhim]

Roger Beeps are annoying...

Sent from my SM-T350 using Tapatalk

[djxs]

This is too funny. I just had a situation this past weekend where the sound was bothering a passenger in the vehicle. The beep is 'piercing" to them. I asked the person in our convoy to turn the beep off and they did so kindly. 

It can get a bit annoying. 

[maddogrecurve]

On 6/8/2021 at 3:56 PM, DonErle said:

Seems to be some strong opinions on this subject, mostly folks that hate the feature. What are the pros and cons of using it? It's on just about every radio you see these days so I assume it's a feature that is needed. But I heard someone just a few days ago from an operator that simply asked for a radio check and he was berated for having it on.

I have keyed up my GMRS V1 made by B-Tech while listening to a cheap bubblepack radio and I cannot hear the unkey!!  I may end up having to use beeps if people have a hard time knowing when I unkey (if I ever find someone to talk to that is).

[n4gix]

12 hours ago, maddogrecurve said:

I have keyed up my GMRS V1 made by B-Tech while listening to a cheap bubblepack radio and I cannot hear the unkey!!  I may end up having to use beeps if people have a hard time knowing when I unkey (if I ever find someone to talk to that is).

Honestly, if you stop talking that generally means they can begin talking again. OTOH, simply saying "over" or "back to you" will accomplish the task easily. 

[WRNA236]

45 minutes ago, n4gix said:

Honestly, if you stop talking that generally means they can begin talking again. OTOH, simply saying "over" or "back to you" will accomplish the task easily. 

It is interesting how people grow accustomed to full duplex conversations.  I'm kind of the opposite since I talk on two-ways as much as anything.  I find I don't say much in Zoom meetings.  My habit is to hesitate a couple of seconds to make sure the speaker is complete (e.g. subconsciously i'm waiting for the repeater tail or squelch drop).  During which time someone invariably jumps in and starts speaking!

[SkylinesSuck]

1 hour ago, n4gix said:

Honestly, if you stop talking that generally means they can begin talking again. OTOH, simply saying "over" or "back to you" will accomplish the task easily. 

Pilots occasionally do that with us. Rest assured, if you ever hear a pilot say that on frequency to a controller, all the controllers are making fun of them off frequency 

Conversely, we used that phraseology all the time in Civil Air Patrol when I was younger.  Over (ksshhhhk).

[n4gix]

One of my major pet peeves are those who say "over and out." Logically one can be either "over" or "out", but never both at the same time! 

[dwmitchell61]

On 6/12/2021 at 5:04 PM, OffRoaderX said:

I keep my Roger Beep on - when someone complains about it, I remind them that its my radio and nobody is forcing them to listen to me.

I guess you won't mind if I sit in the chair next to you at the doctors office and pass some gas, then? LMAO..... Sorry, poor analogy but it seemed funny at the moment...

[n1das]

On 6/11/2021 at 4:04 PM, n1das said:

Just turn the roger beep off and be done with it.  That's the first thing I always do with an FRS radio.

A radio whether it's an FRS bubble pack or a top tier commercial radio sounds way more professional without a roger beep.

 

 

On 6/12/2021 at 12:09 AM, SkylinesSuck said:

But who is trying to be "professional" on GMRS?  Courteous and a good neighbor, yes.  Anything beyond that and complying with the rules is just pretending to be something you're not.  

 

On 6/16/2021 at 10:24 PM, JLeikhim said:

Roger Beeps are annoying...

Sent from my SM-T350 using Tapatalk
 

I don't care what other people do but absolutely no roger beeps on my radios.  The absolute last thing I would want with my professional quality commercial radios is for them to sound like FRS bubble packs.

I have played around with MDC1200 signaling in Motorola radios and Fleetsync signaling in Kenwood radios.  I haven't used DTMF signaling because it's too d@mn slow.  I put the PTT ID at the start of a transmission, not at the end.   It can be programmed as Pre or Post, or Both.  I like Pre instead of Post because it forces users to wait half a second for the Talk Permit Tone before speaking to allow receiving radios to wake up from battery save mode and allow for CTCSS and/or DCS to decode so the beginning of transmission aren't missed.  I've played around with MDC1200 and Fleetsync signaling but eventually turn them off because they are annoying.  Peace and quiet at the beginning and end of transmissions is a lot nicer.