Accessing Repeaters

[lnelson007]

I am a new licensee and new to Mygmrs.com.  I have Btech V1 and have programmed in local GMRS repeaters. Ihave been listening for some time and trying to transmit as well but all has been quiet. I’ve obviously done something wrong but have confirmed frequencies and tone. Any suggestions? Thanks.

[MichaelLAX]

For example: one of the repeaters you programmed in and that does not work.

[lnelson007]

They were local to Sarasota, Florida: 462.600 (141.3 tone -gmrs repeater 17/channel 25),  462.650 (103.5 tone -gmrs repeater 19/channel 19 ).  Also tried the Sarasota Amateur Radio Club directly at 146.910 (tone 100.0).  At this point Michael I would take anything just to hear that it’s working properly. Thanks for responding. 

[lnelson007]

Sorry, channel 27 for repeater 19.

[MichaelLAX]

Use Tones for transmitting only for now; turn off all receiving tones

Be sure CHIRP is set to HIGH power for these two repeaters.

If you are not transmitting on the Ham radio 2 meter frequency, turn off the tone (How do you enter this frequency? Is there a VFO mode?)

Does it look like this:

 

[lnelson007]

Haven’t installed chirp yet (have a Mac so initially I wasn’t sure chirp would work because of Apple security). I have now ordered the cable.  Sounds like that might help. (I should receive cable over the next week). I’ll give chirp a shot and if not resolved, will get back to this board. Thanks again. 

[AdmiralCochrane]

I have no trouble using Chirp on Macs.  You do have to tell the Mac that you do want to run the program you found on the internet.

[MichaelLAX]

Hopefully you ordered the better quality FTDI chip programming cable; about $22

[MichaelLAX]

52 minutes ago, lnelson007 said:

 I’ll give chirp a shot and if not resolved, will get back to this board. Thanks again. 

Get back to us either way!

[JimSmitty]

Inelson, Is the frequency offset set to +5.0000 Mhz and/or the repeater RX frequency set 5Mhz higher than the TX? 

[MichaelLAX]

1 hour ago, JimSmitty said:

Inelson, Is the frequency offset set to +5.0000 Mhz and/or the repeater RX frequency set 5Mhz higher than the TX? 

As a Part 95 certified GMRS HT, there should be no ability  to change the pre-set offset frequency 

[lnelson007]

I think that is right Micheal. I believe the Btech gmrs v1 is preset offset. I’ll check on the cable and understand I DO want to run program from internet. Thanks guys. 

[lnelson007]

 

Well, looks like I got the right cable. It was about $25. Should arrive in a few days. 

BlueMax49ers. Item #DescriptionQty.

 PC03_BTECH_GMRS-V1BTECH GMRS-V1  USB FTDI PC03 Radio 

[MichaelLAX]

The Link does not work, but if you get a FTDI from BlueMax49ers you did good.

[lnelson007]

Update: Programming Cable received and chirp software loaded! Once I bypassed Apple security (which the instructions clearly addressed), loading Chirp on Mac was pretty straight forward using the instructions from BlueMax49ers and their chirp link. Uploading it to my Btech V1 was also easy. I have now heard from at least 2 of the repeaters I entered. One was GMRS so I was able to talk. The other was VHF so I was able to listen. Just good to know I’m making some progress although there is still a lot to learn, even with GMRS. It’s clear BlueMax49ers was/is the way to go. Mark sent me a note and assured me he was also available to assist if any problems. I told him of the sites informal approval of my choice and his apparent positive reputation!
 

One question: I actually have 2 Btechs V1s (one for my wife). I’m hoping I can now just connect the second one and upload to that device the same data. Just wondering if software will recognize that it’s a new device and require something more complicated. Otherwise, I think I am on my way.

I’ve  heard and read a lot about how supportive this community is. I appreciate all of your responses, (most especially you Michael). As I learn, I hope to be able to pay it forward. Thanks.

[wrci350]

1 hour ago, lnelson007 said:

I’m hoping I can now just connect the second one and upload to that device the same data.

It should be just that easy.  Plug the cable into the second radio and send the data to it.

[WyoJoe]

When I've programmed two or more radios of the same type, I've had success just unplugging the programming cable from one, then plugging it into the other one. I then read from the second radio just for good measure, then upload the same file to it that I uploaded to the first radio. I can't think of a time that did not work for me.

[wayoverthere]

2 hours ago, wrci350 said:

It should be just that easy.  Plug the cable into the second radio and send the data to it.

This. Nearly everything I've dealt with, radio wise, the cable is what the computer recognizes, so it won't notice the switch.

The one deviation has been a radioddity gd73 (ham dmr radio), but that takes a box-standard micro usb.

I also have nothing but praise for the bluemax49ers products. Zero problems with any of them, across 4 different models, one said not to work with anything but the manufacturer cables.

[lnelson007]

Great. Thanks much!