NC GMRS net help

[WRPI897]

Hi everyone I'm a bit new to this but I already have my license but I need some help/ info.

I had bought a Motorola for this but it was going to take a long time for it to arrive so I bought the Retevis RB17P with a naygoya NA-771 (15 in ) whip antenna to try and ping repeaters with but idk if there's something in missing or it just don't have enough power output to ping these repeaters.

The repeaters I've tried it the F-18 peidmont area, stokesdale 600 , Greensboro 675 which are the only ones that reach out to my house in Mayodan NC. Even when I'm at work in walnut cove NC I can't seem to get my little Retevis to " kerchunk" the F-18 repeater never the less talk on the repeater even when I open the squelch up and try to listen in. I don't know if it just doesn't have the power to hit it or if there's something else in the programming of that radio that preventing me from pinging it but all I know is that I'm lost at this point. 

Any and all advise and tips that u can give me will be appreciated and hopefully I'll get to hear ya on the air soon 

WRPI897 

[gortex2]

Im not sure where the repeater in Greensboro is but I have trouble on 29 with a mobile radio....No clue where or what the F18 repeater is. 

[WRPD494]

You live (and work) in a beautiful area of NC, with lots of nice elevation changes.    With a 5w radio and a whip antennae, my suspicion is that you don't have good line of sight  to these repeaters to open them up.  As long as you have the tones correct that is.  You can hear them?   When you say reach to your house... are you counting the expected range or the green circle on the map?

And I don't know this F18 repeater. Details?

If you have receive tones set (tone squelch), I would turn those off while you test. Just use the TX tone for the selected repeaters.

Your neighbor to the SW,

WRPD494

 

Edited February 21, 2022 by WRPD494
Updated with the tone squelch suggestion.

[WRPI897]

20 hours ago, gortex2 said:

Im not sure where the repeater in Greensboro is but I have trouble on 29 with a mobile radio....No clue where or what the F18 repeater is. 

Ahh ok and the F-18 repeater is over by hanging rock state park which is only a few miles away from where I work if u go to the maps and turn on the stale repeaters it will show up then 

[WRPI897]

20 hours ago, WRPD494 said:

You live (and work) in a beautiful area of NC, with lots of nice elevation changes.    With a 5w radio and a whip antennae, my suspicion is that you don't have good line of sight  to these repeaters to open them up.  As long as you have the tones correct that is.  You can hear them?   When you say reach to your house... are you counting the expected range or the green circle on the map?

And I don't know this F18 repeater. Details?

If you have receive tones set (tone squelch), I would turn those off while you test. Just use the TX tone for the selected repeaters.

Your neighbor to the SW,

WRPD494

 

Yes this area of NC is an amazing place but I only work a few miles away from the F-18 repeater and I can't hear anything on it ( probably cause I found it under the stale repeater tab ). And yes but to a point cause I didn't think that the little 5w could hit the Greensboro 675 repeater from mayodan but I did try it closer to stokesdale off of 220.

For the tones tho I can only set one tone for both and I can turn the squelch itself off but not the tones off or I won't hit it at all so I'ma deduct that it's just the sight line thing and look for another more powerful radio anyways and see if that will work cause I'm only 10 miles from the F-18 tower at work 

Thank you for the info and have a great day

WRPI897

 

[gortex2]

My guess is the F-18 is no longer on the air or never was. One issue with the map is its entered by users and no way to verify if the info is actually correct. Anyone can add a repeater and never put the repeater on the air. Lots of dreams come in GMRS but when they realize the expense and time of setting up a repeater they dont go forward and never go back and delete the repeater. Expectations are high in GMRS but not always met with the low cost equipment people purchase. 

[WRPI897]

3 hours ago, gortex2 said:

My guess is the F-18 is no longer on the air or never was. One issue with the map is its entered by users and no way to verify if the info is actually correct. Anyone can add a repeater and never put the repeater on the air. Lots of dreams come in GMRS but when they realize the expense and time of setting up a repeater they dont go forward and never go back and delete the repeater. Expectations are high in GMRS but not always met with the low cost equipment people purchase. 

Ahh ok tbh I don't even know how much it cost to build and maintain a repeater lol but thank you for the info ig I need to just look at known active repeaters 

WRPI897