mitzvah Posted June 24, 2022 Report Share Posted June 24, 2022 A few companies sell radios with more than standard 1-22 channels. One company claims there radio has a 128 channels. By adding a "privacy tone" do you create a real channel? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MichaelLAX Posted June 24, 2022 Report Share Posted June 24, 2022 No and it adds no privacy either. Craws907 and jnr0104 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mitzvah Posted June 24, 2022 Author Report Share Posted June 24, 2022 By FCC it would be False Advertisement Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mitzvah Posted June 24, 2022 Author Report Share Posted June 24, 2022 By FCC it would be False Advertisement then Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
axorlov Posted June 24, 2022 Report Share Posted June 24, 2022 Programmable slot - would be a better name. The RX and TX frequencies and the RX and TX tones. You may have different repeaters on the same 462.650 MHz (on the same channel) with a different TX and RX tones. You can program them into different slots, assigning different names. Or, you may use the same 462.650 MHz with 110.9 tone to talk to your wife, and the same 462.650 MHz with tone 88.5 to talk to your girlfriend. You can program them into different programmable slots and assign different names. SteveShannon 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MichaelLAX Posted June 24, 2022 Report Share Posted June 24, 2022 16 minutes ago, axorlov said: Or, you may use the same 462.650 MHz with 110.9 tone to talk to your wife, and the same 462.650 MHz with tone 88.5 to talk to your girlfriend. You can program them into different programmable slots and assign different names. Yes and both your wife and your girlfriend will be able to hear the others conversation! Bugkiller, wayoverthere and WRQV528 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WRQV528 Posted June 24, 2022 Report Share Posted June 24, 2022 45 minutes ago, MichaelLAX said: Yes and both your wife and your girlfriend will be able to hear the others conversation! Ah, yes, because strictly speaking, @axorlov didn't say that each woman's radio was configured to use any tone on that frequency. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
axorlov Posted June 24, 2022 Report Share Posted June 24, 2022 I was simply explaining what "channel" means in the context where there are 128 of them. Unlimited opportunities! But Michael covered it earlier, no new frequencies and no privacy, of course. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MichaelLAX Posted June 24, 2022 Report Share Posted June 24, 2022 1 hour ago, WRQV528 said: Ah, yes, because strictly speaking, @axorlov didn't say that each woman's radio was configured to use any tone on that frequency. Even if @axorlovhad said that each woman's radio was configured to use any tone on that frequency, it would be misleading to assert that the husband could rely on any "privacy" tones. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MichaelLAX Posted June 24, 2022 Report Share Posted June 24, 2022 If only someone had a YouTube video describing the fallacy of "privacy tones!" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2sIJv5yyStE&t=38s SteveShannon 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dosw Posted June 24, 2022 Report Share Posted June 24, 2022 Midland's GTX1000 handhelds are sold this way: 50 channels. Of those 50, 22 are frequencies corresponding with GMRS 1 through 22. And then 23 through 50 are those same frequencies preprogrammed with either CTCSS or DCS codes. Those codes are squelch codes. This means that they are codes someone must transmit for your receiver to open squelch and listen to the transmission. Or that your transmitter must send so that receivers programmed with the same codes will open their squelch and listen. Any receiver that is not programmed to require a squelch code to open squelch will default to receiving all transmissions on a given frequency. And those transmissions are in no way encrypted (GMRS doesn't allow for scrambling). So conversations held between transceivers operating with squelch codes are openly available to transceivers or scanners that are not set to limit by squelch code. There is no privacy. At any rate, channel 50 in a Midland radio, for example, is going to be one of the 22 GMRS frequencies, and one of the conventional CTCSS or DCS codes. If you transmit on channel 50 at the same time someone is transmitting on the equivalent standard GMRS channel, you'll be stomping on each other, because they're analog transmissions on the same frequency. There are only 22 real channels. Everything else is just a preset code on top of one of those 22. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KAF6045 Posted June 24, 2022 Report Share Posted June 24, 2022 The ratio is even worse for the BTech MURS-V1. It has "15" channels. 1-5 are the MURS channels with no codes 6-10 are the same MURS channels with CTCSS codes preset (but programmable if one doesn't like the default) 11-15 are the same channels using preset DCS codes. I've reset mine so bank one is standard MURS (1-3 NFM, 4-5 WFM), low power, no tones. Bank two is high power. Bank three is back to low power, but with 4-5 set to NFM (only 4-5 have option for bandwidth). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WRQV528 Posted June 25, 2022 Report Share Posted June 25, 2022 (edited) 8 hours ago, axorlov said: I was simply explaining what "channel" means in the context where there are 128 of them. Unlimited opportunities! Whoops, I guess I read too much into your post then. This thread has inspired me to make a table of how "privacy codes" are not such. I hope many find it helpful. The forum scales down the image and makes it a little blurry; see the attached ZIP for the original in actual size. HowPrivacyTonesReallyWorkVersion2.zip Edited June 25, 2022 by WRQV528 Version 2: Fix typo of "DCS" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
axorlov Posted June 25, 2022 Report Share Posted June 25, 2022 1 hour ago, WRQV528 said: <..> Noble effort, but wasted. People who posses the skill of reading would already know this. On the other hand, congregation of the Church of NotaRoundhead will seek guidance and solace in the video sermon of the Queen-Prophet, conveniently linked above by MichaelLAX. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Linus Posted June 25, 2022 Report Share Posted June 25, 2022 I have used the CTCSS and DCS codes I’ll skiing in biking so that I do not have to hear other people’s conversations. It is harder when you are skiing and biking to change your channel because your radio keeps breaking squelch caused by a far away user that is nothing but static. I would not go as far to call that a channel but I do like the term programmable slot. Calling It channel is leaning towards false advertising. I have seen radios like that in the past that are marketed as having thousands of channels which is not correct. What is nice about programmability is you can also change the channels for send and receive. In other words one channel is used to transmit and another channel is used to receive on one radio. The other radio has the opposite configuration. The idea behind this was to have at least 1/2 of a conversation is less likely to be interrupted by others. I wrote about it earlier in a previous post along time ago. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mitzvah Posted June 26, 2022 Author Report Share Posted June 26, 2022 The radio that this post was about is called Rocky Talkie (no affiliate link). The one thing that draws me back to this radio is the silicon pocket that the radio slips into. While I'm not prove to dropping radios, the added protection of the silicone packet is worth noting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteveShannon Posted June 26, 2022 Report Share Posted June 26, 2022 It’s also noteworthy that Rocky Talkies are FRS only, not GMRS. Repeaters are not allowed on FRS frequencies. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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