GMRS in South Texas

[WRUE951]

On 1/27/2023 at 8:32 AM, WRUE951 said:

if you have any experience from the GIS world, you get spoiled and tend to appreciate the tools that work so much better,,,  Especially when most of the best GIS tools are Open Source (Free to use)  Like i said, the map tool here is rude and crude and defiantly has much room for improvements and so easily..  Just sayin...    “Be the change that you wish to see in the world.” 

Good possibility you'll see another GMRS Repeater site pop up...  

 “Be the change that you wish to see in the world.” 

[WRVY822]

Can anyone provide some instruction on scanning? I know how to turn on the scanning on my radio (Btech GMRS Pro), and I can toggle "allow to scan" on or off for each of the channels.

While scanning, I notice that the radio will stop on a channel and all I hear is static. Is the radio still scanning for a better signal on other channels or has it stopped? If I am getting nothing from the channel it's stopped on, should I toggle the "allow for scan" on that channel to off?

Or should I just be scanning the repeater channels only? My goal is to find a repeater in my area that will extend my range so I can reach my other radio that I will give to family that will be about 10 miles away.

So far I have alot of nothing.

[WRUU653]

24 minutes ago, WRVY822 said:

While scanning, I notice that the radio will stop on a channel and all I hear is static. Is the radio still scanning for a better signal on other channels or has it stopped? If I am getting nothing from the channel it's stopped on, should I toggle the "allow for scan" on that channel to off

If you are hearing static, if you are hearing anything for that matter the scan has stopped on that frequency. It may be that the radio picked something up that is out of range. Try adjusting your squelch and the radio may scan right over the noise. You may be able to adjust your scan settings as well. A TO setting will give you a timed operated scan and will continue scanning after a few moments. A CO setting will stop until the radio stops hearing a transmission and SE will stay on the first frequency the radio hears until you change it. 

[WRUU653]

I don't see a lot of repeaters in your area.  If your terrain is favorable you may be able to reach with mobile radios if HT's are not reaching. antenna hight is king. You can use this tool to get an idea if you have good line of site between your radios.

RF Line of Sight - SCADACore.webloc

[WRVY822]

My radio doesn't have a squelch knob, but I can adjust the settings from 1 to 10 on the radio or using the mobile app.

I haven't been able to find any other scan settings. Although there is something in the radio menu called "Tone Scanning" but I have no idea what that does.

[nokones]

55 minutes ago, WRVY822 said:

My radio doesn't have a squelch knob, but I can adjust the settings from 1 to 10 on the radio or using the mobile app.

I haven't been able to find any other scan settings. Although there is something in the radio menu called "Tone Scanning" but I have no idea what that does.

Scans the PL Tohes and DPL Codes

[SteveShannon]

57 minutes ago, WRVY822 said:

My radio doesn't have a squelch knob, but I can adjust the settings from 1 to 10 on the radio or using the mobile app.

I haven't been able to find any other scan settings. Although there is something in the radio menu called "Tone Scanning" but I have no idea what that does.

So, let's say you're listening to a repeater.  You're able to hear the repeater because you don't have a receive tone set. But you're curious what the tone is that the repeater uses when it transmits.  If you choose "Tone Scanning" your radio will scan through the tones to determine which one is being transmitted.

If you're close enough to a repeater to receive the transmissions from others to the repeater you can use "Tone Scanning" to determine the input tone, which you would need to have to get into the repeater.

[WRVY822]

Thank you for the help. I have yet to find a repeater yet to listen to, so when I selected Tone Scanning from the radio menu, it did nothing. Now I understand why it did nothing, because I wasn't receiving anything from a repeater.

I'm wondering what my next step should be if I find out there are no repeaters within 30 miles of my location. Should I get an upgraded antenna for the radio? Or should I get an antenna to put on my house that I can plug into this radio? Or should I go ahead and get a mobile radio with more power?

[SteveShannon]

1 hour ago, WRVY822 said:

Thank you for the help. I have yet to find a repeater yet to listen to, so when I selected Tone Scanning from the radio menu, it did nothing. Now I understand why it did nothing, because I wasn't receiving anything from a repeater.

I'm wondering what my next step should be if I find out there are no repeaters within 30 miles of my location. Should I get an upgraded antenna for the radio? Or should I get an antenna to put on my house that I can plug into this radio? Or should I go ahead and get a mobile radio with more power?

That’s a hard question. In terms of greatest likelihood of helping you hear weak signals, the antenna on the house is best, but what if there’s nothing to hear. 
I wouldn’t invest in a more powerful radio without hearing something first; a more powerful transmitter won’t fix your inability to receive. 

[MichaelLAX]

3 hours ago, WRVY822 said:

I'm wondering what my next step should be...

 

Road Trip!

Take your HT for a drive.

[WRVY822]

I have tried driving around, but my radio has been scanning all channels and it often gets stuck on a channel (not a repeater channel) with static. I have rarely heard anyone talking. Should I set the radio to scan only the repeater channels? I'm not sure if there is a way to do that easily on my radio (Btech GMRS Pro) other than going into the settings on each channel and setting the "Allow for scan" to off.

Also, I'm not confident I understand how to listen for repeaters and whether I have all the settings on my radio correct for accomplishing that.

[SteveShannon]

11 minutes ago, WRVY822 said:

Also, I'm not confident I understand how to listen for repeaters and whether I have all the settings on my radio correct for accomplishing that.

It’s no different than listening for any other activities. Just scan channels 15-22 with no receiver tones. 
Maybe the real question is how to tell the difference between hearing a repeater or just someone transmitting on simplex. 
If it’s a repeater it should ID itself every 15 minutes while it’s being used. Also you might hear a courtesy beep, which is typically less annoying than a Roger beep. 

[WRVY822]

When trying a repeater check, is there anyway to tell that you connected without a person at the repeater answering you? Is it best to ask the owner of the repeater what are the best days and times to do a repeater check?

[SteveShannon]

38 minutes ago, WRVY822 said:

When trying a repeater check, is there anyway to tell that you connected without a person at the repeater answering you? Is it best to ask the owner of the repeater what are the best days and times to do a repeater check?

Any time the repeater is unused should be fine. 
Using two radios is one way, but most people don’t mind helping another person with a repeater check. 
If the repeater has been unused for a while you may hear the repeater ID itself immediately after you stop transmitting. Or a courtesy beep. 

[WRVY822]

Would you mind describing the process of using two radios to do a repeater check?

[SteveShannon]

10 minutes ago, WRVY822 said:

Would you mind describing the process of using two radios to do a repeater check?

Program one to monitor the repeater. (Correct frequency, no tones)
 

Transmit with the other to the repeater input frequency and with the right input “privacy” tone. 
 

Transmit on one and listen on the other. In a successful test you should hear yourself. 
 

Keep them far enough apart that the transmission doesn’t de-sense the receiver.  My radios work just fine on one end of the kitchen table. 

[WRVY822]

On the monitoring radio do I put the correct frequency (that I got from the repeater) in Rx Freq, Tx Freq, or both?

And on the transmitting radio, do I put the correct frequency in Rx Freq, Tx Freq, or both? And the tone goes in Tx CTCSS/DCS correct? (or do I also put it in the Rx CTCSS/DCS?)

Also does my bandwidth setting matter? The default is 25KHz.

[SteveShannon]

10 minutes ago, WRVY822 said:

On the monitoring radio do I put the correct frequency (that I got from the repeater) in Rx Freq, Tx Freq, or both?

And on the transmitting radio, do I put the correct frequency in Rx Freq, Tx Freq, or both? And the tone goes in Tx CTCSS/DCS correct? (or do I also put it in the Rx CTCSS/DCS?)

Also does my bandwidth setting matter? The default is 25KHz.

On the receiving/monitoring radio you must have the correct RX freq.  You can put in the TX freq, but it’s not needed for monitoring.

On the transmitting radio, you must have the correct TX freq and tone.  Yes, the tone goes in TX CTCSS/DCS.  Leave the RX CTCSS/DCS empty.  It doesn’t really matter if you have the RX frequency correct for this test.  

Later on you’ll want to have both radios set the same so either one can talk to the other through the repeater, but for now I don’t want to confuse you with anything you don’t absolutely need.

The default bandwidth is good.  That’s wide band.

 

I’m old and I’m going to bed.

Ill check in sometime tomorrow afternoon.  This should be enough to get you started.  Go ahead and ask anything you need.  There are smarter folks than me that might be able to help you more than I am.

[jnr0104]

On 1/25/2023 at 11:21 PM, WRVY822 said:

I am brand new to GMRS. I'm hoping to find some repeaters in my area that will extend my range.

My main goal for getting a license and buying radios is to have a way to communicate with family and close friends locally in an emergency situation as well as listen for information during an emergency.

How is GMRS in South Texas?  

Daniel, I see you are in Corpus, at present time only 1 repeater in the whole place, and it is not operational yet, out in Flour Bluff,  when it is online, it May orMayNot coverwhere you live just looking at google maps. First of all, in Corpus there are probably Not going to be many gmrs repeaters up on commercial towers,,So ur HT, is not gonna do a very good job like one will do with amateur radio , with tall towers and 100 watt repeaters. most of the repeaters within 45 miles of you to are 10 watt(5-6watts after duplexer) Retevis RT97 repeaters, with antennas  avg height of 30 ft on pushup poles( american tower company owns nearly all the big towers in the rural areas , and they dont want gmrs ot ham on their stuff( I know because I have one of them on my ranch).They still are goid repeaters, we are getting 15-25 mildes coverage with them( we are located in Refugio, Aransas, and San Patricio Counties, 6 repeaters scattered around up here.)  So  plan on getting a 40 -50 watt mobile radio, either for vehicle,with a midland 6db magnet mount antenna on the center of your roof, or if your lucky enough to live in a house with NO HOA gestapo,a 50 watt radio, a power supply, 50 or so ft of lmr400 coax, a 40 ft pushup pole , good to 30 ft without guying it if attached to eve of house, and a Good gmrs base antenna, i suggest a comet CA712EFC.  Now for the bad news. With either of those setups, you may be able to get into the new flour bluff repeater, its antenna will be at 50 ft I believe, but it is one of the low power repeaters.And its owner id am a ateur radio guy brand new to GMRS, and he will have the same learning curve that the rest of us did getting things Just right to squeeze all the distance he can outta a low power system. That said, Chances are slim that you will be able to hit any of the other repeaters ( possibly Ingleside from certain areas of CC), But you still have simplex going for you.  Over 110 folks in CC show to be licensed, all u gotta do is find some of em.  If you come North of Portland you have much better chance of contacting some of our repeaters oreven catch some of the group on simplex (just about everyday 0500 to 0900 on the Bayside, or ingleside repeaters, and monitor ch19 simplex no tones, and ch 16 simplex no tones.  We try to monitor bayside all day.Look up the repeaters in our area, on mygmrs hit the permission button, and you will get a response.

If you are an amateur operator several of us monitor 146.500 simplex. We can answer questions you may have . Good luck!

WQRJ814/ KF5WTB

 

 

[WRVY822]

jnr0104, thank you for the helpful info on my area. I was really hoping there would be more gmrs repeaters that would work for my area. I am starting to look into getting equipment to establish a base station at my house. I can do an antenna on my roof.

I was really hoping to get about 10 to 15 miles of range because that's about as far as my immediately family gets spread out from each other on any given day. I was thinking I could put a gmrs radio in every car, with backup power and instructions on how to use in case of an emergency where cell phones go down.

Do you know if there is a local group that meets up from time to time?