Awful quiet

[WRQL415]

New to GMRS, bought a retevis rb17p.  I've had it set on scanning for 2 days. I've only heard a few words  in 2 days.. there's a repeater 4 miles from me. Is it really this dead? 

[OffRoaderX]

Some areas are, mostly because GMRS is intended for purpose-use. ie; when you go hiking, off-roading, etc, to talk with others in your group. Its not primarily intended for chatting with strangers.

[marcspaz]

OffRoaderX beat me to the punch because I'm a little long-winded today.  LOL

 

Unfortunately, it can be, depending on where you live.  It's not like CB or Ham radio, as far as the social aspects are concerned.  I typically tell people its a "bring your own contacts" type of service.

 

Just my opinion based on anecdotal experience, most people who get into GMRS are either looking for 1 or more of 3 things.

1.) Emergency/backup family communications where cell service is poor.

2.) Communications with family and friends while doing outdoor/adventurous activities.

3.) For community service. Providing repeater service for the community and putting together emergency planning in the event of a disaster. 

 

It's not really a rag-chew type of service... though in highly populated areas, there is a little of it.

[WRVZ494]

I just watched your video on that yesterday - yeah it's one of those weird things you kind of want it quiet so when you need to use it the channels are available.   But if you want someone to test with it makes it complicated - well not really buy two leave someone at home and call back!  In my area it seems to be dead during the week and picks up on the weekend.

[Sshannon]

1 hour ago, WRQL415 said:

New to GMRS, bought a retevis rb17p.  I've had it set on scanning for 2 days. I've only heard a few words  in 2 days.. there's a repeater 4 miles from me. Is it really this dead? 

Some places it’s even deader.

In those places, the best way to be able to hear others reaching out to make contact is to get your Technician ham license and a dual band ham radio.  There are ham radio repeaters in a lot more places than GMRS and calling CQ (meaning “I want to chat”) is part of the tradition. 

Steve

[Sshannon]

13 minutes ago, WRVZ494 said:

I just watched your video on that yesterday - yeah it's one of those weird things you kind of want it quiet so when you need to use it the channels are available.   But if you want someone to test with it makes it complicated - well not really buy two leave someone at home and call back!  In my area it seems to be dead during the week and picks up on the weekend.

There may be others who are also passively scanning.  If you’re all waiting for each other it would seem very dead, so someone needs to initiate the conversation.  Don’t hesitate to pick up the mike and say “This is WRVZ494. Can I get a repeater check?”

Also, don’t shy away from saying “Is there anyone who wants to chat?”  It’s not against the rules and you might find out there are quite a few others who are just scanning.

[PACNWComms]

Another issue is that the more you are scanning, the less you are listening. If you know there is a local repeater, monitor those frequencies. Scanning the entire GMRS channel list (only option for some radios [scan ON/OFF]), means it may miss short transmissions. Many radios allow you to make Scan Lists where selected channels/frequencies can be scanned at a time. This may help too, scanning a few channels at a time. 

[bd348]

Try saying "Wxxx000 listening" and someone may answer.

[OffRoaderX]

Almost forgot:
A lot of sad-hams like to slum on GMRS - so turn on your roger beep, then kerchunk the repeater a few times - They'll come at you like The Walking Dead...

[WRUT935]

Welcome back to GMRS, just another thought, make sure no tones are pre set by Retivis that may filter your reception. 
 

73s

[WRVZ494]

6 hours ago, Sshannon said:

There may be others who are also passively scanning.  If you’re all waiting for each other it would seem very dead, so someone needs to initiate the conversation.  Don’t hesitate to pick up the mike and say “This is WRVZ494. Can I get a repeater check?”

Also, don’t shy away from saying “Is there anyone who wants to chat?”  It’s not against the rules and you might find out there are quite a few others who are just scanning

Yeah I was doing that today check the local repeaters here in my area over near Red Rock Canyon State Park - unfortunately for 99% of the time in the back trails I couldn't hit anything.  The day before I was able to hit both repeaters in the California City areas and I did get to chat with the repeater owners which was cool.

The really funny part of today I had setup Zello to monitor @OffRoaderX's channel and I DID hear that a couple of times when I had like one bar on my cellphone.  I was all excited thinking my GMRS radio was hearing something.

[WRWB464]

Do all repeaters kchunk? I am brand new to GMRS with my brand new GMRS-Pro. I have set up the local repeaters one of which is only a mile or so from my home station but I can't seem to talk to or hear any of them. I have rx tones turned off for all of them and the correct tx tones turned on. If i briefly key up on any of them I don't hear anything back.

All of them are listed as active here on myGMRS.

Thanks for comments. 

[Sshannon]

37 minutes ago, WRWB464 said:

Do all repeaters kchunk? I am brand new to GMRS with my brand new GMRS-Pro. I have set up the local repeaters one of which is only a mile or so from my home station but I can't seem to talk to or hear any of them. I have rx tones turned off for all of them and the correct tx tones turned on. If i briefly key up on any of them I don't hear anything back.

All of them are listed as active here on myGMRS.

Thanks for comments. 

Kerchunking means pressing your push-to-talk button in an attempt to activate the repeater without speaking or identifying your station.  Yes, all analog repeaters will respond to that as long as you are in-range, on-frequency, and using the correct tone or codes. You might not hear it but others may.  Do you hear anything at all from those repeaters at any time, such as an ID?

[gortex2]

Yes in normal cases most repeaters have a hang time. Not all do however. For my case I have multiple that do not have hang time. Only repeat what they hear. I did it for this reason. Had too many folks keychunking and got tired of it. So no delay. It repeats fine when you talk but drops when CSQ And TSQ/DPL drop

 

[WRWB464]

1 hour ago, Sshannon said:

Kerchunking means pressing your push-to-talk button in an attempt to activate the repeater without speaking or identifying your station.  Yes, all analog repeaters will respond to that as long as you are in-range, on-frequency, and using the correct tone or codes. You might not hear it but others may.  Do you hear anything at all from those repeaters at any time, such as an ID?

I am not hearing anything from any of the local repeaters. I have been suspect of this radio since it was delivered on Saturday as it appeared to have been previously opened. I have a replacement being delivered possibly today hopefully that may solve some of the questions. PS I have been listening on a 2nd radio to the repeater TX frequency and nothing there either so it could be anything at this point.

[Sshannon]

43 minutes ago, WRWB464 said:

I am not hearing anything from any of the local repeaters. I have been suspect of this radio since it was delivered on Saturday as it appeared to have been previously opened. I have a replacement being delivered possibly today hopefully that may solve some of the questions. PS I have been listening on a 2nd radio to the repeater TX frequency and nothing there either so it could be anything at this point.

When you say the repeater TX frequency, are you talking about the repeater output frequency (462.xxx) or the frequency people transmit to the repeater (467.xxx)?

[WRWB464]

1 minute ago, Sshannon said:

When you say the repeater TX frequency, are you talking about the repeater output frequency (462.xxx) or the frequency people transmit to the repeater (467.xxx)?

I have the tone on the frequency that I am transmitting to the repeater aka the 467.xxx, and no tone on the 462.xxx.

Hope that is correct and not reversed lol.

[Sshannon]

3 minutes ago, WRWB464 said:

I have the tone on the frequency that I am transmitting to the repeater aka the 467.xxx, and no tone on the 462.xxx.

Hope that is correct and not reversed lol.

That should work.

For me it’s easier to think in terms of repeater input (467) and output (462 range) and that’s exactly what you are doing. Maybe the repeater is on a different frequency or out of range. No luck contacting the owner?

[Sshannon]

Just for shits and giggles, try listening on the input frequency (with no tone) for the repeater that’s only a mile away.  That way you can see if anyone else is trying to hit it.

[WRVZ494]

5 hours ago, gortex2 said:

Yes in normal cases most repeaters have a hang time. Not all do however. For my case I have multiple that do not have hang time. Only repeat what they hear. I did it for this reason. Had too many folks keychunking and got tired of it. So no delay. It repeats fine when you talk but drops when CSQ And TSQ/DPL drop

Yeah that one threw me for a loop - one of the local repeats has a really short hang time so I thought I wasn’t hitting it until someone answered me.  The other repeater has the typical repeater hang time that I expect (from working with LMRs in the military/Air Force).

[WRWB464]

Thanks all, I am pretty sure it was the radio. The replacement got here and it is much more sensitive than the original.

As soon as I programmed it, which was easy peasy since the program was still on my phone, and I set it for my closest repeater, it immediately started to show signs of life.

Just like a normal radio it breaks squelch often and I have heard a few times people keying up on the repeater. I have not had anyone answer back to my radio check yet but I feel a lot more confident with this radio than the last one. Everything seems proper compared to the first one.

Thanks for all your comments.

[Cactusboy19]

6 hours ago, WRWB464 said:

Do all repeaters kchunk? I am brand new to GMRS with my brand new GMRS-Pro. I have set up the local repeaters one of which is only a mile or so from my home station but I can't seem to talk to or hear any of them. I have rx tones turned off for all of them and the correct tx tones turned on. If i briefly key up on any of them I don't hear anything back.

All of them are listed as active here on myGMRS.

Thanks for comments. 

Most repeaters do not have IDent or "roger beeps"