New to GMRS

[Guest David]

Just got my license a few days ago, notice everyone in my area (Puget Sound) in Washington state are using ch26 repeater channel. There was a NET on it last night with check ins from all over. I can listen to everyone but when I try to transmit for a check in I get nothing back. I’m on a handheld Wouxun Kg-935g plus. I’d like to find a group that can help me gain a good foundation within the GMRS community. Thanks 

[WRQC527]

2 hours ago, Guest David said:

Just got my license a few days ago, notice everyone in my area (Puget Sound) in Washington state are using ch26 repeater channel. There was a NET on it last night with check ins from all over. I can listen to everyone but when I try to transmit for a check in I get nothing back. I’m on a handheld Wouxun Kg-935g plus. I’d like to find a group that can help me gain a good foundation within the GMRS community. Thanks 

A few things to check. Make sure your transmit CTCSS tone is correct. Make sure that if that repeater transmits a tone, your radio receive tone is set correctly, or turn off the receive tone setting. Make sure you are in a place where you can actually hit the repeater. Sometimes from inside a building or car, or if there are obstructions between you and the repeater, your signal simply can't get out. Let us know how it goes.

[Guest David]

I just paid for the license last night waiting on them to get back to me but I think I’ll be one of the few in my area that will have gmrs radio but I do travel so it will be good to have 

[Guest Is Anyone Out Here]

I paid good money for this Wouxum KG-UV9GX and put this thing on SCAN. There is nothing out here. It came with a boatload of programed frequencies and again there is nothing. I've tried the GMRS 20T and the GMRS r20T and it's as if the world is vacant and everyone is dead. I have scanned ch 1 - ch 30 and again, nothing. I've even tried the CAAL channel GNRS 15C and again, nothing. I've even turned on scan on ch 15 - 22 and again nothing. I've turn the SQL all the way down in hopes to hear something, again, nothing. Very disappointed and wish I would not have spent the money on this. I think the CB world and a good Cobra 142GTL with special channels USB / LSB and a digital freq counter was a heck of a lot better. This may be good for people who live in the big cities but it surely is no good for anyone who lives in the country unless they have a business or family member who want to have this versa a cell phone. Hope someday to hear someone talking but for now it's just scanning in the charger and quite as a mouse.

[marcspaz]

1 hour ago, Guest Is Anyone Out Here said:

I paid good money for this Wouxum KG-UV9GX and put this thing on SCAN. There is nothing out here. It came with a boatload of programed frequencies and again there is nothing. I've tried the GMRS 20T and the GMRS r20T and it's as if the world is vacant and everyone is dead. I have scanned ch 1 - ch 30 and again, nothing. I've even tried the CAAL channel GNRS 15C and again, nothing. I've even turned on scan on ch 15 - 22 and again nothing. I've turn the SQL all the way down in hopes to hear something, again, nothing. Very disappointed and wish I would not have spent the money on this. I think the CB world and a good Cobra 142GTL with special channels USB / LSB and a digital freq counter was a heck of a lot better. This may be good for people who live in the big cities but it surely is no good for anyone who lives in the country unless they have a business or family member who want to have this versa a cell phone. Hope someday to hear someone talking but for now it's just scanning in the charger and quite as a mouse.

 

 

Sorry to hear you aren't finding anyone to talk to, but not surprised.  GMRS is known as a "Bring Your Own Contacts" (BYOC) service.  The most common use is for families to be able to chat with each other in absence of or instead of a cell phone.  The next most common use is car to car for people in a caravan, such as going offroad or multiple vehicles traveling together on the highway for long road trips. Don't expect to find anyone on the air except the people you bring to the air. 

 

Also, depending on what the terrain is like around you, with a handheld you can have another operator 1 or 2 miles away from you and you just aren't going to hear them.  Mobiles can stretch that out a little tiny bit... maybe to 3 miles (again, depending on terrain).  Unless you get on a tall hill/mountain or on a repeater with great coverage because it's up high, you may not have any luck.

 

I have some bad news on the CB side of things too.  It's not much better unless skip is in or your running a buttload of power, like 400w or more (not that I advocate for violating the FCC rules with use of an amp).  Without extra power, using a 1/4 wave antenna (104"), I can double the range of simplex GMRS, but that is still only 6 to 8 miles assuming the other people I am talking to have a good setup, too.  Even with a ton of power, CB is mostly a line of sight service, like GMRS.

[KAF6045]

On 5/27/2023 at 12:34 PM, Guest Is Anyone Out Here said:

I paid good money for this Wouxum KG-UV9GX and put this thing on SCAN. There is nothing out here. It came with a boatload of programed frequencies and again there is nothing. I've tried the GMRS 20T and the GMRS r20T and it's as if the world is vacant and everyone is dead. I have scanned ch 1 - ch 30 and again,nothing. I've even tried the CAAL channel GNRS 15C and again, nothing. I've even turned on scan on ch 15 - 22 and again nothing. I've turn the SQL all the way down in hopes to hear something, again, nothing. Very disappointed and wish I would not have spent the money on this. I think the CB world and a good Cobra 142GTL with special channels USB / LSB and a digital freq counter was a heck of a lot better. This may be good for people who live in the big cities but it surely is no good for anyone who lives in the country unless they have a business or family member who want to have this versa a cell phone. Hope someday to hear someone talking but for now it's just scanning in the charger and quite as a mouse.

• There is no need to scan 23-30 -- the output of the repeater channels are the same frequencies as 15-22; just make sure there are no TONES specified for the channels you are scanning (if a Rx tone is defined, you will only hear traffic if the transmitter sends the same tone).
• Confusingly, you state channels 1-30 in one spot, but also mention "20T" and "r20T" -- I don't know what the "T" represents, unless it means there is a tone defined; "r20" is usually the same thing as channel 28, radios tend to use EITHER 23-30 OR R15-R22 -- the repeater counterpart to simplex channel 20.
• Per the FCC regulations: (emphasis is mine). The GMRS service was /never/ considered to be a general "talk-to-anyone" chit-chat service -- it was meant for stuff like large family farms wherein one might have a base/repeater set-up at the farm house, and family members in the fields would carry HTs or maybe a tractor mounted mobile. In those days, one's license was good for ONLY two of the main/repeater frequencies (so good luck finding someone else using the same frequencies on their license) and the seven GMRS 5W interstitials. Heck, even the CB service, before the 70s, only allowed for license<>license calls on a limited number of frequencies, the rest were meant for calls between family members sharing the license.

Quote

§ 95.1703 Definitions, GMRS.

General Mobile Radio Service (GMRS). A mobile two-way voice communication service, with limited data applications, for facilitating activities of individual licensees and their family members, including, but not limited to, voluntary provision of assistance to the public during emergencies and natural disasters.

• FYI: USB/LSB are not "special channels" -- they are modulation schemes using the same channels as regular AM. AM modulates/transmits both sidebands, where Single Sideband suppresses one, putting the power into the other sideband (and using half the overall bandwidth).
• I'm not familiar with anyone who "pays bad money" for stuff -- except counterfeiters   However, this sounds more like a case of not paying to research the GMRS service before buying equipment.

 

 

ADDENDUM (2023/05/31): I may sound a bit harsh above. Saturday was a bad day for me with side-effects from chemotherapy (chemo is on Tuesdays, but the side-effects seem to peak Friday/Saturday). I'm not retracting anything since all the bullet points are still valid -- and not worth trying to adjust phrasing after half a week of viewing.