What I heard... 3.0

[WRHS218]

I took another trip from CA to TX. My wife was with me this time so I didn't geek out as much as I usually do. I had programmed all the GMRS repeaters along the route into my KG-935G+ as well as all of the 2m repeaters. I had my Yaesu VX-6R with me as well. My route avoided most large cities. I scanned all of the GMRS repeater and simplex frequencies, along with 2m, 70cm repeaters and call freqs. I heard a little 2m and GMRS repeater traffic in the CA central valley and then didn't hear anything until KIngman, AZ. I heard 2m traffic there. There was a little GMRS/FRS traffic in Flagstaff. I didn't hear anything else until I got to Central TX. I was on FM roads so that is no surprise. My destination was Beaumont, TX, where my youngest daughter lives. There was quite a bit of 2m traffic there as well as a GMRS repeater in the Beaumont area owned and operated by a GMRS club. I had joined the club last year to get access to their repeaters.

One reason I like the 935G is I can listen to railroad frequencies. My path half way across the country was along major rail lines. So I had one radio just scanning those frequencies all the time. I heard a lot of train stuff which I enjoyed. It is interesting to hear a train crew talking to a dispatcher in the middle of the Mojave desert.

On the way back I-40 in Flagstaff was funneled to one lane and the traffic was stopped. I called out on a 2m repeater and a GMRS repeater and got no response. I heard a couple of people talking on GMRS and talked to them and it turns out the were using FRS radios in a campground.

It was a good trip. The addition of scanning RR frequencies was fun. My wife even got to the point that when she heard the EOT (end of train) signal she would start looking for the train.

Enjoy your radios, they can make roads trips more fun even if you don't talk to anyone.

 

[Guest]

21 minutes ago, WRHS218 said:

I took another trip from CA to TX. My wife was with me this time so I didn't geek out as much as I usually do.

My wife even got to the point that when she heard the EOT (end of train) signal she would start looking for the train.

Enjoy your radios, they can make roads trips more fun even if you don't talk to anyone.

... and that is what you call "not geeking out as much as usual" ?!? -  - your regular geek level must be rather high !!! 

I am glad that your wife's next request after that trip is more likely a scanner or radio in her car than a "separation based on over-geeky-insanity charges"  

I remember a regular commute that definitely got more enjoyable (manageable / endurable ... ) due to the fact that a big part was listening to a radio net on 2m - regardless of the fact that I could only check in if I got called "on the right spot" of my commute ("If I do not get in before the next bend, I will not make the machine :)")

 

#EnjoyYourRadios (and our wifes' charming way to be tolerant with us geeks) 

 

[Guest]

2 minutes ago, WRXE944 said:

My ex-wife, born and raised in Montana, took me on a camping trip in the Bob Marshall Wilderness some years ago.

That night I whipped out my Kenwood TH-22a and spoke to a Canadian Ham on 2 Meters.  

She vowed to never take me camping again!

Some years after that, she took me fishing on the Great Bear Lake in the Northwest Wilderness inside the Arctic Circle.

I whipped out my Sony ICF-7600D portable shortwave radio and listened to the Dodgers game on Armed Forces Radio.

She divorced me! 

But you kept the Kenwood and the Sony - I hope !?! 

[WRHS218]

5 hours ago, WRXE944 said:

I take it that all the Ham repeater transmitting was on the Yaesu and not the Wouxun?

Yep, I haven't figured out how to TX on 2m with the 935G. And even if I could we all know that would violate numerous FCC regulations and I would never, ever, at any time, do that!

[WRUU653]

@WRHS218 That sounds like a great trip. My wife and I have friends and family in Flagstaff and Sedona.  I have just a few railroad frequencies programmed for local area.   Did you have a specific list you loaded up to scan for your trip? 

[WRHS218]

3 minutes ago, WRUU653 said:

@WRHS218 That sounds like a great trip. My wife and I have friends and family in Flagstaff and Sedona.  I have just a few railroad frequencies programmed for local area.   Did you have a specific list you loaded up to scan for your trip? 

I went to radioreference dot com and searched for railroad. There are several hundred frequencies that I programmed into my radio. I don't know which are in use where so I made a scan group for railroad.

[WRUU653]

20 minutes ago, WRHS218 said:

I went to radioreference dot com and searched for railroad. There are several hundred frequencies that I programmed into my radio. I don't know which are in use where so I made a scan group for railroad.

Nice.  I knew there were a lot, at least the KG-935 has the room. 

 

[back4more70]

2 hours ago, WRHS218 said:

Yep, I haven't figured out how to TX on 2m with the 935G.

It's unlikely that anyone ever will.  Great radio though.

[WRHS218]

2 hours ago, back4more70 said:

It's unlikely that anyone ever will.  Great radio though.

It was meant as light hearted sarcasm. Something that fails when typing. It is my favorite GMRS radio.

[WRUU653]

14 hours ago, WRXE944 said:

Actually transmitting on 2 meters with a "modified" Wouxun KG-935 would not violate any FCC regs.

 

Regardless a modification for the Wouxun KG-935 to open it up at this point does not exist. Some of the Wouxun ham radios have been modified but so far it seems Wouxun remains locked down on the GMRS versions. This is also my favorite GMRS radio

[WRUU653]

21 hours ago, WRXE944 said:

I take it that all the Ham repeater transmitting was on the Yaesu and not the [electric toothbrush]?

Well yeah. 
Better?

[back4more70]

12 hours ago, WRHS218 said:

It was meant as light hearted sarcasm. Something that fails when typing. It is my favorite GMRS radio.

No problem, light hearted is how I read it.  When I got the KG-935G+, I searched for hours for ways to open it up, and no dice.  I ended up getting my amateur license (I wanted to anyways) and purchased a Wouxun KG-UV9D Mate, and opened that one up to include GMRS.  Problem solved lol

[Lscott]

3 hours ago, back4more70 said:

When I got the KG-935G+, I searched for hours for ways to open it up, and no dice.

Some radios I had luck hex editing the code plug to put in frequencies the software ordinarily wouldn’t allow.  

 I had a buddy gifted me 3 two channel Kenwood ProTalk radios he had kicking around his shop ready for the trash bin. They were worthless for Ham use since there was no way to enter non approved frequencies into them there the radio buttons or programming software he could find 

http://www.vincentcom.com/pdf/KENWOODPDF/TK-3200.pdf

Those you can only select from a list of hard coded frequencies in the programming software or in the radios firmware. Of course none of them were in the ham band or GMRS. After a bit of digging around with a hex editor I was able to put in the local GMRS wide area coverage repeater on one memory slot and the GMRS simplex travel channel on the other memory slot directly in the code plug. Now at least they’re useful for something.

Other radios one might can hack the code plug to put them on frequencies they weren’t originally intended to use.

[back4more70]

4 hours ago, Lscott said:

Other radios one might can hack the code plug to put them on frequencies they weren’t originally intended to use.

I had a couple of UV-5Rs that I opened up to 1.25M, but I could not enter frequencies in the software.  However, I could use the keypad to enter and save the frequencies.

[fe2o3]

10 hours ago, back4more70 said:

I had a couple of UV-5Rs that I opened up to 1.25M, but I could not enter frequencies in the software.  However, I could use the keypad to enter and save the frequencies.

I hex edited the UV-5R's image file to enter 220 freq's before uploading to the radidio. 

[WROZ437]

Quick question about the railroad frequencies... Are the railroads still primarily using analog or have they been migrating to digital like many other commercial applications? I have a Wouxun UV9PX and can scan the railroad frequencies, but I haven't tried that at all as of yet. 

[WRHS218]

1 hour ago, WROZ437 said:

Quick question about the railroad frequencies... Are the railroads still primarily using analog or have they been migrating to digital like many other commercial applications? I have a Wouxun UV9PX and can scan the railroad frequencies, but I haven't tried that at all as of yet. 

I don't have the official answer, but from what I have observed/heard they are still analog. I have been around several huge rail yards and all of the radio traffic was analog. The EOT/FRED are analog tones as well. I have poked around on the interwebs and I can't find anything about moving to digital.