Glutton for punishment..... the travel tone.

[JamesBrox]

Thank you Ray! I'll be printing out your explanation(s) and putting in my filing cabinet. That way I can go back and reread.  

[wilhelm]

Ok, another new user, just got GMRS license a couple of days ago.  Have figured out how to use CHIRP some, on a UV-5R.  I understand the freq offset and offset polarity, still not sure about the tones for repeaters.  Looking at the column headings on the CHIRP spreadsheet, there is "Tone Mode" (tone, tsql, dtcs, cross); I see if I pick tone, then in the next column, "tone", it starts off with the pre loaded freqs I can pick from, and the couple of open repeaters I have looked at, this is what they are giving, a freq.  I assume this is the tone that I would transmit, to open up the repeater, or is this column using the same tone for Tx and Rx?   The next choice in the "Tone Mode" column is "TSQL", and if I select this, it automatically opens up freqs in the column called "Tone Squelch", from the discussion above, it seems this would be the tone the repeater would be transmitting?  I'm still not getting how to use these columns.  

Back to the "tone" column, the third choice, DTCS, the next three columns are DTCS, RX DTCS, DTCS Polarity.  These seem much easier, if I see a repeater giving a 3 digit number instead of a freq, I would be choosing from the pulldowns in these 3 columns.  Do I also have the option of not using the RX DTCS if I want to hear ALL traffic on the repeater's output?

Boy, I'm realizing I'm at that age where old dog/new tricks is a problem.

 

Bill Baker WSAY247

[SteveShannon]

4 hours ago, wilhelm said:

Ok, another new user, just got GMRS license a couple of days ago.  Have figured out how to use CHIRP some, on a UV-5R.  I understand the freq offset and offset polarity, still not sure about the tones for repeaters.  Looking at the column headings on the CHIRP spreadsheet, there is "Tone Mode" (tone, tsql, dtcs, cross); I see if I pick tone, then in the next column, "tone", it starts off with the pre loaded freqs I can pick from, and the couple of open repeaters I have looked at, this is what they are giving, a freq.  I assume this is the tone that I would transmit, to open up the repeater, or is this column using the same tone for Tx and Rx?   

Correct.  In “Tone” mode you transmits a tone to open the receiver, but you don’t listen for one, so you hear everything transmitted on the channel.

4 hours ago, wilhelm said:

The next choice in the "Tone Mode" column is "TSQL", and if I select this, it automatically opens up freqs in the column called "Tone Squelch", from the discussion above, it seems this would be the tone the repeater would be transmitting?  I'm still not getting how to use these columns.  

Correct. In “Tone Squelch” mode you send a tone to open the repeater and you only break squelch on your receiver if you receive the same tone.

 

4 hours ago, wilhelm said:

Back to the "tone" column, the third choice, DTCS, the next three columns are DTCS, RX DTCS, DTCS Polarity.  These seem much easier, if I see a repeater giving a 3 digit number instead of a freq, I would be choosing from the pulldowns in these 3 columns.  Do I also have the option of not using the RX DTCS if I want to hear ALL traffic on the repeater's output?

DTCS is just a digital code instead of an actual analog tone, but as a digital code it can be transmitted either in “normal” or “inverted” polarity where the bits are flipped. The polarity is whether the bits are inverted or normal.

Yes, you have the choice of leaving RX DTCS unset, which will result in no filtering.  Everything gets through.

4 hours ago, wilhelm said:

Boy, I'm realizing I'm at that age where old dog/new tricks is a problem.

 

Bill Baker WSAY247

I’d say you’re doing fine.  Welcome to the forum.

[wilhelm]

Steve, thank you for confirming this for me!  Now, if I can ask one more... Because my wife would have been a natural back in the 1840's, we need to make technology as simple as possible.  I saw a youtube video that showed how you could make the "B" freq on the screen show the station name.  Using the same spreadsheet, "Settings" tab, and choose "name" in "Display Mode (B)".  I've done this, but after I upload it back on the radio, the lower line will show the name of the first row, but as I scroll thru the saved channels, the name still just shows the name for channel 1.  Does anyone use this feature, and know what I'm doing wrong?

Bill Baker

WSAY247

[SteveShannon]

1 hour ago, wilhelm said:

Steve, thank you for confirming this for me!  Now, if I can ask one more... Because my wife would have been a natural back in the 1840's, we need to make technology as simple as possible.  I saw a youtube video that showed how you could make the "B" freq on the screen show the station name.  Using the same spreadsheet, "Settings" tab, and choose "name" in "Display Mode (B)".  I've done this, but after I upload it back on the radio, the lower line will show the name of the first row, but as I scroll thru the saved channels, the name still just shows the name for channel 1.  Does anyone use this feature, and know what I'm doing wrong?

Bill Baker

WSAY247

It sounds like you really want your display to show the name of the A channel as you scroll through the A channels. Is that correct?
 

[wilhelm]

Yes Steve, that is correct.

[wilhelm]

Ah, is it as simple as choosing "name" in the A channel?  That way my wife only has to look at the A channel and see something like "Erika 1"?

[wilhelm]

Duh, that works!  We'll just keep a dedicated radio for my wife, she will remember names MUCH easier than freq's!