What's with the repeater drama?

[kapoijerj334]

I'm a seasoned GMRS licensee of about 1 month and after listening in on one of my local repeaters (it's linked and has quite a bit of traffic most days), I've got to say that the man-child drama that I've heard has probably discouraged me from joining in on any convo.

I admit that I got started only for backup comms, not to jaw-jack on a repeater.

That said, I haven't even listened super often, but I've already heard 3 separate incidents where someone didn't like the manner in which someone else was talking and tried to intimidate them into doing something different, one of these came to each party threatening to get their attorneys involved.

"How dare you use CB lingo where my ears can hear it! Imma get my attorney on you!"

Is this normal? These guys sound like 10 year old boys fighting over their walkie talkies.

Please tell me I didn't join a cult LOL.

 

 

[Socalgmrs]

I’ve heard it all.  In any given day of travel I’ll be on 10-12 different repeaters and I am a member of a few different nets in my area.  I’ve heard all types of people and all types of conversations.  It’s just the nature of the beast.  Most gmrs guys don’t like to heard 10codes or other codes.  Personally I’ve used all types of codes in my 30years of radio and none of it has been on cb.  I personally think that every one should learn so when comms are bad you can relay info quickly with little to no mis understanding.  Maybe try a different repeater?  Or get a bunch of like minded guys together and make your own closed repeater and a club. 

[OffRoaderX]

Radios seems to attract a certain type of person, often with similar personalty defects... 

[WRQC527]

2 hours ago, adnjacob said:

I'm a seasoned GMRS licensee of about 1 month and after listening in on one of my local repeaters (it's linked and has quite a bit of traffic most days), I've got to say that the man-child drama that I've heard has probably discouraged me from joining in on any convo.

I admit that I got started only for backup comms, not to jaw-jack on a repeater.

That said, I haven't even listened super often, but I've already heard 3 separate incidents where someone didn't like the manner in which someone else was talking and tried to intimidate them into doing something different, one of these came to each party threatening to get their attorneys involved.

"How dare you use CB lingo where my ears can hear it! Imma get my attorney on you!"

Is this normal? These guys sound like 10 year old boys fighting over their walkie talkies.

Please tell me I didn't join a cult LOL.

 

 

Every repeater has a cast of characters. They're like bad sitcoms. Some asshat put in a repeater in the last few days that's on the same frequency pair as an established high-level repeater here in southern California. Last night two guys went on for at least an hour with nothing but F-bombs about their phenomenal MMA skills and how Tyson will get his butt kicked against McGregor. All this chit-chat drowned out the net taking place on the other repeater. You never know what kind of mayhem will occur on a repeater. 

[WRQI583]

Ha Ha sounds like the way some Ham repeaters can get, although much less child-like. GMRS is a means of communications for people who just need to talk without studying for a test and learning all about the electronics of radio. Its not that serious. 10 codes are permitted on GMRS and as long as you are not swearing, you are not going against the rules. Some people take it overboard on rules and what they think are the rules. Not every area is like what you mentioned here. Where I live, there is a large group of people (probably 99% of the state) who all get along with each other and are professional and helpful. Unfortunately, with radio, you will almost always find at least a few clowns in the bunch. 

[WRUU653]

2 hours ago, adnjacob said:

How dare you use CB lingo where my ears can hear it! Imma get my attorney on you!"

This sounds like jesting, sarcasm between friends on the surface. My take anyway.

[kapoijerj334]

2 hours ago, WRUU653 said:

This sounds like jesting, sarcasm between friends on the surface. My take anyway.

Not a direct quote. It's my paraphrase for how these guys sound to any other mature, reasonable adult. They were 100 percent serious, lol.

[kapoijerj334]

4 hours ago, WRXP381 said:

I’ve heard it all.  In any given day of travel I’ll be on 10-12 different repeaters and I am a member of a few different nets in my area.  I’ve heard all types of people and all types of conversations.  It’s just the nature of the beast.  Most gmrs guys don’t like to heard 10codes or other codes.  Personally I’ve used all types of codes in my 30years of radio and none of it has been on cb.  I personally think that every one should learn so when comms are bad you can relay info quickly with little to no mis understanding.  Maybe try a different repeater?  Or get a bunch of like minded guys together and make your own closed repeater and a club. 

Yeah I've got several different repeaters in range and none of the drama yet on any of those. I mostly find it humorous, but at the same time it did surprise me and definitely discourages my interest in chatting on that particular one, lol

[CALO50]

I live in NorCal and the traffic is pretty civil. I frequently visit SoCal and some repeaters around Los Angeles are a free-for-all jungle.

[OffRoaderX]

5 minutes ago, CALO50 said:

some repeaters around Los Angeles are a free-for-all jungle

The final days of our "Delta" repeater were pretty pathetic.. After we shut it down a couple of the jammers and troublemakers moved over to the other high-level repeaters in the area.  
These people are absolute losers at life.  i'm not just saying that - I know who they are, and they truly are pathetic nothings.

[WRKC935]

The big issue I have is people not understanding how to conduct communications with more than two people on the radio.  The idea of letting people take turns just escapes some people.

 

[WRQI583]

7 hours ago, WRKC935 said:

The big issue I have is people not understanding how to conduct communications with more than two people on the radio.  The idea of letting people take turns just escapes some people.

 

Oh, thats easy. Round table. You create an order and one person passes it to the next person. I used to participate in that many years ago back when Ham was more active and we could have up to 8 or 9 people all talking on the repeater late into the night. Good times.

[WRYB563]

16 hours ago, WRKC935 said:

The idea of letting people take turns just escapes some people.

Because that's not how people talk when they're in person.  The best way to get them to learn how to do it is to demonstrate it.

[ULTRA2]

On 3/26/2024 at 5:53 PM, CALO50 said:

some repeaters around Los Angeles are a free-for-all jungle.

I can name a few, but i'm in no mood to start a flame war on here.

[WRKC935]

On 3/26/2024 at 1:32 PM, adnjacob said:

I'm a seasoned GMRS licensee of about 1 month and after listening in on one of my local repeaters (it's linked and has quite a bit of traffic most days), I've got to say that the man-child drama that I've heard has probably discouraged me from joining in on any convo.

I admit that I got started only for backup comms, not to jaw-jack on a repeater.

That said, I haven't even listened super often, but I've already heard 3 separate incidents where someone didn't like the manner in which someone else was talking and tried to intimidate them into doing something different, one of these came to each party threatening to get their attorneys involved.

"How dare you use CB lingo where my ears can hear it! Imma get my attorney on you!"

Is this normal? These guys sound like 10 year old boys fighting over their walkie talkies.

Please tell me I didn't join a cult LOL.

 

 

Well, this sort of nonsense is a result of a non-engaged repeater owner.  As a repeater system user, paid or not, you have no real say in what that repeater carries for traffic.  Ultimately, if you don't like it you can make a comment about it if you choose to but your final say in the matter is when you change the channel or turn off your radio.  You have NOTHING else to do when it's not your gear.  If the repeater owner allows that sort of conduct, then that's how it is. 

But an engaged repeater owner that pays attention to what's going on with his / her repeater should be dealing with that.  Telling people that they are NOT going to argue, cuss and act the fool on the repeater and to either stop or go kick rocks is the way it needs to be handled.  And if they refuse, you shut off the repeater for a while. And the repeater owner can record the traffic, get call signs if the users are actually saying them and file a complaint with the FCC.  If it's a common thing for these people to act up and break the rules (causing interference) then the FCC might get involved. 

But end users really have no say in the content.  And people shouldn't just throw up repeaters that they don't pay any attention to and let others act foolish on them.

 

[SvenMarbles]

We have a really nice selection of wide coverage repeaters where I am, and only 1 of them is a s*** show. Naperville 575. Mostly thanks to 1 guy really. He just enjoys the radio hobby as a problem maker, but he’s done a good job of getting people to show up to his house asking him to “come outside!!”. 
 

Aside from that, everyone else is really chill. The other repeaters are actually even a bit too ham flavored for my liking.. We’re doing 70cm ham nets on our stuff over here, with calls, and “ham speak”… etc.. Both suck equally imo…

[WRYB563]

On 3/31/2024 at 4:21 PM, WSAK691 said:

The other repeaters are actually even a bit too ham flavored for my liking.

I've read comments like this in several posts, and seen it in different videos - what does this mean?  What is the difference in etiquette on a ham repeater vs. a GMRS repeater?

[WRXB215]

3 minutes ago, WRYB563 said:

What is the difference in etiquette on a ham repeater vs. a GMRS repeater?

On the repeaters I use, very little if any. Apparently in some areas there is a big difference but I'm not sure why. There are still a lot of repeaters in my area(Houston) that I have not used yet. Maybe some of them will tell a different story.

[SteveShannon]

11 hours ago, WRYB563 said:

I've read comments like this in several posts, and seen it in different videos - what does this mean?  What is the difference in etiquette on a ham repeater vs. a GMRS repeater?

5 minutes

Actually, we hams tend to call each other by our call signs more often than our names. We often log those contacts.  If we’re having a net we check in and then wait to be called back. We say our call sign every 10 minutes or sooner and at the end of the conversation. 

When I use GMRS it’s strictly casual on a first name basis. I don’t care what the other person’s call sign is. I use mine at the end of every 15 minutes and when ending a conversation, but otherwise I just don’t say it. GMRS is like talking on the phone to someone except simplex. 

[SvenMarbles]

13 hours ago, WRYB563 said:

I've read comments like this in several posts, and seen it in different videos - what does this mean?  What is the difference in etiquette on a ham repeater vs. a GMRS repeater?

I suppose it gets to what the difference between what Amateur radio and GMRS is. Ham radio is a place to be about radio. It's radio for the purpose of the hobby of radio. Each individual holds a license, and typically gets on to speak to random-other hams. The substance of the conversation had is secondary to the simple matter of "we had a contact". "My equipment talked to your equipment and that's neat". 

GMRS was actually intended to be a more practical radio service. It's why a license is for an entire household. Families, saying "hey add this to the grocery list", or "hey are you almost home?". Not necessarily for 70cm rag chews about antennas. If you wanna do that, get 26 right out of 35 and 440 is there for you..

Some of us are both of those things but just kind of wish there was a thing we could have our wives, kids, and siblings on for the family talk and not feel like we're stepping on toes, even though we're actually the ones in the correct spectrum.

Hams moved in on GMRS, because it was there and novel. Now we have these guys all over it seeping the ham flavor all over it and making it uncomfortable for our families to be on. 

[WRXB215]

8 hours ago, WSAK691 said:

Now we have these guys all over it seeping the ham flavor all over it and making it uncomfortable for our families to be on.

I'm glad that's not the case in my area. So far, I've only encountered one ham that was a jerk. He was on a ham repeater ranting about GMRS and NO other ham agreed with him. We all defended GMRS and basically told him to shut up. I never could get his call sign but I think, by his voice and his rant, that he was the same guy I heard several months ago on a GMRS repeater ranting about something.

I think it's more about the individual than the radio service they are using.

[SteveShannon]

2 hours ago, WRXB215 said:

I think it's more about the individual than the radio service they are using.

This!  If a person is an ass, it doesn’t matter what radio service they’re using. 

[WRYB563]

12 hours ago, WSAK691 said:

Now we have these guys all over it seeping the ham flavor all over it and making it uncomfortable for our families to be on. 

Call me confused, but how is discussing antennas uncomfortable for families? 

[SvenMarbles]

15 minutes ago, WRYB563 said:

Call me confused, but how is discussing antennas uncomfortable for families? 

Are you confused about the broader point I was making? Or just the antenna part?

[WRYB563]

The broader point.  From my limited experience on GMRS, talking about radios is not uncommon - either from hams who are interested in radios, or new non-ham GMRS operators who want to learn more about their new hobby, and non-hams GMRS operators who enjoy using their radios and want to learn more about ham radio.  I agree with Steve, that behavior is independent of radio service, so how are hams negatively impacting GMRS?