What have you heard, and why did you listen?

[WQAI363]

Once a in a while I'll monitor channel 03 and channel 04. I'm really not sure who uses channel 03, but listening to it can be interesting. Same thing on channel 04, it sounds like Patient First or a Retail Furniture Chain. I hope it's not Patient First, because that's walking a fine line with trying follow protocol for HIPA. Although, I haven't heard sensitive traffic being past. So, I assume it's Ashley's Furniture or some other retail establishment.

Channel 03 maybe the Warminster YMCA or as Barney Rubble would YCMA Young Cave Men Association. I figure the YMCA use that frequency as intercom for power outages and emergency Lifeline for Lifeguards 

[GizzardGary]

On channel 8, I occasionally pick up conversations from the local Bomgaars store (farm store chain) about 1000 ft away.  Usually a manager up front yelling at one of the stockers to get something from the back, or someone asking if it's time for their break.  It can be funny when someone gets caught loafing though...

[catbrigade]

Things that I have heard scanning FRS/GMRS channels:

Plenty of kids mashing the call button or yelling. Occasionally there must be older ones who don't have a phone yet coordinating where they will meet up and such (since the conversations make sense), or a parent rounding up the kids that are out roaming the neighborhood to come home for dinner.
A Mexican restaurant (rapid-fire Spanish talking about food orders and such when I'm near their building)
Either a hotel or a nursing home, most likely the latter since there was something about a call light on.
Road flaggers.
Heard some event coordination at a festival, parking cars and such.

During the COVID shutdowns I heard some kids talking to each other on a street a few blocks away. I handed a radio to my kids and they joined in while I supervised.

[FlatTop]

Scanning simplex I have never heard anything interesting on FRS/GMRS....lots of comedy on the repeaters.

MURS is better entertainment, although VHF...I listen to the maintenance guys at the local school tell filthy jokes and make fun of their boss. 

 

[dosw]

Earlier I attributed this to a school's drop-off line, but I just hadn't listened carefully enough. It's a mechanic:

 

 

This goes on all day, from a few minutes before 8am, until around 4pm. Channel 18. It's probably a PepBoys (3.1 miles).

 

I hear them from my kids' school, too. That's over 3 miles in a different direction. I suppose it's possible that it's not even handheld, in which case it could be any one of hundreds of mechanics across the valley. Too bad they're using channel 18. My guess is they could do this all over 500mw on channel 8, and not muddy up a repeater output frequency with this.

 

On the other hand, I wish everyone were so enthusiastic about their work!  

[amaff]

3 minutes ago, WRQW589 said:

Too bad they're using channel 18. My guess is they could do this all over 500mw on channel 8, and not muddy up a repeater output frequency with this.

I can pretty much guarantee that if you went to the store, found the owner / manager who set all this up, and said "hey could you not be on a repeater frequency" they'd say "...what's a repeater frequency?"

They buy a cheap radio, set it on a random number that's quiet when they set it up, and never touch it again. Which, in fairness, is pretty much how GMRS / FRS is set up to work lol

[dosw]

28 minutes ago, amaff said:

I can pretty much guarantee that if you went to the store, found the owner / manager who set all this up, and said "hey could you not be on a repeater frequency" they'd say "...what's a repeater frequency?"

They buy a cheap radio, set it on a random number that's quiet when they set it up, and never touch it again. Which, in fairness, is pretty much how GMRS / FRS is set up to work lol

You're just on the other side of the Valley from me. Set a radio to 18 with CTCSS of 127.3 and see if you hear this guy. It's 3 to 10 such calls per hour so you may have to be a little patient.

[dosw]

9 minutes ago, WRQW589 said:

You're just on the other side of the Valley from me. Set a radio to 18 with CTCSS of 127.3 and see if you hear this guy. It's 3 to 10 such calls per hour so you may have to be a little patient.

Got it. Larry H Miller Ford dealership / service department in Draper. Some of the names he called out are people who are listed on the dealership's website. That puts him almost centrally located at 5 miles from my home, and 7 miles from Herriman. To be getting out with that amount of power he can't be using FRS. The call-outs are probably coming from that booth in front.

 

[amaff]

I'm less "base station GMRS" and more "in the backpack and car GMRS" haha
I don't really have any kind of antenna except for a nagoya mag mount on the top of a cabinet in my office.

That said, I've had an HT with me all morning, and I'm up on the hill overlooking the valley so usually if it's out there and has decent punch, I can hear it, and so far I've got nothin.

[BoxCar]

On 6/20/2024 at 2:03 PM, amaff said:

if it's out there and has decent punch, I can hear it, and so far I've got nothin.

plenty of nuthin' here too.

[FishinGary]

Monitoring FRS/GMRS, I pick up a lot of the same things you guys are getting. 

• Little kids screaming/shrieking. The other day I heard this: "Momm*BEEP*ommy*BEEP*m*BEEP*y*KKKKCCCCHHH*BEEP*mo*BEEP*mommy*BEEP*verhere*BZZZZTTTT*BEEP*mom*BEEP*mommy*BEEP*Imoverhere*BEEP". I did not hear the other side of the conversation.
• Best one I've heard so far was a kid, in between half-keys and Roger beeps, saying "I have a question..." literally 30 times in a row. Finally, his exasperated friend says "What. Is. Your. Question?!?!"
• Teenagers making weird nosies.
• Keying up and holding the mic up to the TV, tuned to ESPN.
• Heard some background chatter, tires squealing, etc. Not sure of it was a sideshow or just something on the TV.
• Some guys talking in hushed tones. Kept saying a 10 code (don't remember which one it was). Finally, one of them says "10-XX. Did you guys catch that?" Not sure what was going on there.
• Occasionally random adults on FRS. I always seem to catch the very end of a conversation. 
• Lots of GMRS simplex nets and rag chewing on ch. 19.

[TrikeRadio]

I often hear the teachers and administrators at a local elementary school on simplex a few miles from my home. They seem to be using either GMRS (or maybe more likely FRS) and have a CTCSS tone on their transmissions. I'm not sure if they think that makes their communications "private".... but of course they are not.

I kind of wonder if I should contact the school or school district to let them know that their radio communications are not private... or if that would just make them think I am a "weirdo" listening in.

 

But I have heard a few funny things like "I need help over here, someone just dumped a whole tray of milk"... and ... "Johnny threw up and I have him all cleaned up... can you call his parents? he needs to get home"... stuff like that.

[amaff]

4 hours ago, TrikeRadio said:

I often hear the teachers and administrators at a local elementary school on simplex a few miles from my home. They seem to be using either GMRS (or maybe more likely FRS) and have a CTCSS tone on their transmissions. I'm not sure if they think that makes their communications "private".... but of course they are not.

I kind of wonder if I should contact the school or school district to let them know that their radio communications are not private... or if that would just make them think I am a "weirdo" listening in.

Many FRS (and heck even some GMRS) radios have pre-set tones on every channel (cough cough Retevis...). They likely don't know they're there or care, because all their radios talk to each other and they can't hear other people stepping on them.

[TrikeRadio]

31 minutes ago, amaff said:

Many FRS (and heck even some GMRS) radios have pre-set tones on every channel (cough cough Retevis...). They likely don't know they're there or care, because all their radios talk to each other and they can't hear other people stepping on them.

Could be. And this school uses GMRS/FRS channel 20 (462.675 MHz) which of course is also a repeater frequency so yeah they possibly don’t hear the repeater but people close to their location hear them on open. 

[WRUE951]

I pick up room service from a nearby Clarion Motel on Ch 3...  All day long and into the wee hours..  

[TrikeRadio]

I have heard a local car dealership on ch 6 or 7 I think… while cycling past it on a local bike trail. 
“ we have the customer waiting, please bring the keys up to the front office”

[WSEZ]

My company uses channel 7 for the warehouse, at least once a week when I know the supervisor of that department is listening on the radio frequency I prank call them with a very low and raspy voice saying......

"I ain't got no panties on"

[RIPPER238]

Regular GMRS is mostly kids and local drug dealers with an occasional Harbor freight communication. 

I mostly listen to my local PD on 460.550. Kind of cool knowing what's going on. 

Recently heard a call for a husband threatening to delete his x wife, and that he was on his way and was taking an Uber. 

[TrikeRadio]

2 hours ago, RIPPER238 said:

Recently heard a call for a husband threatening to delete his x wife, and that he was on his way and was taking an Uber. 

YIKES!

[WRTC928]

Right now I'm listening to a couple of kids on 1. One of them said he's "over by the red house" and there's not a red house anywhere near me -- certainly not within a mile. That's pretty good for an FRS radio. Radio waves are funny. There's a repeater about 25-30 miles from my house with which I can usually contact people with a 5 watt HT in my back yard. I can't even kerchunk the same repeater from my driveway with a 20 watt mobile and a 47" antenna. The only apparent difference is that my house is in the way. I'm on a 40' bluff above a river and it's entirely possible the kids are in the town across the river east of me about 5 miles away. 

 

Edit: One of them just said, "I'm at the school." That puts him about 2 miles away if he's in my town and about 5 miles away if he's in the town across the river. Not bad for 2 watts, especially if he's in my town, because there are a lot of houses and other buildings between me and the nearest school.

[LeoG]

Probably 1/2 watt.

[WRTC928]

1 hour ago, LeoG said:

Probably 1/2 watt.

Channel 1 is allowed 2 watts and a lot of the radios come out of the box set for that. Most FRS users never change anything on the radio, hence my guess that it's 2 watts. But it could be 0.5 watt; there's really no way to know. Either way, 2-5 miles is pretty good. It probably can only happen when the stars align just right. 

[Davichko5650]

2 hours ago, WRTC928 said:

 

 

Edit: One of them just said, "I'm at the school." That puts him about 2 miles away if he's in my town and about 5 miles away if he's in the town across the river. Not bad for 2 watts, especially if he's in my town, because there are a lot of houses and other buildings between me and the nearest school.

And we were just discussing GMRS Foxhunts in the Misc Section!

 

We'll send in the LEFT BANK!