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.

[JoCoBrian]

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.