Why is nobody on the air?

[Skunkape]

All I ever hear is "call sign, repeater check", or "call sign, monitoring" An open repeater with a 35 mile radius covering a population of at least 200,000. Not a peep. Nothing, nada, crickets. Why is everyone so shy? Is it the same everywhere or does your area have an active network? 

[linx]

We have a fairly active repeater here, but most conversations happen on simplex and the repeater is used more for range, and most conversations happening are between people that already know each other.

[SteveShannon]

What is it that you think people should be saying on the air?

What is it that you say on the repeater?  Maybe you could be the one to start the ball rolling.

GMRS is not ham radio, where people actively seek out people to strike up conversations on the radio just because the radio is there.  GMRS is more designed to be a utility for two people or an entire family who wish to communicate, generally while doing something else, possibly recreational like hiking, biking, etc., or possibly as a business, like farming or ranching.

[WRUE951]

13 minutes ago, Skunkape said:

All I ever hear is "call sign, repeater check", or "call sign, monitoring" An open repeater with a 35 mile radius covering a population of at least 200,000. Not a peep. Nothing, nada, crickets. Why is everyone so shy? Is it the same everywhere or does your area have an active network? 

Bigger cities, i.e. Los Angles basin will drive you nuts.. Rural areas like Palmdale, Lancaster, Mojave Desert etc is always quite...  hReally depends where your at..  I'm sitting at Lake Isabelle today and it's fairly busy with boaters and campers..  They aren't chit chatting to shot the breeze but rather sharing fishing results, camping locations etc.. 

[Skunkape]

3 minutes ago, SteveShannon said:

What is it that you think people should be saying on the air?

What is it that you say on the repeater?  Maybe you could be the one to start the ball rolling.

GMRS is not ham radio, where people actively seek out people to strike up conversations on the radio just because the radio is there.  GMRS is more designed to be a utility for two people or an entire family who wish to communicate, generally while doing something else, possibly recreational like hiking, biking, etc., or possibly as a business, like farming or ranching.

Being the the G in GMRS stands for "General", I take that to have a very broad meaning. So, people can and should use it pretty much for whatever they want, including pointless small talk with strangers who have a similar interest in GMRS radio. Otherwise, the F, in FRS stands for "Family", which implies families communicating in family activities. Then again, I may just be pedantic. HAM, I don't think too much of. I've never met a HAMster, that seemed interested in brining new people into the hobby. 

[SteveShannon]

On 9/13/2024 at 3:25 PM, Skunkape said:

Being the the G in GMRS stands for "General", I take that to have a very broad meaning. So, people can and should use it pretty much for whatever they want, including pointless small talk with strangers who have a similar interest in GMRS radio. Otherwise, the F, in FRS stands for "Family", which implies families communicating in family activities. Then again, I may just be pedantic. HAM, I don't think too much of. I've never met a HAMster, that seemed interested in brining new people into the hobby. 

Gee, I can't figure out why people don't want to make pointless small talk with you.  Best wishes!

[Skunkape]

3 minutes ago, SteveShannon said:

Gee, I can't figure out why people don't want to make pointless small talk with you.  Best wishes!

You make quite a first impression. What is your HAM call sign? 

[linx]

36 minutes ago, Skunkape said:

I've never met a HAMster, that seemed interested in brining new people into the hobby. 

Might be meeting the wrong people, just about everyone I have ever talked to about radio has been very welcoming to the hobby. 

[nokones]

41 minutes ago, SteveShannon said:

GMRS is more designed to be a utility for two people or an entire family who wish to communicate, generally while doing something else, possibly recreational like hiking, biking, etc., or possibly as a business, like farming or ranching.

Or for group recreational activities such as Jeeping out on the trails. I don't normally see Jeep Creeps using HAM radio while on the trail.  99.98% of the trail comms are normally simplex. Although, occasionally, I will hear some CB traffic on Ch. 16 AM during a Blue moon situation way out in the boonies on the trail.

[SteveShannon]

Just now, nokones said:

Or for group recreational activities such as Jeeping out on the trails. I don't normally see Jeep Creeps using HAM radio while on the trail.  99.98% of the trail comms are normally simplex. Although, occasionally, I will hear some CB traffic on Ch. 16 AM during a Blue moon situation way out in the boonies on the trail.

Exactly!  
And there isn’t anything wrong with wanting to have a pointless small talk with someone on GMRS. 

[Socalgmrs]

So the 2 massive repeaters we have in so cal and the smaller ones we have in the high desert of California have people on them. But most people know each other in real life and talk on them a bunch.  Sitting in traffic.  Off roading, fire evacuations, just after work chit chat, planning an outing.  The list goes on and on.  I really think it depends on the area and who is using the repeater.   Some times it’s up to you to start a conversation.  May be start with hello all.  Who is in the repeater tonight?   What radio set ups are you using and what’s your general location.   Then the next time as about how they use the radios. Like off roading or what not.   The. Maybe next time ask about hobbys.   Some people like you will be jazzed and join in. Others not so much.  Some times you gotta start stuff. 

[Hoppyjr]

All I ever hear is "call sign, repeater check", or "call sign, monitoring" An open repeater with a 35 mile radius covering a population of at least 200,000. Not a peep. Nothing, nada, crickets. Why is everyone so shy? Is it the same everywhere or does your area have an active network? 

GMRS is a good service and I see it as the evolution from the old CB days.

Where Amateur Radio is filled with people who enjoy making contacts for the sake of meeting new people and making contacts, GMRS is often called a “bring your own friends” type of service, in that its often used within families, hunting / hiking groups, off road groups, etc. You’ll typically find fewer folks just looking to connect, but that does happen on occasion. Where I’m at there are regular net sessions, a Ham study session, and we even had a recent picnic to meet up. I’m still not as well known, but that’s fine by me as I have other stuff going on. You should investigate to see if you have local GMRS groups near you.

Being the the G in GMRS stands for "General", I take that to have a very broad meaning. So, people can and should use it pretty much for whatever they want, including pointless small talk with strangers who have a similar interest in GMRS radio. Otherwise, the F, in FRS stands for "Family", which implies families communicating in family activities. Then again, I may just be pedantic. HAM, I don't think too much of. I've never met a HAMster, that seemed interested in brining new people into the hobby. 

You are entitled to whatever opinion you wish to have, but that doesn’t make it accurate. Many folks who use GMRS are also Ham operators. While we have fun with “Sad Hams” the truth is there are people here who simply enjoy radio and use Ham and GMRS.

You make quite a first impression. What is your HAM call sign? 

My dad used to say “it’s not what you said but how you said it”.

Instead of complaining and insulting established members here, maybe consider taking a breath and getting a sense of how things flow.

There seems to be a thing with new folks around here lately….

[LeoG]

2 hours ago, SteveShannon said:

What is it that you think people should be saying on the air?

What is it that you say on the repeater?  Maybe you could be the one to start the ball rolling.

GMRS is not ham radio, where people actively seek out people to strike up conversations on the radio just because the radio is there.  GMRS is more designed to be a utility for two people or an entire family who wish to communicate, generally while doing something else, possibly recreational like hiking, biking, etc., or possibly as a business, like farming or ranching.

Or like complaining about how much traffic there was on the highway Friday at 1:30 in the afternoon and able to have someone to talk with while you experience said traffic.

[SteveShannon]

21 minutes ago, LeoG said:

Or like complaining about how much traffic there was on the highway Friday at 1:30 in the afternoon and able to have someone to talk with while you experience said traffic.

Feast or famine!  Too much traffic or “why is everyone so quiet?”

[LeoG]

It was nice today.  I used 3 repeaters.  Had to go from my shop into the city.  My repeater fades out about 7 miles out.  Switched over to a larger repeater and got into the city and at my destination I couldn't make contact.  Switch to another that is closer to the city and used that while going back to the shop.  When I got back into range of my repeater we swapped back.

Sort of doing tests while chatting with the little woman.  Figuring out what works where and how far you can push the signals.  Plus it was really nice to have the "company" in the car (radio) while I was navigating heavier than usual traffic.  I was able to remember that the highway was backed up and got onto a digital map to get myself back to the shop without having to sit in the parking lot they call a highway.

Made the trip enjoyable.  And it's nice the wife is actually enjoying it too.  I would have never figured in a million years.

[WRUU653]

27 minutes ago, SteveShannon said:

Feast or famine!  Too much traffic or “why is everyone so quiet?”

So true…

[ULTRA2]

4 hours ago, Skunkape said:

Why is everyone so shy?

Well, it depends what time of the day you're trying to make contact. For us here in California during the day people do have regular work to go to and some they are on the HAM side of things. Most traffic occurs during early evenings and the nighttime. Anyone want to add anything further please do so.

[LeoG]

I find ours gets active randomly but mostly between 3-5pm when people get off work and are driving home.

[marcspaz]

We have a group of radio dorks around DC and Northern Virginia that are on the GMRS repeaters just about every day. I call it "the going to work show" in the morning and the "going home show" in the evening. Great group of people. That said, it's a little burst. Everyone knows one another. The rest of the time, it's pretty quiet. And we have close to 4 million people in the coverage area.  I would assume the total number of licensed operators around a group of 200,000 total citizens is pretty small. So I'm not surprised it's quiet for your area.

[Skunkape]

6 hours ago, Hoppyjr said:

My dad used to say “it’s not what you said but how you said it”.

Instead of complaining and insulting established members here, maybe consider taking a breath and getting a sense of how things flow.

There seems to be a thing with new folks around here lately….

 

I wasn't complaining about anything. I asked some questions about radio traffic in other areas, and made some observations based on my own experiences. An "established member" apparently took offense that my interpretation of the purpose and appropriate use of the public airwaves did not line up with his interpretation. He leveled an insult directed at me for no reason other than my point of view is different than his. If you're going to send it, your better duck, because there will be some coming back your way, no matter how long you have been here. 

[LeeBo]

All I ever hear is "call sign, repeater check", or "call sign, monitoring"

At which point you reply to either and BOOM there’s your conversation.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Hoppyjr]

I wasn't complaining about anything. I asked some questions about radio traffic in other areas, and made some observations based on my own experiences. An "established member" apparently took offense that my interpretation of the purpose and appropriate use of the public airwaves did not line up with his interpretation. He leveled an insult directed at me for no reason other than my point of view is different than his. If your going to send it, your better duck, because there will be some coming back your way, no matter how long you have been here. 

I think you’re being a bit too sensitive. Take step back, breathe, relax.

[WSEL489]

I have both Ham and GMRS Licenses, and find my experience on Repeaters to be very similar. Both services host Nets a few times per week. Both services have regular Emergency Comms nets and training. The larger repeaters in my area provide traffic and weather updates from a control operator morning and evening. Some people are talkers, but many are primarily listeners.

Find all of the repeaters in your area and load up your memory channels. Use Scan a lot. You will get a feel for what is happening in your area. Don’t forget to scan the simplex channels as well. 
 

Relax and enjoy. 

[WRQI663]

@marcspaz

I lived in Arlington, VA for 17 years before retiring to the sticks in PA

I was a CERT member there too. I found most of the members who did get a tech license rarely used the

radios except for the weekly net......kinda sad......If only GMRS was popular then, I would have recommended it instead.

[nokones]

55 minutes ago, WSEL489 said:

I have both Ham and GMRS Licenses, and find my experience on Repeaters to be very similar. Both services host Nets a few times per week. Both services have regular Emergency Comms nets and training. The larger repeaters in my area provide traffic and weather updates from a control operator morning and evening. Some people are talkers, but many are primarily listeners.

Find all of the repeaters in your area and load up your memory channels. Use Scan a lot. You will get a feel for what is happening in your area. Don’t forget to scan the simplex channels as well. 
 

Relax and enjoy. 

You must be referring to the AZ GMRS Repeater Club Traffic & Weather reports conducted on 550 Alpha from the White Tanks Repeater. I am one of those Net Operators and when I do do the reports, I usually do the reports in the morning. I am also a member of the AZ GMRS Emergency Services Group and the RDF Team, and one of the Club's Ambassadors.