So aggravating

[Shortarms]

I got permission to use the local repeater that's a pay to use the owner granted permission to try it out. So, I've been on their listening to it yesterday I hear people talking I've got everything set up right for the repeater and they don't respond back. It was obvious it was some business because they kept talking about opening gates and closing gates. The owner even sent me the list of how many people are assigned to this repeater Which is only 14 and only 6 live in Ocala. I don't even hear the repeater giving off its call sign every so often.

[Guest]

I’d bet you’re not doing something correctly.  Tones or off set of something.  
 

on the other hand if that’s what the owner is ok with on his repeater that he spent money on then that’s about all you can expect.  I’ve said it a million times but gmrs is primarily a bring your own friends or family while doing an activity.  It’s not a talk to strangers kinda deal. If that’s what you want to do then ham is for you.  You can chit chat with people in Japan at 2 am if you want in ham. In ham the radio is the activity.  In gmrs the radio helps you do an activity. 

[SteveShannon]

3 minutes ago, Shortarms said:

I got permission to use the local repeater that's a pay to use the owner granted permission to try it out. So, I've been on their listening to it yesterday I hear people talking I've got everything set up right for the repeater and they don't respond back. It was obvious it was some business because they kept talking about opening gates and closing gates. The owner even sent me the list of how many people are assigned to this repeater Which is only 14 and only 6 live in Ocala. I don't even hear the repeater giving off its call sign every so often.

A repeater is only required to ID itself when people are using it. So there’s no reason to expect that it would randomly ID during quiet periods. 
Are you certain that the people could hear you?  Are you sure you’re transmitting on the right frequency and transmitting with the right tone?

Also, on GMRS repeaters, people are less likely to respond to random stations. You pointed out people who are busy opening and closing gates. They’re working and might have zero interest in engaging in a conversation with some random guy.  I know that mightsound harsh, but engaging with an unknown someone on the radio is much more of a ham radio pursuit. It’s not wrong for you to try, but a lot of people don’t respond well. 

[Shortarms]

I've got the tones everything set up as the repeater owner sent me the information for

[Shortarms]

1 minute ago, SteveShannon said:

A repeater is only required to ID itself when people are using it. So there’s no reason to expect that it would randomly ID during quiet periods. 
Are you certain that the people could hear you?  Are you sure you’re transmitting on the right frequency and transmitting with the right tone?

Also, on GMRS repeaters, people are less likely to respond to random stations. You pointed out people who are busy opening and closing gates. They’re working and might have zero interest in engaging in a conversation with some random guy.  I know that mightsound harsh, but engaging with an unknown someone on the radio is much more of a ham radio pursuit. It’s not wrong for you to try, but a lot of people don’t respond well. 

I understand that about the people being busy. So if I'm making contact with the repeater should it eventually ID itself.

[SteveShannon]

2 minutes ago, Shortarms said:

I've got the tones everything set up as the repeater owner sent me the information for

What channel are you on?  More to the point, what is the transmit frequency?

[SteveShannon]

1 minute ago, Shortarms said:

I understand that about the people being busy. So if I'm making contact with the repeater should it eventually ID itself.

Yes, every fifteen minutes while in use. But not all repeater operators have that set up. 
Repeaters used by a group of people who are all authorized to use the same call sign are not required to self-ID iff the users all correctly ID. 

[Shortarms]

On 10/27/2024 at 3:24 PM, SteveShannon said:

What channel are you on?  More to the point, what is the transmit frequency?

OCALA 650 Linked Repeater

Name

Ocala, FL

Location

WQYU407

Owner

Disabled by Owner

Access Requests

Members Only (Paid)

Type

462.650 MHz

Frequencye

[SteveShannon]

On 10/27/2024 at 1:29 PM, Shortarms said:

OCALA 650 Linked Repeater

Name

Ocala, FL

Location

WQYU407

Owner

Disabled by Owner

Access Requests

Members Only (Paid)

Type

462.650 MHz

Frequency

That’s the receive frequency. You must transmit on 467.650 MHz. 

[Shortarms]

this is the different ways i set it up to try

 

[SteveShannon]

1 minute ago, Shortarms said:

this is the different ways i set it up to try

 

Those all transmit on the wrong frequency. They must transmit on 467.650 MHz.
GMRS repeaters receive on the 467 MHz frequencies and transmit on the 462 frequencies. 

That’s why I keep asking what channel you’re on. If you’re using a GMRS certified radio there are repeater specific channels (either 23-30 or sometimes RP15-RP22) that automatically adjust the transmit and receive frequencies. 

[SteveShannon]

I’ve got to go work on my cabin. I’ll be back tonight. Maybe someone else can explain it better than I did. 

[Shortarms]

3 minutes ago, SteveShannon said:

Those all transmit on the wrong frequency. They must transmit on 467.650 MHz.
GMRS repeaters receive on the 467 MHz frequencies and transmit on the 462 frequencies. 

That’s why I keep asking what channel you’re on. If you’re using a GMRS certified radio there are repeater specific channels (either 23-30 or sometimes RP15-RP22) that automatically adjust the transmit and receive frequencies. 

back to reprograming As of right now it's not a certified GMRS radio. 

 

1 minute ago, SteveShannon said:

I’ve got to go work on my cabin. I’ll be back tonight. Maybe someone else can explain it better than I did. 

You explained it great

[SteveShannon]

1 minute ago, Shortarms said:

back to reprograming As of right now it's not a certified GMRS radio. 

 

You explained it great

That’s okay that it’s not certified. Lots of people use non-certified radios. I’m not gonna point fingers. 
There are two ways to program the right transmit frequency. One is to simply insert the two different frequencies into the RX frequency and TX frequency columns if the software accepts that. 
The other is to insert the RX frequency into that column and then insert an offset frequency of 5.000 MHz into the offset column and hopefully the software will add the offset to the RX frequency and put the right frequency in the TX frequency column. 

[SteveShannon]

By the way, your third row has the right setting for DPL. D065N

[Shortarms]

Tried this with different radios still cannot make a contact to the repeater this time I did it on a program that was easier to set the radio up with so there's no question that I'm putting stuff in the right spots

 

[SteveShannon]

17 minutes ago, Shortarms said:

Tried this with different radios still cannot make a contact to the repeater this time I did it on a program that was easier to set the radio up with so there's no question that I'm putting stuff in the right spots

The data looks right.  
Do you hear anything at all when you just listen on 462.650 with no CTCSS or DTCSS?

If not, maybe the repeater is down.
 

Tune your other radio to 462.650, no tones or codes, and give it to a friend or family member. Have them go to the other end of the block while you transmit. All they need to do is listen. If they can’t hear you on the repeater, maybe it is down or you’re out of range.

[Shortarms]

8 minutes ago, SteveShannon said:

The data looks right.  
Do you hear anything at all when you just listen on 462.650 with no CTCSS or DTCSS?

If not, maybe the repeater is down.
 

Tune your other radio to 462.650, no tones or codes, and give it to a friend or family member. Have them go to the other end of the block while you transmit. All they need to do is listen. If they can’t hear you on the repeater, maybe it is down or you’re out of range.

I've done it on other frequencies/channels and we talked quite a ways away and by that I mean multiple miles I know it won't be super accurate but if I don't turn one radio off since I'm sitting in my car trying to get it on my mobile or the handheld whichever one I'm trying to program at that time the easiest if I don't shut the other one off or turn the volume down super low it blows out my eardrum with the squelch lol 

[WRXL702]

Well It's Not 14 Users Anymore, Since You Posted The DPL Tones On This Forum...........

That Should NEVER Be Posted On A Social Media Site, For Anyone To Read..........

[DONE]

12 minutes ago, WRXL702 said:

Well It's Not 14 Users Anymore, Since You Posted The DPL Tones On This Forum...........

That Should NEVER Be Posted On A Social Media Site, For Anyone To Read..........

Yeah, especially a PAID access repeater.

 

[Raybestos]

1 hour ago, WRXL702 said:

Well It's Not 14 Users Anymore, Since You Posted The DPL Tones On This Forum...........

That Should NEVER Be Posted On A Social Media Site, For Anyone To Read..........

The PL is posted on the repeater's page on My GMRS, so no big deal.

Also, it appears to be part of a linked system that is known for tying up multiple channels at a time with one conversation.

[WRUE951]

On 10/27/2024 at 12:20 PM, SteveShannon said:

A repeater is only required to ID itself when people are using it. So there’s no reason to expect that it would randomly ID during quiet periods. 
 

Yup, and most GMRS repeater operators set their ID's to activate every half hour on the half hour, regardless of traffic..  WHY??   There's 6 repeaters in my area and when you scan, you hear a constant string of CWID's and appositely no voice traffic through the day..   It's comical.   The HAM guys are a little more brilliant, at least they set for 'busy only'

[dosw]

Just because you hear traffic doesn't mean you're hearing the repeater.

 

What is the frequency of the repeater output for the lowest numbered repeater (identified in your radio at R1 or 15R)? 462.5500. What is the frequency of simplex channel 15? 462.5500. They're the same frequency. If you hear traffic on a channel, it could be one of the following: (1) The repeater you want to listen to. (2) Another repeater you don't want to listen to. (3) Simplex traffic. (4) Interference.

If you have an output tone set, it is less likely that you would hear random simplex traffic, but not impossible. It's possible for someone else to be using the same PL tone, for example. Nothing prevents that.

If you have an output tone set you will *probably* only hear the repeater you want to hear. But you aren't guaranteed to only hear it.

If you don't have the TX tone set, the repeater that you want to hit won't listen to you. You mentioned that you have everything set up correctly, but you haven't actually confirmed that by getting an acknowledgement on the repeater. But here's a way that you can tell if you're set up correctly. Set two radios up for the repeater. Give one of the radios to a family member and send them a block or so away from your home. Transmit to the repeater. If they hear you, you're set up correctly. If they don't hear you, either you're not set up correctly, or you're not in transmit range of the repeater.

[H8SPVMT]

On 10/27/2024 at 3:08 PM, Shortarms said:

I got permission to use the local repeater that's a pay to use the owner granted permission to try it out. So, I've been on their listening to it yesterday I hear people talking I've got everything set up right for the repeater and they don't respond back. It was obvious it was some business because they kept talking about opening gates and closing gates. The owner even sent me the list of how many people are assigned to this repeater Which is only 14 and only 6 live in Ocala. I don't even hear the repeater giving off its call sign every so often.

I would almost bet you are not hearing the repeater opening /closing squelch after you key up to speak.  IF THAT IS THE CASE, you're not close enough for the repeater to hear you (for the repeater to get your signal). 

I assume the people you hear (opening & closing) on the gate chatter could very well just be on the simplex side of the channel and not speaking on the repeater at all.

[WRUU653]

3 hours ago, Raybestos said:

The PL is posted on the repeater's page on My GMRS, so no big deal.

Which isn’t accessible unless you’re registered with your license on the site. So just a heads up it is against this sites rules to do so outside of the Private Discussion form for reasons stated below. For that reason I keep at least the name of the repeater unknown while discussing the particulars. 
 

Private content. Do not post sensitive information such as repeater PL/DPL (also known as privacy or CTCSS/DCS tones) tones outside of the Private Discussion forum. This is to protect sensitive information from being picked up and indexed by search engines such as Google and Bing. Also, do not post any personal information about our members, including but not limited to, their home address even if it is publicly available by searching online.