Watching your video and I was just blown away that on your example of Weekly Repeater Update it shows the little town in Alabama that NO ONE has ever heard, Ranburne Alabama where my grandmother grew up. This is a very small, rural town. Now I'm even more excited for my next visit when her church does their yearly homecoming the first Sunday in May.
I have a room temperature IQ when it comes to radios and GMRS… but you explain it in a way to make anybody understand! So thanks Matt for the great video bro 😎
Thank you so much. You explanation was so clear. I was able to contact the repeater and establish a couple of long range communications from my garage with my portable unit. You were the last drop I needed to make it happen. Much appreciated.
Will have to try one of the later methods out when I get my first grms radio, I live in a pretty rural part of Nevada and no repeaters are listed on mygrms in my area, but of course there's 10-15 ham repeaters lol. If I can't find one I'm thinking of setting up a solar powered rt97 up on the mountain at 6500ft since that would cover all of the town + has line of site of 2 valleys for about 15-20 miles in each direction
Yeah, might be worth a try. It’s crazy how many ham repeaters are out there, and how many of them never get used! I tried several when I was in Montana last summer and never made a single contact. Maybe we should start petitioning some of these ham repeaters owners to reprogram their 70cm repeaters to be GMRS ones? I love rural Nevada! I can only imagine what kinda range you could get in one of those long valleys, even with a low wattage repeater like a rt97!
@Matt Kester looking at potential repeater locations on google earth some spots have up to 40 mile lines of sight in one direction those locations are also where the ham repeaters are so maybe i can get permission from the local club to put my grms one up there if i decide to go that route, don't know if the 5 watts of the 97 would reach that far though even with a high gain antenna increasing its ERP
@@Catboy-hr2qp I think it’ll surprise you. I’ve talked from one mountain top with an HT to a repeater on another well over 180 miles away and people had no idea I was that far from it. UHF with clear line of sight is pretty incredible.
@@MattKester Still waiting for my call sign and antenna to come in and hoping to reach White Tanks or the one in Scottsdale..... Crown King would be a blessing as i have a direct line of site to that area. I'll let you know and i have a lot to learn yet. Are you anywhere in the north valley without giving your location away?
@@notwrkn2mch I’m in North Scottsdale, kinda near Westworld. You probably should have no problem with the Towers 575 and 600 in Crown King. Those repeater have a huge footprint and the 575 has a pretty healthy chatter on it with an amazing cast of a characters every evening. White Tanks/AZGMRS 550 I’ve found doesn’t have a lot of ongoing chatter, but the rush hour traffic is cool and the weekly nets are a great place to interact with folks, especially if you’re new. They’re open to members and non-members alike.
@@MattKester You have been a big help and especially with tower 575 in Crown King. Definitely Subscribed to try and stay in touch......Thanks Matt :) ps... I hit the dislike button by accident, sorry and now i fixed it
I am a licensed General amateur and learning GMRS as an adjunct radio system for emergency (SHTF) use. Thanks for helping me understand how this system works. It helps that I have my FT-60 set up with all the local repeaters. I understand the principles.
Also, you have to be careful that some repeaters are in a linked network, and may confuse a new user, not knowing that you have to pause for a couple seconds before and after transmitting.
Good point, I do believe I touched on waiting for the tail to drop it in my GMRS etiquette video, but that was to keep the repeater from timing out. Might have to follow up with a linked repeaters specific one.
The irritating part of living in Rapid City South Dakota is, there is ONLY one known ACTIVE repeater in the area - 462.600/467.600, BUT some company nearby uses 462.600 simplex for their communications without a tone so I can't monitor the repeater without having to listen to their daily traffic. I usually get tired of hearing them and turn off the radio.
We had that issue here with a local business doing the same thing. A couple of guys who used the repeater went down and talked to them and explained the situation and how they were bleeding over. Took a couple of tries, but they finally did stop using the channel. Guess you could try that if you can locate them. The, of course, you could go full HAM Karen on them and tell them they’re in violation of a bunch of FCC rules, but we all know how that usually plays out.
If the repeater you are monitoring has a pl tone on the transmit side simply include that tone in your receiver setting on that frequency and use your radio in pl receive mode. This will cut audio on the undesired traffic. This is the intended purpose of the pl tone, so multiple users can share a frequency and not have to listed to each others traffic.
I will try to get that into the next batch I’m working on. Seems like there is a lot of interest in things you can do with the 935 being just basic programming.
My trunked scanner has close call on it when the repeater is in use or it sends out its address my scanner will light up with the frequency and the tone number
Do I have to do this step before using my GMRS call sign I got recently? "Official Authorizations from ULS". Or can I just use the radio without that step, seems I didn't have to deal with it when I got my Ham license, started using my Hams just as soon as my call sign wast posted on the FCC site.
I don’t want to sound cheap but if no repeaters in my rural setting in northwest lower MI would deter me from getting a license for a radio. Anyway I can check out that info with joining a site? I checked one website and only came up with 17 available in MI near bigger population areas. Thanks
Funny, Hams use tones to limit interference from a distant repeater, usually during a band opening. As in local areas (cities) usually all use the same tones. GMRS seem to bring out sometimes odd characteristics where a secret tone is to stop someone from using my repeater. Well within the rights of the repeater owner, but restricts the growth of the service.
It seems like the club in my area of Georgia, makes you join their club before you can use their repeaters. While the fee is used to keep the repeater(s) up!
When using a GMRS hand radio to reach a GMRS repeater,... how far can you talk on that repeater? Does that repeater send your signal to another repeater so you can reach a friend in another state or part of the world
The maximum power output for GMRS repeaters is 50 watts, so that would give it a range of about 25 to 30 miles from where it is. Your handheld portable radio would only give you a range of a few miles at best, so you would have to be pretty close to a repeater to be able to hit it. But if you can reach the repeater and are able to use it, then you can benefit from its increased range. If you want to talk to someone in another part of the world, you would be best to get your amateur radio license because it gives you access to many more frequencies and a maximum power output of 1500 watts, depending on your class of license and frequencies used. Some of these repeaters are also connected to the internet giving it infinite range.
Hi thanks for the video tutorial- I’m on Maui and just received my tidradio’s I charged them up and was doing the od Bluetooth programming and can’t find any gmrs repeaters , I checked my gmrs and they didn’t have - I was gonna get my license tomorrow but probably won’t know because I basically have walkie talkies - can you check Maui on your my gmrs account see if you see anything Greatly appreciated or if you have other tips - thanks and aloha
Aloha! I was actually in Kona a couple of weeks ago and looked to see if there was anything I could use before I went, ended up not bringing it because there were no repeaters on the big Island. The map on MyGMRS shows a total of three repeaters in the state, two on Oahu at Ewa and Aiea, and one on Maui at Wailuku. Looks like that one is near a residential area at Wai’ehu and doesn’t have a whole lot of elevation to it. My best guess is you’ll probably only be able to hit it in the Kahului area, maybe a little further to the east on the coast, but it’s hard to say without being there.
Hi thanks for the reply, how do I go about using that repeater ? It wasn’t on the Odmaster software?? I’m new just got my radios Thanks for the help I have tigradio hs-3
Its simple really. Repeaters use a "split frequency". That means they receive on one frequency and transmit on a different one. Repeaters with a PL tone (sub audible tone) need to hear that tone before it opens up (turns on) for use. The PL tone is sent by the user on the repeater's RECEIVE frequency. The user says whatever they want to say and the repeater simultaneously retransmits it on its transmit frequency. YOUR radio needs to be set to transmit on the repeaters RECEIVE frequency and listen on the repeaters TRANSMIT frequency (backwards from that of the repeater). On a radio that displays the frequency in use, you will notice that when you push the transmit button, the frequency shits to one frequency on transmit and when the button is released the frequency comes back to your "listen" frequency. See?
Could you just transmit to a repeater input channel with every possible tone and wait for it to respond on it’s output channel? This would be pretty easy as there aren’t that many tones.
So my is Rod and I purchased the wouxon kg uv 9 gx and since I'm a first timer it's hard for me to understand this method I inserted the 141.3 and I can't get zilch and I'm in central jersey
Only one in my area, they won’t respond. Larger one says don’t ask for permission, basically you can’t use it. I’m new to all this, but seems to be the same as Ham!
@@MattKester Ya, because of that we're feeling very isolated here and much closer to the Arctic Circle despite the majority the population living south of the 49th parallel.
I always had an interest in GMRS and repeaters as it exists in the US, unfortunately I live in Canada and GMRS is totally impractical here except for, forklift operators mall worker crews and keeping track of your kids. little better than FRS.
So I’m kinda confused on method 3. Will I hear a transmission from a repeater with all tones off? I’ve been trying to find someone to talk to in my area for the last few days and I’ve got nothing so far.
Yes, you will hear a repeater with all tones off. So here is the break down: if you are familiar with what a squelch does... (turning off the receive unless the signal is strong enough to open it). A ctcss tone is a continuous tone coded squelch system. If you have this turned on for receive, your squelch will ONLY open if it hears this frequency. If you have it turned off, you will hear every station with a signal strong enough to open your normal squelch regardless of whether they are transmitting a tone or not. Keep in mind that some radios call them privacy tones. This is NOT accurate. If you have a group set up with these tones, outside people will not be able to interfere with you unless they find the proper tone, but anyone with an open receiver will still hear you.
my only complaint is most gmrs repeaters want you to pay to use them. As a ham we dont have to pay to use our repeaters. As a repeater owner I understand there is a large cost to owning and maintaining a repeater. For hams some repeaters are owned by individuals and some are owned by clubs that want to help. There are also repeaters on our hospitals usually owned and maintained by clubs to help in times of emergency. And ARES repeaters located at county EMA offices. I have a gmrs repeater I have yet to install the antenna on the tower for. Looking forward to see the footprint of it.
What is the legality of anyone charging to use the airwaves, ie repeaters, on shared GMRS channels. I agree with @mikemcdonald5147 about the cost of operating them however, is it legal for someone to set up a GMRS repeater and charge people to use them? Personally, I'd be happy to support repeaters that I might use in my geographic area but, I'm just trying to understand how the 'pay to use' thing works.
@@alan.macrae I'm a member of a repeater group, they charge each member $30 a year. I think that they charge to use the repeater because usually they are on a parcel of land that they lease.
I got couple months with my GMRS License. I buy good equipment etc, But no one used the GMRS frequencies, on Simplex and the repeater like 3 are free but anyone talk on it. I live in NYC and the GMRS hobby is turning in Boring. Where is traffic, you have to pay. Is Crazy..
Same here, what's worse is there are no Queens NYC Repeaters which is bizaree...and Broadnet is flooding the hell out of Repeaters yet not a single one in Queens.
A travel tone is another name for a PL tone. It is a tone what is common to many different repeaters hence the name "travel". Some repeaters have different PL tones. It is up to the owner of the repeater how it is set up. Some are private, some are open, some are not. Each repeater is owned by some person, not the FCC or some other thing. Repeaters cost money to set up and operate, so some are not made public.
Thanks for a great video. A brief edit though. Just after the 4-minute mark you mentioned the travel tone as 141.3 MHz. Just a slip of the tongue I'm sure but it's actually 141.3 Hz, not MHz.
@@LinuxAficionado 462.6500 without going thru repeater (simplex). If using a repeater add 5.000 to this no. ( positive offset) so transmit frequency is 467.6500 recieve frequency is 462.6500. most GMRS Radios will do the offset automatically if you are on a repeater channel
Thats why amateur radio is like college and other modes are like H.S. not everyone is smart enough to pass a test. CB is like the wild west ,mo law and order and cursing. You not gonna fo that on a band eetevu havevto yhrow out your call sign and someone can look u up. Great video
Holy smokes, for a new person all of what was just said may as well be greek and without written instruction I doubt any new person will undersand what was just said or how to do it.
Just got a couple of Baofeng UV-5G GMRS radios, though not yet licensed, have been monitoring chatter. When I heard someone speaking, the screen showed GMRS 20 and below that, REPTR6. What does this mean, exactly?
The problem is there's too many squirrels that get stupid on the air and the repeater owners get pissed and shut off everybody. I only use these repeaters for a survival situation and when I can no longer access them I no longer go off road. Here in Arizona you lose your cell phone signal as soon as you leave the paved highway and at 76 years of age I'm not going anywhere without having contact with the outside world.
Yeah, I have sadly encountered these GMRS Karens. I thought Karens only existed in the HAM radio world. Wha is it with men that they love feeling Important and in Control?
I've been a Ham since the late 80s and I don't remember EVER being asked to pay for a Repeater Service. And now I've seen some GMRS CLUBS/REPEATERS asking for a "Subscription" in order to be allowed to use their Repeater. That's Ridiculous. I paid for the Permit ($35.00) and got a License but i won't pay for anything else. Otherwise I stick to my Ham Radio 📻 like I've done for decades! 73s from KJ4BGW
If you pay Dues to a Hamradio club you are helping pay for the repeater's upkeep. Since you paid the fcc for the license you are allowed to transmit on the air. That doesn't grant you the rights to use other peoples equipment. Most repeater owners let everyone use their repeater for free but they do have the right to charge for the use of the system.
Don’t know why a licensees ham operator does not have access to GMRS frequencies without having to buy a license to do so. Only thing I can think of is money.
You are 100% right. Same reason we aren’t supposed to use our fully cabable amateur radios to transmit on GMRS frequencies, someone’s gotta collect their revenue certifying it!
plum silly how people of today need a video for common since things its like folks cant use there brain any more??? you did a really good presentation but there are tons of videos out there just the same..
I am not a fan of unlicensed talking on frequencies you need a license for. Now some will argue ......in an emergency. Getting on the air and asking if walmart has water or were is the nearest gas station is not an emergency.these unlicensed tie up snd interfere with actual emergency response. Uou had your whole life to get a license ,all of a sudden now u want to get on the radio. ????. Your not gonna learn on the fly ,u needed to practice. There are other bands u can use ,CB,FRS... Now if your bleeding to death and get on the airvto ask for help thats one thing .other than that sorry
Over 40 years of using GMRS, as well as Land Mobile Business use of Conventional Analog Radios. You Sir, explained the use of GMRS radios very well!!!
I didn't even know gmrs existed 40 years ago. I was just giving up interest in cb at the time.
Watching your video and I was just blown away that on your example of Weekly Repeater Update it shows the little town in Alabama that NO ONE has ever heard, Ranburne Alabama where my grandmother grew up. This is a very small, rural town. Now I'm even more excited for my next visit when her church does their yearly homecoming the first Sunday in May.
My maternal grandfather was a native of Ranburne.
@@neiljohnson6815 He didn't happen to have the last name Beam did he?
I have a room temperature IQ when it comes to radios and GMRS… but you explain it in a way to make anybody understand! So thanks Matt for the great video bro 😎
Thanks James! Love that new XJ bumper you just put on!
I agree with you. And it’s a cool day. My handheld always shocks my balls when I try to find a repeater.
By crowbaring in bro at the end, as the hip phrase of the year makes your IQ probably closer to 62...
Tell me it's in F, not C. 😂
Thank you so much. You explanation was so clear. I was able to contact the repeater and establish a couple of long range communications from my garage with my portable unit. You were the last drop I needed to make it happen. Much appreciated.
Great video! I learned a number of useful things/resources in this video.
Great info. I find repeater book to be a good source as well. I was able to get 6 repeaters in my area off of repeater book.
Will have to try one of the later methods out when I get my first grms radio, I live in a pretty rural part of Nevada and no repeaters are listed on mygrms in my area, but of course there's 10-15 ham repeaters lol. If I can't find one I'm thinking of setting up a solar powered rt97 up on the mountain at 6500ft since that would cover all of the town + has line of site of 2 valleys for about 15-20 miles in each direction
Yeah, might be worth a try. It’s crazy how many ham repeaters are out there, and how many of them never get used! I tried several when I was in Montana last summer and never made a single contact. Maybe we should start petitioning some of these ham repeaters owners to reprogram their 70cm repeaters to be GMRS ones?
I love rural Nevada! I can only imagine what kinda range you could get in one of those long valleys, even with a low wattage repeater like a rt97!
@Matt Kester looking at potential repeater locations on google earth some spots have up to 40 mile lines of sight in one direction those locations are also where the ham repeaters are so maybe i can get permission from the local club to put my grms one up there if i decide to go that route, don't know if the 5 watts of the 97 would reach that far though even with a high gain antenna increasing its ERP
@@Catboy-hr2qp I think it’ll surprise you. I’ve talked from one mountain top with an HT to a repeater on another well over 180 miles away and people had no idea I was that far from it. UHF with clear line of sight is pretty incredible.
I have a question about using repeaters. If others are using the repeater simultaneously, can conversations overlap and cause confusion?
I wonder myself I’m just gonna guess and say the strongest signal wins?
@@Kevcaid Thank you
We're neighbors as I'm in North Phoenix (Desert Hills) new to GMRS repeaters and you explain it very well
Howdy neighbor! What’s your favorite local repeater so far?
@@MattKester Still waiting for my call sign and antenna to come in and hoping to reach White Tanks or the one in Scottsdale..... Crown King would be a blessing as i have a direct line of site to that area. I'll let you know and i have a lot to learn yet.
Are you anywhere in the north valley without giving your location away?
@@notwrkn2mch I’m in North Scottsdale, kinda near Westworld. You probably should have no problem with the Towers 575 and 600 in Crown King. Those repeater have a huge footprint and the 575 has a pretty healthy chatter on it with an amazing cast of a characters every evening. White Tanks/AZGMRS 550 I’ve found doesn’t have a lot of ongoing chatter, but the rush hour traffic is cool and the weekly nets are a great place to interact with folks, especially if you’re new. They’re open to members and non-members alike.
@@MattKester You have been a big help and especially with tower 575 in Crown King. Definitely Subscribed to try and stay in touch......Thanks Matt :)
ps... I hit the dislike button by accident, sorry and now i fixed it
@@notwrkn2mch no worries. Let me know what your call sign is when you get it. Mine is WRKX996. Hopefully I’ll hear you on the 575 sometime soon!
I am a licensed General amateur and learning GMRS as an adjunct radio system for emergency (SHTF) use. Thanks for helping me understand how this system works. It helps that I have my FT-60 set up with all the local repeaters. I understand the principles.
You still have to get a license. Your ham license is no good for GMRS.
Also, you have to be careful that some repeaters are in a linked network, and may confuse a new user, not knowing that you have to pause for a couple seconds before and after transmitting.
Good point, I do believe I touched on waiting for the tail to drop it in my GMRS etiquette video, but that was to keep the repeater from timing out. Might have to follow up with a linked repeaters specific one.
The irritating part of living in Rapid City South Dakota is, there is ONLY one known ACTIVE repeater in the area - 462.600/467.600, BUT some company nearby uses 462.600 simplex for their communications without a tone so I can't monitor the repeater without having to listen to their daily traffic. I usually get tired of hearing them and turn off the radio.
We had that issue here with a local business doing the same thing. A couple of guys who used the repeater went down and talked to them and explained the situation and how they were bleeding over. Took a couple of tries, but they finally did stop using the channel. Guess you could try that if you can locate them. The, of course, you could go full HAM Karen on them and tell them they’re in violation of a bunch of FCC rules, but we all know how that usually plays out.
If the repeater you are monitoring has a pl tone on the transmit side simply include that tone in your receiver setting on that frequency and use your radio in pl receive mode. This will cut audio on the undesired traffic. This is the intended purpose of the pl tone, so multiple users can share a frequency and not have to listed to each others traffic.
Sounds like the repeater / business owner, didn't do their job to verify any conflicts of radio frequency.
The repeater owner needs to set up their output tone
Thanks, this was very useful. I wish you would show step by step how to do the third method on a Vouxun KG-935. Thank you!
I will try to get that into the next batch I’m working on. Seems like there is a lot of interest in things you can do with the 935 being just basic programming.
My trunked scanner has close call on it when the repeater is in use or it sends out its address my scanner will light up with the frequency and the tone number
Do I have to do this step before using my GMRS call sign I got recently? "Official Authorizations from ULS". Or can I just use the radio without that step, seems I didn't have to deal with it when I got my Ham license, started using my Hams just as soon as my call sign wast posted on the FCC site.
Pl tones are normally used I would think. Great advice
I don’t want to sound cheap but if no repeaters in my rural setting in northwest lower MI would deter me from getting a license for a radio. Anyway I can check out that info with joining a site? I checked one website and only came up with 17 available in MI near bigger population areas.
Thanks
I believe you can view the map at MyGMRS without being a member, but you have to login to receive a specific repeaters tone data.
Funny, Hams use tones to limit interference from a distant repeater, usually during a band opening. As in local areas (cities) usually all use the same tones. GMRS seem to bring out sometimes odd characteristics where a secret tone is to stop someone from using my repeater. Well within the rights of the repeater owner, but restricts the growth of the service.
It seems like the club in my area of Georgia, makes you join their club before you can use their repeaters. While the fee is used to keep the repeater(s) up!
When using a GMRS hand radio to reach a GMRS repeater,... how far can you talk on that repeater? Does that repeater send your signal to another repeater so you can reach a friend in another state or part of the world
No
The maximum power output for GMRS repeaters is 50 watts, so that would give it a range of about 25 to 30 miles from where it is. Your handheld portable radio would only give you a range of a few miles at best, so you would have to be pretty close to a repeater to be able to hit it. But if you can reach the repeater and are able to use it, then you can benefit from its increased range. If you want to talk to someone in another part of the world, you would be best to get your amateur radio license because it gives you access to many more frequencies and a maximum power output of 1500 watts, depending on your class of license and frequencies used. Some of these repeaters are also connected to the internet giving it infinite range.
Hell no!
Nice info
Hi thanks for the video tutorial- I’m on Maui and just received my tidradio’s I charged them up and was doing the od Bluetooth programming and can’t find any gmrs repeaters , I checked my gmrs and they didn’t have - I was gonna get my license tomorrow but probably won’t know because I basically have walkie talkies - can you check Maui on your my gmrs account see if you see anything
Greatly appreciated or if you have other tips - thanks and aloha
Aloha! I was actually in Kona a couple of weeks ago and looked to see if there was anything I could use before I went, ended up not bringing it because there were no repeaters on the big Island. The map on MyGMRS shows a total of three repeaters in the state, two on Oahu at Ewa and Aiea, and one on Maui at Wailuku. Looks like that one is near a residential area at Wai’ehu and doesn’t have a whole lot of elevation to it. My best guess is you’ll probably only be able to hit it in the Kahului area, maybe a little further to the east on the coast, but it’s hard to say without being there.
Hi thanks for the reply, how do I go about using that repeater ? It wasn’t on the Odmaster software?? I’m new just got my radios
Thanks for the help I have tigradio hs-3
Is there a magnet mount car Antenna for the Rocky Talkie 5w radio? Thank you.
Doubtful. I believe these exist in the realm of FRS radios which means the have to have fixed antenna on the radio.
I don't see why not. It has the removable antenna. So with the adapter I don't see why not.
@@MattKester the 5 watt has a screw on antenna. They even send along a longer antenna with the radio
This is probably the 10th video on this topic I seen and still don’t understand - can anyone recommend a video on using repeaters in basic English?
Its simple really. Repeaters use a "split frequency". That means they receive on one frequency and transmit on a different one. Repeaters with a PL tone (sub audible tone) need to hear that tone before it opens up (turns on) for use. The PL tone is sent by the user on the repeater's RECEIVE frequency. The user says whatever they want to say and the repeater simultaneously retransmits it on its transmit frequency. YOUR radio needs to be set to transmit on the repeaters RECEIVE frequency and listen on the repeaters TRANSMIT frequency (backwards from that of the repeater). On a radio that displays the frequency in use, you will notice that when you push the transmit button, the frequency shits to one frequency on transmit and when the button is released the frequency comes back to your "listen" frequency. See?
Could you just transmit to a repeater input channel with every possible tone and wait for it to respond on it’s output channel? This would be pretty easy as there aren’t that many tones.
Yes, you could brute force it like that.
So my is Rod and I purchased the wouxon kg uv 9 gx and since I'm a first timer it's hard for me to understand this method I inserted the 141.3 and I can't get zilch and I'm in central jersey
Gmrs queen 😂love Randy
Excelente información, GRACIAS !!
can anyone install a gmrs repeater? thank you kindly Sir.
What is ctcss?
Does ch 20 repeaters have an offset too?
Every repeater in GMRS has a +5 MHz offset. Basically 462.xxx transmit and 467.xxx receive.
Only one in my area, they won’t respond. Larger one says don’t ask for permission, basically you can’t use it. I’m new to all this, but seems to be the same as Ham!
Canada does not require a licence to transmit in the GMRS frequencies. How does MYGMRS apply to us here?
I don’t believe MyGMRS has any support for Canada as it deals with US fcc licensees
@@MattKester Ya, because of that we're feeling very isolated here and much closer to the Arctic Circle despite the majority the population living south of the 49th parallel.
@@rickjohnson6818 dang, you must be my former neighbor, I grew up in Alaska!
@@MattKester Yup, the further north ya live, the further away your neighbors are. Akaska must be beautiful.
I always had an interest in GMRS and repeaters as it exists in the US, unfortunately I live in Canada and GMRS is totally impractical here except for, forklift operators mall worker crews and keeping track of your kids. little better than FRS.
I can see why repeaters are not allowed in Canada as this would cut into cellphone usage. Also, wattage is restricted to 2 watts.
So I’m kinda confused on method 3. Will I hear a transmission from a repeater with all tones off? I’ve been trying to find someone to talk to in my area for the last few days and I’ve got nothing so far.
Yes, you will hear a repeater with all tones off. So here is the break down: if you are familiar with what a squelch does... (turning off the receive unless the signal is strong enough to open it). A ctcss tone is a continuous tone coded squelch system. If you have this turned on for receive, your squelch will ONLY open if it hears this frequency. If you have it turned off, you will hear every station with a signal strong enough to open your normal squelch regardless of whether they are transmitting a tone or not. Keep in mind that some radios call them privacy tones. This is NOT accurate. If you have a group set up with these tones, outside people will not be able to interfere with you unless they find the proper tone, but anyone with an open receiver will still hear you.
my only complaint is most gmrs repeaters want you to pay to use them. As a ham we dont have to pay to use our repeaters. As a repeater owner I understand there is a large cost to owning and maintaining a repeater. For hams some repeaters are owned by individuals and some are owned by clubs that want to help. There are also repeaters on our hospitals usually owned and maintained by clubs to help in times of emergency. And ARES repeaters located at county EMA offices. I have a gmrs repeater I have yet to install the antenna on the tower for. Looking forward to see the footprint of it.
What is the legality of anyone charging to use the airwaves, ie repeaters, on shared GMRS channels. I agree with @mikemcdonald5147 about the cost of operating them however, is it legal for someone to set up a GMRS repeater and charge people to use them? Personally, I'd be happy to support repeaters that I might use in my geographic area but, I'm just trying to understand how the 'pay to use' thing works.
@@alan.macrae I'm a member of a repeater group, they charge each member $30 a year. I think that they charge to use the repeater because usually they are on a parcel of land that they lease.
They are free here in Denver….. didn’t realize places were charging to use repeaters.
I got couple months with my GMRS License. I buy good equipment etc, But no one used the GMRS frequencies, on Simplex and the repeater like 3 are free but anyone talk on it. I live in NYC and the GMRS hobby is turning in Boring. Where is traffic, you have to pay. Is Crazy..
Same here, what's worse is there are no Queens NYC Repeaters which is bizaree...and Broadnet is flooding the hell out of Repeaters yet not a single one in Queens.
@@eijentwun5509Rumor has it, the Queens repeater kept getting stolen! What did you expect?
What is default travel tone?? You didn't explain what is.
A travel tone is another name for a PL tone. It is a tone what is common to many different repeaters hence the name "travel". Some repeaters have different PL tones. It is up to the owner of the repeater how it is set up. Some are private, some are open, some are not. Each repeater is owned by some person, not the FCC or some other thing. Repeaters cost money to set up and operate, so some are not made public.
Thanks for a great video. A brief edit though. Just after the 4-minute mark you mentioned the travel tone as 141.3 MHz. Just a slip of the tongue I'm sure but it's actually 141.3 Hz, not MHz.
ITS GREAT THAT YOU MENTIONED THE TRAVEL TONE 141.3, ALSO NEEDED IS THE TRAVEL CHANNEL 19 /FREQUENCY 462.6500 RX - 467.6500 TX.
@@LinuxAficionado MY TYPO MISTYAKE
@@LinuxAficionado 462.6500 without going thru repeater (simplex). If using a repeater add 5.000 to this no. ( positive offset) so transmit frequency is 467.6500 recieve frequency is 462.6500.
most GMRS Radios will do the offset automatically if you are on a repeater channel
So not 19 simplex… must use tone and offset. This whole time I thought it was travel channel 19 simplex. 😂
That guy you highlighted is Not a Rubicon
Thats why amateur radio is like college and other modes are like H.S. not everyone is smart enough to pass a test. CB is like the wild west ,mo law and order and cursing. You not gonna fo that on a band eetevu havevto yhrow out your call sign and someone can look u up. Great video
Yeah… method 3 broke my brain.
What is one bank of the repeater channel?
You mention a whole bunch of terminology that newcomers just dont know or have no way of knowing what it is.
Love My KG-935G Plus Radios
I enter my call sign there and get “call sign invalid”
How long did it take to get a response from the fcc? I’m 3+ weeks waiting.
Holy smokes, for a new person all of what was just said may as well be greek and without written instruction I doubt any new person will undersand what was just said or how to do it.
Agreed
The OdMaster App will find all kinds of repeaters that are not on mygmrs.com
I’m a super newbie and became lost shortly after method two. 😮
Just got a couple of Baofeng UV-5G GMRS radios, though not yet licensed, have been monitoring chatter. When I heard someone speaking, the screen showed GMRS 20 and below that, REPTR6. What does this mean, exactly?
A NotARubicon moment.
Everyone knows Randy. Lol.
The problem is there's too many squirrels that get stupid on the air and the repeater owners get pissed and shut off everybody. I only use these repeaters for a survival situation and when I can no longer access them I no longer go off road. Here in Arizona you lose your cell phone signal as soon as you leave the paved highway and at 76 years of age I'm not going anywhere without having contact with the outside world.
Yeah, I have sadly encountered these GMRS Karens. I thought Karens only existed in the HAM radio world. Wha is it with men that they love feeling Important and in Control?
I gave this video a "like" just because of the beautiful pittie over your shoulder. The dog looks like my girl. Btw, informative video as well.
There is someone in Monroe County Kentucky. And believe it’s been put up illegally.
please help i want to how to anthor country reoeater know please please help
49.95 a month
I've been a Ham since the late 80s and I don't remember EVER being asked to pay for a Repeater Service. And now I've seen some GMRS CLUBS/REPEATERS asking for a "Subscription" in order to be allowed to use their Repeater. That's Ridiculous. I paid for the Permit ($35.00) and got a License but i won't pay for anything else. Otherwise I stick to my Ham Radio 📻 like I've done for decades! 73s from KJ4BGW
If you pay Dues to a Hamradio club you are helping pay for the repeater's upkeep. Since you paid the fcc for the license you are allowed to transmit on the air. That doesn't grant you the rights to use other peoples equipment. Most repeater owners let everyone use their repeater for free but they do have the right to charge for the use of the system.
Repeaters cost money to run. If you don't like the rules that fine. Ham clubs have dues and if you don't pay you are not in the club.
Sounds like you found a repeater owner👆😂
It’s used for upkeep of the repeaters maintained by the GMRS club.
Travel tone should be in hz not Mhz
So you say , but try to talk to someone. Thats a dirrrent story.
Don’t know why a licensees ham operator does not have access to GMRS frequencies without having to buy a license to do so. Only thing I can think of is money.
You are 100% right. Same reason we aren’t supposed to use our fully cabable amateur radios to transmit on GMRS frequencies, someone’s gotta collect their revenue certifying it!
plum silly how people of today need a video for common since things its like folks cant use there brain any more??? you did a really good presentation but there are tons of videos out there just the same..
GMRS Repeater use is very crude coms. Key overs and rambling like CB
Depends on the system, AZGMRS prides itself on being family friendly and loves to help those who want to learn.
Not really. At least NGGMRS isn’t. Very family friendly no rambling that I’ve noticed(as I sit here listening to a net)
I am not a fan of unlicensed talking on frequencies you need a license for. Now some will argue ......in an emergency. Getting on the air and asking if walmart has water or were is the nearest gas station is not an emergency.these unlicensed tie up snd interfere with actual emergency response. Uou had your whole life to get a license ,all of a sudden now u want to get on the radio. ????. Your not gonna learn on the fly ,u needed to practice. There are other bands u can use ,CB,FRS... Now if your bleeding to death and get on the airvto ask for help thats one thing .other than that sorry
What is kerchunk?