Baofeng Simplex with tones

[thefuzz4]

Hey Everyone,

So I just got my first set of radios for the family last week (we're working on getting the whole family licensed for use). These radios are so awesome.

So I was messing around with my baofengs last night on a simplex freq and what I was trying to setup was a way to have a tone between them that say someone else on that freq wouldn't be overcome with the simplex chatter. So in Chirp I setup the channel to be tone and gave it a tone. I then pushed these settings out to 2 radios and left the 3rd alone on the freq with no tone. However when i key up both of the other radios also tune in, instead of just the 1 that should be listening for the tone. Perhaps my understanding of how the tones work isn't correct or maybe I can't have the radios that close to eachother? Like I said we plan on using these together as a family for when we're out hiking or riding our ATVs so we want to be on a simplex station and not have to worry about bothering others with our chatter.

Thank you all in advance for your help with this.

 

[WA0CBW]

Not sure what radio model you have but the only radio services not requiring a license are FRS, CB, or MURS. For the most part all other frequencies require a license. As for tones, they only keep the listener from hearing others on the frequency, not others from hearing you. You are still required to monitor the frequency before transmitting so as not to interfere with any conversations already in progress.
BB

 

[thefuzz4]

Hey WA0CBW. Yeah I knew that we'd all have to be licensed in order to transmit on the 2 Meter freq so we're in the process now of getting the rest of the family hooked up with tech licenses plus its fun for the boys to learn this stuff. Thank you for the explanation of the tones, I was looking for a way to keep others from hearing us just so we didn't bother em which doesn't seem to be possible if I understand properly.

 

[KC9HI]

Hey Everyone,

So I just got my first set of radios for the family last week (we're working on getting the whole family licensed for use). These radios are so awesome.

So I was messing around with my baofengs last night on a simplex freq and what I was trying to setup was a way to have a tone between them that say someone else on that freq wouldn't be overcome with the simplex chatter. So in Chirp I setup the channel to be tone and gave it a tone. I then pushed these settings out to 2 radios and left the 3rd alone on the freq with no tone. However when i key up both of the other radios also tune in, instead of just the 1 that should be listening for the tone. Perhaps my understanding of how the tones work isn't correct or maybe I can't have the radios that close to eachother? Like I said we plan on using these together as a family for when we're out hiking or riding our ATVs so we want to be on a simplex station and not have to worry about bothering others with our chatter.

Thank you all in advance for your help with this.

Yes, you misunderstand. You cannot use tones to keep anyone from hearing you. Anybody with no RX tone will be able to hear you.

You can only use tones to keep from hearing someone else that you don't want to hear. And because you can't hear them you are likely to try to talk at the same time because, well, you can't hear them.

Jim KC9HI

 

[n5ims]

Think of a tone as a filter. It allows YOUR radio to filter out anything that doesn't use the programmed tone (but others that do not have a filter will still hear the conversation). It won't prevent others from hearing your transmissions, but may help you not hear others that transmit within range of your radio(s) that do not have the same tone on their signal.

 

[KC9HI]

Think of a tone as a filter. It allows YOUR radio to filter out anything that doesn't use the programmed tone (but others that do not have a filter will still hear the conversation). It won't prevent others from hearing your transmissions, but may help you not hear others that transmit within range of your radio(s) that do not have the same tone on their signal.

Very good explanation.

Jim KC9HI

 

[MTS2000des]

Like I said we plan on using these together as a family for when we're out hiking or riding our ATVs so we want to be on a simplex station and not have to worry about bothering others with our chatter.

So you don't want others to listen? Or not to interfere with others? Remember that no one owns a particular frequency (in ham radio), and everyone must share. Using tone squelch/DCS/selective calling does not mean that one should not monitor the frequency before transmitting. the only exception are coordinated repeaters, which generally take precedence when issues of interference come up.

A good idea is to program TX inhibit on busy channel, which is pretty standard fare on commercial radios. This way one won't interfere with someone else should they happen to be on the same frequency but using a different CTCSS or DCS (or even no tone).

Congratulations on getting everyone licensed. Amateur radio is a great hobby and will bring you and your family into a world of communications technology. I would strongly encourage you and your family to take some classes if they are available to learn the theory and concepts and not just do enough to pass the test.

Also, it is advisable to listen as much as you can now, plug in some local active repeater/simplex frequencies into your Baofengs and start monitoring conversations. You will not only get a hands on feel for many of the procedures and rules, but also the "who's who" of ham radio in your neck of the woods.

 

[rapidcharger]

Hey Everyone,

So I just got my first set of radios for the family last week (we're working on getting the whole family licensed for use). These radios are so awesome.

So I was messing around with my baofengs last night on a simplex freq and what I was trying to setup was a way to have a tone between them that say someone else on that freq wouldn't be overcome with the simplex chatter. So in Chirp I setup the channel to be tone and gave it a tone. I then pushed these settings out to 2 radios and left the 3rd alone on the freq with no tone. However when i key up both of the other radios also tune in, instead of just the 1 that should be listening for the tone. Perhaps my understanding of how the tones work isn't correct or maybe I can't have the radios that close to eachother? Like I said we plan on using these together as a family for when we're out hiking or riding our ATVs so we want to be on a simplex station and not have to worry about bothering others with our chatter.

Thank you all in advance for your help with this.

It sounds like what you want to do is selective calling using CTCSS for your signalling. Where you have separate talk groups in essence so that you can share a frequency but only hear certain traffic? Or did I get that wrong? Are you using the ham band or some other radio service?