TheSpaceMann
Member
- Joined
- Apr 3, 2014
- Messages
- 1,333
Is it anything like CB used to be? Are there a lot of people chatting, or is it mostly just kids and family communications?
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You may hear kids on them, too, but walkie talkies are not quite the cool toy they were 40 years ago.
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There are repeaters around but the owners aren't the friendliest and like to challenge people using them.
As others have said, it all depends on where you are at any given time. Here in the southern Adirondacks, if you were to scan all 22 channels, you might hear some kids fooling around on one frequency for a few minutes. They get tired of it and the band goes quiet for days at a time. Just south of me about 15 miles, there are one or two businesses that use FRS for in-house activitiesIs it anything like CB used to be? Are there a lot of people chatting, or is it mostly just kids and family communications?
Putting a repeater up can be a major financial investment. Especially on a prime wide area coverage location on a tall commercial tower, building, or a mountaintop location. There's leasing the space on the tower and in the shelter. There's electricity costs. Insurance. Etcetera.
As such, someone else's repeater should be considered private property, and permission should be sought to use it, especially on a regular basis. It is only fair that if you are going to use someone else's property, that you help to pay some of the operating and maintenance costs.
Others may simply wish to have a record of the regular users, as it has been required that repeater owners keep records of those who have permission to use their repeater(s) in the past.
John
WPXJ598
Peoria, AZ
I agree somewhat with your statement. On a moral basis you should help with the up keep and financial cost of a repeater because it can be very strenuous. It’s also common politeness to ask permission before use just out of respect.
However, there does come a certain level of responsibility on the owner of the repeater to understand that you are putting your repeater on one of public radio services. With that being said, it a repeater owner is looking to have 100% control they should look into the private land mobile licenses.
-Dawson Adams
WQPN413
"Calm down, it's just a radio.”
I have quite a bit of activity around here. There are 3 repeaters I can reliably use, and one has a 100 mile radius coverage which is almost in my back yard. There are 2 more that are a bit sketchy as far as me making a good signal into the machine because they are about 110 miles away.
There is some simplex GMRS use daily that I can hear because it is a very rural area with many big hills and valleys.I'm inclined to believe people tend to use these instead of cell phones when talking to a spouse or kids because a cell phone can be useless in many locations.
The FRS channels are few to be heard, but they are in use and can hear them on almost a daily basis. I hear a lot of businesses using these in the nearest town, but not so much on GMRS.
Amazingly, MURS is being used around here by individuals. I have had a few conversations with some neighbors and some others who were not so close.
Also I have noticed that in this area CB is not dead - not by a long shot. Usually there is a local conversation going on at any given time, sometimes until 2 or 3AM.
My location allows me to hear more than most. I was fortunate enough to find a house far away from junk RF noise, a very good distance from my closest neighbor, and ridge top that is already at high elevation. Given that I got lucky, I figured I would not cheap out on a good dual band antenna that I put above the roof line, and used Belden 9913 (about 25ft.) for my line. It is just crazy how much I hear when conditions are good.
As a final note, the business frequencies are used around here but you have to be patient sometimes to find them being used. Don't give up after a day or two of searching, I find new ones popping up all the time.
I've never heard any MURS and just checked my logs to confirm that.
CB has been fairly active this week in the afternoon and evenings. I heard some earlier today.
The closest body of water is at least 15 miles from me and still scan maritime frequencies with at least daily activity.
I can hear on occasion 40-60 miles out on VHF/UHF so don't discount more distant stations just in case.
The problem I see for new users is that they don't know what's out there and lead astray by other's preferred interest and pushing them to get restricted antennas (i.e. 800/900 Mhz) in the name of "performance." You pick up a wide-band scanner/receiver (typically 25Mhz - 1.3GHz) so why restrict it?!
Get a wide-band antenna(s) for the whole spectrum and listen to EVERYTHING to see what piques your interest. Radio Reference does NOT have everything available in your area, it's more of a decent guide to start with. Scan your heart away and make sure your radio supports an external program to log all the hits and later make your own scan lists to see what those frequencies have to offer.
I know the OP asked about FRS/GMRS but hopefully there's some insight for others.
You could always look at decently price equipment to start off.
https://midlandusa.com/product/mxt115-micromobile-2-way-radio/
https://midlandusa.com/product/gxt1000vp4/
I wonder if we'll hear more when the higher-powered units hit the shelves.