CHIRP: Tone Squelch dumb question

[Rred]

I'm trying to find a repeater input/output pair. I have one side of that, not sure if it is the input or output since the user is only licensed for simplex in the first place, but that's not the issue here. (I know, there's a CHIRP forum, but that's a whole other new place for me, please bear with me.)

The radio is a BF UV88, not my favorite but "expendable" here in that I can throw in whatever programming and just use it for exploring without wiping a real radio out of service for a while.

I have the frequency and tone (141.3) that they are supposed to be assigned, and I assume that code is for the repeater input channel.
But if I want to check the likely offsets (5, 6, 9, 10 MHz?) for the repeater output...how do I set CHIRP's DTCS option so that I'm listening for the output, without any tones required? So that I'll get the output, which presumably is not using any tones, without setting my radio to listen only for a non-used tone?

I don't even know if their repeat would be a + or - offset, so I'm presuming that if I scan the four or five most likely offsets, both up and down, I'll be letting the radio scan ten channel settings fairly quickly, in order to try grabbing the one that is being used. And then take that elsewhere.

Or is there a better way to do this?

Thanks
Rred

 

[chief21]

The better way would be to tell us which specific frequency, radio service and country you're dealing with. There are usually standard offsets in most services. To simply receive a signal, the tone is not required.

 

[N5XPM]

Also, the FCC license callsign would be really helpful to figure this out.
For practice, try programming a local weather radio frequency into the radio with no transmit or receive tone and no transmit frequency. When you hear the weather, you now have a template to program the next channel position with the receive frequency on the FCC license.

 

[Rred]

It is a US municipal agency which I'd rather not identify (as below) in the 46x MHz public service frequencies.

And no, their license information won't help. According to the FCC they are licensed for one simplex frequency, but apparently their parent agency has blessed them with the use of a repeater and a second frequency. This may or may not be legal, but I certainly don't want to get involved in the complications that could come from that. Yes, I've run the FCC database very thoroughly on the agency, the parent agency, and the municipality, and the RR database also just has the incorrect simplex information that the FCC has.

I know the receive tone is not required, that's how I want to set it up. But the tone choices aren't plain English to me. I know, that's documented someplace but I've got a low vision problem, one small page of docs can be ten minutes of peering around for me. That's why I'm looking for someone who knows what the setting should be, so I can make it without having to first figure out what the jargon choices are.

 

[kayn1n32008]

It is a US municipal agency which I'd rather not identify (as below) in the 46x MHz public service frequencies.

Well it’s hard to answer with so little info.

But ‘generally’ UHF is paired up 5MHz.


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[nd5y]

I know the receive tone is not required, that's how I want to set it up. But the tone choices aren't plain English to me. I know, that's documented someplace

Read this.
MemoryEditorColumns - CHIRP

 

[chief21]

It is a US municipal agency which I'd rather not identify (as below) in the 46x MHz public service frequencies.

That missing MHz digit would give a clue as to whether your frequency is the repeater input or output.

 

[N5XPM]

That missing MHz digit would give a clue as to whether your frequency is the repeater input or output.

OP has some perceived benefit of not sharing useful publicly available FCC license information. The first time a 3 letter federal agency called me about interference in my area before sending a federal plane over to locate the interference was an anxious conversation. Luckily the interference was not from our FCC licensed transmitters and we worked with that agency cooperatively and positively for several more years. Not the type of conversation I would like to have if I was running a system not properly licensed or if I was not authorized to operate on the system. I would be extra careful on what I programmed my radio to transmit on, especially if I didn't hold the license.

 

[Rred]

N5-
I am very much aware of the issues and legalities, but that's not the question or issue here. Sometimes there are simply mundane real world things that happen or must be followed. Like when I was stil on my probationary driver's license and a friendly cop giving me directions to get someplace said "You see that sign that says No Left Turn? OK, just go up there and make a left turn..." Sure. And I could do it, despite the sign, because I was following police "orders".

Chief-
The extra digit would only tell you what SIMPLEX frequency was assigned to the agency, not what their radio people kludged up on a repeater. There are some things that are very much not worth doing, such as telling a municipal agency that they are violating FCC regulations, when no one else is complaining and they simply may be making a practical workaround in a way that isn't causing any problems.

Sometimes there's nothing nefarious or ominous about buying dynamite. Farmers used to commonly use it to blow up stumps and boulders that were obstructing their fields. These days? Folks get all upset at the sight of it, and forget that sometimes, there are simple explanations that are left unsaid because of simple discretion. Heck, I know folks who literally walked down the streets of Manhattan carrying a double-barrel shotgun, without getting a stare. Carrying it properly, breech broken, over the shoulder, but you can't even do that these days without someone deciding it MUST somehow be wrong.

If the apparent problem is a real problem, and anyone pursues it, that's on them. I don't need to be making enemies with these people. It is their football, their rules. Not mine to argue. I'm just trying to figure out (what might be an oddball) repeater pair, so I can hear both sides of the conversation.

Just technology, not legalities or politics or ethics or anything else, please.

 

[kayn1n32008]

N5-
I am very much aware of the issues and legalities, but that's not the question or issue here. Sometimes there are simply mundane real world things that happen or must be followed. Like when I was stil on my probationary driver's license and a friendly cop giving me directions to get someplace said "You see that sign that says No Left Turn? OK, just go up there and make a left turn..." Sure. And I could do it, despite the sign, because I was following police "orders".

Chief-
The extra digit would only tell you what SIMPLEX frequency was assigned to the agency, not what their radio people kludged up on a repeater. There are some things that are very much not worth doing, such as telling a municipal agency that they are violating FCC regulations, when no one else is complaining and they simply may be making a practical workaround in a way that isn't causing any problems.

Sometimes there's nothing nefarious or ominous about buying dynamite. Farmers used to commonly use it to blow up stumps and boulders that were obstructing their fields. These days? Folks get all upset at the sight of it, and forget that sometimes, there are simple explanations that are left unsaid because of simple discretion. Heck, I know folks who literally walked down the streets of Manhattan carrying a double-barrel shotgun, without getting a stare. Carrying it properly, breech broken, over the shoulder, but you can't even do that these days without someone deciding it MUST somehow be wrong.

If the apparent problem is a real problem, and anyone pursues it, that's on them. I don't need to be making enemies with these people. It is their football, their rules. Not mine to argue. I'm just trying to figure out (what might be an oddball) repeater pair, so I can hear both sides of the conversation.

Just technology, not legalities or politics or ethics or anything else, please.

Well with the lack of ANY useful info, there is not much help to give.

Super secret squirrel BS will insure you don’t get any meaningful help
I’m out.

Good luck.


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