GMRS / FRS Question

[TexasMale]

The Motorola Talk-about radios have sub channels that you can set and only hear your other Radio, how does this work?

I cant get mine to talk to the motorola talk about radio, is there some type of tone or something that lets thses rarios talk to one another?

 

[W8RMH]

It's not a sub channel, they use CTCSS tones.

 

[TexasMale]

My Radios are set on 4 - 98 so how do I know the tone to use??

 

[canav844]

If you have the manual there was still a conversion chart in them the last time I bought a bubble pack FRS/GMRS radio.

Here's one that covers the CTCSS tones

When you go past 38, you cross into DCS tones that work in a similar manner. but you get a 3 digit code instead of a frequency measurement. I don't have one handy to check for you, but if you have a scanner made within the last 10years you can usually set them to search for the code now. DCS will only have 2 way communication with another radio on the same DCS tone, so they both need to be set to the same tone.

According to the Moto manual I found in a google search subsode 98 looks like it's DCS code is 466, but I cannont confirm that right now.

 

[nanZor]

In addition to above, if the Motorola has the "QT" or quiet-talk function, you will want to turn that option off if you are using another brand of radio to communicate with it. QT was designed to communicate only other Motorolas that have this feature. It doesn't mean that other brands won't hear you, it is just a built-in way to try and be inoperable with other brands. So in addition to making sure that PL/DCS codes are right, turn OFF qt if you are using another brand to talk to it.