GMRS Repeater War

[MiCon]

Interesting repeater war going on this evening, hearable in the Quad cities area. Someone is using some massive wattage to block the use of a repeater on 462.575 PL043. I'm not picking up any of the users on the input 467.575, so they're not local to my QTH. A lot of profanity going on. Makes me wonder what the parents who bought their kids FRS HT's for Christmas are thinking if they come across this channel (16) in their FRS radio. Based on their comments, it sounds like they might be in the Payson area. I haven't heard this kind of garbage since my CB days eons ago.

 

[DeoVindice]

What on earth is the Quad Cities area?

 

[nokones]

Interesting repeater war going on this evening, hearable in the Quad cities area. Someone is using some massive wattage to block the use of a repeater on 462.575 PL043. I'm not picking up any of the users on the input 467.575, so they're not local to my QTH. A lot of profanity going on. Makes me wonder what the parents who bought their kids FRS HT's for Christmas are thinking if they come across this channel (16) in their FRS radio. Based on their comments, it sounds like they might be in the Payson area. I haven't heard this kind of garbage since my CB days eons ago.

The repeater output freq is CSQ and the input freq uses a non-standard DPL code.

The "Quad Cities" area is a Hillbilly term used for Prescott, Prescott Valley, Chino Valley, and Dewey-Humboldt areas.

The reason why it is a concern to the "Quad Cities" area is because the Repeater is located on Towers Mountain at the 7,600 foot elevation and blankets the both the Quad Cities and the Phoenix Areas.

This jamming situation has been going on for a couple of years now and the repeater owner is fully aware of who the jammer is and is trying to deal with it. I wish the repeater owner would institute the use of individual PT-T ID that would only allow authorized users to get repeater access like SWCRS has done on a couple of their repeaters.

When the.chaos gets out of hand, the repeater owner will turn off the repeater for awhile sometimes months and that really hampers the long range radio coverage while wheeling off-road in the area.

What is interesting this year, the FRS traffic right after Christmas doesn't seem like it was last year. It has been relatively quiet on the FRS channels from the kids this year. I guess the fad has faded out for the kids.

 

[kc2asb]

Repeater wars can be entertaining. It's been going on here in the NYC area for well over a decade, on the 462.675 repeater. Sad, since it has wide area coverage and is either completely quiet or being jammed. The repeater owner/operator has been fighting with the jammers all this time and seems to enjoy it.

What is interesting this year, the FRS traffic right after Christmas doesn't seem like it was last year. It has been relatively quiet on the FRS channels from the kids this year. I guess the fad has faded out for the kids.

I noticed a lot of FRS activity in my area right after Christmas, almost entirely kids. Seems they are still popular gifts around here.

 

[MiCon]

What on earth is the Quad Cities area?

Sorry, I thought most folks in AZ were familiar with the Quad cities. Not sure I agree with nokones that it's a hillbilly term. It covers the towns of Prescott, Prescott Valley, Chino Valley, and Dewey-Humboldt, the four 'major' neighboring towns in the central AZ mountains east of I-17. These towns border each other and share services and interact with each other, so it's like one big area, which has become popular and growing quickly for the past few years. I just moved here recently and am under the impression that it used to be the Tri-cities until D-H was added.

 

[prcguy]

This would be some ammunition for a GMRS repeater war. This is a 200w UHF repeater I have in storage and currently on GMRS. The controller can be programmed with all known tones and DPL where it will repeat anyone but with no transmit audio. Mate that with a 10dBd stick on a high place in town and you would own the channel in your area. I'm not saying to actually do that but its fun to think about it.

If people in your town want to be stupid, you can be King stupid. Ok, just do it.

 

[GlobalNorth]

What on earth is the Quad Cities area?

As an old AZ native, the only Quad Cities area I had ever of was Moline and Rock Island [IL] and Davenport and Bettendorf IA.

Someone moved from the Midwest and decided to apply it to Prescott, Prescott Valley, and two wide spots in the road - Dewey and Chino Valley. This occurred some time around 2010 or so. Dewey-Humboldt isn't a city, but a town, as is Chino Valley.

It's a moniker that doesn't make much sense to me, but the immigrants from elsewhere seem to enjoy using it.

There's another 'Quad City' in Yavapai County that is lesser known and those towns and cities are Sedona, Cottonwood, Clarkdale, and Jerome.

 

[mbnv992]

I 100% agree with an MDC ID issuance for the 575, 600, Shaw Butte etc etc. I think the same guy owns all those repeaters and unfortunately, changed all the codes to non-standard DPL tones as stated above.
I used to love talking on the 575 and the 600 as the range was really amazing. Can’t do that anymore since all I own is Motorola gear and none have his new DPL tone.

 

[radioman2008]

someone should record the drama and post it to youtube.

I love MDC, even MDC600 sounds cool, I have a MX portable somewhere in my collection that has MDC600

 

[prcguy]

someone should record the drama and post it to youtube.

I love MDC, even MDC600 sounds cool, I have a MX portable somewhere in my collection that has MDC600

I really don't like MDC on amateur or GMRS channels. I've been known to decode them then program my radios with other peoples MDC numbers. I've even had conversations without even speaking by keying up with someone else's MDC where a friend of that MDC# might say say Hi Frank, whatcha doin? And I'll key up once. They will laugh and ask more questions that I will answer with one or two keyups and we make a conversation about it. They can't seen to comprehend that anyone can program and use the same MDC code.

 

[nokones]

I 100% agree with an MDC ID issuance for the 575, 600, Shaw Butte etc etc. I think the same guy owns all those repeaters and unfortunately, changed all the codes to non-standard DPL tones as stated above.
I used to love talking on the 575 and the 600 as the range was really amazing. Can’t do that anymore since all I own is Motorola gear and none have his new DPL tone.

The Towers 600 is a different owner than the Towers 575 and Shaw Butte. It is my understanding that the Towers 575 owner maintains the Towers 600. The Towers 575 and Shaw Butte owner also owns Signal Butte, Greens Peak, Diamond Point, and Mt. Elden insofar as the GMRS repeaters in Arizona.

 

[es93546]

Sorry, I thought most folks in AZ were familiar with the Quad cities. Not sure I agree with nokones that it's a hillbilly term. It covers the towns of Prescott, Prescott Valley, Chino Valley, and Dewey-Humboldt, the four 'major' neighboring towns in the central AZ mountains east of I-17. These towns border each other and share services and interact with each other, so it's like one big area, which has become popular and growing quickly for the past few years. I just moved here recently and am under the impression that it used to be the Tri-cities until D-H was added.

I moved away from Arizona in the late 70's and at that time Prescott was west of I-17. Did some major geological event change that?

 

[GlobalNorth]

I moved away from Arizona in the late 70's and at that time Prescott was west of I-17. Did some major geological event change that?

Rest assured that despite the best efforts of AZ DOT's benign neglect to US89 and the I-17 Flex Lane project, Prescott still resides where Bucky O'Neill left it.

Standby for Earth's magnetic field swap though.

 

[MiCon]

I moved away from Arizona in the late 70's and at that time Prescott was west of I-17. Did some major geological event change that?

Thanks for the correction. I still get my left and right mixed up.

 

[nokones]

Rest assured that despite the best efforts of AZ DOT's benign neglect to US89 and the I-17 Flex Lane project, Prescott still resides where Bucky O'Neill left it.

Standby for Earth's magnetic field swap though.

Was highway 89 a US designated highway route back in the day? The reason why I ask because highway 89 is a State designated highway route today. Just curious.

 

[N9JIG]

US-89 used to extend from Flagstaff to Ashfork along with US-66, then head south to Prescott and Wickenburg to Phoenix and eventually Nogales. It was removed in the 70's and replaced in part with AZ-89. Same goes for US-89A, much of that in Arizona was replaced with AZ-89A at the same time. There is no difference between a US and State highway other than the signage.

As for the GMRS war on 462.575, like Kenny said before, it has been happening for a ling time, the offender is known and has resisted all attempts to mediate the situation. We can only hope that he finds another hobby or moves away to become someone else's problem. Those that interact with him on the air aren't doing us any favors.

 

[MiCon]

I appreciate the replies and info received from this thread. I'm still fairly new to the area and was unaware of the long-time feud. I don't normally listen to FRS or GMRS, but for the past three months there has been street work in my neighborhood installing fiber-optic cable. The traffic control guys are using FRS, so I've been listening to their chatter, which is how I stumbled onto the GMRS fiasco. As far as I'm concerned, this thread can end.