Just getting ready for a cross country trip with GMRS and I have a question about tones. If I am not accessing a repeater do I need to use a tone. I know in ham radio the answer is no, but I have seen both yes (141.3) and no in literature on GMRS. I assume that the answer is no....just want to make sure.
Not sure why "the answer is no" if using ham radio. If you are trying to access a ham (or GMRS) repeater and it requires a tone for access (most do), then you will need to encode that tone when you transmit.
A trick I use on my (mostly Wouxun) radios and other brands if feasible, which will allow a higher chance of accessing GMRS repeaters in unfamiliar territory goes as follows:
The "travel tone" and most commonly encountered GMRS tone is 141.3. On my Wouxuns and brands with similar programming schemes that I program for myself and others, I do this.
On Channels 1 thru 30, I program each channel to encode only, 141.3. I leave the receive on those channels set to carrier squelch, aka CSQ, aka no tone.
For GMRS Channels 1 thru 7, this may give a very slight increase that you may be heard by someone monitoring those channels with their PL decoder turned on and set to 141.3. Ditto GMRS channels 8 thru 14. If programming a ht, I set it to encode only 141.3 on 8 thru 14 for the same reason I do with channels 1 thru 7. If programming a mobile, there is no point in programming encode 141.3 as mobiles will not normally transmit on GMRS Channels 8 thru 14 due to FCC regulations.
GMRS Channels 15 thru 22, I definitely recommend programming 141.3 encode only. These channels may be used for up to 50 watt simplex as well as repeat and you enhance your chances of being heard by doing so, significantly.
GMRS Repeater Channels 15 thru 22 (aka Repeat 1 thru 8, respectively) you definitely want to program with 141.3 encode-only. In many, perhaps most, parts of the country, you will find a repeater on one of those channels that requires a 141.3 tone to access. As with the other channels, I recommend leaving the decoder (receive tone) off or in carrier squelch mode. This allows you to hear repeaters that may require no tone (very rare) as well as those where for whatever reason, the owner just didn't have the extra thirty seconds of time it would have taken him to program the same tone on the output.
If your radio is a Wouxun or one with similar format that hopefully allows adding a number of channels beyond the standard 30, you can program in channels for repeaters using other tones in them, in addition to 141.3 or other tones to encode AND decode for repeaters where you know it encodes a tone on the output frequency, as it should. Those are the repeaters where the owner had that extra thirty seconds it took to program the tone on the output, too. 🤣😂
I hope this is helpful.
