Aloha.

Any GMRS people here? Just got my license  several weeks ago.  Looking at starting off with a hand held unit, then moving to one in my truck.  How are the repeaters here on Oahu? I logged onto the mygmrs.com and it shows you the online repeaters.  Mahalos in advance. 

Aloha.

Any GMRS people here? Just got my license  several weeks ago.  Looking at starting off with a hand held unit, then moving to one in my truck.  How are the repeaters here on Oahu? I logged onto the mygmrs.com and it shows you the online repeaters.  Mahalos in advance.

I’ve got a GMRS license; I dialed up a couple of repeaters once and never went back to them. Obnoxious drunk guy being obnoxious, insulting people, lots of folks arguing, generally not useful or informative in any way. Reminded me of Facebook a little…

Would it be an option for off grid comms? Possible natural disasters/fires/civil unrest.  I know off road guys use it.

If you got 12 volts, you got comms. No guarantees the people out there are worth talking to, but you still got comms.

Amateur radio license (ham) is another option… slightly higher barrier to entry (fee plus knowledge test), which helps screen out the riff raff.

Quite a few ham repeaters on Oahu.  If you’re looking at an “off-grid” comms arrangement, helps to think about who you need to communicate with so you can plan appropriately.

Amateur radio license (ham) is another option… slightly higher barrier to entry (fee plus knowledge test), which helps screen out the riff raff.

Quite a few ham repeaters on Oahu.  If you’re looking at an “off-grid” comms arrangement, helps to think about who you need to communicate with so you can plan appropriately.

I've looked into communications.
I did my engineering stuff and realized there are only about ten people I want to talk to.
The ones I can't walk to are 2700 miles or more away.
I will pass on most radio.
I do have a VHF license and radio.
But I sold my boat years ago.
 

I've looked into communications.
I did my engineering stuff and realized there are only about ten people I want to talk to.
The ones I can't walk to are 2700 miles or more away.
I will pass on most radio.
I do have a VHF license and radio.
But I sold my boat years ago.
 

Of the 10 you want to talk to, how many of those want to talk to you?

Just saying, the real reason to pass on radio might be more pressing than indicated.

 

I've looked into communications.
I did my engineering stuff and realized there are only about ten people I want to talk to.
The ones I can't walk to are 2700 miles or more away.
I will pass on most radio.
I do have a VHF license and radio.
But I sold my boat years ago.
 

You can do a lot of cool long distance stuff with networked repeaters.
I still haven't figured out how to get it to work yet though.

You can do a lot of cool long distance stuff with networked repeaters.
I still haven't figured out how to get it to work yet though.

After working with COMM TECHS in the Air Force, Navy, Army and Marines I've discovered a few facts.

1.  They all have an unwritten rule to never admit a mistake.

2.  The Navy often is the odd man out in terms of configurations.  On crypto gear, their hardware used the opposite polarity of all other branches.  In one exercise, I had to explain that to the tech at least 3 times before he finally realized he needed to reverse the polarity for our connection.

3.  The people in charge of the satellites are very smart, but they don't always know much outside of their own sphere of operations.  Troubleshooting was a challenge when both sides are speaking different "languages".

4.  Even after you get things working, someone who wasn't there for the setup will invariably change something to break it.

5.  Once every thing is working, the realization of what you are doing -- global communications on a wide scale -- is pretty awesome.

I think the potential reward is enough to learn how the repeaters should work, then plan how to troubleshoot it.  Chances are, if you are ever in dire straits, you'll need that skill to get it working "for reals."

 

I’ve got a GMRS license; I dialed up a couple of repeaters once and never went back to them. Obnoxious drunk guy being obnoxious, insulting people, lots of folks arguing, generally not useful or informative in any way. Reminded me of Facebook a little…

Aloha

How difficult was it to connect to the repeaters ? What type of radio or set up were you using ?

Aloha

How difficult was it to connect to the repeaters ? What type of radio or set up were you using ?

Easy to connect; just need to know the receive frequency, offset, and any CTCSS code (used to break the squelch on the repeater).  Radio manual should have instructions, and I’m sure you can find a tutorial online.

Of course you’d want to use an FCC-approved GMRS radio to stay on the right side of the law…. But I’ve heard that many CCRs (cheap Chinese radios) like the Baofeng UV-5R are technically capable of being programmed to use GMRS and FRS frequencies and repeaters.  That would be against the law, though, and doing so would risk the FCC laying a hefty fine on you, if for some reason they took an interest.

Right now looking at the 5 watt radios, still doing research on what would be the best to start out with.  Looking at the Btech radios and the Tidradio TD H5 GRMS,  The Tidradio comes in a set with two radios, four batteries, chargers, and two hand mikes all for 79 bucks.  I live in Honolulu so I'm not sure i would be able to hit any repeaters in my case.  According to myGMRS I should be in range of the Aiea repeaters, but I know that GMRS works best in line of sight. 

Just got my first GMRS radio. Anyone could help me out with connecting to a local repeaters.