Ham radio is opposite of most comercial thinking. On a local ham repeater
most hams want ot be able to hear all that is going on on the repeater so
that if anyone puts out a call he can be answered by anyone for a casual
chat. GMRS users are usually only interisted in the other parties they want
to talk to and not hear all the chatter on the frequency. That is why the
hook switch blocks out the gmrs and also releases the tone decoder when off
hook.

I am a volunteer EMT on a first aid squad and I never understood why they made
it so when the mic was picked up, you'd hear everything. We don't want to hear
everything when we pick the mic up. We wanna hear the other EMS units from our
area, not some dispatch center 60 miles north of us. With the squelch open like
that, sometimes it makes it difficult for us to communicate. With the squelch
closed, there's no problem.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
73! de Andy KC2SSB - WPYI880 (GMRS)
Beachwood, NJ USA! Grid FM29vw
http://vhfradiobuff.tripod.com