It is so that you will hear the other users. That way you will know not
to
try and talk while the frequency is in use by others that have a
differant
tone setting.

If that's the case, then it's opposite in thinking to amateur radio, where
a
repeater may have a PL decode tone, which will allow you to talk on the
repeater, but not hear anyone else on that same frequency. The local
repeater
here is on 146.910 and another on 147.045. There's other repeaters that
often
will start coming in on the same frequencies, but if you have decode on,
you'll
never know you're transmitting while others are talking on the other
repeaters.

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.

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

On 24 Nov 2003 05:03:35 GMT, pamme (VHFRadioBuff) wrote:

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

The reason you hear everything when you pick the mike up is because you are
supposed to listen to everything before transmitting so you can avoid
interfering with other traffic that may already be using the channel.

Dave Head
K8DH

The reason you hear everything when you pick the mike up is because you are
supposed to listen to everything before transmitting so you can avoid
interfering with other traffic that may already be using the channel.

Dave Head
K8DH

That's a nice theory, but it doesn't work. If we waited for those distant
agencies (we're talking 50 miles+) to stop talking before we talked, we'd never
communicate. Our local stations don't provide enough interference to keep them
from communicating and vice-versa, but it is annoying to pick up the mic and
try to talk to someone on their handheld when some other agency far north is
stepping on him (we don't use a repeater, it's all simplex). If PL decode was
active 100% of the time (instead of only when the mic is on the clip), we'd be
able to communicate with no problems since we'd only hear our other units and
we still won't be providing significant interference to the other agencies,
especially if they did the same.

With any luck, we'll be on the county's 500 mhz trunked system soon.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
73! de Andy KC2SSB - WPYI880 (GMRS)
Beachwood, NJ USA! Grid FM29vw
http://vhfradiobuff.tripod.com

The reason you hear everything when you pick the mike up is because you are
supposed to listen to everything before transmitting so you can avoid
interfering with other traffic that may already be using the channel.

Dave Head
K8DH

That's a nice theory, but it doesn't work. If we waited for those distant
agencies (we're talking 50 miles+) to stop talking before we talked, we'd never
communicate. Our local stations don't provide enough interference to keep them
from communicating and vice-versa, but it is annoying to pick up the mic and
try to talk to someone on their handheld when some other agency far north is
stepping on him (we don't use a repeater, it's all simplex). If PL decode was
active 100% of the time (instead of only when the mic is on the clip), we'd be
able to communicate with no problems since we'd only hear our other units and
we still won't be providing significant interference to the other agencies,
especially if they did the same.

With any luck, we'll be on the county's 500 mhz trunked system soon.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
73! de Andy KC2SSB - WPYI880 (GMRS)
Beachwood, NJ USA! Grid FM29vw
http://vhfradiobuff.tripod.com

On 24 Nov 2003 05:03:35 GMT, pamme (VHFRadioBuff) wrote:

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

The reason you hear everything when you pick the mike up is because you are
supposed to listen to everything before transmitting so you can avoid
interfering with other traffic that may already be using the channel.

Dave Head
K8DH

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