We do not know if the FCC is going to continue assist GMRS with complaints. The only activity the PRA currently involves itself in is the occasional enforcement complaint from members and non-members throughout the USA.

Regardless of how you feel about the FCC Riley has done his best for us. Please let him know. I’d be happy to forward your emails to him. Send them to my email address at editor@popularwireless.com subject line: THANK YOU RILEY! and I will send it on.

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Over the last few weeks I’ve tried calling a control operator or repeater owner on this system to no avail and it has no CW ID active when the repeater is active. The repeater I hear is quiet. No users.

Does anyone no where it might be, who the licensee is? I’d like to find unused tones that I can use. In fringe areas I bring up both my repeater and the mystery repeater.

Thanks!

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Since PopularWireless.com has today been plagued with INTERNAL SERVER ERRORS, INTERMINABLE LOAD TIMES, and in general damned poor service, I decided what the heck I’ll try the special 800 number.

What I get is the PHILIPPINES. Network Solutions is based in the USA but I, a valued GOLD VIP PROGRAM MEMBER get support from a third party company in the Philippines. Nothing has changed. Service as usual. They could CARE LESS, as usual.

There is NO dedicated team to resolve the DAY LONG SITE ISSUES that any reputable company of Network Solution’s size would have detected on its own. There is no priority issue handling as claimed because everybody at Network Solutions is at HOME over the weekend. I did not notice ENHANCED on-line account tools either.

It doesn’t matter how loud you yell, or how strong the language is anymore. American companies just no longer give a damn about about service. The one I work for is of course excluded from that broad brush. Just don’t tell me you work for Network Solutions, because if you do I will HANG UP on your sorry self.

The Internal Server Errors experienced today, the LONG LOAD TIMES are all courtesy of NETWORK SOLUTIONS.

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Apparently when you travel to a foreign country INCLUDING CANADA VIA turns off your ATM card. My wife is currently traveling in Toronto and has NO ACCESS TO HER ACCOUNTS.

When I called my BANK, PNC Bank based in Maryland, and D.C. all they could do was tell me to call a VISA 800 number.

This has been going on for TWO DAYS and she has yet to be able to access an ATM there.

This was NEVER a problem beofre and now it apparently is a VERY BIG problem.

I am POISED to take all of my accounts out of my current bank PnC Bank for their INABILITY and UNWILLINGNESS to help my wife access her funds a few hundred miles outside of the USA.

When you travel to Canada be SURE to call VISA AND TAKE AMERICAN EXPRESS. I am calling American Express Gold Card people next!

I am SO TIRED of being treated like SCUM by so-called American businesses. Damn tired.

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Someone somewhere is testing on the same repeater frequency pair used by the repeater owner in Virginia. The person testing is also apparently on the same CTCSS or DCS tone. This is one reason why GMRS licensees that own repeaters should coordinate tones!

Instead of realizing this and just ignoring it or turning his own rarely used repeater off during the tropo event he spends tens of minutes shouting at each and every burst of static announcing the time and date, you’ll never use this repeater, this is my repeater, this is private property go away, ad nauseum. I imagine the greater Eastern US is also listening to him rant.

Other than the obvious silliness of the entire episode from a technical perspective some other points come to mind:

1. GMRS licensees are required to control their repeaters. The other user is bringing up more than one system. The user doing the testing should WAIT and test another day if he detects he is bringing up multiple repeaters. Both repeaters should coordinate tones. The affected Virginia system should shut down.

2. Since the Virginia repeater is rarely used why shouldn’t it be shared and new users encouraged. My repeater in Calvert County, MD is available to any GMRS licensee that wants to use it as long as the GMRS rules are followed. We are going to lose repeaters if don’t stop being so ridiculously territorial and/or restricting allowed users to “members” of an elite service group or club.

3. Based on my personal experience since 1995 the interference could be INPUT interference from commercial pirates or foreign shipping. The latter being more a possibility in DelMarVa. Listen on the input to an affected repeater.

4. GMRS licensees do not own repeater pairs. Our repeater pairs are NOT coordinated so anyone can build a repeater anywhere. We are required by the rules to share and prevent mutual interference.  Shouting at ghosts during tropo is interference. Well after the first time anyway.

5. I wish everyone that owned a repeater had a listed telephone number.

6. There is also a repeater on the same channel with very loud INTERMOD. The owner needs to correct that condition.

Shouting at a mystery user in the static makes you appear comical and doing it during tropo rude. We are NOT going to popularize our service and keep it by shouting anyone down. Even ghosts.

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(Father Leo rocks! Fr. Leo is the Personal Radio Assn’s honorary chaplain. A GMRS licensee from Montana, he likes gadgets and all things radio. I know Fr. Leo is going to be a big fan of the radio room on base. PRA members are encouraged to offer prayers for Fr. Leo on his mission as well as for all of the American service members deployed worldwide. God bless you Air Force Major Fr. Leo!)

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Hams like Yuri do the things most of us can only dream about. We will share the experience vicariously through Yuri’s visit to the rare island group in the Aleutian Islands. As most of Yuri’s customers here at PopularWireless know - Yuri rocks! That being said PopularWireless asked Yuri to spend his next advertising check toward the big event. Yuri is a dealer of ICOM GMRS and Amateur Radio products. His customer service is second to none.

The DX-pedition is being done as an activity of IOTA, a group of interested Hams sponsoring Amateur Radio trips to out of the way islands groups. Operation on shortwave through six meters begins July 31, 2008 and runs until the departure date July 27th.

PopularWireless wishes Yuri and the Hams on this unique trip a safe voyage to and from not to mention a whole of radio contacts with the rest of us Hams!

Please visit the official expedition home page for more information.

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There is no reason for a repeater beacon ID on a GMRS repeater. None.

All these beacon ID’s do is interfere with communications in progress and scream out loud, “This is my channel!” Well it isn’t your channel. It is shared with thousands of other GMRS licensees in your repeater’s footprint. Don’t you think it is about time you killed your beacon ID?

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