Communications ...***

[p238shooter]

Try tuning to the local NOAA WX continuous broadcast frequency to see if you can hear it. Most Ham equipment will receive way above and below the ham bands. Might look the frequency up on the internet. Tulsa is 162.55 and can be heard for a 50 mile radius, do not know what OKC one is, but it will be pretty close to it in the 162.XX range. It will be transmitting 24/7.

Kind of a basic question, but did you have the squelch just off the open fuzz level? Might make a difference if you are in a low signal area and it might not be breaking the squelch set point. I would think you should have a good signal at your location if I am visualizing it correctly.

Do you have the receive PL Tones set to off? If you have it ON it will not break the squelch unless it hears a specific tone in the background which that repeater most likely does not have.

All I can think of right now. I am east of Tulsa, so cant give much additional help. Let us know what you find out.

Good Luck

 

[Poke78]

This is what I was getting at. I just wanted to see if I could pick up someone that I was for sure was broadcasting on a certain frequency at a certain time so I knew if it was my radio or me that had the problem.

I live at May and I-44, and I set my frequency to the one that was listed and then waited for it to kick in. It never did.

If I were in OKC, I'd be glad to be more helpful than I can be over the forum. Your location puts you in the middle of plenty of signals, if they are there and your radio is functioning correctly. Here are some other repeaters you can enter: 145.41 (good one for severe weather), 146.67, 147.03, 147.135, 442.85 (Bethany), 444.225 (also good for weather).

Good luck - hope you can get connected to a ham in OKC that can provide direct assistance.

ETA: p238 shooter's advice above is solid and should be implemented, too.

 

[Jestik]

All I need to do is set my radio to that frequency and that is it right? I don't need any hocus pocus or anything else?

Sent from my SPH-L900 using Tapatalk

 

[Poke78]

All I need to do is set my radio to that frequency and that is it right? I don't need any hocus pocus or anything else?

Sent from my SPH-L900 using Tapatalk

Also check the parameters mentioned in p238's post about squelch level and that the tone coding is turned off. The OKC weather transmitter is on 162.400 and broadcasts continuously. It's on the Channel 4 tower at Britton Rd and Broadway so you should receive it with no problem.

 

[Jestik]

Ok, I tried all of the frequencies and the only one that I heard anything on was the Oklahoma NOAA weather channel at frequency 162.400.

All the others was just static. My squelch had been at "5" on a scale of 1 to 10. I moved it down to 1, still nothing.

Also, I can enter XXX.XXX digits. Alot of the ones you guys give me at XXX.XX digits. Does that digit matter?

 

[uncle money bags]

I've got a handheld CB radio...a Baofeng UV-5R to be exact. Here are the specs on it:



25KHz/12.5KHz Switchable
Channel Step: 2.5/5/6.25/10/12.5/25KHz
Frequency Range: 136-174 / 400-480MHz
128 Channels 50 CTCSS and 104 CDCSS
Dual-Band Display, Dual Freq. Display, Dual-Standby

I've got no clue on how to use it, and I mostly just use it as an FM Radio, which it is awesome at. I'd love to get to use it, but I am not licensed at all.

I also have a handheld Midland CB radio that has really crappy range.

Here is some info that will keep you busy for a while. It was very helpful when I set up my UV5R's.

For the UV5R specifically:
http://www.miklor.com/uv5r/





Repeater info:
http://oklahomarepeatersociety.org/repeaters

http://www.repeaterbook.com/repeaters/index.php?state_id=40

 

[Jestik]

Forget it guys. At this point, I'd rather shoot the ****ing thing. It is however the best FM radio I have ever used.

 

[Blitzfike]

It was in the 70's, but our site commander had a license and we operated a MARS station. We were in the shithole far east, and at that time Al Gore had not invented the internet. A phone call across the undersea cables was $60 a minute.

At least we got to talk to family with thousands listening. LOL.

It was good.

Dennis, I worked AI8AB a MARS Station at Bien Hoa Air Base in 1968-69 when I could get there. We handled many dozens of phone patches for service personnel there back to the loved ones at home. I will be forever grateful for Senator Goldwater providing phone patches at no cost to the GIs. He absorbed the long distance phone charges from his Arizona station to anywhere in the US. His Ham call if I remember correctly was K7UGA, but I don't remember his Mars call sign.

 

[cowmugger]

Thanks p238shooter and everyone. Wife and I passed Tech. 10yr old and 8 yr old gave it a great try. More studying with them will benefit all of us.

 

[p238shooter]

Congratulations to you and your wife and welcome to the world of Amateur Radio. You will have a few weeks waiting for your test results to be processed by the FCC before you are assigned a call sign. There is a FCC web site link that will post your license on the day they assign it to be mailed to you. You can print a copy of the license from that FCC site as soon as it is assigned and you are good to go. It gets to be a long wait like waiting for your Carry License, and not good to have to wait on the US Mail.

Your 10 year old just missing the mark 2 questions shows he is almost ready. He most likely has not taken a test like this before. There are test sessions given every few weeks or at least monthly in the Tulsa area by various ham clubs. We can find out when the next test sessions might be tomorrow and with a little more studying, hopefully you can get both of them up and running also. It is a neat family hobby.

Nice meeting you and your family. WB5Y Ken and KE5LJF Coralee