Fall Crawl 2023 Discussion Thread - October 27-29

[FuglyYota]

I am unfortunately not able to make it. Family stuff that I need to be part for the weekend. I emailed my formal cancellation to the outlook address in the Fall Crawl page, but posting here to help confirm and hopefully someone sees so my spot can go to someone else.

Email is Geoff.Lawton.1966@gmail.com if any event organizers need to contact me direct. Have fun everyone, hope to join you next year.

 

[Svensk120]

**** MENU CHANGE *****

I have been trying and trying to create an Asian sweet spicy sauce for the kebobs but it isn't working out...
so...
Tereyaki Ground beef with red cabbage in lettuce cups will most likely take its place

you may now go about your normal lives again

 

[CrabCake]

**** MENU CHANGE *****

I have been trying and trying to create an Asian sweet spicy sauce for the kebobs but it isn't working out...
so...
Tereyaki Ground beef with red cabbage in lettuce cups will most likely take its place

you may now go about your normal lives again

I'd enjoy a couple of bites if available...let me know if I can contribute any ingredients or sides...I am in the catering business after all!

Being my first camping outing, and a multi day event, I'm sure I'll bring a lot of crap that I'll never need...

 

[76FJ40]

Here are some tips for your first camping outing:

It's a good time, but not that wild.

 

[davidp14]

The Mickey bombs are pretty damn cool. Plus it comes with a decent chance of someone losing their eyebrows so thats an added bonus.

 

[Jakes40]

I have gotten the new club flat top seasoned. It just needs some hamburgers thrown on it.

 

[Svensk120]

I have gotten the new club flat top seasoned. It just needs some hamburgers thrown on it.
View attachment 3455017

looking forward to it at FC!!

 

[emorth]

Geek Alert!!!
If you have a CLCC Motorola radio, do this:

Copy this chart that shows which CLCC channels on the Motorola radio match the generic GMRS channels.

Paste it into Word and set the size setting to the dimensions shown below (H 1.95 L 1.56 aspect ratio off) and then copy it as many times as you need for your fleet of radios.

Now, remove the radio's battery, borrow you kid's glue stick and paste the chart into the back of the radio. Now, when you meet up with someone on the trail and they say they are on GMRS channel 19 you can remove your battery and look at the chart to see that it is CLCC channel 8, and now you can talk to them.

I will print a couple of pages and bring them to FC.

 

[emorth]

And another Geek Alert!!

If you are using a CLCC Motorola radio and they (generic GMRS radio user) can receive your transmissions but you can't receive their transmissions, it is most likely because they have not activated the coded squelch feature. To fix this, disable the coded squelch on your Motorola radio by pushing the little button above the Push To Talk (PTT) button. When you push the button, the LED will momentarily glow orange and the coded squelch is disabled. Now, your Motorola radio will receive any transmission (within range) on that channel.

OK, one more geek announcement (hopefully the last one), channels 2, 4 & 6 on the CLCC radios are repeater channels. These channels are not usable unless there is a repeater on the air. We will have a repeater on the air at FC. Channel TBD.

 

[davidp14]

Will this work for baofengs too? pHarper programed mine and h8roads radios with the clcc channels already. I assume they will be ready to go.

 

[emorth]

Here is the chirp (programming app) file for the CLCC freqs with the squelch codes. CLCC Radio CHIRP Files – Capital Land Cruiser Club - https://capitallandcruiserclub.com/tech-library/communications-chirp-files/
You can download it and see the freqs and squelch codes.

If the codes are not programmed into your radio they can be added manually using the buttons on the front of the radio.

I suspect you are good to go.

 

[TTViper]

And another Geek Alert!!

If you are using a CLCC Motorola radio and they (generic GMRS radio user) can receive your transmissions but you can't receive their transmissions, it is most likely because they have not activated the coded squelch feature. To fix this, disable the coded squelch on your Motorola radio by pushing the little button above the Push To Talk (PTT) button. When you push the button, the LED will momentarily glow orange and the coded squelch is disabled. Now, your Motorola radio will receive any transmission (within range) on that channel.

View attachment 3455818

OK, one more geek announcement (hopefully the last one), channels 2, 4 & 6 on the CLCC radios are repeater channels. These channels are not usable unless there is a repeater on the air. We will have a repeater on the air at FC. Channel TBD.

Is there a way to disable the coded squelch on the baofengs? This might be why so many of us have trouble getting those to work with the Midlands.

 

[emorth]

To turn off the Boafeng receiver's coded squelch:
Go to Menu:
step #10 R-DCS set to OFF (This is for the digital coded squelch, CLCC channels 3-16)
step #11 R-CTCSS set to OFF ( This is for the tone coded squelch, CLCC channels 1 & 2)

This is from the Baofeng settings list for the UV5R. I think it applies to most Baofengs.
The step numbers may be different but the R-DCS & R-CTCSS should be the same.

R = receiver
DCS = Digital Coded Squelch = (DPL (Digital Private Line) Motorola Trade Name)
CTCSS = Continuous Tone Coded Squelch = (PL (Private Line) Motorola Trade Name)

 

[emorth]

OK, one more TNG (Techno-Nerd-Geek) thought.

Since the Baofengs have an abundance of available channels, how about this?

Program channels 1 - 16 with the CLCC freqs & squelch codes, and
Program channels 115 - 122 with the generic GMRS (Midland) channels 15 - 22 with no squelch codes.
Program channels 25 - 35 with the CLCC freqs/squelch codes that are labeled with both the C (CLCC) and G (GMRS) channel numbers.

The best of all 3 worlds. This is what the North Carolina folks are doing. They have their Midland radios programmed with the same squelch codes as CLCC so channels 25 -31 just make it easy to translate between the CLCC channel numbers and the GMRS channel numbers.

 

[emorth]

Well, it is probably time for the rest of the story. Why do I need to mess with this coded squelch shi stuff??? It is such a PITA!!!!

I have a "base station" radio at my house with an antenna in the attic (are you surprised?). When there is activity on the channel the radio's LED flashes red to tell me the channel is busy so don't transmit and interfere with the ongoing conversation. So, on occasion, when I see the LED flashing I will disable the coded squelch and listen to what is being said on the channel (channel 1 which seems to be the most used channel). During the lunch and dinner rush I hear the drive thru orders at the "My Pleasure" restaurant. I hear the construction workers at the site where Ffx County is building a new building. I hear the kids down the street talking on their Walmart "walkie talkies". Sometimes their conversations are interesting (scary, funny, gross, stupid). And more... I don't have to listen to any of this with the coded squelch enabled. Now, on very rare occasions, I will hear some conversations if someone happens to be passing through the area and they are using the same squelch code. A very, very rare occurrence - once every couple of years. OBTW, GMRS is for family use only. Using GMRS for commercial comms violates the FCC rules and is technically illegal.

So, while coded squelch may not be necessary when you out in the middle of nowhere on a trail ride, it has its benefits when in a populated area. Remember the days of CB radio when you had to listen to everything that was transmitted on your channel?

Part 2: Why are CLCC channels 1 & 2 tone coded squelch and the rest of the channels are digital coded squelch??? Back when CLCC was transitioning (evolving) from CB to GMRS with the Motorola (public safety grade) radios (long before the cheap Baofeng, Midland and Amazon radios were available), some of the older radios did not have the digital (newer, better) coded squelch capability. So channels 1 & 2 were programmed with the old school tone coded squelch so older radios had a way to communicate with the newer radios.

Make sense?

 

[DirtNap]

Thanks for the 'splainer, Ed. The explanation of the tone and digital squelch makes a lot of sense - you don't have to listen to everyone, just those with the same squelch code.
On the flip side, I think the GMRS manufacturers' marketing teams will sometimes refer to DTCS as "privacy codes" which is really a misnomer, right? Meaning, if I am understanding you correctly, they don't prevent anyone from hearing the transmissions if coded squelch is turned off on a receiving radio. Correct? Or put another way, the DTCS doesn't (strictly speaking) subdivide a GMRS channel into independent discrete channels. It just lets you filter out all of the crap (and/or talk over it) and only hear the folks on your particular DTCS. Am I getting this right?

 

[emorth]

Absolutely correct. It is a “privacy” filter to filter out the stuff you don’t want to hear. With the squelch code (DCS/ CTCSS) disabled you will hear whatever is on the channel regardless of whether the transmitter is transmitting a code or not. Your conversation is never “private” from a security/privacy/encryption point of view.

Years ago I went to a Boy Scout camp when my son was a scout. Needless to say, all of our adult leaders in his troop had radios.
So, one night when we were sitting around the campfire I noticed the LED on my radio flashing so I disabled the coded squelch and listened in. Well, it was the Eagle Scouts talking about various activities they were doing/managing for the younger scouts…. Among other things.

As we were leaving camp I happened to see one of the senior Eagle Scouts and asked him if he enjoyed the bourbon and skinny dipping in the lake last night. I thought he was going to have a panic attack.

They thought their radio comms were “private”.

Nope.

 

[Svensk120]

Well Eagle scouts are supposed to always be prepared so kudos for the bourbon! I hope the skinny dipping was done with the Girl Scouts!

 

[Jakes40]

There should be a Chirp file that has all the CLCC, Generic GSMR, PA club, and NY club channels on it.
I believe I have it but the computer got wet and I have not tried to boot it up sense the incident.

 

[Land Shark]

Hey Ed @emorth I copied the .csv file over to chirp and it is a little different than what you have. I am assuming that it is possible the difference in CHIRP versions and or that I am on a MAC and that may be different as well. Can you take look below and let me know if this looks correct? I have not dabbled in the "privacy" side at all over the years. Basically have just kept to the standard Freq's. TIA