FLock/TXLock settings & NOAA Radio (FLock exception, allow TXLock when in plan?)

[radioraheem]

Hello! Quick question: I noticed my radio will transmit on NOAA radio frequencies, and obviously I would like to disable that ability. I tried to set the transmit lock to on, but it won't let me change it because it says it's covered by my FLock setting.

Is there a way to make a channel exception to transmit lock a channel that is within the FLock setting? I tried setting duplex to Off (works on some other radios) but it still allows me to transmit.

I'm using the latest release firmware and the latest chirp driver. I tried resetting my radio and re-uploading my programming but it didn't change anything (didn't really expect it to, but worth a shot, due diligence and all that).

Thanks in advance for any advice!

[armel]

Hello,

Thank you for this message.
Which FLock plan do you use? DEFAULT+ or may be UNLOCK ALL ?
The solution is probably to choose a tighter FLock plan, then possibly open a few frequencies with TXLock.

Armel.

[armel]

Ok, thank you.

Well, according to me, the GMRS spectrum is broken up into 22 channels, which are shared with FRS, with 8 additional repeater channels (15R-22R) that are exclusive to GMRS and may only be used by licensed GMRS operators.

So yes, I confirm, good practice is to use a more restrictive FLock frequency plan. Next, memorize the 22 + 8 GRMS/FRS channels and open an exception on these channels by setting TXLock to OFF on each channel.

I remind you that you can select a block of memory channels from Chirp and change an attribute on all these channels, with just a few clicks. So trust me, it's quick and simple to do :)

Regards,

Armel.

[radioraheem]

@armel Thank you for the input. So I changed my FLock plan to FCC HAM (144-148, 420-450). Results are interesting, and I've made no other changes to my existing programming/saved channels. As soon as I made that change the NOAA weather stations are now locked (yay!), but otherwise the rest of my saved channels are allowing transmit without me having to set them to TLock Off.

Not sure if that's expected behavior or not, but just wanted to let you know.

It would be great if there was a blacklist type of option for TLock that allows for locking frequencies within the unlocked band plan. Maybe in the future!

Thanks again for your help!

[armel]

@radioraheem Hi 😁 Thank you for your reply. That's very interesting. In fact, the blacklist system already exists. It's the choice of frequency plan that you make from FLock. In your case, if you're an amateur radio operator (with a callsign), you were right to choose FCC HAM. But if you're not, you should have chosen DISABLE ALL. In this case, you would have been able to transmit ONLY on frequencies for which TXLock would have been set to OFF, without risking being able to transmit on frequencies 144-148 MHz and 420-450 MHz (covered by FCC HAM plan) 😉

[radioraheem]

@armel Excellent points! I'll go with your suggestion, because I have some local ham repeaters programmed for listening but I want to TLock them, so this range is causing the same problem for me just with different saved channels :)

No worries though, Disable All sounds like the right path forward. Thanks again for your help!

[armel]

@radioraheem You're welcome 😉