These are only suggestions, but they have worked out for us during the last few months of adding
new repeaters and talk groups to our radios.
We have organized them so that we would repeat the channel naming pattern within the Zone from
north to south to make it easy to manually switch from one site to the next…unless you travel east
to west! Roaming makes it easier, of course.
Meanwhile, due to growth, we have shifted most of our daily routine communications to Statewide
Talk Groups NH = 3133, MA=3125, ME=3123 or CT Statewide (SNE) =3109 with Region TG8 for wider area
(ME/NH/VT/MA) short QSOs via 55 repeaters. Use common sense, if there is no activity on statewide
talk groups late at night or mid-day, “ratchet up” to a wider talk group and make a call.
Also for super wide “New England Wide” communications (LI, CT, RI, MA, NH, VT, ME plus
NB) use N-E-W TG # 3181, but keep it short since there are approx. 64 repeaters being keyed. We
have a weekly net on this talk group on Monday nights at 8 PM.
There can easily be 16 “channels” frequently used per repeater site. Also to be considered for
programming, is whether your radio will do 16 channels per Zone or unlimited. The 16 channel limit
is based on the rotary selector knobs. Keypad microphones make direct entry of channels a breeze so
you can QSY in large jumps without changing Zones. If you do have a 16 channel limit, you might
consider creating a “Home Zone” and “Travel Zones”.
The “Home Zone” would have your local repeater, where you spend most of your time, frequency,
color code and ALL Talk Groups you might use through it, e.g. SIMPLEX, LOCAL, STATE, REGION NORTH,
NEW ENG WIDE, NORTHEAST, NA, WW, WWEnglish, Parrot, TAC310, TAC311, UA113, UA123, NETAC1, NETAC2.
The Travel Zones would make it easy for you (without a roaming option) to switch your QSO from one
geographic site to another, on the SAME TALK GROUP, e.g. SHAP RGN, CHSTR RGN, BOS RGN, SOBO RGN.
Each site just one click away during your travel with continuity on the same TG. Each TG would be
in a different Zone. See attached chart. If you need help, check the sample code plugs in the
Downloads section of this website.
Please note, there are many more TGs available on all NEDECN sites, but they are more for
special use. Check with K1JC, KM3T or NE1B to verify the current configuration. There also may be
Regional Special Events throughout the year. See the “Talk Group Databases” on the
DMR-MARC site under “Member Toolbox” for a complete listing of possibilities.