drive thru takeover

[theevilmonkee]

I've had a modded Yaesu VX-5r for awhile now and have wanted to try out that old Taco Bell trick.

I tried testing it out the other day.  Using the stock ~7-inch antenna, I pulled up to the Burger King drive thru with my VX-5 set to the frequency that the clerk speaks on.  I knew it was working when I heard "What'll you be ordering today" my radio.  I spoke into my radio, and saw the screen tell my I was transmitting.  But somehow my voice didn't come through to the drive thru speaker.

Is my VX-5 probably messed up or am I doing something wrong?  Does this require a more powerful antenna?  Or maybe a better crystal? (just kidding)

I know the PLA isn't the must knowledgeable crew to ask about this kind of thing, but most radio forums are a bunch of moral, law abiding citizens who'd ban me before even considering to help out.

[rbcp]

You'll need their PL tone for their headsets and drive-thru speaker to hear you.  Just try all the tones until you hit the right one.

Also, many drive-thrus have 2 different frequencies.  If you're receiving on 35.04 MHz, it's unlikely you'll transmit directly there.  You'll need to look up the transmit frequency online.  Most of the drive-thru frequency lists I've used over the years have been really accurate.

[theevilmonkee]

I had no idea about this PL tones thing--that's probably my issue.  It does sound a little cumbersome...scrolling the different tones, selecting one, trying it out, switching to the next one, etc up to 40 times.

As for the "2 frequencies" issue, I think you might be mistaken.  If I'm receiving the drive thru employee's voice on 35.04 MHz, I'm pretty sure that's what I'd transmit on to speak to the customer.  But to speak to the employee, I'd transmit on its paired frequency.  Even though this list is from 1996, it's the most complete one I've found and is surprisingly accurate.

[N01zii]

You guys think it would work with a BaoFeng UV-5R+?

The reason I ask is because I can't find any of the Yaesu radios on Amazon, and I have $125 of credit on there.

I'm pretty new to ham radios and this sounds like fun, I'd love to learn more about them in general.

[theevilmonkee]

You guys think it would work with a BaoFeng UV-5R+?

The reason I ask is because I can't find any of the Yaesu radios on Amazon, and I have $125 of credit on there.

I'm pretty new to ham radios and this sounds like fun, I'd love to learn more about them in general.

I guess so, as long as it's able to transmit on the frequencies it lists (not just receive) and allows PL tones to be set.

Yesterday I finally got around to retrying this at Burger King.  My friend pulled up to the speaker, I had him stall the drive thru person with stupid questions for 2 minutes straight while I (in the back seat) frantically tried all 40 PL tones.  Unfortunately I never heard my voice come through.

Maybe I'm doing something wrong, or maybe it's my antenna, but I have yet to successfully pull this thing off...