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Maybe i am a wierdo... but i purchased a used anytone off ebay a few months back, and it had a calk sign programmed into it for the boot screen, i looked it up and the gentleman had passed away early this year, and he had a lot of similarities in life to myself and my wife..... i kept that call sign programmed in, in memorium of him. I never met the guy but i can tell you if i id did, we would likely have been great friends... i like to think he might be watching over me as sort of a "silent Elmer"... Like i said.... maybe i am a wierdo....

yes, that was my mistake: I had assumed that the used testing unit they sent me was, actually, really tested. My bad. I will learn that lesson!

Exactly! So, for context, the first KG-Q10G I ordered had a defective GPS receiver. When I contacted BuyTwoWayRadios (not BetterSafeRadio!) they told me that they could not exchange the unit because they were sold out. They offered to send me a used unit which was given to them by Wouxun to test. I agreed. Tried the GPS - it was slow (not a real GNSS chip) and had a pretty bad design, but I did not really care. What I did not do is double-triple-check that the Channel Wizard did work properly. I got no error messages of any kind. However, much later, I did notice that for some reason, I could not hit some repeaters. So I sat down and tested it fully. I found out that others had the same problem, so I found a workaround: use the Wizard as indicated, then manually fix the frequency. I worked in IT long enough to know that code does not degrade over time, at least not by itself and for no reason. So I contacted BTWR again and asked them about it, and they told me that they never heard of any issues with the wizard and offered me to send them the radio for testing. That is when I told them that my model was already an exchange of a new for an old one. They replied "Oh that's interesting. Can you provide me that order number?" and when I did and suggested either an exchange or a rebate for my purchase of a brand new one. Why? 1) because that code error was not due to time passing, it was always there, I just spotted it too late and 2) I can still use the KG-Q10G even with a buggy wizard. Their reply was simply "there ain't nothing we can do, it is out of warranty". I had mistakenly assumed that finding out that the radio I had was a used radio sold to me for the full price, that would entice them to try a tiny bit harder. Instead it showed them the out of warranty date and they were done with that. I was naive, I admit. Now here is why I decided to ditch them: I did not demand or expect a new unit, and certainly not for free. But I did think that since they sent me a used unit to begin with (and sold me a defective unit originally) they would provide at least some kind of support. That is, after all, why BuyTwoWayRadios are advertised as "we are in Murica!! We offer Murican customer support, not that frustrating Chinese one!". LOL! You put it best (even if you confused the sellers): BTWR are "just a vendor" for a Chinese product. They offer exactly ZERO extra value. Once the Chinese warranty is done, so are these good Murican boys. That is my problem with them. That attitude. Some may like it. I don't have to! By the way, I had a similar problem with a Meshtastic device from Rokland and they immediately agreed to giving me a rebate for the purchase of new gear (by that time, mine was also out of warranty). So there are sellers out there which give you true extra value. And since I get go to BSR or another US seller (or even order from China or any other country, I have done that many times), I am happy with the outcome: I have a workaround and plenty of sellers to go to in the future. And if some "sad posters" think that a condescending tone is a substitute for expertise or if they think that BTWR does a stellar job giving us extra value, by all means, enjoy! From now on their "insightful comments" will go to my /dev/null I cannot say that this thread has been great fun, so I think that I am done, let the "sad posters" keep share their immense wisdom with anybody but me! Cheers

As I read this thread, I'm now trying to figure out which issue is causing the burr under the saddle. The product(s) or the product support? I'm a simple guy, but it seems to me that unless extra $ was paid to a reseller for some level of warranty beyond what the manufacturer offers, you cannot expect the reseller to do much of anything! Now, for the sake of trying to cultivate some future business maybe the reseller could be a little helpful and talk to you or try to walk you through the setup to rule out operator error, and that would be nice, but that is not a responsibility on their part. You certainly cannot expect a reseller to fix or replace a product for free. Then there is the product itself not being of the quality you want or expect. If product quality is the issue, then it really doesn't matter which reseller you go thru for the purchase. For me, the lesson here is that when you buy a new product, you need to take the time to put it thru its paces and identify issues within the warranty period or forever hold your piece.... Almost everything will fail eventually, and I've thrown away my share of failed equipment over the years. That is just the way it is....

I am new to the group. Curious if anyone is using the RT97L yet and what are your thoughts on it? Thanks!

This is correct. Anyone can send a message through the Hams. We do it al the time. It's our #1 task with ARES.

yes, I figured you might but, no worries, you will get more radios to review from them, you've definitely earned it! thank God for the "ignore" option

I don’t think you have to be a ham to use the NTS. You just need to know hams who can help you use NTS.

I looked it up but I am still confused.

yes, you missing the fact that you are arguing against a strawman (look it up).

No you are not. One shouldn't expect a manufacturer or reseller to replace a defective product after any and all warranties have expired. I don't know of any manufacturer or reseller of any consumer products that will replace or fix (free of charge) any product after the warranty has expired.

Am I the only one thinking it's weird/irrational that the OP expects warranty support from a vender when the product is no longer under warranty and will angrily boycott that vender when denied free out-of-warranty support? or, maybe i'm just missing something?

BSR is just a vender for the Wouxun product. His warrantee options are based on what the manufacture supports for their products. My very first Wouxun KG935G i bought developed a dirty volume control potentiometer 2 months after the warrantee expired. Like you, i contacted the vendor i purchased from, (BuyTwoWayRadios) hoping for some leniency on the warranty but no luck.. They said the manufacture would not support a replacement.. But they did give me some tips how to correct the problem with simple contact cleaners, it worked and I'm happy.

Thanks for the info, i am getting close to being confident in passing the technician license, so thats one step closer, but my wife isnt too excited about being a "radio dork"....LOL i would likely have better luck trying to skip 11m to her truck cb than getting her to get any sort of ham ticket...

There’s always the National Traffic System. https://www.arrl.org/nts Volunteers relay messages from point to point every day. It doesn’t get much use these days but we have a daily net designed to accept and deliver traffic. There’s also WinLink, which many of us use and which works like email for hams.

Well what the hell, I’ll jump in. I had a very good experience with BTWR customer service. I had a KG-Q10H and the last call icon didn’t work. I sent it back to them and they replaced it. They were pleasant and quick, my replacement was in the mail before I knew they received the one I sent back. They treated me great! The warranty is good for a year. I feel if you’re going to have an issue it’s likely going to show up before the warranty expires. At least this has been my experience. As for my Wouxun radios I have six, three or four are out warranty and continue to work.

Yeah, thats the sort of thing that actually got me looking into radios, was the rapid radios ads on my local talk radio, thinking hmmm... that could come in very handy having long range comms for an emergency....but then find out that they all use LTE, so its kinda pointless in a situation where a cell phone wouldnt work.... for context on this, my wife is an over the road trucker, so having long distance comms for us is vital.... especially considering that any given truck load that she hauls "could" put her right in the path of a blizzard, hurricane or tornado... Still havent found a viable/reliable setup past cell phones for these types of situations unfortunately...

I can’t speak for the Admiral, but to me choosing “Scan for Tones” from the menu seems automatic. I don’t know how much more automatic it could be.

Can't argue with an Admiral!

For GMRS... 100% agree.

CW - "Continuous Wave" - Basically... Morse code

I get those all the time, I usually just "X" them out.

I was joking with the digital mode thing since they said "off-grid communications" (although Rapid Consulting's "nationwide radio" uses LTE which does feel like cheating), but on the topic - I've talked to a couple of local hams on a club repeater and they were all about it. It's not their main thing, but they had lots of recommendations if I ever wanted to get into it. Seems like there's quite a few Fusion repeaters around here but they also told me I could just set up a Pi Star hotspot and run whatever I wanted.

Well, you can always get you one of these..

I agree, but I don't see another way to remain within GMRS, unless you use two antennas and mount them like a dipole and only use 1/2W. I have a trunked P25 P1 "site" in my living room where the CC is 0.05MHz below the VC, RX antennas are pointed up, and TX antennas are left and right away from each other. Works well, but it's only putting out 0.1W. In theory, its a $7+M idea that would likely just become space junk before it is used.