All Activity

Pick up a used Xpr 6550 for $125-200 bucks and assign what you need to zones, and just turn on/off your zones from the front panel.

I thought Everyone had a IMEI Catcher these days ?

As I see it, the biggest advantage to a repeater in your situation would be so anyone with a GMRS license could get out a message to everyone whether GMRS or FRS due to the repeater's power and (hopefully) elevation. As I commented in my previous post, you could accomplish the same thing with a good base unit, but it would have to be monitored, and you might have to relay something from a lower-powered unit. GMRS is not intended for "broadcasting", but as I read the rules, transmitting a warning message (i.e; "The NWS has issued a tornado warning for our area." or "There's a fire southwest of us moving our way.") would be perfectly permissible.

That's probably true, but I think I'd install a base unit with an antenna as high as I could get it. There may be some fringe areas where users can communicate with the base but can't necessarily reach all the other people in the neighborhood. For general announcements, it would be nice to have a unit that you know can reach everyone.

There shouldn't be any in the firmware. I hate release notes that say "here's 2 new features and we fixed some other stuff". If you look at the V33 release notes, it covers everything, including stuff most users will never see (like fixing the diagnostic screen you get if you hold "8" while powering-on). There are some manufacturing keypress combos, and I know some, but not all of them (and can't tell). In the CPS, what you see is what's there. The only "secret" (which I've previously mentioned) is that 1.2.5m will eventually (1-2 months after the BTECH release) become available in my "Modified UV-17 Pro GPS (and similar models)" CPS, and will include BF-F8HP Pro support along with all of the other models. It won't have the BTECH branding or the BTECH-exclusive features like the firmware update utility. The most recent UV-17/"Generic" release was 1.2.5k (1.25l was for the BF-F8HP Pro only) and you can get it here.

Thank you! Duration of scan in progress is perfect! Thank you for the details. Even if no future access/change, that info better helps me understand what's going on "behind the scenes". Yep... currently doing things that way and I don't mind. But probably appears overcomplicated to Baofeng newcomers.

How many "undocumented" features will be in it?

Be a gas to ragchew with U OM! I did some of the WPX last weekend. I know I'll never have a massive score, but mine do help the Club which consistently does very well in most. During the CQWW DX this last time, got to hear one of the premier contest station's operators say "shit, shit, shit..." on the air when his logging software took a dump on him mid pileup. I contest to help the club score big, work that rare DX, aometimes just to operate a mode I don't normally get a chance to. RTTY for one as it's been a favorite since my Army days, but no one wants to QSO on rtty anymore it seems!

Look at the Kenwood TK-3170, but only 128 channels and 128 zones. It also has Part 95 certification. I carry one of these around for UHF Ham and GMRS. It uses the typical K1 type plug, like most or the Chinese radios use, for programming and speaker mic accessories. https://forums.mygmrs.com/gallery/image/263-tk-3170jpg/?context=new

Since you're talking about receiving and not transmitting (the BF-F8HP Pro is not type approved for Tx on GMRS - it's an amateur licensed hand-held)... Wait for the next release of the BF-F8HP Pro firmware. I can't say when it will happen, other than "probably this month". Then look on the BTECH web site for highlights in the new firmware, or download the "Firmware update bundle" which has the firmware, quick installation instructions, and a detailed list of changes in each firmware version.

I'm glad you found it informative/helpful. I think I'm likely the only programming software author on here, except perhaps the CHIRP folks. I can't tell you what will be in future firmware, sometimes because I have beta firmware but am under a non-disclosure agreement or because I don't have a specific firmware yet and sometimes there are surprises. I'm a contractor to BTECH for the CPS, firmware features/testing, and reviewing ad copy among a few other things, not an employee, so there can be ideas floated within BTECH that I only hear about when I see new firmware with them. With that out of the way, I can say that you will get one of the things you asked for in the next public firmware release. To address some of your other points: 1) I'll add it to the feature request list. For technical reasons, it will likely only be for the duration of the scan in progress, not until the next power cycle. 2) Answered above. 3&4) There are 10 levels in the radio. The radio just offers "every other one" because there isn't much difference between steps. The VHF table is currently 0, 16, 18, 20, 22, 24, 26, 28, 30, 32. These can be adjusted, but they live in the "calibration area" and we'd rather not access that with the CPS. There's too much other stuff nearby that the CPS would have to re-write that is radio-specific as tuned by the factory. Don't hold your breath, but some sort of unsupported utility might eventually appear. 5) This is very unlikely to appear in the CPS. However, you can write a radio with CHIRP and read it back with the CPS, or vice versa. So pick which one does a particular job best. CHIRP manages the regular settings for a huge number of radio models, while the CPS is specific to the BF-F8HP Pro and supports all of the other radio features - startup picture, voices, firmware updates, and so on.

That is awesome to hear. Maybe I’ll use some gmrs repeaters more often hearing your pov and knowing you actually want to promote the use of the Johnstown one. I’ll see if I can hit it reliably on my drive home from work today!! And I wasn’t being rude about the “guys who build big repeaters comment”….. if it came across that way(?).

Anything commercial from Harris/Motorola/Kenwood TK-3140 has Part 95 approval and can do multiple zones up to 250 total channels. You likely won't find anything in the cheaper chinese radio market.

I'm looking for a HT that has scannable banks or groups if you will. My AR-5rm allows me to select which channels I want to scan, usually programmed by CHIRP. However, it's not convenient to change which ones to scan out in the "field". I would like something that has multiple groups or banks that I can set to scan on the fly. Like, if I'm scanning all channels on bank 1, then decide to scan bank 2 instead, I could easily switch with a button push or two. I'm sure something like that has to exist. I'm just not having much luck finding one in my searches. Does anyone here have a recommendation?

Not a Sears, but for some reason Uniden comes to mind. For quite a few years mine sat on a shelf in the garage. It finally went during one of my clean outs.

I’m not hamming today, but I’d be delighted to add you to the list!

You forgot meeee! Up here in the ultra rare grid square of EN34lx 73 de N0TXW

Stop fantasizing...

Wow buy the topic head line “Closet Tales”I was figuring this was going to be a thread about what that weird guy that calls him self a queen does in the closet.

Welcome to the forums!!

anyone have one of these stashed in their closet or attic

That left hand reveals the Alien inside...

Thanks for confirming this. The radio with out trying Bluetooth is junk but try to add Bluetooth and it’s a whole new level of trash can. 2 people I know purchased this radio and had the exact same findings. I messed with them for a few hours and this is exactly what happened to me. The very next day they got sent back. They instead picked up some uv9 radios for less money with all the accessories and 771 antennas. . Hooked them up to chirp and had them hitting repeaters 60miles away and 40mile simplex within 15min out of the box. Some times simple is best. Keep It Simple

Thanks. That's good to know.

I received the RT900BT yesterday afternoon from Amazon --- I am returning it today. Total Pass. The radio ( in its present version) is just not worth the frustration IMHO. I have seen enough issues develop in 8 hours that I will NOT accept a replacement. I must have received the RT900BT Head Scratching Version. So much frustration compared to my other HT models and brands. If I thought I just had received a bad radio I would simply exchange it and keep testing. That is not the verdict. Upon arrival, all the packaging and contents were in excellent condition. I read the entire limited documentation, and I scrolled through the radio's menu --checking the factory settings, while using the radio's keypad. Seemed easy enough. Small but a good-looking radio. Seems well-built and has USB C charging. Base not included. However, over the next 8 hours, I worked to establish communication with this radio. Man-O-Man. Lots of head scratching, re-reading, searching online, etc., etc.. So, I re-installed the Radtel BT900BT 10 times onto my Samsung phone. We have a failure to communicate. The manual is limited but does indicate that the radio has Bluetooth--zero other tips. The website was of little help as zero tips/troubleshooting were found. Note: I did not chat with the factory as it was after hours. Online search results/help on YouTube and forums are still limited for this updated model. Most of the comments that I found did not work as described/or for me. My Overall Findings: Bluetooth for the RT900BT is possible, but only when my Samsung phone is configured with Location and GPS fully open/ active with all Bluetooth connectivity options set to the widest possibilities, and I allowed unverified programs complete access to the phone. Okay, so opening the phone wide-open == gained communication between the phone and the walkie-talkie via BT. Okay, progress. Thanks to a UK forum member. Note: Do not expect the QR code on the manual to work. It does not. The Bluetooth App (mine is finally communicating) seems like a puzzle at times: The BT App is poorly explained --- even on the App itself. Furthermore, once you actually arrive at their version of a code plug, you will find that the 3 tabs of fields/ terms differ from the paper documentation. Ample time is needed to match up function terms with keypad menu functions. Not easy. Radtel could have made life so much easier if they had simply included the function line number (the function line number in the paper document that matches the radio function menu) into the 3 pages/tabs being used in the code plug programming. That simple effort would have made matching differing terms so much faster during test programming. Once actually inside the code plug, you will create a code plug of your work, save it, and write /upload pieces and parts to your radio. However, Not All Of Your Saved Choices Ever Really Make It To The Radio! A Quick Example: the side button options--- They don't work after you have programmed them. You keep changing/saving/re-uploading your options, but they do not change the radio settings. You try again, to manually program on the keypad/ then test= okay/ and then read the radio/ save that / and then re-upload back to the radio= Failure to stay programmed as desired. In addition, some radio settings would magically revert to "other" settings, i.e., the radio wants to transmit Scramble Mode ---even though the code plug shows Scramble mode is set to OFF. The radio displays AM when I do not want AM. I also question why I can't keep UHF chosen in the code plug. The App simply requires a lot of extra effort to hopefully make these errors stop happening. Why? Chirp is still not available for any RT900 model unless you use developer mode. To do that, you must find and install a beta module for the RT900BT radio while in Developer mode. I installed the beta module just to see if the RT900 would show up and it did. However, I was never able to establish a FULL two-way cable connection with the radio and Chirp timed out repeatedly. Radtel has several drivers for a cable connection on their website. I tried them all with multiple (otherwise good)vendor cables. Zero connectivity. I was expecting this radio to arrive with the latest firmware pre-installed. It sure didn't. So my final effort was to try to upload and install the latest firmware. Besides opening up more channels, I was hopeful that the radio might program and operate better with updated Firmware. The website shows several Firmware updates describing bug fixes for this BT model. However, once again, updating the Firmware was a problem. The downloads are in RAR format. I tried several RAR extractors to unzip these updates. Lots of WARNINGS to not download files. I downloaded numerous files and extracted them, but the Bluetooth App failed to read them/install them to the radio. Bluetooth app stated file component failures. My Ratings /final thoughts: Because the website updates are using RAR formatting and I can't easily get these updates to work, because the radio performed poorly in my TX/RX testing--(sounded weak, had speaker issues, AM issues, Scramble issues, manual programming issues, because the Bluetooth APP code plug is just simply problematic, because the manual and website lack troubleshooting tips for this model, and because the radio seems to have a mind of its own as described= I am at a near total loss of confidence in this model as currently offered and supported. I am not interested in an HT that I can't program except with the keypad, and that I may never be able to easily update Firmware, or use Chirp with easily and straightforwardly. Final rating: D-