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I am using a DTCS tone (431 NN) on GMRS channel 22. I have this programmed into several Baofeng UV-5G Plus handheld radios as well as 2 Wouxun KG-1000G Plus mobile radios and a BTECH GMRS-50V2 mobile radio. More than half the time it works as expected but quite a few times the receiving radio shows an incoming signal (receive light comes on) but no audio. Sometimes the receive light doesn't even come on. This happens at varying distances (20', 500', 1/4 mile, 15 miles) and various power settings in different locations around my area. When not using the tones, it works flawlessly, we just have to put up with noise breaking through even at fairly high squelch settings. I chose DTCS after reading about it being the newer technology and having more tones to choose from but am curious if using a CTCSS tone would yield better results. Any constructive input would be appreciated.

right at this moment, I'm running about 130' LMR 400, lightning protected and my repeater talks 100+ miles every day. Everyone that uses it is happy, There is no need to throw anymore money at it. Which would be a good chunk of change if i did. I did go through an ordeal with Antennas, I now have that sorted out and back in business. Sharing my experience, hopefully people can benefit from that.

I know a couple of people that have them and had no problems I'm hoping I just got a lemon. I've never seen a bad review on the radio I'll find out when the ne radio arrives.

The price difference between LMR400 and 1/2" Heliax isn't really that large. The dB loss between the two is pretty significant. Going up to 7/8" is a big jump in price and the gain in signal isn't that huge in shorter runs. But pretty significant when distances grow.

you are welcome to use whatever you want, its your money.. I can tell you i have operated repeaters in the spec range i specified and had no problems talking over a range of 100+ miles. I've had more issues with Antennas effecting my range than the coax and length. Just my two cents.

The maximum run of LMR400 I am willing to use on 70cm or GMRS is 100 feet. And you definitely have more loss once you get to 80 feet or more. I kept the LMR400 run to my base GMRS antenna at 35 feet and 80 feet for my dual band antenna. Just personal opinion here. But if I had a run that was over 100 feet between a GMRS repeater and its antenna(s) then I would look at using 7/8 hard line. there is not a whole lot of difference between LMR400, 1/2 heliax, and 7/8" heliax when talking about 50 feet or less. But there is a definite difference once you get to 100 feet or more, especially once you go up to 7/8" heliax.

I have an RT97 repeater and had the same issue initially (continued static after transmitting to it from one of my radios). I had to change a setting in the "Function Setup" portion of the software. I believe that I had to turn Tail Tone Eliminate to "ON". I never had any issues after that. I did increase the Squelch Level to 4 initially then eventually to 5. Other than programming the frequencies and tones that I wanted, those were the only changes that I made.

As far as I can tell, most FRS radios come with tones already set. That's how they advertise them as having "64 channels" or whatever the mierro de toro of the day is. As Alec said, most people are absolutely clueless about them. Odds are that almost nobody on an FRS radio will hear you unless you intentionally coordinate it with them. GMRS users seem to be more likely to operate without tones set when on simplex, but even so, groups tend to set tones to avoid having to listen to a bunch of other people.

A close friend of mine who I talk to regularly on gmrs has two v2 50 watt btecs. Both work perfectly and sound amazing on my end. He’s only going on 3 months of use but they have been good radios for him. Ymmv.

If you are running a base station, simplex or repeater communication I'd say that might be so. But if you are running a repeater I wouldn't go much more than 50' with LMR400. Plus the dissimilar metals in the coax can cause issues long term. I'd use 1/2" Heliax minimum for a repeater for the whole run and when it got farther than 125' I'd switch over to 7/8" or larger.

I've never made a random contact on simplex. You just aren't reaching enough people. It's extremely useful for communication with people you know, family groups, etc., though.

It was in my truck with red wire going to positive terminal on battery and black wire to ground on truck frame which comes straight from battery.

I think you may have burnt out your transmitter on the radio if you're using a home power supply you might want to check the amp on the power supply. What may have happened is that you're putting in too much power into the transmitter than it was meant for, so it burnt it out

Has anyone had any troubles such as the radio quits transmitting and a burnt smell emitting from it no smoke but still receives ? I had mine a day shy of a week and this happened I contacted support and they are sending me another radio. I haven't seen any negative reviews about the radio and had planned on getting another to use as a base station but now a little skeptical about it. If anyone knows if these radios have constant problems like this please let me know. Thanks,WSEK643

Wow really!!! All he did was asking to confirm the rules that's all. If you had to do that I rather you didn't answer or give your 2 cents worth

Maybe so, but to get the higher flow rate in the 1/2" pipe your pump will require more power to overcome the resistance of the smaller pipe. Resistance goes up and so does the pressure. No matter how all of this interact with each other, it's not the best and most efficient way to put the same amount of whatever to it's destination.

if you are running a 40-50 W Repeater and your antenna is within 150-200', go with LMR 400. If you are pushing over 200' then consider Heliax Coax. With the latter, be prepared to shell out a lot of money, coax, connectors, tools etc.......

Not exactly true. In order to pump the same amount of water you need to increase the flow rate through the 1/2" pipe. As you do this the friction loss increases and eventually regardless of how high the pressure the flow rate will actually decrease.

I use a Pecron E1500LFP for this, and also as AC backup power for the fridge and freezer. It has a 12VDC "cigarette lighter" socket, but it also comes with a cable that has alligator clamps to attach to your 12-volt power leads. For AC power it can be used as a UPS, if you so desire. PECRON E1500LFP Expandable Portable Power Station There are larger and smaller models available. Portable Power Station

There's an option in signalling that is CSQ that I think will run no tone. But I think it's global. I can't see a way to do no tone.

Okay, I can live with that. I have other radios. However, I definitely want to be able to program 8 repeater pairs with tones and 8 without, but my program doesn't have any option for "no tone". It has CTCSS, DTCS, and inverse DTCS in the dropdown menu. No "none' or blank space. I'm away from home right now, but I'll email BTech when I get home and see if I can get it clarified.

Supposedly, you can enter a bunch of frequencies to scan but not transmit. Not that I really need it, but if it's supposed to do that, I'd like to know why mine won't. Mainly, I want to have one set of 8 repeater pairs with tones and one set without. For some reason, the software I have won't let me enter a repeater pair with no tone set. That seems to me to be a major flaw.

Good to hear. Wonder if some of those other USB ports were USB2 instead of USB3? 9or if that even matters) but glad to hear you have it working.

Oh hell no! BTECH =

So I went through every single port I had (6 on hub, 4 on back of PC, 4 on front of PC) with 4 different USB cable. 45 minutes later I've identified 2 cables that work with 2 different USB ports. Yes, one cable works on one port but no others and another cable works on another port but on no others. Can't make this stuff up. What the actual... I'm hoping the TD cable I've got coming in will work with any port. Anyways, it *seems* to be working with CHIRP now and has increased my grey hair count by several dozen. Geeze I hate debugging. Thanks for everyone's input.