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Best of luck getting that figured out!

I have an Aoyue SMT hot air rework station. It works, but it’s big and clunky. The only reason I got it instead of something else was because it was cheap. I mean really cheap.

There are plenty of amateur band radios with removable face plates that can be MARS modded/unlocked to work on GMRS. Some work better than others. Again they will not be Part 95 certified. Some people actually do care about that. And repeater offsets will have to be manually programmed through the radio or using CPS from the manufacturers or CHIRP. None of them will automatically put in the correct repeater offset. I know for a fact that the TYT, Icom, RT Systems and CHIRP software will not automatically input the correct offset for GMRS repeaters on radios that have been unlocked/MARS modded. Yes I have a few that have been modded/unlocked. I can say that the TYT TH-7800 and TH-8600 performs better on GMRS than a modded Icom IC-2730. The Wouxun KG-Q10H does just as well as the KG-Q10G and KG-935G when it comes to hand held radios.

On my 5888UV, i programed and (listened) to GMRS but loved to use it for my HAM contacts. Really great radio it was.

Aaaand.,……..soooo……

An issue with an over priced junker gimmicky woxoun? Really? It’s can’t believe it? time to junk it and buy a good radio or 3 for the price of the 1000

Did BuyTwoWay change something? Just 6 months ago they answered by questions on a Duplexer i needed to get them to re-tune on a Saturday.. With the info they sent I fed X'd them the Duplxer first thing on a Monday mornning and i had it back in my hands the follwing Monday..

How are those compared to Weller and Hako soldering stations? I know those two are pretty much the go to for most hobbyists and repair shops that only use a soldering station occasionally.

You probably jinxed yourself. I haven't figured it out. sometimes I can get into poison ivy and ok and I won't break out, other times I get rashes from head to toe. Last time I had poison ivy I had to sleep with a long sleeve shirt, sleeping pants and socks on. I kept spreading it in my sleep from it being on the sheets. Nothing like having to wash bed sheets daily and basically take a bath in calamine lotion. I've been in contact with poison ivy sine then and did not break out. You just never know.

By the sounds of it, there is definitely a bug in the channel wizard. You aren't the first one to have issues when using the channel wizard. Definitely see what Buy Two Radios has to say. In the mean time just manually program through the radio or with the programming software since both of those methods work.

The old PRC25 and PRC77 man portable radios and the vehicle mounted radios all used from 30 MhZ to 70 MHz divided into Low and High. Low was from 30 MHz to 50 MHz and high was from 51 MHz to 70 MHz. SINCGARS uses from 30 MHz to 88 MHz and each transmission will use many different frequencies since the SINCGARS is designed to frequency hop so many time per second. And even if the military does not use 30-88 MHz all of the time, they still have priority over everyone else on those frequencies. Amateur radio, CB, MURS, GMRS users are all secondary. And the lower VHF frequencies aren't the only ones used often. The Air Force uses the 70cm band for radar. You won't find any amateur 70cm repeaters allowed near any major air base for that reason. And hearing military aircraft on 49 MHZ is normal since that falls within what the military uses. The air force has also used other amateur bands for air to air and air to ground coms. I had totally forgotten about the 49 MHz phones and such. I do remember as a kid that I would always grab the 49 MHz remote control cars and make my brothers use the 27 MHz remote control cars. I could be ornery by keying up on my walky talkies and mess their cars up. But they couldn't do the same to me.

Sorry to hear about the poison oak. First time I got it was from running a motorcycle off the pavement and ended up under the bike in a ditch full of poison ivy. I had to clear a LOT of poison ivy last weekend and ended up with a piece inside the work gloves I was wearing. 67 years old and it still only gave me a single small blister were I had a repeated hard contact. Doesn't mean I won't break out into a bad rash the next time.

thank you! I emailed BuyTwoWayRadios so I hope to hear from them next week. I also found a roundabout way to fix what appears to be a bug in the "channel wizard": I used the long press on the TDR button to manually change the frequency back to its original state. If I do that manually, the correct frequency is stored. have a great week end!

I hope you're feeling better now. What you are describing is not an intended behavior, and it looks like you have done everything correctly. I do believe that only BuyTwoWayRadios Support can help you - and if its some kind of firmware issue baked into the radio they may not have a fix - but they can probably recommend a workaround like manually programming the channel without the Wizard and/or using the software to program the channel (if you haven't tried that already).

I found out I could get rebuilt Aouye soldering stations cheap.

Separate pricing for dots. I ain't stupid.

Because all they have to do is one enforcement/fine like this once every few years and all the sad-hams will go all over the internet posting things like "For those that don’t think the FCC will enforce anything" ... Often followed up by things like "you're next!!" or.. "its not worth the risk!!!1" ... When in reality, statistically speaking, there is no risk.

I think I have that programmed in my HT but never use it... Haven't checked it in a long time but I thought it was one that (when it does have traffic) was primarily spansh speakers (which I am not) so it was not of much interest to me. (or maybe I am thinking of a different repeater? - not sure)

That's cool. Yeah I can hardly get any of my family interested enough to carry one if we go hiking or anything.

$14,000 and even $25,000 is probably peanuts to the FCC, but you wonder why they don't turn these over to collections or something. Why do they just let them be numbers on a no-no letter and apparently the violator never has any action taken against them to actually enforce and collect the fine. I know the FCC is not an enforcement agency themselves... they have to turn the case over to the legals system or the enforcement agencies... but what? Do the other agencies just ignore the FCC?

With the constant migration of police, fire, and business, Land Mobile radio comms to VHF-Hi, UHF, 700 MHz, and 800 MHz, trunked radio systems, VHF Low Band has been fast becoming a deserted wasteland. Surely there is available spectrum between 42 and 50 MHz. Motorola produces little if any Low Band gear, anymore. Kenwood has been a "go-to" for Low Band gear, but I understand their presence in that market may be dwindling with the demand. The military has always had a presence there AFAIK, at least back to the Vietnam era. Surely they don't need the entire 30-50 MHz all the time. I recall during what was the largest manhunt ever in my state, in February of 1974, National Guard APC's and possibly helicopters were operating on 42 MHz Highway Patrol frequencies to coordinate with them. They had frequency-agile gear and it sounded to be transmitting a broader signal than the HP radios, during the manhunt for 3-4 cop killers who murdered a deputy and seriously wounded another, as well as murdered a town police officer the night before. In the early 1980's, I would hear military aircraft doing practice bombing or missile strikes on local telephone microwave towers on 49 MHz. It has been many years since I heard any such activity. I imagine they too, have moved to higher spectrum. The shorter wavelength of these frequencies would allow for easier antenna placement in mobile or portable applications than with CB. It would also allow for better signal peneration into and out of automobiles, as well as brick and stone buildings. A real plus for rural and mountainous areas would be realized through dense foilage as well as "knife-edge" propagation over and around hills and mountains. Such a band would be far better in rural environs than UHF.

One of my H3 GMRS units is now showing no power to the antenna with an SWR meter. This one's been literally sitting in a bin since I tested them all on May 9, so... this is disappointing. If I can't rely on them to work after sitting untouched for a month, I might have to pony up for different units. On the other hand, the cheap Retevis 628 FRS walkie talkies I bought for my oldest kid have been thrown, dunked in the dog's water bowl, chewed on by my toddlers, and gone down the slide, and they still work just fine.

that would be 4 in a row.

You'll get nowhere with that attitude mister.

that would be 3 useless posts. is that really your best?