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Well, I got up and running with my new antenna, a $40 “uayosek”(whopping 2.5db) off Amazon and 25 ft of DXEng RG8X connected the BF UV5G Plus. At 16’ in the air with my handheld, it got 4.84 watts on high @1.04 swr. Worked well enough I bumped it down to medium and got 3.42w, and 1.62w at low. I was able to hit the big repeater on Sunday full quiet at high, and a little scratchy on medium. Having listened to suggestions made, and the Euro being about even with the dollar, I ordered 25 feet of MP Ultraflex 7 Sahara, which arrived today. Preliminary test shows 7.94w, 4.95w, and 2.61w, a significant improvement. SWR appears a tiny bit higher, but it is coiled and only tested on the antenna down so that will probably change. Price wasn’t too crazy for the Ultraflex, about $65 assembled and shipped. It definitely fits the bill though, lighter than LMR400, only .28 thick, the BNC connectors they put on it look like they were straight up machined out of bar stock, and its db loss is only a touch higher(.1 or .2 db) than LMR400UF. I am gonna try to get it all put up tomorrow night for the local net, but so far it looks like it will work well.

Well, After studying my butt off for several weeks, I took the test Saturday for General class and passed (35 out of 35). I do have to say thanks to the guy who gave me the link to hamexam.org where you can do flash cards of the questions, it really helped!!! Now on to new bands... maybe I will try out 17 meters or 20 meters in the coming weeks.

I got sick of all my radios and batteries falling over every time someone sneezed nearby, so I did some light CAD work and 3D printing this afternoon. I think I might re-do this one to have antenna storage on board as well...

Actually those are all just your feelings. The rules do not prohibit using GMRS to chat about weather or antennas or kids first report card, but if you’ve determined that you must have sole access to radio frequencies for the many emergencies that you purport to swoop in and handle you’ve made a terrible choice in GMRS. One would think that the first emergency might have taught you that.

You would need to reset it to GMRS mode before you can transmit on GMRS. (in HAM mode if you enter GMRS frequencies/channels it will not allow transmit on GMRS. To reset a TID Radio H3 to GMRS mode, 1. turn the radio off, then hold down both the Top PTT button and the star button while turning the radio on 2. this will bring up a menu where you can select "GMRS" mode 3. and confirm the change by pressing the blue "yes" button, causing the radio to reboot in GMRS mode The radio will reset to GMRS mode, and it should have all GMRS channels already programed in it ready to use. you don't need to update firmware... just follow above procedure. One other thing to figure out. if you bought the HAM version, thenn the antennas you got may not be ideal for GMRS. but that is ok, the stock antennas are not the best anyway. Order a GMRS specific antenna like a Nagoya 771G, or a 701G... or there are many other good GMRS specifically tuned antennas. Even the Tidradio 771G is very good. (but the 771s are longer than the stock anteannas.

I think if burglars showed up for my radio equipment (or computers), my housemate would hand the stuff over and check twice to make sure the burglars didn't miss anything.

Nothing prohibits it. Some people dislike the idea of GMRS turning into a sort of "Ham Lite" service, but if nobody is breaking the rules so who really cares?

Nobody in Arches National Park is listening for a call sign so they can call back to a criminal they have on speed-dial in Atlanta to burglarize your home so they can split the ill-gotten gains. Nobody hearing your call-sign in Atlanta is going to assume that your entire family is out of the home just because you use the radio to talk to someone five miles away while driving home from work. These licenses are family-oriented. If you're concerned about the address being public, switch your record over to a PO box. But again, this is not a very useful attack vector. On any given day the FCC website probably doesn't even load. Anyway, your choice. But call signs being linked to mailing addresses has been the standard since the early days of ham licensing.

Using GMRS is infinitely better than not. Nothing is gained by having silent channels. If you have long conversations, pause every so often to allow someone else to use the frequency or repeater. Help someone else get started with GMRS.

Spent a little time last night making a better solution looking for a problem

Well, If you knew anything about Midland you would know they have been in the radio business for 50 years. For decades they were a go to LMR radio for law enforcement, wildland and DNR applications. I still know agencies with Midland LMR gear in use. They also have had GMRS radios long before anyone you list on this site. My first Midland was a xstal radio and we had to wait over 2 months for the channel we got licensed to arrive. They were also the first FRS radio to the market when the FCC approved them. Yes part is marketing and they are the ONLY vendor I have ever seen at an offroad show or any event in that industry. Handheld CH. KISS. My parents are in their 70's. They want to pick up a MIC with no buttons and talk. The midland mobiles do that fine for them. For my Jeeps I have the MTX-275 (actually had another arrive yesterday..and wife wanted the Jeep one so it was $10 more than the standard). The HHCH is perfect for a vehicle such as the Jeep. We use one repeater that is mine so dont care about having 50 repeaters in the radio. The wife can jump in and it turns on and if someone say go to ch 4 she turns to CH4. Lastly 90% of the folks we wheel with run Midland as does JJUSA. For that fact its the same and anyone can jump in my rig or hers and know how to use the raidos. What many forgot on this site is we are a very very small user group that gets on a forum. Tons of folks out there use GMRS and have no interest in forums, repeaters, or being ham lite. They just use radios. I have farms all around me that use Midland gear and every tractor, combine, truck has one in it. If I want to play ham radio or outher service I just switch over the my APX8500.

Before I begin: I've endeavored to obtain both a GMRS license, and an Amateur Extra radio license. WSCL244/KF0QNM. I have learned much since then, but there's always more to learn. - Installation - This was difficult, but only due to the fact that my type of vehicle (Ford Fusion 2017) is extremely difficult to get through the firewall. Since also installing an HF Radio (Yaesu FT-891), getting a power cord routed through the door jam from the battery was much easier, at the risk of interference, which fortunately was minimal. The center of my console fit the KG1000G+ perfectly. The antenna system I chose was the Midland MXTA26 6dBi whip antenna, and the Midland MXTA12 mag mount. These work perfectly with the KG1000G+, and the radio is quite happy with it. The mag mount is on the center of the roof of my vehicle, with the cables guided around the edge of the rear windshield with mild adhesive, going through the rear side of my trunk lid. The weather stripping is slightly depressed from the cable, but it has not caused an issue, nor has water traveled into the trunk. In retrospect, there is most likely a better way to route the antenna cable, but this would involve physically drilling holes into my car, which I want to avoid. Signal quality is 80% good. Rare moments of static, which is unavoidable because of my route to work and where I live. As the great Notarubicon would say: Your FARS may vary. I can communicate to repeaters pretty far. I was able to reach Lakeville from Brooklyn Park, MN, which is 40+ miles. I am wired directly to my car's battery. You can build a battery box for use inside the vehicle if you so desire. My KG1000G+ operates just fine between 11.8v to 15.1v. - Ease of Use - This radio does require a bit of a learning curve, but is nowhere near as advanced as a ham radio. Programming from the handset is possible, but is quite slow. Easiest way to program the radio is by connecting the radio to a computer. I recommend using a laptop if you're mobile. You can listen to 2 meter frequencies on the KG1000G+ as well. It does this quite well if you like to monitor certain frequencies. You, cannot, however, transmit on ham bands. There are no ways to "unlock" this radio to do that, either. That is possibly for the best. The buttons on the handset are solid, and the handset itself is decent. I'm currently hanging the handset with a vent mount. It's easy to switch from GMRS, NOAA, and the 2m/70cm bands. You can listen to FM radio on this thing, too, I believe... but why? It's best to treat this radio as a "set it and forget it" like a Ronco product. Know what you want to do and who to talk to, and all is good. I do have a scan function set on this radio with one of the programmable buttons on top. Useful if I ever want to eavesdrop on a conversation. Don't actually join in on someone else's conversation unless you can provide useful information, though. It's kind of the same principle of interrupting people when they're talking in person. I have used my KG1000G+ with my job, however. They use FRS radios, which are compatible with GMRS, and I can communicate to them just fine. - Complaints - Periodically, there will be buzzing on random channels. Worried that this was a problem with the radio, some people have told me that it might be because some people are using digital signals on GMRS, it's interpreted as garbage. The KG1000G+ is an analog-only radio. This has been the only issue. - Compliments - This radio has impressive range, both on send and receive. 50 watts is the maximum power allowed on GMRS, and it works quite well. I've met some people on the GMRS system and do talk to them every now and then. GMRS is touted as a tool, however, a bit of ragchew every now and then isn't too bad. I try to keep transmissions under 15 seconds. The fans do kick in after a while. This radio works well in very cold environment as well as hot ones, but if the temperature is too high, such as a car sitting in the hot sun, the radio may refuse to transmit. This isn't an issue, but rather, a feature to protect the radio. The KG1000G+ is very sensitive, and it's interesting to hear the conversations that my scanner will pick up on. It works well communicating long distances, works with my job, my handheld radios, and the Midland GMRS radio I have attached to my desk at home. - Tips - Get an external speaker. I got an Icom speaker for $20 on Amazon. It is MUCH louder than the speaker built into the radio. Oftentimes I'm having to hold the handset to my ear to hear better. Just get a single speaker for the channel you want to listen to the most. I don't think it's needed to have both speaker ports occupied, unless you really want to. - Final Thoughts - This was a pricey GMRS radio, and I know that cheaper ones exist, but honestly the Wouxun KG1000G+ has been solid and reliable, even if the installation was a pain. I recommend it as both a mobile and as a base station radio. One feature I've not used is operating it as a repeater (requires a second radio). I am not in the most ideal situation as far as radios go since I live in an apartment, so my "shack" is my car. Final Verdict: 7/10 + Good receive/transmit quality, + Handset and radio are solidly built, - Installation was difficult, but that's because of my vehicle type, - Doesn't like digital noise.

So now you’re also an expert on propagation of UHF in Connecticut? What is your need to act like such a complete douche?

I used to come here for information, now I come here for entertainment.

Like some of you I usually quote a post or a portion of a post so the context of my comment is clear. On occasion I have written a comment, thought better about it and backspaced to the beginning of my comment to start again. Sometimes I backspaced one too many characters and I end up inside of the quote block. If you add your comment there it’s not easy to know what you quoted and what you commented; both appear within the quote block. At first I couldn’t figure out how to get out of it. It’s not always possible to click below it. But then I discovered that if I just go to the very end of any text or spaces in the quote block and hit a couple of returns, the forum software would move my cursor out of the quote block and underneath it, right where I wanted. You probably already knew this, but just in case you didn’t, I thought I’d mention it.

I understand your point, but in order for that to happen, a number of things would have to occur simultaneously. 1) Someone would have to hear your call. 2) They'd have to know they could look up your address from the call sign. 3) They'd have to know a criminal near where you live -- because by definition, if you're away from home, the miscreant is somewhere near you, not near your house. 4) They'd have to go to the effort of contacting their buddy and telling him to burglarize your house, which they'd have little incentive to do because criminals don't burglarize a house and send part of the ill-gotten gains to a friend 100 miles away. The odds of all that happening simultaneously are so astronomically small that I don't even consider it. I just periodically check the security cameras on my phone and go on enjoying my vacation.

I couldn’t remember this myself so I had to look it up but English on the identification is required. 95.1751 GMRS station identification. (b) The call sign must be transmitted using voice in the English language or international Morse code telegraphy using an audible tone. You can use a P.O. Box as stated. With GMRS if someone can hear that you are no where near home than they are also not likely anywhere near said home. While you do bring up a valid concern here are some ideas. Use an alarm system, camera security, house sitter, big dog, a pleasantly noisy neighbor, Burmese tiger traps (affiliate link below). Pun intended

People have used a P.O. Box when they registered for their license. So, if somebody looked it up on the FCC database they still wouldn't have a clue where your house is located.

I guess I think the premise of this thread is wrong. It’s not up to me or anyone else here to say whether someone else is using GMRS “as intended”, as long as the regulations are followed. And it’s not up to me to enforce the regulations I’ll gladly help somebody understand the regulations (as much as I can) but I don’t get to reinterpret them to fit my ideas of how GMRS is intended to be used. If you want to have a conversation on the repeater with someone you’ve never met who announces they’re “monitoring”, it’s not my place to pass judgement. If you want to run your family ranch, good for you! If you use it while you’re out boating or hiking, do it. I think there are way too many people who want to decide what’s right for others to do

By the grace of mine own self-worth and sarcasm and by the bounteous authority vested in me, THE QUEEN OF ALL THAT IS GMRS, I doth hereby decree, with much pomp and stupidity, that one @SteveShannon, a stout fellow of questionable repute but unquestionable GMRS knowledge, be forthwith and forevermore dubbed a member of the Most Esteemed Order of the HERD (which, perchance, standeth for “Higher End Radio Dork,) Let it be known across the static-ee airwaves of the peasantry to the lofty frequencies of the saddest of H.A.M.s that Sir StevenShannon, clad in naught but his wits and an FCCs permission slip, hath stumbled bravely and fortuitously into the fray of tomfoolery and emerged victorious—or at least not entirely trampled. With this proclamation, he is granted the sacred right to put the title "HERD" after his name, to wield a UV-5R on GMRS channels, and to confuse all who inquire as to what a “HERD” truly be. So sayeth I, THE QUEEN OF ALL THAT IS GMRS on this fifth day of March, in the year of our Lord XENU two thousand and five-and-twenty. Let the roger-beeps blare, and may the Sad H.A.M.s tremble in his presence ! So it is written, so shall it be done. Arise good Sir @SteveShannon, member of the HERD!

Yes.. that's how it works.. I found this random video on youtube that explains it very well. The guy is kind of a jerk, and I heard he only says what his sponsors tell him to say, but the info you want is in there:

…hold on now let me double bag that for you, did you get everything?

I think it is hilarious how "some people" so are completely incapable of grasping the simple fact that just because they dont like something, nobody else on the planet possibly could like it. As @marcspaz noted, many people are more than willing to pay for a simple, easy to use, no frills/no bells&whistles, "americanISH" product. Just because it is not the right choice for you does not mean it's not the right choice for someone else.

Either that or he needs to go see his doctor again to get his medication doses adjusted. He's like a little kid - you never know what he is going to say.

I used to feel that way but I gradually realized that it’s not up to me. It is a hobby for many. Just like Citizen Band many people use GMRS as a way to chat with people who they might not know.

Well, if you are afraid the eff sea sea is going to come pounding on your door because you have a non compliant radio that you are operating properly then by all means go ahead. Myself I'm not worrying about it at all. Not sure if their IDs are different between the radios. The one on the left is the GMRS version and the one on the right is the Ham version. They don't differentiate between the two.

I read about the rash of robberies happening to GMRS users, so I started using FRS instead. /s

So you imagine a scenario like this? : Dirtbag "I got my gmrs radio on, let's do us some listenin!" You: Okay honey, lets stop at the next rest area, WABC123 Dirtbag "That's it, we have his address, let's drive 300 miles and hope his house is empty and unsecure" Yeah, I think you're worrying about the wrong stuff. Much more likely to have a neighbor kid break in when he sees you driving away all loaded up on what's normally a day off.

I'ma have to agree.. The OP is a great example of "some people" over-thinking what should be very simple and carefree.

This has always worked for me.

This is a totally unsound scenario with zero re world issues. I’m going to bet that no one’s home has ever been broken into because they used a call sign on a radio. It amazes me what some people have the time to think About. I can’t imagine being this paranoid.

Why not? These aren’t nuclear secrets.

I use it to talk to my kids and family when I'm out and about town. Keeps things fun and the kids like it. They holler at me on the home base all the time and ask when im coming home, what im doing and if ill pick them up some ice-cream. Is this the proper use of GMRS? Because thats what I'm using it for. I could use a phone but whats the fun in that?

Double check that the antenna is screwed-in/connected correctly and fully - assuming you mean no shorts or high SWR when checking on your meter I'm not sure what else to recommend. I would point out that of all the mobile antennas I have tested (probably about 20), the UT72G was the worst performing of all of them - performing worse than even the little ghost-antenna's I have tested.. So if you have to replace it, dont feel bad and be secure in knowing that whatever you replace it with will perform better (unless you replace it with another UT72G).

No, people don’t really come looking for advice. They really just want to see how useless you can be. It’s entertainment.

Switch it back to English. Plug in the programming cable. Open the software (it should still be in English). Read from the radio. Open up the Edit menu. Choose Function Setup. Menu Language is the third selection on the right column of the Function Setup dialog. Change it to English (the middle selection). Write to the radio.

Notice the word “dedicated” in my quote above. I think GMRS is great for regular community communications. But a repeater for the community is hard to dedicate to emergencies. People will use it to chat, kids will play with radios, and hobbyists will talk about antennas. The community has no legal way to reserve the frequency for emergencies. As a result some people will leave their radios off. How do you tell them to turn them back on? Remember, this is a ten mile radius community.

It is a good thing that literally nobody on this forum cares what you think at this point, probably just like at home. And, point of order: Nobody asked you what you think or for your totally useless opinion

But if you dont degrade others, how are you going to make yourself feel superior to them and show everyone how much of an expert you think you are?

People are willing to pay for easy out of the box and reliable.

Use it if you want. It’s your radio and there are no rules prohibiting it. It makes no difference. I don’t understand why anyone is bothered by it, but they should get over it. Edited to add: some repeater owners don’t want Roger beeps on their repeaters. Follow their wishes when using their repeater.

You only need the TX tone. The RX tone is optional, and as you can already see, will cause you confusion - so you should ignore it for now. After you level-up to "expert mode", then you can worry about the RX tone.

As far as I can determine, in the history of the FCC, nobody has ever been cited solely for transmitting on a radio which was not type-accepted for that frequency. Of course, if you were being an ass and causing problems, they'd probably throw that charge in as well "just because". That said, the power and bandwidth restrictions exist largely to keep someone on that frequency from interfering with other users. If you decide to use the 5RM on GMRS, please be a decent human and set the bandwidth (wide/narrow) and power to the "legal" GMRS limits. The 5RM won't go below about 2-3 watts, so you should probably block transmission on channels 8-14, which are restricted to 0.5 watt. You can program them in and then set duplex to "off", then if there's some urgent need to use one of them, you can turn duplex back on fairly quickly from the keyboard on the front.

You and your wife don't need to be yelling your call sign back and forth to eachother. In fact, the frequent yelling of callsigns on GMRS is a learned dork habit of all of the ham radio people who've moved in on GMRS.

Most 50Watt GMRS radios do indeed put out 50Watts, within an acceptable +/- % tolerance.. Further important information: You can add a user to your IGNORE list by hovering your mouse over their avatar and then clicking the IGNORE button. When done with the right users you will limit your MyGMRS experience to only actual helpful replies.

Another helpful comment chock-full of details and data. At this rate it won't be long before you have to change your user-name again to hide from the ridicule/people laughing at you.. Just like you had to do a few months ago.. as to the question: If you have the newer model, it lets you switch between Wide/Narrowband ONLY for the channels that allow Wideband.. Channels 8-14 are narrowband only per our friends at the FCCs.

Last month I passed the Technician class amateur license exam. With some studying, the test can be successfully passed on the first attempt. I scheduled my exam with the Greater Los Angeles Amateur Radio Group that was held at a Sizzler restaurant in Fullerton, CA. It cost $10 to take the test. They submit your license to the FCC electronically. I took the test on Saturday, paid my fee ($35) on Monday, and had my ticket and call sign by 1:00 AM Tuesday. It is very quick with their system. Those who pass the exam are given a 5W TYT TH-UV88 handheld radio, already programmed with the repeaters for the Papa System repeaters. They provide it to welcome you to the world of amateur radio. The whole environment was welcoming and fun. The Papa System has repeaters all over the southern California area and they have many modes, analog and digital. It's a great system to gain experience with your new license. They even hold a new hams net every Wednesday night at 7:00 PM. You can talk with others from the Mexican border, out to Yuma, all the way north to Ridgecrest and Santa Barbara on the coast. All of the repeaters are linked, so you can hear/talk over a very wide area. Just wanted to let people know that you can obtain your license in the LA area in an easy, convenient manner if you are in the area. The whole process was smooth and easy.

There are 30 numbered channels on that radio (plus a bunch you can customize). 1 through 22 are simplex. 23 - 30 are reserved to transmit to repeaters. Those eight receive on the same channels as 15-22. Some manufacturers label those eight channels with the letters RPT-15 through RPT-22 to display the common receive channel. So, the channel labeled RPT-19 is actually number 27 in your radio. You shouldn’t delete the channel (and I doubt you can delete any of the first 30, but I don’t know that for a fact. You must have the correct transmit tone or code programmed into your radio to open up the repeater or it will not repeat your transmission. You’re doing the right thing in learning to program your radio from the front panel. It is easier to program with a computer but it’s much better to be able to program without having a computer. Don’t give up. Look up the tone needed for the repeater (PL or CTCSS, same thing) or code (DPL, DCS or DTCSS, they’re the same thing). Don’t worry about programming a tone or code for the receiver, at least not yet. Leaving it open will allow you to hear everything on frequency 19. You can always add a receive ton to match what the repeater transmits later, but leaving it off for now might simplify things as you learn. Don’t get down on yourself. Once you see how it works you’ll be fine.

Repeater 19 is channel 27 and 462.650. It will already have a built in offset of +5 on Tx but you will need to add the tones for the repeater you are using. Go to menus 9 and 10 to enter your tones. I have no issues with programming in this radio. You have a great GMRS radio.

Hahaha yeh if you lived on a lake or the desert. You gmrs users who speak like this make all of us who live in the more wooded foothills scratch our heads. We are lucky to get 4 or 5 miles simplex on a good day.