Leaderboard

I just got two of these Kenwood commercial mobiles, from two separate sellers on fleabay. I had made an offer on one, bought another via "buy it now," and then my offer on the first one was accepted. Both showed up today. What attracted me to the 805s is that they are front-panel field programmable; no software required (although they can be programmed that way as well). Both of these rigs came with a mount bracket, mic and mic hanger. The one I made an offer on did not have GMRS channels programmed in; it had two 461 MHz frequencies. It's a little beat up but not bad, and I think the mic is a new replacement. I had to remove the top panel and move the jumper to enable front panel programming. Once I did that, programming it was a snap. I put the 8 repeater pairs in it and set up the aux button to enable "talk around" (simplex). I also put one ham radio repeater pair in it; a nearby repeater that a member here owns. The other one looks like brand new. I paid a little more for it, but still got it for well under $100 including shipping. It came from an actual radio store, and they offered free programming. I took them up on it. These are 16 channel radios. The seller emailed a Word form for channel information and I had them program the 8 repeater pairs, Talk Around for simplex, and the 9 interstitial channels for a total of 15. These are billed as 25 watt radios, but according to my cheap VHF/UHF meter, both are putting out right around 40 watts. I'll probably turn them down to 20-25 watts to conserve the finals. I've seen a couple of comments online to the effect that after programming, you have to return the jumper to the "user" pins before they will receive and transmit. Not true. The only reason for that jumper is to prevent the appliance operator from inadvertently (or otherwise) messing with the programming. It works just fine with the jumper in the programming position, and the great thing is that you can pull over and modify a channel in just a minute or two. Bottom line: I like these radios!

Hey MoPho, Welcome Keith T

I would probably start by listening to your local repeaters to find one that has activity. There appear to be a handful in your area, and you might even be able to reach some of the Dallas repeaters. The Carrollton 550 is listed as an open repeater, if it's still in operation. I would also look on the map (here on MyGMRS) and contact your nearby repeater owners. Repeaters aren't the only way to operate on GMRS, of course. But they are the best way to find other operators. Another thing you can do is just announce your presence when you're out and about. Either on a repeater that you have gained permission to use, or one that is listed as open, or just on 675 simplex with a transmitted 141.3 PL tone. Just announce your callsign, perhaps along with "monitoring" or "listening." Eventually you will get a reply. You might even get one immediately, depending on how much activity is in your area. Another thing you might do is find a local ham radio club and go to a meeting. Lots of GMRS operators are also hams, so you will probably meet some there. Of course they will try to talk you into getting your ham radio license too, and that's not a bad thing. You might try this one: https://k5prk.net/

Welcome, and congrats on getting your license! What gear do you have coming?

Since there seems to be no currently posted guidelines, I would just click the box based on my own definition. Yours may be different, but I would just call it "open to all licensed users (who behave themselves), 141.8 PL." That PL is widely known as the travel PL, so shouldn't cause any licensed user any difficulty. The part about behaving themselves allows for the blood sport of hooligan chasing, of course.