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I’m in the market for another MXT275 in the next several months. Glad I can support the forum while I’m at it.

I desolder resistors on all three 880 I have. It is SMD resistor, so cannot be bent. You probably can carefully crush it with wire cutter, but I think, desoldering it safer.

Now that Hans has shown you where the resistor is, I can tell you it’s usually best to just snip one side and then bend the resistor up rather than getting a soldering iron in there. The front panel programming is for making changes like frequency or PL on the fly, it doesn’t really replace software programming for setting up a radio in the first place.

"It is the way", that sounds like the Mandalorian, man. hahaha. I have some Kenwoods lying around, but I use Vertex Standard as my primary base/mobile rigs, the software is easy to work with and its free... /\/\ would be nice to have... and none of those are CCR... G.

Well, I can't say I agree on your first point (see below), but, I do agree whole-heartedly with your conclusion. Agreed. In open space, VHF will travel further, have lower path loss and better building penetration than UHF (See this paper for more information). On the other hand, UHF may actually work better inside a building because of signal splatter and reflection.

Gosh, Doesn't anybody have an opinion here.

Hi Extreme, Keith T here. I have a similar mount setup. Headache rack with gmrs antenna on. A 8"x8" x 1/8 plate center top. Also , cophase cb antenna at 1/8 wavelenth o edges of rack.

I have to agree with you on the trunking radios. I have two TK-885 units that are the trunking version of the 880. They are a nasty radio to program into conventional mode, They do work, but I can't get them to scan. Also, the conventional mode is limited to 36 channels on the 885. I'm not sure on the 863. I have a couple of 862 units, which are conventional.

I had about 15 channels logged on today on Zello...it was raining and cold, so I watched The Office and played on my phone. In 6 hours, I heard pretty much nothing. A check in here or there for the channels that have networked repeaters tied to them, but no real conversations. Anywhere. Some UK guys on the NR channel 0 now and then...but nothing worth writing home about.

Heaven, and the powers of the universe, tend to help those who help themselves. This is a corollary to "google is your friend." With a few keystrokes I found https://www.dxing.com/radterms.htm and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CQ_(call) Note CQ is not generally used on GMRS. Though, there is no legal reason you couldn't use it, other than most people listening would think you were daft.

Many of us here are hams. We have a ham radio section on this forum: https://forums.mygmrs.com/forum/10-amateur-radio-ham/ We will be happy to answer your questions. Some here will be happy to give you advice, even if you DON'T want it. hahaha Seriously, we are here to help.

Just another clarification for those not already in-the-know... TA stands for "Talk Around", which talks "around" the repeater, in other words, simplex on the repeater output frequency. If you set up channels 15-22 all as +5MHz repeater channels, then pushing the TA button makes them all simplex channels for talking radio-to-radio directly. Set up the 16th channel for whatever repeater you will normally be using that might have a non-standard tone set.

Commercial radios are great. Built like tanks and typically have long battery life. Upshot of Kenwood gear is finding programing software is typically pretty easy compared to something like Motorola. Don't get scared off by the DOS programing. Its just some extra keystrokes. I program my HT1000s via DOS. Also +1 to above no need for trunking for your use so if theres a cheaper version without go for it. Sent from my SM-G892A using Tapatalk

I have no specific information on the radio you noted, and I am not very knowledgable on Kenwood products. So, consider my two comments as very generic... If you have, or think you might someday have, an interest in ham radio, you might want to look for a radio that covers both the (US) ham band (420-450 mHz) and GMRS band. Other than that, the radio you noted supports trunking. Since trunking is not used on GMRS, you might possibly find a non-trunking radio at a lower cost.

Downs bought the 1225, for substantially less than that and without the cable. The Kenwwood is better in terms of finding the proper software. Also has more channels. For your use, either is good but the Motorola is more compact and maybe a little simpler to operate. But if you do get a Motorola, it's probably best to pay a shop the $25 or so to program it, or buy it from a shop (used-radios.com for example) that will program it for you.

Man, can I relate. I have two Btech HT's that I use when off-roading. I'll settle for the reduced performance out in the mountains because we are only a few car lengths apart and if I drop a radio in the mud, I would rather have it be a $20-$30 BaoFeng than a $250 Yaesu.

I used the Baofengs for quite a while before going the Vertex Standard route... and again, so long you're aware of the limitations, it doesn't really matter so long it works. G.