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You should be able to get full-scale copy at 3.5 miles on less than 2 watts. If you can't do it at 40 Watts, then lose those junk Midland antennas, and get a couple of decent UHF omni antennas mounted on the roofline. Also run a heavy, large gauge coax cable designed for UHF...such as LMR-400. If you have those Midlands with that thin RG-174 type coax, then that is exactly why you can't get 3 miles. If you need to extend the coax, note that the CB coax extenders you buy at the truck stop will not work at UHF.

The other advantage is the radio can run at high power to give the best signal strength at the receiver, but TDMA means the radio is only transmitting for half the time. That means the radio should be running an average of half of the continuous transmit power, cooler operation and longer battery life. Here pretty much hoping DMR wins due to the dual timeslot tdma, which allows for two concurrent voice calls without requiring additional frequency space...

Everybody has their favorite digital mode. There are enough of them, D-Start, DMR, P25, NXDN and Yeasu's System Fusion to name a few. The fly in the ointment is which "standard" will be the majority of people end up using? Bet wrong and you end up with a radio with dwindling support. So far I haven't seen, or know about, a small hand held radio that offers more that one digital mode. Thus if you use more that one mode you end up with a separate radio just for it. The next issue depends on the digital mode. While radio to radio contacts are basically straight forward going through a repeater is not. The problem is some digital modes may not be compatible with old analog repeaters. The old analog repeater has to be replace at the owners expense with digital compatible equipment. One of the attractions of digital modes is the ability to link repeaters together over the Internet using various VOIP protocols. That requires access to a high speed Internet connection and a sizable infrastructure to handle the VOIP packet routing etc. like routers and gateways, Then there is the need to register to get you own unique ID so your radio can be identified within the digital network and the VOIP traffic routed to it. Digital modes are a lot of fun and have their advantages. One just has to understand what maybe involved and plan accordingly. 8-))

Many USB to serial cables use a chip manufactured by a company called "Prolific" inside. The chip is a popular one so it didn't take long for it to get cloned. The cloned chips were cheaper than the official one. To combat the spread of the cloned chips the company wrote code into their driver to detect the clones and refuse to work with them. The fix to get cables using the cloned chips to work required finding an older version of the driver before the detection code was added. Your other choice is to get a cable using a real Prolific USB to serial chip or the other type using a FTDI type chip in it. https://www.ftdichip.com/USB.html Trying to use a cable with the cloned chip the driver appears to install OK but you get error messages when you use it with the newer drivers. Note that some Chinese radios use the USB to Baofeng type plug, but it's a pass through cable only. The USB to serial chip is built into the radio. My D878UV is like this. Using the Baofeng type USB to serial cable results in connection fail and other error messages. I have to use the specific cable the radio shipped with so its packed away and labeled for use with that radio only. You can buy the USB to serial cables online. The one I have was sold by R and L Electronics in Ohio. I've used it several times to test a code plug for for my TK-2170, the VHF version of your UHF TK-3170 radio. It works fine on that radio and some other ones I have. Used it on both Windows 7 and Windows 10. I didn't do anything special, just plugged it in and let Windows install the driver. http://www.randl.com/shop/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=71426&osCsid=h5bd4ajsq8bnulahcnmjsa27i6 As long as its the same manufacture as the one I got, didn't switch suppliers, it should work. Mine has "Baofeng" on the fat end that plugs into the computer's USB port. If you look around on the Internet you can find PDF copies of the radio user guide and service manuals. Useful to have. Also if you get the FCC ID off the back of the radio you can search the FCC database where you will find the test reports and the FCC grant, Part 90, 95 etc. for example, the radio is certified. https://fccid.io/

Nice!! I have also tried it, and since then I've made the decision to purchase all my future radios all DMR capable so when GMRS officially allows for digital modulations I'll just switch a channel # and be good to go. I've programmed several intercom systems and I love the features the DMR standard offers, can't really do that in FM analogue. Radios like the Baofeng BF-1801 or the Baofeng DM-V1 DMR capable are like 45 bucks or 29 bucks... not quite as cheap as the BF-888s, but getting there. Love no picket fencing as well.. its crystal clear all the way to the end of reception, then it drops... G.

You can down load the Kenwood programming software for your radio from the location below: http://www.radioscanner.ru/files/kenwood/file8416/ The download link is near the top of the page. The file you want is "kpg101d.zip" The zip file should also have the license key you need to enable the software install. I have it running on Win 10 Home. I used this software to load a test code plug in to a used TK-2170 I picked up. The radio uses the Baofeng type programming cables. If you buy one make sure it doesn't have a fake "Prolific" serial to USB chip in it. This site has the info about the cables: http://www.miklor.com/COM/UV_GettingStarted.php Sooner or later you are going to want to make changes or load the code plug up into another TK-3170. No point in paying somebody when you can do it yourself.

You can do that on most of the Kenwoods. Here it is, in the TK-3180 manual: https://www.manualslib.com/manual/1656566/Kenwood-Tk-3180.html?page=86#manual "This function allows you to change the Decode/Encodecombination of the QT/DQT Signaling without changingthe transmit/receive frequencies.This is used when there are several Talk Groups usingQT/DQT codes on the same frequency.You can configure a maximum of 40 pairs of OST QT/DQT Decode and QT/DQT Encode to the OST table. TheQT/DQT Encode/Decode pair and the OST table areswitched when the PF OST key is pressed."

I would only opine that there is no magic that comes with a Technician license over GMRS. It's practically the same physics at play. I'm facing a different problem, but also physics related. I live in a dip that breaks LOS in the direction that I need coverage. GMRS focuses my solutions to the GMRS band, whereas the amateur solution spreads me over several bands, which equal more $ The only exception would be HF, which would do a better job at distance. Otherwise, I'm focused on doing GMRS really well as I can tune everything to be excellent at those frequencies.

Sorry to hear that. I'm not sure what your goals are, but I have been a Ham for close to 18 years and GMRS is a fantastic service that I use regularly. The thing about radio service is to use the proper service for the comms you are trying to have.

Omni's fall into a similar issue. While there are some dual-band 2m/70cm vertical antennas that cover from 440-470 MHz, the gain is very low. As gain increases, the bandwidth narrows and so does the takeoff angle, impacting sensitivity between stations with elevation difference. So, if you have the expendable income, you can test it. However, don't be surprised if the lower gain of a broad band antenna doesn't help much. I have to agree with RCM on getting two service-dedicated Larsen welded Yagis. That's going to be your best bet, relating to both performance and price.

I was talking about DTMF tones, not PL/CTCSS. I'm not sure about PL, maybe you can configure the radio for assigning PL using OST feature. I do not do it, and cannot confirm it, but I remember people discussing the possibility on this board. The 99.99% of my usage is simplex, so I just never researched this option.

Hello my name is Ben, introducing myself, im New. Just recently got my GMRS License the other day, seen this site, and wanted to sign up. Now that I got the license looking to get some equipment. I got alot of 11 meter cb radio stuff, thats where I cut my teeth on radios. Still use them and love them, men and alot of local guys use em. I wanted to get into GMRS, beyond the bubble packs, so applied for my license, and just got it. Eventually I'm looking to get my Ham, by the end of this year, or so. Anyway good to meet you all, and been reading the forums, and everyone here seems pretty cool.