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It takes time to learn the more advance radio tasks. LMR's make the task of programing and using the radios a little easier, however are still a little confusing the first few times you write a new code plug. Give it some time and you'll find it easier to do the things you want to do.

I just realized I never posted the final configuration of my base station antenna. I ended up building a tilt-over mast with a simple 1/4-wave ground plain up at 27ft AGL fed with about 55ft of DRF-400 coax running to the radio. I have tested the base to HT range with my Midland GXT 1050's and can get at least 5 miles to the HT if I am not in a low spot. I have also been able to hit a repeater over 50 miles away that was LOS. I also am able to hit my local repeaters in my local Front Range GMRS group. So basically I did my research online, took excellent advice from this group, did my calculations and that, with a little bit of luck, managed to exceeded my original requirements. EDIT: Added a photo I neglected to the other day. John ];')

One can never have enough radios. 8-) GMRS is a good way for people to test the water and see if they like radio communications without having to do any testing. Good luck getting your Tech Class license. Later you can upgrade to General Class which gives you access to all of the HF bands for world wide communications, very handy if the worse happens and local public communications resources are completely wiped out. Some commercial band radios are FCC certified for Part 95, and the programming software will allow Ham 70cm frequency entries even if they are outside of the "official" range for the radio, the software throws up a warning message, but allows the entry. I've used two so far, both Kenwood radios, TK-370G-1 and the TK-3170. I can get them down to around 440MHz or so which covers the simplex and repeater sections of the Ham 70cm band. Now I only need one radio for both services and its legal since I'm licensed for both. There is one other radio service on VHF that could prove useful too. That's MURS and no license is required. You can find some MURS certified radios out there. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multi-Use_Radio_Service https://www.intercomsonline.com/murs-radio-multi-use-radio-service-technology-guide

The "NN" means "Normal/Normal" DCS polarity. If it were "IN" it would be "Inverted/Normal" - etc. Grendel6522: I assume you were just truncating the actual frequency, and that you aren't actually trying to use a repeater on 462.000 MHz, right? That's NOT a GMRS repeater.

The absolute best way to know is to check with the radio manufacturer to determine what voltage range is acceptable. Some, but very few, manufacturers actually publish this information. That said, you are probably ok, and here is why I say that. Manufacturer’s have done us a disservice. They call the radios ‘12v’ radios but their radios are actually designed for use in a vehicle that is operating on 13.8v and not 12v. The higher voltage exists because the vehicle battery needs a higher voltage to be charged. Consequently 13.8v is the voltage most everything in the car is designed around. Also, when a lead acid battery is charged, a charger may delivery up to 14.4 volts under certain conditions to top it off, this exposing all other electronics in the vehicle to that as well. So where does that leave us? I imagine you are measuring your power supply without a load on it and that you’re getting 14.5v. This is just slightly above the normal max that the alternator would generate to charge a battery. If you put a load on your power supply, you will find that the voltage drops, perhaps down to 13.8 or even lower, right where you expect to be. The better the power supply design, the less variance in output voltage between load and no-load conditions. I just recently read a spec on a mobile radio where the manufacturer actually published its usable voltage range for its 12v Radio. It was published as 13.8vdc +/- 20%. That is the exactly the way it should be stated. This eliminates all guesswork. This translates into a radio that manufacturer says will operate correctly within a voltage range of 11.04-16.56 vdc. Hope this helps. Michael WRHS965 KE8PLM Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Frequency listed is not a GMRS frequency. Are you sure the repeater is using DCS codes and not CTCSS codes? Are you certain that different codes are being used for Tx and Rx? I am speculating based on the way information is formatted in my viewer, but it looks like you might be using DCS with inverted polarity. Is the polarity of the DCS codes correct? Michael WRHS965 KE8PLM Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Yeah. No luck. That being said I am actually in that area a ton. At least I'll know to tune into that repeater when I'm running around McKinney and Frisco

if it was 16.5 I would say don't use it.14.5 isn't out that much I just don't think it will provide enough current to run the TX side. those old RS unit were only rated at 1.5 or 3 amps IIRC

I appreciate the heads up on Hytera, I will put them in the "do not do business with" list. I am keeping an eye open for the ham test online. I hear they are doing it but every time I look it is always full. Either way I need to save up for the radios even if I do find them used. I better start looking for a side hustle, not sure what's worse, high end radios or high end rifle scopes and barrels. Man I need to find cheaper hobbies.

This pandemic makes me spend more time with radios lately and speaking of Repeaters I just put up one last weekend, got a cheap XPR8300 off Ebay and I have EVX-R70 on the way for a cheap too this is not a high end setup like Heliax cable, Celwave duplexers, hundred foot tower and so on I bet anyone would laugh and shake their head if they see it... ...All I want is to cover my usual route of 10 miles around town but right now I got 18 miles which is good I think.

I can vouch for the Ebay Cable guy it's BlueMax49ers I bough all my programming cables (iCOM, Kenwood, Motorola) from him (Mark KJ6ZWL) all his cable are FTDi Chip fast shipping too. My latest purchased from him was the programming cable for XPR8300 and as what gman1971 say all cable works just fine.