Leaderboard

All part of the learning journey. Welcome to GMRS BTW. Radios that are repeater capable will be clearly advertised as such because they have the added repeater-capable feature. It is easily for a newcomer to be mislead and or to misinterpret things, like the manufacturer stating the GTX1000 radios have a 36-Mile range. I bet we would all be amazed at the number of consumers that have fallen for that intentionally misleading marketing. BTW, the GTX1000 radios are a carryover from when radios were allowed to be both FRS and GRMS (so-called ‘hybrid’ radios). At the time, FRS had only 14 simplex channels, and GMRS had 8 more. The hybrid radios included all 22. When the FCC revised the rules in 2017 all hybrid radios that were less than two-watts were reclassified as FRS, anything more than 2 were reclassified as GMRS. When the rules changed, FRS gained more frequencies and so did GMRS. Michael WRHS965 KE8PLM

See: https://forums.mygmrs.com/topic/2007-list-of-acronyms/

I guess this was the culmination of what started with just a couple of Baofengs UV-5R back in 2013ish... So, couple of days ago I finally bit the bullet and got my first XPR7550e, been eyeing those for a long time, form factor and performance, I've even programmed a couple for a friend, but never really tested them.... But now this one is mine... my own, my precious.... hahaha, and I just cannot even begin to describe how amazing this radio is. I ran every possible test I could think of, high RF noise, no antenna, ... everything short of an ISOTEE test (since the 7550e doesn't have an SMA connector)... and the 7550e beat every other commercial grade radio I own by an ample margin. Including EVX-539 portables, XPR6550s... and it utterly humiliated the garbage China radios... it demolished all those CCRS even harder than the EVX/6550 did... We did a 1 watt range test, on foot, one XPR6550 at home, ground floor, and the XPR7550e, along with a few other radios on us. Remember, terrain around here is very hilly, not flat, this is Madison WI, where you won't find a flat piece of land anywhere... So, we walked exactly 1.89 miles distance on 1 watt, ground to ground, before the XPR7550e was the only radio left standing, the only one able communicate with the 6550 at home. Measured RSSI Signal strength on the 7550e screen was -118 dBm @ 1.89 miles. Considering this radio would still produce audible (and intelligible) digital audio all the way down to ~ -129 dBm, I think it still had, at least, 1/4 mile of range left on it... The XPR7550e was using the PMAE4070A antenna, and all other radios used PMAE4048A antennas, except for the GD77 which used a Vertex Standard UHF antenna since it uses the sticking out SMA (female)... At that distance, 1.89 miles, even my best-tuned EVX-539 portable, with a really good Motorola GMRS antenna PMAE4048A, the RX light was just blinking but no audio could be heard. The XPR6550 was about the same as the EVX-539... the light would blink, but no audio heard either. All those LMR radios stopped communicating at about the same distance, or around the 1.5 miles mark, and at 1.6 miles the digital robotic/breakup made voice communication 100% unintelligible on all those. We also tested the following China radios on DMR: Alinco MD5 (made by AnyTone) Baofeng BF-1801Radioddity GD-77 Retevis RT-52 The Alinco MD5 was the best of the pack, it performed similar to the EVX-539/6550, and also used the same PMAE4048A antenna, but at 1.89 miles the light would simply randomly blink and no audio could be heard. Then the BF-1801, the GD-77 and the RT-52... all those stopped receiving audio completely at about .5 miles from the house, that's right, these cheap pieces of utter crap weren't able to communicate with a Motorola XPR6550 after just 0.6 miles... and you wonder why you don't have any range with these CCRs?... I think its time to stop wasting money, start saving up for a 2nd hand XPR7550e, just like I did... mine is used, it has a couple of small scratches on the screen... but those scratches on the screen certainly didn't stop it from demolishing the "mint condition" RT-52 and all these pieces of China garbage... Yes, I know, you need the CPS, you need a cable, heck, you need to actually invest some money to field a XPR7550e... I know, I know it quite well, b/c I also started with x2 Baoturd UV-5R CCR radios... but looking in retrospect I should've gone directly with an XPR7550e, I can safely say that it would've saved me a lot of money, a lot of sleepless nights trying to figure out why my radio range was measured in tenths of an inch rather that in tens of miles.... G.

MyGMRS requires a username and password to log in to see repeater information. To obtain a username and password you must submit your callsign and fill out the registration page. Your callsign will be confirmed through the FCC database (this may take a few days if you just received your callsign) and your account will become active. This process was done to reduce the number of unlicensed operators as well as malicious operations upon repeaters that were listed. Note that your MyGMRS account is not the same as the MyGMRS forums (To my knowledge) so you will need to register on both sides to use both the forums and the main site.

It's definitely a learning journey, including separating some of the real world application from the marketing fluff. I have a set as well, and I have to give Midland credit for being beginner friendly gear. That said, one part of the journey is going to be research...varied levels of radios, and differing features. Some have all the features we want, some don't, and some of that we can learn from others' experience. Case in point was my hands discovering that the method btech uses to lock down the gmrs 50x1 is an inconvenience with the repeaters near me, where the kg805g handheld doesn't have the same limitation.

Per the letter of the law (FCC Rules) the only radios permissible for use on GMRS are radios that have the Part 95 certification for GMRS. This is either the current 95e or the older 95a (grandfathered). So, unless the radio model in question has one of those certifications it is not legally permitted. As you read in this forum you will find that many people use higher-cost, higher-quality commercial grade Part 90 radios. Many have stated that there is not a single incident that can be found where the FCC has cited someone for using these higher quality radios. The FCC in one document indicated it was not their intent (when they revised the rules) to exclude the use of Part 90 radios in GMRS, but they have yet to make it officially legal. No, even an licensed amateur is not permitted to legally use a radio in the GRMS that is not type certified. There is no radio made for amateur radio that is legal for use on GMRS, although many can be ‘modified’ to open it up for GMRS, but even then, it is only permissible to be done by and for use by certain individuals. Michael WRHS965 KE8PLM

I own this one, the 4” screen version. http://www.randl.com/shop/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=75145 NanoVNA are not for the faint of heart and can be overwhelming to the novice whereas the SWR has shorter learning curve. I agree it is fantastic tool for the radio enthusiast to have. Michael WRHS965 KE8PLM

Second nanoVNA. 40 bucks. You have a hard time beating that price. And you can use it right at the base of the antenna make changes and view the changes as you make them.

I dont believe one exists here on the forum, however a google search of commonly used radio technical terms gave me this website which I think will give you more than what you were looking for. Its for ham radio, however most if not all of the terms are the same Enjoy http://www.arrl.org/ham-radio-glossary

I may have missed this in previous posts, but are the Baofeng radios technically legal on any frequency range? GMRS? I'm seeing what I think are mixed views on whether they are GMRS legal, or not. They are popular with 4wd and car clubs, and I know many are using them, sometimes on GMRS frequencies, without a license. I've cautioned them on using them and also about using GMRS frequencies without a license but none seem to care. So can a licensed GMRS user communicate with them on a GMRS channel legally? And it looks like they are not technically legal for FRS, partly due to too much power. I guess I'm confused as to why they would be permitted to be sold if they aren't technically legal at least somewhere. That'd be like an illegal drug being permitted to be sold but not used. Then again, with the federal government, nothing really surprises me. Maybe legal for licensed HAM operators? I just thought of one use that should be 100% legal. They receive FM radio! Lol!

OK, we will soon have our first candidate radios for testing. RadioGuy7268 and I are working out the details. Two pairs of motorola radios will soon be available for the tests, each pair a different model. I have reached out to another member of this forum and another local long-time GMRSr and ham to assist. Michael WRHS965 KE8PLM

Ha - I purchased a GMRS license for $90, valid for 5 years, just before they extended it to 10 years!

Any good discussion on radio grounding and surge protection should point you to the Motorola R56 guide as required reading. I believe the latest version is over 700 pages. Copies of previous versions are available online with a quick Google search.

I would say NanoVNA v2, it does everything you'll need. G.

For all of you who are due to renew soon .... In accordance with Murphy's Law the fee reduction will take effect the day after you renew.

I think this group coined the term "CCR" to mean what it does here. For 50 years before this forum, I, and many others used the term "CCR" to refer to a quartet of musicians: Stu Cook, Doug "Cosmo" Clifford, and the Fogerty brothers, Tom and John.