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While you can use Chirp for many radios, "any" is simply incorrect. In fact, there are far more radios that Chirp cannot support than there are radios that it can! It is however an excellent freeware program that can program many of the most popular radios that folks here and elsewhere use.

I wanted to point our our Community Guidelines for these forums. It's available in the footer of every page next to the Privacy Policy. Please read and understand these rules. They may change periodically if there is a need to curtail any poor behavior, but I expect the basics are good enough. The intent is to keep this a family-friendly place free of drama and argument and adult content. https://forums.mygmrs.com/index.php?app=forums&module=extras&section=boardrules Thank you.

That was a very nice write on those radios. Your comments about how they out perform typical FRS/GMRS radios in tight quarters is worth noting. That could help somebody who needs a better solution. The experience on a cruise ship with FRS radios is something I’ve read from time to time as being poor, so these radios would be the solution, but not cheap. For me the main point was at the very end, the part where the radios will not interoperate with non-Moto models. That ends any idea I had of scouting out one to experiment with, not to mention the cost.

I am a user of the DTRs and the DLRs and a serious fan of them. I own a small fleet of legacy DTR650 radios and a small fleet of DTR700 radios. The DTR650 has been around since 2006 and was discontinued in November 2018 when the DTR600/700 models were released. The DTR600 and DTR700 models are the replacement for the legacy DTR 410/550/650 models. The DTR600/700 programs a little differently from the legacy DTRs but are fully backward compatible. I have also owned a small fleet of DLR1060 radios which also work with the DTRs. I later sold my DLRs to a friend for his business. At first he wasn't sure what he was going to use them for except maybe as rental radios for his customers but now he and his employees use them all the time around the office and at jobsites. The DTRs are my professional quality digital replacement for GMRS/FRS for local on-site simplex type use with family and friends. I never got them to set any range records but they work amazingly well and are capable of outperforming conventional Part 90/95 UHF portables on simplex. Where they beat other radios is when working inside buildings. Where they blow all others away is when aboard cruise ships. People who have used them on cruise ships report having full ship coverage on all decks compared to a pair of 4W UHF portables on GMRS simplex which had trouble penetrating more than about 2 decks. The many reflections inside the cruise ship actually helps and the FHSS operation effectively stirs the modes as the frequency hops. The DTRs and DLRs use a hopset of 50 frequencies spread across the entire 902-928MHz band and spend no more than 90ms on any given freq in the hopset. The DTRs make about 11 hops per second. The digital modulation on a given freq in the hopset is according to an 8-level modulation scheme. The occupied BW on a given freq in the hopset is around 26 kHz. Motorola's VSELP vocoder is used. Per FCC 15.247, an FHSS device operating in the 902-928MHz band must use a minimum of 50 frequencies in the hopset and output power is limited to 1W (+30dBm). The legacy DTRs were FCC certified at 890mW (+29.5dBm). The DTR600/700 models were FCC certified at 830 mW (+29.2 dBm). The DLRs were FCC certified at 880mW (+29.4 dBm). The few tenths of a dB under the +30dBm legal limit is to account for measurement uncertainty and slight variation in power output from unit to unit and not exceed the 1W (+30dBm) legal limit. The power numbers in the FCC certs reflect what was measured from the individual sample submitted to the accredited test lab for cert testing. A coworker once asked me why not just use FRS? My answer was that I have already been doing that since FRS was created in 1996 and longer than that as a GMRS licensee (KAE9013) since 1992 and using good quality commercial gear. I want an all digital solution that is higher quality and more professional than FRS. The fact that they are completely scanner proof and can be made very secure via private talkgroups and private 1 to 1 calling comes as a bonus. I still have GMRS/FRS and MURS but they are no longer my default go-to mode local on-site simplex use with family and friends. Aside from occasional light use of FRS with my young nephews when they come to visit, I hardly use GMRS/FRS at all anymore. I have a small fleet of DTRs because they won't work with any non-Moto FHSS radios. I have them ready to hand out to friends and family members. I'm OK with them not working with non-Moto FHSS radios because I didn't get them to work with any other radios. No other manufacturer currently has a 900MHz FHSS radio that can hold a candle to the Motorola DTRs and DLRs. Retevis has dangled a 900MHz license-free model but it appears to be vaporware from what I can tell.

This Laird antenna does not need ground plane. Do I read correctly that it is now mounted at the height of 30 inches from the ground? Mount it high on a mast, the higher the better. 10-20-30', and do experiment again.

I suspect so...mine have been fairly forgiving with both windows and Linux versions of chirp

At your age (mine, too) are you willing to wait for the Feds to make a move on this for $3.50/year?

Good morning and welcome to GMRS and the MyGMRS group. The main difference between the ham radio and GMRS linked groups (Aside from using different server groups to prevent unlicensed traffic in either direction) is that Mygmrs isn't quite set up for mobile linked repeaters. Many races currently use active ham radio groups or local emergency service radios for traffic relay. This is because these groups are set up for emergency remote radio operations and many times use VHF simplex to achieve their goals. in my years as an EDS operator, I can only think of one time where we set up a repeater, and that was because of a large forest fire in southern NJ where a NJFS tower was affected. Any other time, whether it be at an evac site, or during a race event, or even when we followed a group across the state for their march to DC, we always used VHF FM simplex for comms. It could be useful for perhaps camping, where one group may wish to communicate back home to a base repeater, but thats really the only extent I can see a mobile linked GMRS repeater being used. Even then, there are other means of comms that could be used, such as Zello links, since lets face it, if your in a location without cell service, theres little to no chance your node would work either. Now all that being said (and the boring stuff aside) The build you want is rather simple and the method I'll give is plug and play. You'll need 2 M1225 radios, flat pack duplexer, Rim-lite maxtrac repeater cable (note this is different from the standard rim-lite maxtrac cable as it should have two connectors), Pi and associated cables and parts, USB charger capable of 5+ amps continuous output, Slimjim antenna and coax, container to install everything in, and a really good battery to power everything for at least a couple days without recharge. You'll likely also need a mobile hotspot as well if you plan to be remote. Start by programming the two M1225's. The TX radio should be set to low power (20W) This does three things, prevents de-sense in the duplexer, reduces the chances of burning out the finals on the radio due to extended transmit times, and extends battery life by reducing power draw. Once completed, attach your jumpers for the duplexer, and install the rim lite modules making sure not to reverse the connections. Attach the rim lite USB cable to the pi. wire in the radios, and the USB charger to the battery. Connect USB charger to the Pi, (This is how the Pi will get power to operate) Connect the RX/TX radio jumpers to the duplexer, attach coax to the duplexer and antenna to the coax. Its a simple enough build with the only weak point being the battery as they are either overly expensive, or weigh so much that it makes the system much less portable. The battery I use for my portable repeater (Not linked) is meant for trolling motors on boats. It was about $250, and I was able to get about 2 days of use out of it before voltage dropped below 11VDC. The battery weighs about 25lbs.

I just noticed what the autocorrect did to the title of this topic. Deployable, not deplorable. Sheesh.

Boomer, thanks for covering the "skip" setting. this is the best page i've found to walk through the chirp columns (though there's the 'outthinking' sometimes...): https://chirp.danplanet.com/projects/chirp/wiki/MemoryEditorColumns If the 'tone mode' column is (none), it should ignore that default 88.5 and show as "off" in the radio. from what you described (same tone in/out), it looks like the tone mode setting you want is "tsql", and it should put whatever tone is in the 'tsql' column for both rx and tx. offsets, you can do a couple ways (and it seems to work better to set the duplex mode column first, if i remember right); most gmrs use will be set that to "+", and 5.0000 for the offset. if you're doing something oddball, you can set duplex mode to "split" and enter the desired transmit frequency in the 'offset' column (i use the "split" setting on the local public safety channel so i can listen while preventing an accidental key-up from causing interference...i offset the transmit into the FRS band somewhere) (let me know if i can clarify...long day and lack of sleep has my mental processing running a little slow)

..and thanks! Sent from my Pixel 4a using Tapatalk

GMRS does not allow digital.

The Moto DTR radios work pretty well and are license free. Great site radios, they use frequency hopping to stay private and interference free I. The 900MHz band.

There are other interesting oddball radio services out there that people are not aware of. For example there are license free 900MHz radios. Some of those radios are not cheap either. Might be fun to play with a few but not at $300+ per unit. https://www.amazon.com/Motorola-DTR700-900MHZ-Licence-Digital/dp/B07PM684WN https://www.motorolasolutions.com/en_us/products/two-way-radios/commercial-business-two-way-radio-systems/on-site-business-radios/dtr-series/dtr700.html#tabproductinfo

Welcome to the forum. Enjoy. Michael WRHS965 KE8PLM

Welcome,

All radios are Motorola or Motorola/Vertex. VX-261 EVX-S24 EVX-534 XPR6550 XPR7550 Michael WRHS965 KE8PLM

The MXT-400, if you buy the DBR1 cable and ask Midland support for the programming software download, has a few options that can be changed. 1) On power up, mine displays my call sign 2) I have the four local repeaters programmed into CH 8-11, they were empty due to unused FRS not permitted by FCC. 3) You can program display names into your channels. 4) Bandwidths that can be programmed into the channels are: 12.5kHz (narrow), 20kHz (medium) and 25kHz (wide). The factory had the repeater channels set for 25kHz on mine. 5) I can also program the repeater frequencies for which no repeaters are in use in my area for "talk-around" operation as a preset. The MXT400 isn't very versatile in programming from the front panel. I think I am going to try one of those Wouxon KG-1000G's. I'd like to try one of those old rigs, Kenwood or Motorola, if I can get the software legally and it is 95A certified. I have a deep respect for Motorola products, but I don't want any risks in getting on the FCC's bad side. I get a ticket EVERY time I do more than 5mph over the speed limit... It's like they're just waiting for me to make a misstep!

The Wouxun KG 1000g uses a superheterodyne receiver. It is not a radio on a chip design. People need to actually learn about the radios they dismiss. If people keep maligning new GMRS radios online, without actually understanding the specs, manufacturers will stop producing new GMRS radios. I, for one, am happy to see companies actually producing GMRS radios. Sorry, but if we are relegated to only buying old radios that are not Part 95 certified, but Part 90 certified, eventually we will have no radios available for use, and no new GMRS radios.

Hello David and Welcome to GMRS. I own, use, and would buy again, the Wouxun KG-805G. It is a good starter radio. I use it with an after-market antenna and the higher capacity battery back and other accessories. I use it with an external antenna in the car. It will cost you more than twice the price of the more costly bubble pack radios (e.g. Midland GXT1000) while remaining affordable enough to allow for one for each family member (IMO) if needed. The radio is repeater capable, audio quality is good, has more than sufficient memories, and is software programmable. It has all the features you will need to have a good initial GMRS experience. Do not get your hopes set to high on distance. Compared side-by-side against the best bubble rack radios you are likely to only see a 10-25% range increase when operating simplex and that is because of the added power and upgrade antenna. But, because it is repeater capable, if you have any local high-profile repeaters in your area that are within your intended area of use you can the expect much greater effective usable range. I expect I will upgrade one or two of my radios in the future, but only when I find one with notably better radio performance and a few additional features that I would like. Until them, I am content with this radio. Michael WRHS965 KE8PLM

Well gee I wonder if they will be sending back half the money for folks that got their licenses in the last 12 months.