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Read the manual for the radio first.

I'm not an expert on this topic by any means but as WRAK968 said in his post it makes sense that the antennas are too close. You might be overpowering the receiver on the scanner causing feedback. Squeals are usually feedback based, as opposed to say Hums, which are electrical - ground loop based or such. Can you adjust the output wattage on the transmitter? If so drop it to the lowest setting and try it again. If the squeal diminishes you have your answer. If that's the case then you might not be able to eliminate all feedback if you have a lot of transmit wattage, and might have to relocate the scanner antenna. Best, JAS

I would try going 4-5' below the transmitter antenna. If that doesn't resolve the issue, use a stock antenna on the scanner and see if the whine goes away. If it doesnt it could be any number of things with the electrical system and likely would be resolved by bonding and grounding.

The Motorola CDM750 or CDM1250 are surprisingly good radios with very good receivers. The 1250 might be a tad better b/c you have more than 4 channels.. but... G.

David, thank you very much for the very comprehensive deep dive into DTR-DLR world. I will wait for my newly bought DLRs to come before asking more questions.

If only for GMRS, I'd go with one of the second-hand commercial mobiles, like Kenwood TK-860, TK-880, TK-8180 or similar (like 8102), or with offerings from Motorola. Much much cheaper, and by a lot of circumstantial evidence, perform better.

Welcome to the myGMRS, brotherhood of fellow newbies Michael WRFS927. I would pick Wouxun KG-1000G, per the specs, sounds like a great radio for the price and features... I would use the radio in my Jeep or base but my KG-805G 5 watt Handheld reaches the big repeater with 20-30 miles range and have a great repeater owner/operator. I wish the USA radio firm who are marketing Chinese made radios add the added the feature we are lookin for and see in the KG-1000... My mentor Michael WRHS965 and I both have Wouxun products... I which so call American made radio firms who outsource manufacturing of their radio tell their Chinese manufactors to up the features that Wouxun has. I do like the Motorola products as I have been in LEO for 30 years and trust them well, but they are not Part 95 certify or made in USA IMHO, so if I'm wrong let Motorola correct me for my knowledge... Under full disclosure I will be using a Motorola GR1225 for a family private repeater which is Part 90 certified with a lot of feature I'm looking for. I will have less than $800 in a family repeater project thanks to the myGRMR advice. I also like the Wouxun KG-1000G with the removable face plate or head for use as a base and or mobile installation. In my life I want to have flexibly which is key as I learn so much from the guys on this forum.... Hope this helps.. Jack

Thanks. I just made a few minor edits. Maybe the next thing for me to do is write up a DTR/DLR programming overview and explain a lot of the workings. Programming the DTRs and DLRs is often cryptic and befuddling to new users. No programming is needed to use DTRs and DLRs right out of the box at the factory default settings. Customization of features and settings requires the CPS. Some settings can be changed without requiring the CPS. Programming the legacy DTR410/550/650 is cryptic and the DLR programming cleaned up a lot of things and made it a little less cryptic. The DTR600/700 models program like the DLRs. I suspect the DTR600/700 models use the DLR's code base. I am not surprised Motorola adopted the DLR way of programming going forward. The DTR600/700 models are backward compatible with the legacy DTRs but it requires some understanding of the differences. When I owned DTR650s, DLR1060s, and DTR700s, I had them all working with each other on public and private talkgroups. The DLRs and DTR700s added a 4 digit Profile ID Number (PIN) feature which the legacy DTRs don't have. I had my DLRs and DTR700s working with each other on Profile ID mode channels. The PIN feature allows you to take DLRs right out the box and set a 4 digit PIN to secure all channels in them without requiring the CPS. With the legacy DTRs, the only way to secure them was to use the CPS to program private talkgroups into them. Motorola made it insanely easy for DLR users and DTR600/700 users to secure their channels in radios right out of the box without needing the CPS. A lot can be learned about them by downloading and installing the CPS and exploring the DTR and DLR programming. The CPS has default DTR and DLR templates to work from so you don't need to read a radio first to use the CPS and play around with the programming. The latest CPS version is R08.02 and programs all of the older models too. You don't need an older version of the CPS to program an older radio. Just use the latest version of the CPS.

Please report if you do try one. Because of a changed mounting location we can't attribute the performance completely to the Laird Phantom but there was a decrease in communication distance once installed on my friend's vehicle compared to the tiny mag mount his mxt275 came with. The MNO mount make it an easy swap when the wife isn't looking...

Unsolicited comment: midland sells a heck of a lot of radios so it is likely they have quite a lot of influence over whoever is manufacturing the radios for them. There is at least a chance, that they own or have some kind of stake in such a business and some other radios are offshoots of their efforts or directions. I'm thinking that we, the people on this forum may not totally be in the mainstream when wanting to connect a computer to the GMRS radio in our Jeep or whatever. If I was Midland, having to certify, market and support these types of radios I doubt customer low-level programming is something I would find advantageous. I'd want a fool-proof, reliable radio with compatible accessories. having said that, I want programming access to my MXT400 but to be sure, I have not run into real limitations with it yet. I'm going to guess it is transmitting in the wide band mode on repeaters just because it sounds strong. With my suboptimally mounted Midland 6db whip antenna, yesterday I reached a repeater 40+ miles away. im not bashing commercial radios but I'm not dissatisfied in having purchased a nice clean new radio from Midland directly with super fast service vs me having to dig the Cooties out of some icky old taxi cab radio. sorry for the rant but sometimes a different point of view can be worth considering.

I've had the same problem but in my case the GPS was OFF! It seems that even when off the Garmin GPS still consumes a trickle of power keeping the internal battery charged... ...so after a few weeks it's drained enough to keep the engine from starting. Fortunately I carry a battery booster in my car so I can pop the hood, connect it up and start the car. It's especially bad during the sub-zero temperatures we've been having here in NW Indiana!

Oh, the Surecom shill... seriously, get a NanoVNA v2 with a 4.3 screen to measure SWR. Tune your antennas to 50 ohms, not to the lowest SWR (return loss). G.

With so little use in my area I keep mine in SCAN as well. Hear some chitchat on the lower channels and business (hotels and retail stores) talk on the upper channels. I keep the squelch at level 1.

Nope. Mine is in scan any time im in the jeep

Welcome. I've found GMRS to be a very friendly community. Give it time, and you'll make a lot of new friends!

Welcome dchemphill1 to the group... I agree with WRAK968, just have set radio to scan.. If you hear some traffic on the any of the channel just say WRAK968 monitoring or radio check. Strike up a conversation... Good group of folks. And do look for repeaters in your area. As a newbie myself feel free to ask as this site gets new folks with the same question and these guys take turns answering my dumb questions. In fact I got so self-conscious I would Private Message the poster to get a better understanding. You will find all my mentors and coaches... Jack

Practice what you will use. Use what you practiced. Even if people would be allowed to use the radio in an emergency, they will not have had any practice. GMRS is fine for the technology (in spite of what some hams will tell you). You just have to manage the licensing. And, now that it is $3.50 a year....

I'm looking for some Zello setup information so I can join the Net on Sunday nights. Our local repeater which is linked to the net, has recently gone down. I'm just looking to get back onto the net but I have no other linked repeaters in my area. Any help would be great Thank you Jim N wqwn660 Bellmawr NJ

Maybe I am the only one, but I am confused about the purpose of this ongoing rant. Complaints on an online forum are not going to change anything. If you want change, file a Petition for Rulemaking with the FCC. Then get people to support your petition. But, to the points you raise. First, about GMRS radios themselves: Some of your facts are wrong or off target, there is no need for a -5 MHz (not KHz) offset on a GMRS radio. There are only 8 repeater input frequencies defined and those are all 5MHz higher than the 8 defined repeater input frequencies. And, the number of internal memory locations (aka "channels) that a given user needs is very difficult to determine. Probably more than 22, but 180? Zello? Zello works just fine without a GMRS radio at all. But, Zello is an Internet (IP) based app, which means anything that connects to Zello needs an Internet connection. But, you also suggest GMRS should work when away from any cellular infrastructure. So, how is your Zello equipped GMRS radio supposed to connect to Zello when you are in the middle of nowhere? And you complaint about morse code, I really don't know what that is about? We live in a free market economic system. Manufacturers are free to offer products they feel will meet customer and investor needs. You have a choice. And, if you don't like the certified GMRS products you can choose from, there are plenty of other options, from super-cheap CCRs to super-high end Part-90 commercial equipment. Technical questions aside, your major complaint seems to be about licensing fees. Here again I think you are off base. Many services, especially commercial, marine, aviation, LMR, broadcast, common carrier, cellular, etc. have licensing fees and they are often quite expensive. At $7 a year, GMRS is cheap by comparison. Yes, it is more than Amateur. But, Amateur radio is also considered a public service, with a long history and International agreements. And, what difference does it make who you pay a licensing fee to the FCC, the ARRL, a local radio club or whatever? But, even here you are not current. There is now a proposal in the FCC to lower GMRS licensing fees to $50 and add a fee for Amateur radio. The reason? It appears federal law requires fees be set to recover costs. The GMRS fee was bringing in too much money, ham radio was bringing in nothing. You also object to being taxed on your GMRS radio, but have no issue with the FCC requiring a cell phone company to offer a GMRS repeater service on every tower for free. When you consider the equipment and installation costs, plus administration and maintenance costs, are you willing to pay for that every month when Verizon and AT&T raise your bill to cover their costs? There is no free lunch. Ok, you obviously feel strongly about something, otherwise you wouldn't have started this topic and posted 7 follow-up comments. But, it is really hard to understand just what it is you are complaining about and what you think should be done about it. Can you succinctly state the top 5 high level problems you see with GMRS today, the reasons you think those are problems, and 5 proposed solutions.