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I just looked at the specs for your GM-30 on Radioddity's web site: Specifications: Default Channels: 30 Channel Capacity: 250 Battery: 1500mAh, 7.4V Output Power: 0.5W / 5W Tones: 50 CTCSS / 104 DCS Tx Frequency Range: 462.5625-467.7125 MHz Rx Frequency Range: 65-108 MHz, 136-174 MHz, 400-470 MHz Your UHF receive is 400 - 470 MHz, it doesn't tune high enough for those departments According to the Radio Reference.com data base for LA County https://www.radioreference.com/apps/db/?ctid=201 LACoF starts at 470 MHz LAPD uses 484, 506 & 507 MHz LASO runs between 482 -485 MHz LAFD isn't even in the ball park, it uses higher 800 MHz channels Have you updated the firmware & software to the current version? Maybe that will give you expanded receive

CSQ is carrier squelch (aka no tones). Hearing not a peep, my first thought is to double check that tones are really off though. Besides that, it looks like their setup doesn't exactly lend itself to monitoring....radio reference indicates they don't repeat the mobile traffic (unit to dispatch), they talk direct to dispatch on the input frequency (so you'd need to monitor 2 channels to get both sides of a Convo). Probably aiding that, it looks like after the initial contact, they move off the dispatch channel to one of the tac channels. The limitations of the HT antenna, especially indoors may also be playing into it as well, given you mention that even the nws reception is spotty.

there is a tiny torx/allen screw inside the hole.. just loosen it and you can then unscrew the antenna. If you are certain there is no setscrew there, then you should be able to just unscrew the antenna. Ive done it with both my GM-30 and my Tidradio TD-H5 which is basically the same thing.

I have a BTech GMRS V-1 in the car for my lunch time at work I have the local GMRS repeaters & rail frequencies programmed in And the NOAA weather channels, this is the lousy weather season in Florida My Alincos are my better quality rigs for everyday carry

That should have no problem. Have run the 805g's software in Wine/Linux mint on an atom powered gateway netbook (circa 2010), as well as the Linux version of Chirp. I also have a variety of cps running fine on an atom powered Intel compute stick running win10.

That's why "I don't do Windoze" unless I am forced to do so! ?

You post triggered a thought and I started messing around on t he PC and figured out I needed the driver for the "CP 210x USB to UART Bridge" driver first! Installed that and finally got my COM port assigned for the KG-905G. Thanks ?

I have been a "Mac" person since before there were Macs in 1979 with my Apple ][+ and thereafter! I have used Windows XP in Parallels Desktop ever since the Mac switched to the Intel CPU chip in 2006 (before that I ran Windows XP in Virtual PC). I find that ALL of the codeplug software that I need for my use and I need to help others out with their programming of Wouxun's, DMR, etc. will run in Windows XP. I have Windows 10 installed as well, but I have never found a reason to use it. If you are willing to purchase Parallels (retail $49 for first users), I can direct you with tips on getting Windows XP inexpensively now that it is so hold and how to install it. My Macs could run Windows in the Bootcamp environment natively, but with Parallels running it in emulation, I can have both environments running side by side and use "cut and paste" and/or Chirp running at the same time. Do you mean the Wouxun KG-905G? My understanding is that Chirp which will run on the Mac does not work with Wouxuns. Drivers are the problem with certain USB cables; read this article: Miklor article on cables and drivers

If you are doing it for “the learning experience” then go for it. That is how we all learn best We try things and learn what does and does not work. But consider it like a high-end college education, learning is expensive. For many of us the more it costs us and/or the more we get burned, the more we take away from it. What one learns however is actually quite predictable when it comes to radio since fortunately many have gone before us and have shared their knowledge with the world. Some key things we can predict will be learned. - A high antenna elevation relative to obstacles and receiving antenna are material to extending one’s useable range. - Adding more power does not translate into proportionally greater operating range. - We cannot cost-effectively and legally buy enough power to overcome insufficient antenna elevation. - Watt-for-watt, A home brew repeater will have less usable range in any given direction than operating the same radios simplex. - The average person does posses the knowledge nor the test equipment to optimize the performance of a duplexer and will need to rely on other$ for both. - A commercial-grade purpose built repeater will out perform a home-brew repeater built from consumer-grade components. If, down deep, your real hope is own a repeater that achieves some specific pre-imaged coverage range, here is my recommendation to you. Focus on simplex first. Figure out what it takes to achieve more than your must-have imagined radio-to-radio range. Figure out what type of antenna, how high it must be and with what power and type of radios. Now, once you have figured all that out and are satisfied, then let the repeater enter into the equation. For at this point you can be reasonably assured that you can achieve repeater success with the right equipment. From personal perspective, I do not own and operate a repeater. While I believe I could afford one, I cannot justify the cost of achieving the antenna elevation I need to achieve the coverage I would want to make it worth my while. While some people are blessed to have great access to antenna sites and others have high natural geography to make it viable for them, most of us do not. You may be one of the lucky ones. Whatever you do, enjoy working with radios. They are a great tool to have. Regards Michael WRHS965 KE8PLM