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Lets keeps this in perspective. Midland's radios are marketed towards your basic user who wants to talk between their kids while at a park and/or for off roaders who want to talk between machines. The people on this board are "more advanced" users of GMRS in general w/ things like repeaters and linked nets. Midland isn't marketed at us.

What you're referring to is a "bulkhead" connector. It's basically a hard shell version of coax cable with threads on the outside. I would NOT recommend them for GMRS. There is a good engineering reason why they should not be used, and likely not on high VHF either. The connectors are NOT designed for 50 ohm impedance to match the coax cable. This results in an impedance "bump" in the transmission line. The longer the bulkhead connector, up to a point, the worse the problem will like become. The problem will appear as an elevated SWR as measured at the radio. The exact impedance depends on the dimensions of the OD of the inner conductor, the ID of the shell and the dialectic material used. When the impedance is not 50 ohms the bulkhead connector with cause an impedance transformation from one end to the other. The exact transformation is dependent on the impedance of the bulkhead connector and the impedance connected on the end. If these are known the SWR could be calculated. Also being a transmission line the SWR variation will repeat every 1/2 wavelength. The worst are odd multiples of a quarter wavelength. Theoretically a half wavelength should cause no transformation. When talking about "wavelength" this is the "electrical" wavelength, not the physical length which will always be significantly shorter due to the fact the RF propagates much slower in the bulkhead connector thus the RF "sees" a longer length. You will normally see this accounted for by a specification called the "velocity factor", typically much less than 1.0 which is what it would be in empty space. The same thing happens with coax cable too.

I just wanted to put this out there. I have had at least one RT97 working here in Alaska for about a year and half now. It's outdoors and exposed to the weather on a 2000 foot ridge line. (think -30 degrees F lows during cold snaps and high winds in the 50-70mph range during wind storms). I am sure some of you have seen the posts. I had one "break" on me. It still worked fine as far as RX and TX but one day I couldn't get it to communicate with a computer for updated programming anymore. I sent Retevis a message, they attempted to work through the issue with me for a few emails and then requested I send it back. Yes, their english was not exactly 'correct' but it was fluent enough for easy communication. Yes I paid my own shipping to get it back to China, which cost me 70 bucks, but it got there. They had it for about a month and just sent me another one back. All in all they stood by their product. They don't just ghost you after purchase.

Aren't you the same guy who openly is asking for an "all-service" radio in spite of FCC Rules?!? Looking for the ultimate Hiking Radio with support for 2m,70cm,GMRS,MURS Have a little patience for the rest of us! ?

It was a joke, sort of... ?

Very good question. I am utterly amazed there has not been more talk about this topic. While I am not an expert on the subject I will share what I do know. - There is no official need for DTMF in GMRS. It is a feature that can be used when you have a special need for it. - DTMF codes are commonly used to remotely control repeaters and to control other electronics that might be monitoring the frequency. - In some radio circles (outside GMRS) some repeaters and other radios might require both a tone burst to trigger a remote receiver to open up. This is a feature that equipment that long pre-dated CTCSS and DCS sometimes needed for operation. I know of no cases in GMRS where is applicable today. Perhaps someone else will have a current day example where it is being used. - Sidetones refers to the feature of your radio that allows you, the operator, to hear the tones that your radio is sending out. This could be your radio’s ANI-ID, manual DTMF from button presses, or even select-call calling tones. The term ‘Sidetone’ comes from telephony and refers to the sound emitted from the ear piece portion of the phone. If you press a button on the phone’s keypad you will hear the tones from the ear piece. In your radio, when sidetones are not active you could very well be sending out DTMF tones and have no idea that you are. If you are using DTMF for anything, turn sidetones on so you know when and what you are sending. - The ANI-ID on your radio is a number that you establish that identifies your radio. You have six digits available and values must be greater than 101. - If you have ANI-ID turned on, when you press and/or release your PTT, your ANI-ID is sent out. The BOT, EOT and BOTH values you see in one of you radio’s function menus determines if your ANI-ID is sent out when you press PTT, release PTT or press and release. - If a receiving radio has a DTMF decoder within it, your ANI-ID will appear on their display suggesting to them which radio is transmitting. - The ‘Ring’ feature is one that, when properly enabled, allows other radios in your group to cause your radio to ring to attract your attention. For this to occur, the transmitting radio must have a valid ANI-ID value configured, the receiving radio must have an ANI-ID configured, and the transmitting radio also needs to have the receiving radio’s ANI-ID entered into the Call Group it is using. So, for example, if you have two radios, one with an ANI-ID 101 and another with an ANI-ID 102, radio 101 can cause radio 102 to ring, and radio 102 can cause radio 101 to ring. The Call Group fields are where you enter the ANI-ID of the various radios you want to be able to call/ring. Think of them like speed-dial memories. For radio 101 to call 102, radio 101 would have 102 in one of its Call Group cells. - When you have one of your PF buttons configured to make a Call, that button causes two things to be sent out in rapid succession: your ANI-ID and the receiving radio’s ANI-ID. Using the 101 and 102 radio example above, this takes the form of ‘101#102’. - Some wildcards are supported in Call Groups. Instead of entering ‘101’ in a Call Group, you could enter ‘1**’. The later would case all radios whose ANI-ID begins with ‘1’ to ring. - Ringing is not enabled by default on Wouxun radios. One must expressly enable it. - One way to enable ringing is to set the current channels SP-Mute mode to “QT*DT” or ‘QT*DTMF”. Since SP-MUTE is a channel-by-channel setting you can have some memory channels configured to ring when called and others that do not. - ANI-ID needs to be programmed, but it does not need to be turned on to always send out to use the Select call feature. I have found zero Wouxun documentation or videos that covers this. Admittedly I struggled for sometime trying to piece it together. Thanks to [mention=5881]IanM[/mention] who provided some enlightenment to help me bring it all into focus. I have found some BF stuff that covers the subject a little, but terminology is slightly different. These features have, in my view, practical use in large organized group and family outings. They have also had merit, and perhaps still do, in some LMR circles. I recently have been configuring all my radios to have unique ANI-ID, and setting up Calling Groups. I have yet to work to work out the specific details of the SP-Mute mode called ‘QT+DT’ or QT+DTMF. But my current understanding is that the radio will not break squelch until it hears an ANI-ID in DTMF form and then when it does there is some other unique behavior. I will soon be exploring that and documenting its behavior. Hope this helps. Michael WRHS965 KE8PLM Edit: If you to do some experimenting and to see things work with little complication do this: 1) Configure multiple Wouxun radios. Give each a unique ANI-ID starting a 101 and going up. Use 101 in your KG-935G. 2) Set each radio to GMRS channel 01 (462.5625), low power. 3) Make sure all radios are using the same CTCSS. Say 67.0 Tx and Rx. 4) Set the SP-MUTE mode for channel 01 on all radios to QT*DT. 5) On your KG-935G radio, enable sending out of the ANI-ID each time the PTT is pressed. 6) Turn all radios on. 7) Press PTT on the KG-935G and immediately press 102# and watch what happens. Then repeat using the ANI-ID for all other radios. This simulates a select call. 8) Press PTT on the KG-935G and immediately press 1** and watch what happens. 9) Press PTT on the KG-935G and immediately press *# and watch what happens. When you have made it this far and have seen ANI-ID show up on the radio displays and you have successfully experienced ringing, then move to programming your call groups in the radios if you decide you want to use them. You may also wish to explore the different behaviors you get if some radios are in the 100 series, some in 200 series and some in the 300 series of ANI-ID values. BTW, Despite PTT-ID being a menu option on the 805G, the ID is never sent out of that radio, nor will the radio ever display one if it receives one.