Leaderboard

I typically carry around a Kenwood TK-3170. It’s certified for Part 90 and 95A. It’s convenient because it’s possible to use the radio down to 440MHz or lower for Ham and GMRS. Between 440MHz and 450MHz covers the repeater section of the Ham 70cm band, only need one radio for both services. For every two way radio I own, used or new, I keep a computer folder of PDF documents for user guides, service manuals, manufacturers brochures and FCC grant (certification) letters that I can find. I also keep the same on my smart phone too. Many of the older Kenwood commercial radios have Part 95 certification. I’ve also have a folder with brochures of various radios that I see mentioned just for reference. When a poster mentions they use a particular make and model radio it’s far easier to just look at the brochure to see what features it has instead of asking a bunch of questions. Most of the commercial radios you can find the brochures without much effort, might have to dig around a bit to find some of them. The brochures many times have the FCC ID for the radio so you can look up the certification info.

This won't be a wildly popular thought but if you teach your g/f how to use a GMRS radio and you guys follow the same standards a family member would no one is going to know the difference and no one is going to ask you to pony up a marriage certificate. To me, and this is just my opinion, this question is along the lines of Part 90 vs Part 95 gear. It seems the FCC just wants the spirit of the law followed. Do that and you will be left alone.

I posted elsewhere that I'd like to establish communication between two houses 7 miles apart, separated by lots of hills and forest. The consensus in the comments was that, based on the terrain, two GMRS mobiles 40-50 watts each, with decent external antennas should do the trick. I'm looking to purchase two Wouxun kg-1000g radios but if I'm reading the channel plan correctly, you can only transmit 50 watts on the Repeater channels. Is this correct? But these use offsets and are not simplex. If this correct? We want to transmit 50 watts simplex. What GMRS channels can we legally use? And can the Wouxun kg-1000g transmit 50 watts simplex on legal channels? Thanks for helping out a noob! Jim Barr wrnq679 / n9onl

As the title states, the new version on Chirp now supports the Baofeng UV9-G. I installed it and it seems to work great.

Best is going to be purely subjective. I cannot say what the best mobile antenna is for you. What I can say is that I have owned and continue to use the Midland 6dBi antenna and its associated Midland mag mount now for 1-1/2 years. It was impeccably tuned for GMRS from the factory and remains that way today. It has held up physically well, including surviving many tree branch and garage door opening hits, and it has weathered two summers and one winter weather thus far and continues to look great. If I were to buy another antenna today I would not hesitate to buy it again. I have no negative comments about the unit I own. Until recently the Midland was used strictly with a 5w HT and it allowed be to regularly hold conversations using that combination through a few high-profile repeaters at distances of 34 miles and more when I traveling regionally. Recently I outfitted my vehicle to accept my KG1000G. In the two weeks since I have did that I can say that my HT exhibited slightly better reception, but as I had hoped, others have reported I am getting into the repeater better. This can be attributed to the 10-fold increase in output power. When working the fringe of repeaters range, the added Tx power is a bonus. Michael WRHS965 KE8PLM

Success!!!…Well, sort of. Both programming apps are now functioning perfectly although I feel like I bypassed defeat buy installing Windows 10 on what was my Linux box in my garage. I first installed the Baofeng software and the UV-9g connected and I was able to download the configuration. Great! Now, the Radioddity software was another story. I consulted Radioddity Support and they said to run the program as an Administrator. No Luck. I kept getting the same Missing File or Dependency errors. The files in question are: MSCOMCTL.ocx MSCOMM32.ocx MSFLXGRD.ocx These files are ActiveX files and the same ones my Windows installation through Parallels on my Mac were showing as missing. I downloaded the files, dropped them in the Windows\syswow64 directory and then registered them. The files came up one by one each time I tried to install the Radioddity SW. I would get so far through the install and it would error for a different missing file. With the Parallels install, after I added these files, the SW still wouldn’t let me download the radio’s config, but on the standalone Windows install, it docked and downloaded from the radio perfectly. So, the bottom line is, after wasting hours of MichaelLAX’s time and mine, a standalone install of Windows and some added files solved the issue. FYI…Chirp just released a new version that now supports the Baofeng UV-9G. I updated mine and it too works great. Unfortunately, even though the Radioddity SW now works, I still can’t get Chirp to recognize the DB25-G. Now big issue though as the Radioddity SW is now functioning. I know this is long winded, but I figured putting all of the here might help someone else with similar issues. Thanks again to MichaelLAX and everyone else who posted with suggestions. Scott

Hello and Welcome, Gil: The tail, if there is to be one, is a function that is programmed on the particular repeater. You, as the repeater user, cannot choose to turn it on or off.

Looking at the MyGMRS repeater database, there are 465 repeaters setup with tone 141.3. This includes all frequencies. Looking at 462.675 (Channel 20) the number is between 103 and 113 depending on if they are using an output tone. Looking at 462.650 (Channel 16) with tone 141.3, there are 38 repeaters setup as such.

You evidently did not read the history posted on the NSEA website. Unfortunately, many have either never learned, or have forgotten the history of GMRS.

I use both Part 90 and Part 95 hardware for GMRS.....and while this subject comes up often, I know many people, myself included that will only take calculated risks when violating FCC regulation which could also take away our means of earning a living. This is due to also having commercial FCC licenses, that could be impacted by blatantly doing something that could create an FCC investigation. That being said, I agree with the above poster, there are many Part 90 radios available that will last for years, but do require software to program, knowledge of the particular radio, and may not be as easy to use as a cheaper dedicated GMRS radio. Type certification costs money, and some manufacturers do not see the benefit for some type certification, and for some models of hardware. I also use a Harris XG-100P handheld radio that has "mission plans" that include GMRS and Marine VHF for example, as Harris type accepted this radio, knowing that it might be used for many different use cases. Do not expect every manufacturer to do this, even if the radio is capable. Then there is the fact that FRS and GMRS are so ubiquitous that you have to do something very intentional to be investigated, and fined, after being warned. I myself will continue to use both Part 90 and 95 radios for GMRS.

Channel 20 (462.675 MHz) as a road channel is a common knowledge. Other things to be aware of: water is wet; Santa is not real; Earth is round; hot is on the left on the faucet; do not mix chlorine and ammonia; people do live to the north from Line A and these who don't, they sometimes travel into these uncharted wretched lands.

nah... I doubt these CCRs will be much better range than blister pack FRS radios, they are about as crap as they come. CCR are radios where better antennas mean shorter range... why? b/c they desense and intermod like the good pieces of crap the are... Personally?, If you have to have MURS, I would've purchased a pair of used Motorola CP100 VHF but IMO, if all you want is solid 2way comms, and while not MURS, I would've consider a pair of used Motorola DTR650 over the CCR garbage (if you have the cash, splurge for a pair of DTR700!!): These DTRs are 900MHz 1W FHSS radios, which offer real privacy and scannerproof and have far more "channels", along with performance that will roast the best Wouxun trash hast to offer... with DTR expect range measured in actual miles, as opposed to tenths of a mile with those CCR garbage bags. G.

Uh oh ... having spent nearly 30 years in police cars with low band, high band, UHF, trunking, T-Band, etc. radio antennas right over my head or on the trunk lid may explain my behavior! ?

To the OP: It is purely my opinion, but, on your list of worries when running a GMRS repeater, this should be at the bottom of your list. I run a GMRS repeater that has about 900 square miles of coverage, and this is not even on my list of concerns. Pigs flying into my antenna is higher on my list..

It was an easy "impulse" buy for me at $22 and my desire to see the existing limits of this technology. The list of current models that it supports is woefully short; missing my two desired models: my Anytone AT-779UV in my car and my recently purchased for $28 Pofung P15UV (a/k/a Radioddity GM-30) for use in wargmrs'ing to detect repeater tones with its tone scanning feature. But it does support the Baofeng UV-5R for which I currently have 3 variants: UV-5RHP (8 watt), the UV-5x3 (tri-band) and RD-5R (DMR). So far I have only used it successfully with my UV-5RHP and unsuccessfully with my Pofung P15UV. I have yet to read the supporting User Sheet and it is relatively intuitive and easy to install (after first charging it with its included USB to USB Micro cable): Plug the device into the K-1 speaker/earphone jacks, turn on its power switch and turn on the UV-5R's power switch. Download the ODMaster App on my iPhone, click Program, then Connect Bluetooth, Turn on the Bluetooth connection to "TIDRADIO KIT, Select Model: BaoFeng UV-5R, click Read and as the transceiver blinks red, the BL-1 blinks green and the status bar moves from left to right on the ODMaster App. It then goes to Program & Setting with a choice of Channel or Function and all of the normal "Chirp-style" options are available as downloaded and easily modified and then click WRITE to upload the changes, with the blinking lights now both green as it uploads. I have not yet been able to get the SAVE feature to work: it presents me with a box that says Save to RX/TX List and I can give the file a name and then Confirm it. But I do not know where these files are stored and how to retrieve them. If I try to "experiment" with a model that is not the same as my HT, such as trying to experiment with my Pofung P15UV, it freezes up and I have to shut the dongle down and restart. I am somewhat optimistic that they will soon support the P15UV as TID Radio sells their clone, the TD-H5. I am not very optimistic about my RD-5R which is manufactured by Radioddity based upon their GD-77 DMR HT in the Baofeng format. Not even Chirp tends to support DMR radios which require more complicated database programming. And my Anytone has a R45 microphone/USB cable connector, so I am not too optimistic about this one either (although I would be willing to make a K-1 to R45 adapter if the ODMaster software ever supports it or one of its clones (Radioddity DB-20G)). Later today, I will pull out the User Sheet and see what I am missing. So next to confirm it works with my Baofeng Tri-bander, as well; which I suspect it easily will. All in all, it does what it claims to do but with a very limited list of supported radios at this time. And with new radios added to the list, presumably only the ODMaster software has to be Updated and still work with the BL-1 hardware.

See how my Name to the left of my comments say: "Location: The Valley" - yours still does not say San Diego. Go to: Edit Profile - Location Get her a GRMS license for a Labor Day gift and the two of you can burn up the airwaves together!!!

Urban Dictionary definition of "troll": one who does not own a mirror

BoxCar is exactly correct. The 50w 462 frequencies are NOT restricted to repeater use only as Michael fears. Michael, that exact situation occurs EVERY DAY and the world does not end. The frequencies are SHARED between simplex and repeater output, it really is that simple.

Two Yagi antennas pointed at each other will maximum your communications and minimize interference to others, esp at 50 watts on the repeater output channels: 462.550 etc. the prevailing view is that the repeater input channels, 467.550 etc., are only to be used for input to a repeater but perhaps there are virtual repeaters at each location?!? ? all efforts must be taken to research your area and be sure you are not causing interference to any local repeaters

Agreed. I have looked at this way. If one has visitors, or is camping or on some other outing together the licensee can lend out their stations to any of these family members and they can operate under their license. If they bring their own, own their own, or go back home they operate under their own license. Not sure I would want someone 50 or 2000 miles away operating under my license, family or not. I am not in control of my station equipment. Michael WRHS965 KE8PLM