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Thank you for the welcome and the kind words. Life has been very busy for me at work and at home. I dropped out of GMRS and amateur radio for some time. I am just now getting some relief at work and at home, so I am getting back into it!

(I'm cutting out all the subpoints that are not relevant.) § 95.1733 Prohibited GMRS uses. (a) In addition to the prohibited uses outlined in § 95.333 of this chapter, GMRS stations must not communicate: ... (9) Messages (except emergency messages) to any station in the Amateur Radio Service, to any unauthorized station, or to any foreign station; So I think the answer is, 'No, you cannot do that'.

IMPOSSIBLE!!

There is one, and only one reason why I work exclusively with a Windows operating system. None of the professional software I use will run on anything other than a Windows PC.

It's like sex: if you have a one-way conversation; you'll go blind! ?

hahahahaha... Too funny. The comments on the video are ridiculous. Just my own opinion. It sounds like people are confusing the Open Repeater Initiative (OPI) and the "Travel Tone" with a "travel channel". The Open Repeater Initiative, which is long gone, was not the same thing as a "travel channel". There was a nationwide group of repeater owners who participated with the Open Repeater Initiative to set their ch20 pair (462.675/467.675) to use tone 141.3 (known as 4a). The idea was, to make the repeater open to the traveling public through common knowledge. If you found a repeater on the rCH 20 pair with a 4a PL, the assumption was to be that you don't need special permission to use that repeater. That is not the same as simplex channel 20 or simplex channel 19, etc., for just cruising around the country. Whatever most people agree on, who cares. Just talk. Again, just my opinion.

Over in Ivyland there's a place called Control Dynamics. The owner there is a Ham, and I don't know if he wants to get involved with your GR1225, but I do know he's got a boatload of experience with them. 215.956.0700 Most dealers don't want to mess around with unsupported products - they would rather just sell you a brand new unit. You didn't mention if the unit was giving you problems, or if you just wanted to have someone put it on a station monitor and verify it for alignment. Once the GR1225's go bad, there's not much in the way of parts or replacements, and the cost of (paid) repairs will quickly exceed the value of the unit.

FCC added it to cover: "Cool, but let's pretend I'm not communicating with the other service, I'm just blabbering out loud. And the other party too. Not a two-way, no no no. We are in a different services, sheesh!". I would guess whoever worded that rule first time had an experience.

Thankfully the rule makers were smart enough to say (paraphrasing) "in an emergency, forget everything you just read." LOL

I'm so old-fashioned that I still call it cycles! Rhetorical question of the day; would Hertz sue me for trademark infringement if I started a car rental and named it "Hurts Rent-a-Car?" ?

This is different, as its still the same "service".

IIRC, international traffic is specifically mentioned in the rules as being permitted but there is no mention of domestic traffic between services. I have a feeling the FCC would frown on it and the ham is subject to contact by a volunteer monitor about questionable operation.

I just ordered mine today through an early access program. It comes with a mic and it was $360. EDIT: Also comes with free programing software and uses a traditional USB cable. No special cable needed. What's in the Box? MXT500 MicroMobile 2-Way Radio Mount with Hardware Microphone 12V Power Cord Antenna with Mount Owner's Manual Quick Start Guide

Linear in wavelength, not linear in effect on the antenna SWR, especially many mobile antennas that have coils/capacitance in the bases.

It's $450 without the mic! ?

I have been gone from the forum for sometime... came back today to see what the chatter was about this. I ordered the 500 and it's expected to be here is a few days. I was glad to read that some of you got the programing tools for the 400. I'm sure that makes life a lot better for those who need the advanced features. I'll probably start my own thread to discuss 500, once its here and setup. I'm going to bench test it before it goes in the Jeep. Glad you all kept this thread going. It's a good read.

The plan is for solar fed batteries being the full time source. I'm building a workshop and intentionally facing one half of the roof in a southerly direction to mount the solar panels on. I want the future repeater and other radios to be able to survive a prolonged utility outage.

I voted "Other" to question 2 because I have battery backup for short term outages and home generator solution for longer term outage like what we experienced in San Antonino last year when Snowmegedden hit.

My shack radios are connected full-time to a 100AH deep cycle AGM battery. Battery is on continuous float supplied by a 30A capacity power supply. Michael WRHS965 KE8PLM

Takes a while to figure out all the different sdr software, some are easier than others. Quick Start Guide (rtl-sdr.com) You can run a program called zadig for manual installation of just the driver. https://zadig.akeo.ie/downloads/

Nope, not plug and play, though I wish it was. Here's the link to what I got: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B011HVUEME/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o05_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Here are the sweeps of my GP6 off a freshly calibrated VNA. GMRS band is tolerable. Not as bad as I recalling. Good luck. Michael WRHS965 KE8PLM

The Midland MXT500 is now available to members of E3 Association and will be available next week to the public at large. It can be either wide band or narrow band, basically it can (generally) be programmed within all legal GMRS parameters. The MXT 575 is expected this summer.

I absolutely hate buttons on the mic (other that PTT of course). You don’t need it. Here’s my observations, sorry if this steps on some toes. 1- Base or mobile, inevitably I hit one of the buttons that changes the radio, usually it’s the channel up/down button, and I lose the conversation temporarily. Very frustrating! So I have to employ the keypad lock (if available), which also means I have to deactivate it when I DO want to make a change. 2. Very unsafe while driving. Takes two hands, which takes both hands off the steering wheel. Now there are those that will say I should be able to do it with one hand, and I can, using my thumb and some dexterity, but with difficulty and while looking at it. So it forces me to take my eyes off the road to look at the mic. Very dangerous! Of course one can say the same applies when using buttons/knobs on the radio face plate. But I can glance down only for 1 second to find the radio and put my hand on it, and do the rest by feel while watching the road. When I first got into GMRS, I was very annoyed that probably 98%+ of the radios have keypads on the mic. So I get it, that’s what the customer wants. But I’m in the 2% that don’t want it. One of the few GMRS radios I could find without a keypad on the mic was the low power/simplex Midland MXT100/105, and I have a couple of those. I like placing them in family cars (other than my own) because it reduces the chances of non-radio-savvy family drivers from messing up the radio accidentally. But for my own personal, non-family use, I was forced to buy several other radios as well to be able to use repeaters and have more power output. Thus, I have a couple of Anytone AT-779UV’s and MXT115’s, and they are very good mobile radios due to size, but I wish they didn’t have a keypad on the mic (I normally pre-program new radios on my computer before installation in a vehicle, so don't need it in the car). Now for full disclosure, I DO have a Retevis RT76P which does have a keypad, and I very much like that radio for a number or reasons. But it is an HT, so whenever I use it, I’m either sitting in my chair at home, or hiking, and in both cases I have both hands available and there is no danger from distracted driving. Just my 2 cents. ...

Hey everyone, there was an issue this morning with showing the repeaters. It's been fixed, so let me know if you still have any issues.