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GMRS is not a hobby for me, it's a survival tool with a longer reach than a cell phone. A satellite can be shut down with the flip of a switch or three key strokes on a computer. I don't care to chat with someone I don't know or ask some 'good buddy' how it looks over his shoulder. Nor do I care for idle chit-chat about what kind of antenna I'm using or why I haven't bothered to get a ham license. I'm retired and do a lot of off roading and overlanding here in Arizona where you lose a cell phone signal almost as soon as you leave a paved road. Before GMRS all I had was a CB radio that was sketchy at best. At 75 years of age I had to ask myself how far in did I want to go that I would be willing to walk out from. Well, with GMRS I have been able to make radio contact everywhere I've been so far and found it amazing how many others I have made contact with in similar remote areas as well as folks sitting at home on a base station that could contact emergency services if necessary. So yeah, GMRS is a great tool and I highly recommend it for adventurers.

SS benefits are non-taxable at all if it is one's only source of income for any year. If 50% of one's SS plus the gross amount of taxable income earned for any year is LESS THAN the Base Amount for one's filing status then SS is non-taxable. Legally I'm not even required to file a tax return at all. ? I'm so poor I can't even afford to pay attention!

Like any of the bad guys care. JG

An external mobile mounted antenna with your HT will be a huge improvement over the use of an HT with its rubber duck (or even the 771G) antenna. I ran that way for over a year, and was very pleased with the outcome. The good news is that you can use that same antenna when you decide to put a KG-1000G or other mobile radio in your vehicle. Michael WRHS965 KE8PLM

I also got my MXT500 a few days ago. The feature to fill in channels 8-14 with repeaters is very nice. But I love the mic connection. Very much like a CB mic connection. Those RJ-45 connections just beg for collecting dirt. I currently have the KG-1000G installed in my Jeep. Sooo many options. Too many really. This Midland has 15 menu options, most of which I'm smart enough to use. Midland is much easier to pronounce than Wouxun. Good solid feel. Fewer buttons than the MXT 400. Good use of the channel knob in selection and changing options. I tried two different USB to USB-C cables that did not allow communications between the PC and radio. Thought it was a driver issue. But then tried a couple of bulkier cables and it worked perfectly. Like the use of the scan button to add and delete channels from the scan. Split tones were a little different to enter on the radio, but once you get the hang of it, fine. Seriously considering replacing my 1000G with this dandy.

Of course not! If it were, cats would have already pushed everything off of the edges of the Earth! ?

I recall seeing this a few times, and it seems to come out en masse before a scheduled political speech, demonstration, or public protest. Some agencies spam this via email as well to their departments, trickling down to as many end users as possible. The Beofeng crowd as it is called in my part of the country, as they tend to use them as pointing devices when talking to the media. Local police do often confiscate FRS and FRS/GMRS radios as well as scanners from perps committing crimes though, so it is a valid warning. Sometimes batches are sold off cheap at auction.

So true, this made me laugh....because it is an endless cycle. I am now the old engineer that used to be military comms, being invited back to teach the "next generation" how to interop with local elements (shilling the NIFOG), while other former members of my crew work for FEMA and other fedgov agencies also in the mix, and currently running fire radios for many stations across the country (private fire stations-they do exist). Hang in there and stay the course.

All of the radios I have I try to get the service manuals for them along with the operators manuals. Being an engineer I look through the schematics at times to see what makes a specific radio "tick" so to speak. What I've found is just about, if not all, the commercial LMR radios I have use some kind of turntable front end filtering. Those filters are typically before the first IF stage and acts as a pre-filter to improve the image response and the possible desense of the IF amplifier chain after the filters. One of two techniques I've seen used are varactor diodes or variable inductance chokes. Both are "biased" by an output from the micro running the radio. As the frequency is changed the front end filter is electrically tuned to match the programed RX frequency. The reason why CCR's are so cheap as you pointed out the front end filtering is minimal. This isn't just a problem with CCR's however. Many Ham HT's, from name brand manufactures, suffer from the same problem. As Hams we like the idea of a wide RX range for scanning etc. however that comes at a price, a wide open front end. To add in the fancy tuneable front end filters adds cost and complexity to the radio. To show you what is in some of the CCR's I found a schematic, reportedly, for the commonly mentioned UV-5R. I'm going to guess that derivatives of this radio the schematic won't look too much different. After all what did you expect to see in a radio that sells for about the same price as a kid's FRS bubble pack toy radio? Oh, the harmonics on TX suck too. If you'll notice some of the harmonic tests were done at a load impedance of 25 ohms, not the expected nominal 50 ohms. At 25 ohms that would correspond to an SWR of 2:1 so the party doing the testing wanted to see if the harmonic content was SWR dependent. SCHEMATIC Baofeng UV-5R.pdf UV-5R VHF Harmonics Test.pdf

I agree with this part, as I was having to do the same thing. Working in commercial/military radio for thirty years and doing amateur/GMRS for much of that, I needed something better than a cell phone when in the wilderness. Having a background in satcom, i also carried a satellite phone and later a satellite beacon that can sync to my cell phone to send messages. However, it is the GMRS radio that is cheap and common enough that I almost always make contact with someone when out and about. Like others have mentioned though, I have also experienced the end of many auxiliary communications services and emcomm entities in Oregon, as they only bring radio experience to the table much of the time. While they help with parades, and disaster comms, in my area of the country, they often lack the Incident Command Structure (ICS) training, and miss many of the collaborative training opportunities with city, county, and tribal elements. My advice to emcomm people still doing that work, stay engaged or you may be replaced with technology, and foster the relationships with Community Emergency Response Teams (CERT), local fire and law enforcement and emergency medical professionals......take that first aid class or learn to teach CPS with AED. Take the ICS certification classes and show up, and you may keep that "seat at the table" when the decision is made on interoperability and inclusion. Washington State in contrast, does appear to keep emcomm volunteers, and engage CERT, ARES, RACES, and AFMARS, combining the efforts of the state military department, and civilian emergency management along with some coordination with FEMA Region Ten headquarters....while keeping the line between state/county/city/tribal and federal apart. Representing the corporate side of the house, I also partake in a weekly check-in via HF and UHF nets, which is in use as both commercial and hobby radio comms....but with some emergency management aspects added in for those that wish to participate. The cool thing with radio and the many aspects of it, is that you can participate at whichever level you want to, be it commercial, military (even for civilians - Military Affiliate Radio is not just for the military), public safety, hobby use, and emergency use. All are useful.

Done deal. Thanks for all the input and information...I'm a happy camper and on the air. 73s to all

Not trying to derail the topic too much, but this is a huge pain point for me. Amateur radio is not a "hobby". There are hobby aspects to it, 100%, just like there are hobby aspects of GMRS and FRS. However, its really intended for non-commercial exchange of messages, experimentation, private recreation and emergency communication. It has origins dating back to the 1800's and the birth of radio as we know it. There are huge amounts of technology that exist due to amateur radio, such as microphones and even cell phones. In fact, the antenna type used in every smartphone in the world was invented by an amateur radio operator that is still very active in Ham radio. Just a little something to think about.

I don't usually like to post videos, but this video was inspired by many comments that I have read here and in a few ham-radio forums.

Well, here is what COVID has taught us. Hams are typically older retired guys that have nothing else to do so they volunteer. Problem is with that is things like COVID are specifically more harmful to them and that's who's gonna show up. As mentioned before, young guys are NOT typically involved. Then you have the issue of ham radio operators being volunteers, and not paid employees. With a paid employee you have the employment to leverage them to show up and do a job. With a volunteer, that doesn't exist. And short of a quarantine or lock down situation, you have no method of holding that person in place and demanding their continued work. And even in the lockdown situation, you can hold them but demanding they work is not possible. Not to mention that they are only able to do so much. Operating radios and making coffee. So, pertaining to my comments and the league. Go look at their web site and the sites of the typical ARES groups. It's a sea of hi-viz vests and name tags with their call sign on it. Mind you I am tainted by ARES. The local group has been in the past a poster child for the way to do ARES WRONG. Demanding they be involved in public safety training exercises and other dumb stuff. So yeah, I don't see the need. And I do see EMA groups trying to move away from any reliance on ham radio for various reasons.

WELL SAID

I think the only way to manually make a hole would be to use an iron pipe as suggested earlier as the copper rod would bend way before i got it a foot in the ground, that's how much stone is present. I think either rent something to drill a hole or pay an electrician to install one. I'll have to do more research but I suppose it's not appropriate to run copper wire direct to the house ground in lieu of a ground pole near the antenna. Thanks for the responses and suggestions. Everything else about the base installation went smoothly except this... Thanks for the mike holt link BTW.

So far, I am very happy with this radio. Everything is consistent and working very well. Power output is stable over prolonged use and I am getting good audio reports. With regard to my concerns over the power output, I got this email from Midland today. I am extremely happy they are acknowledging this finding and taking care of it for me.

It makes up for it with 50 watts out on Channels 8-14!!! ?

His name is spelled M-a-r-C, not “K” ?

I still have an old Cobra 2000 GTL base station, but sadly, there are very few users using AM CB in 2021-2022. My employer still has to put AM CB in tractor's for their licensed transportation drivers, part of their union contract, to have something besides corporate FM (Trunked P25) Motorola radios and cell phones. That is all I tend to hear when monitoring. GMRS has become so popular and the price of admission has come down for hardware. With repeaters, many can get out much further than they could with handhelds, so more to listen to and more to chat with if you are up for it. Good luck on GMRS, there is a lot of good information here, and some that like to "stir the pot" a bit. welcome to the site.

@WRKC935 true story about many new Ham and the ARRL. But the new Hams need guidance, which is where we come in as elmers. While it's all anecdotal, my experience is a little different than yours on the EmComm side. I am an engineer by trade and work for several government agencies as a consultant. I have been around long enough to notice cycles in the EmComm world. What I have seen is, some major "thing" happens and only Hams and DOD are talking to anyone. They incorporate Ham volunteers into the response plans. Nothing crazy happens for a decade while everyone tries to figure out how to replace the old, overweight or disabled Amateur volunteers (because young people just aren't stepping up). They build their new technology on the same single point of failure instead of learning from the Hams. Another "thing" happens and then they are activating RACES again because none of their stuff is working. The whole thing is pretty funny. We actually did a drill last year involving a Code Black, including internet outage. The higher ups wanted to see how we could move data from one location to another (several states apart). They were calling on digital radio trying to get my team to do stuff and we flat out ignored them. Our EC called and said "why aren't you answering the calls on the radio?" Of which he promptly got a reply of "What calls? The internet is down, remember?"

@WRKC935 Yes the 412. Love the box other than a couple analog features they left out. I have one back pack that fits it well but normally just toss it in a small pelican case and carry it with the phase stable cables. For the rest of the conversation the other thing folks are not remembering is these CCR radios have very wide filtering aka none for GMRS. Using a CCR base/portable and inferior cable and antenna's doesn't do what a commercial LMR radio and equipment will do (regardless of band). Noise floor is worse on a CCR especially as height increases. Just something to remember. I would suspect swapping out the TYT or Wuxon mobile for a XPR or CDM you will see the difference.

Thanks guys! That makes sense!

Hobby radio is going by the wayside. It sucks, but it's still the truth. GMRS is not a lot different than ham in this respect. I realize it's not 'hobby radio' in the sense that ham is but it's not really commercial either. Commercial gets boosted as subscribers and reaccuring fee's keep many businesses away from going cellular but everyone else has gone to cell phones. And you can't blame them. The manufactures are marketing Android based radios now that will act as a phone in certain situations and they are making radios that work on the cellular network for those that really miss Nextel. All I can say is if you enjoy GMRS / Ham Radio or both, stay with it and don't worry about others not seeing a use for it. Phones work great until they don't. Radios will most likely work after the cell network is cold if something drastic happens, but don't let that be the only reason you are messing with radios. It really takes the fun out of it.

The repeater will tx on 462.625, and Rx on 467.625....to use the repeater, you'll tx on 467.625 (where it's listening) and rx on 462.625 (where it's transmitting). That said, if you're using one of the many new options for gmrs radios, it should already be programmed from the manufacturer with the full set of simplex channels and the 8 repeater channels (with the appropriate +5.0mhz offset).

Travel tone is the term that has evolved to refer the specific CTCSS tone of 141.3Hz. It stems from the historic ‘Open Repeater Initiative’ and its attempt to standardize the CTCSS tone that folks traveling could use to access select repeaters along the route of their travels. So now days when you hear ‘Travel Tone’, think CTCSS 141.3Hz. Michael WRHS965 KE8PLM

I was driving a vehicle that doesn't have a mobile radio. I have a HAM and GMRS mobile in my truck. I have never been a "rag chewer" on the amateur side or GMRS. I have always used radios as a tool as I did in my professions. The post was just about what I heard along the way.

I started reading this thread and went right to Motorola R56, then saw you had posted a link already. Attaching it in case that is unreachable. Chapter's 4 and 5 go into a great deal of detail on what needs to be done. Thank you for posting this. Many could take head in this before having their home catch fire or lose equipment/property/and life to a lightening strike. In previous work in the oil industry, ship antennas would often get hit by lightening strikes. Polyphaser's and actually grounding them in the most direct route saved all but one radio over the course of ten years. With the price of copper, it is understandable why people skimp on this part, but it could save life and property. It is an area that even the professionals try to save money. A couple of years ago, I had to have a 9-1-1 Public Safety Answering Point under construction, re-pour the concrete base of their antenna tower, as they did not place grounding mesh underneath. The building also needed some walls torn apart to retrofit grounding for the many radio racks, antenna coax penetrations, and backroom equipment. Grounding also improves signal to noise by having gear at the same effective ground, to include the call taking (telephone) systems in use at the sites. Follow R56 and do at least the minimum, adding lightening protection, copper rods and bonding pieces to each antenna/radio system. Motorola-Standards-and-Guidelines-for-Communication-Sites-R56-Manual.pdf

For mobile use and handheld radios, this is where having a quality antenna can be very helpful. In my part of the country, I see even first response vehicles that have several fender and trunk mounted antennas that are not cut to frequency, are too short to be useful (going for looks instead of function), and installs that look like old shop stock was used to clear inventory. As others have mentioned, cars are an RF cage and cuts signal a great deal. On another note, there is an old saying with radio, that the more you are scanning the less you are hearing. I know some that try to scan an entire band (VHF or UHF, and UHF has different meanings to different people/type of training). Limiting your scanning to less channels/frequencies, and parts of band may help. Some radios scan faster than others, and it is still recommended that dedicated scanners be used over radios set to scan. You will still see many Uniden scanners in law enforcement vehicles for example, as they scan faster than the radio on their hip, or the mobile installed next to it in the console. Like you, I recently went on an extended road trip. I only heard a few construction teams, some calls for price checks near shopping malls, and what may have been some hospice/nursing home activity. During an extended traffic stop, there was some chatter on old school CB, but even that was limited talking. People said what they needed to and got off. The few amateur conversations (on 2m) was about antennas and how to tweak them for better function. I only hear extended radio communications on HF bands, and then during scheduled net check-ins. Keep trying and stay the course, you may hear something interesting, and more conversations in time. There is activity in Phoenix and Mesa, there is a joke at my current work, that those two areas have sucked up all the VHF/UHF spectrum. I can't even request any more UHF frequency pairs, and 800 MHz is limited as the cell phone companies own much of that, with the remaining being used by public safety. I administer a combined ASTRO/Trbo network there that covers VHF/UHF/and 7/800MHz, but that would require a trunk tracking scanner or a radio set to non-affiliate scan. Very different than GMRS and CB or amateur use to hear. Good luck on your return trip.

Along with the power issues Micheal mentioned (causing damage by have the two antennas close), there is a chance you are building a two element vertical UHF beam and don't even realize it. A full wave length of a GMRS signal is about 2 feet (61cm). If the antennas are 2 feet apart or any correct segment of wave pattern within a couple of wavelengths, the passive vertical will act like a reflector and the slim jim will act like a driver... essentially creating a focused beam that hears better for a pattern 40 to 60 degrees forward and creates nulls (where you can't hear as well if at all) of about 40 to 60 degrees behind it. So yeah, combine the possibility that you are fringe of the repeater making placement critical and you may have accidentally built a beam making it so it can't hear in the direction of the repeater, the terrain may be an issue and you are looking at almost 10 dB of line loss per hundred feet with both the LMR195 and the RG58, I'd say you need to make some changes. Find a sweet spot on the roof using an HT (as mentioned above), ditch the PVC for fiberglass or wood, get 1 piece of LMR400 or better hooked up... you may make it work.

Until a link is established, if ever, to the 725 Los Angeles GMRS repeater, try this: K6MWT 147.4350 MHz Los Angeles Renegade 2-Meter Repeater Do not listen if children or other sensitive ears are present.

I think NYC area has a similar dispute that has been going on for years. After reading about the CA stuff I'm glad I live in the country ! I could put all 8 repeaters up but I'd have to give each cow their own channel

Section 90.427(b) specifically prohibits programming unauthorized frequencies into a transmitter: (b) Except for frequencies used in accordance with § 90.417, no person shall program into a transmitter frequencies for which the licensee using the transmitter is not authorized. So, how does that fit into this conversation? I’ll try to answer with some scenarios that I hope will explain my understanding. 1. Ms. Sierra Citizen, while out for a walk, finds a sheriff’s deputy slumped over in the front seat of his cruiser. She has no cellphone service or any other communication device with her. She picks up the microphone in the cruiser and asks for help. I believe the various exceptions which allow emergency communications would protect her from prosecution. 2. Mr. Joe Prepper has every frequency programmed into his portable radio. He finds a person slumped over in the front seat of their car. He picks up his portable radio and calls on an EMS dispatch frequency for which he is not authorized. I believe that even though he potentially saves the life of the person, he has clearly violated 90.427(b) by having his transmitter preprogrammed with unauthorized frequencies. I’d be surprised if he wasn’t prosecuted. The bottom line is this, the emergency provisions allow great latitude in radio usage in true emergencies, but they don’t serve to waive the rules that establish and protect communications systems simply to be prepared.

Oh.. shit. As it turns out, a AM as stupid as everyone says. It is also entire possible that I have had too much NyQuil .. Carry on.

Absolutely bang on! This is a prime example of the differences between a "ham listener" and an "active ham..." Over the years I've heard hams whine that "the bands are dead," yet when I ask them how much time they invest in calling CQ they nearly always answer "What's the point? I never hear anyone talking. The bands are dead!!!" <Sigh>

I found that an HT in a car without an external antenna suffers greatly. That same HT with a simple 1/4 wave mag mount pulls in far more signals and pushes out much further. I have been scanning the FRS channels, 1-14 here in Anchorage Alaska and hear a fair amount. Just today in my 30 min ride home I heard car to car communication, flaggers, kids in apartment buildings talking about a class and school mates, construction crews working on large buildings, a business warning it's employees about a bear near the porta-johns...

Finally, got my Ultimax DX Extreme 72' Random Wire Antenna up. Mounted the transformer/unun to the bottom of a bird feeder with RG58 and counterpoise wire down bird feeder pole. In a vain attempt to hide it a bit from the HOA. The other end is tied to 50Lb Mono filament that I was fortunate to hook around the LNB of a satellite dish mounted to the chimney. This took several attempts, one attempt resulted in a cut monofilament when I hooked the angle adjuster. One attempt nearly end my day as I started to slide off the roof. Resulting in a lot of pulled muscles, burns from the hot shingles. *** it was a lot steeper then I thought originally. I do not recommend climbing the roof. Hire someone. The RG58 runs down the pole, I have yet to trench the RG213 from the DX Engineering NEMEA box which I had finally got installed and grounded the previous weekend. Sadly, now waiting on RG400 for the patch lines into the shack. Now I am contemplating switching from LMR400 to RG400 for the feed line to the 2m/70cm antenna in the attic. The bird feeder antenna in all it's glory. Photo is before the antenna was pulled and counterpoise was buried.

Absolutely, finding higher ground should be the first step towards improving a setup. Running more power only matters on fixed setups where the antenna is already as good as it can get, or on mobile operation where there is no 'finding a good spot'. Even then, there's not a huge difference between 15 and 40 watts. Here's my first piece of advice for new users (and I have a bunch, fair warning): use scan mode on a radio that will tell you the active CTCSS tone or DCS code if you're looking for repeaters to use. RTL-SDR is also a good tool, and makes the entire 462 MHz band visible with good sensitivity and excellent selectivity. Especially on fixed setups, grounding is important. Noise will get picked up along the coax and travel up to the antenna, where it enters the receiver. The effect is very apparent on SDRs, where the noise floor is directly visible. When grounding a setup, check for ground loops with a multimeter. Learn to recognize the busy-channel indicator on your radio. When the radio detects any activity on the channel, regardless of correct CTCSS/DCS, it'll turn on the busy-channel indicator. It'll help you to know if you have the correct CTCSS/DCS for a particular system. Some repeaters use multiple CTCSS/DCS, so this indicator can be useful on those repeaters to make sure you aren't interfering with a different conversation. On Baofeng's radios, this is the green LED on top of the radio. On Motorola's commercial radios, this is a blinking red or green LED near the antenna; on their FRS/GMRS radios, this is the red LED above the display. Some repeaters transmit CTCSS/DCS back to you, but only while someone is transmitting to it. If you're hitting the repeater but can't hear it come back to you once you finish transmitting, this could be a possible cause. Use the monitor feature on your radio or check the busy-channel indicator to check for the repeater's tail. Don't be afraid to try simplex. If you hear a callsign with variable signal strength, they're probably not going through a repeater. It's rare to find contacts that way, but that's largely because hardly anyone calls for contacts on simplex. 462.5625 (channel 1), transmit and receive CSQ; and 462.6750 (channel 20), transmit CTCSS 141.3 and receive CSQ are good places to try calling CQ. People who use MDC-1200 on their radios don't actually have to hear the data bursts, the radio can detect the burst and mute it. It gets annoying so most people with MDC-1200 radios have their radios like that. This forum sure does love their Kenwood TK-880s and Motorola M1225s. They're great radios, but terrible general-purpose radios. Virtually all commercial radios can only be programmed by computer software, so you have to know ahead of time what you're going to talk to. Speaking of commercial radios, used Motorola HT1000 radios are incredibly durable and inexpensive. They use the same programming Don't waste your money on the BTech GMRS mobiles, the quality control is practically absent. The GMRS-V1 is apparently alright and Part 95 accepted. Use CHIRP for programming; it will save a lot of time and headaches, while allowing for named channels. When buying a used radio online, make sure the frequency range actually includes 462-468 MHz. For handheld radios, make sure that you are getting (or already have) a charger and antenna. The battery is probably shot, so include a replacement in your budgeting. I like to have at least one spare battery, so I can continue using the radio while a battery is charging. Don't transmit on a handheld radio while it's charging. Counterfeit antennas are a thing, especially with Nagoya. Buy from trusted sources, or find a friend with an antenna analyzer or VNA who'd be willing to show you how to see if an antenna is good or trash. Be willing to learn how to use test equipment, or at least be aware of what that test equipment is testing. It'll help greatly in the future when you are faced with new problems. GMRS isn't ham radio, but it's often used pretty similarly to 70cm. Ham radio clubs are still a useful resource where you can make lots of friends with lots of knowledge. If you don't have a ham license, they'll pressure you to get one. A Technician-class license is easy to get, costs much less than your GMRS license, and you may even be able to use the same antenna for 70cm. Different clubs have different focuses, so don't get discouraged if you don't feel a particular club is right for you. Depending on the area, hams may not like GMRS for one reason or another; but recognize the common interest in establishing reliable communications between licensed operators. There's a 30 MHz gap between 70cm and GMRS, so most 70cm antennas with appreciable gain don't work on GMRS (and remember you're usually transmitting at 467 MHz, not 462 MHz). Check your antenna's documentation to see how much bandwidth you have. Most handheld antennas are broadband enough, and most commercial-band antennas actually work better on GMRS. Don't put up a repeater until you know exactly what you're doing. There's enough deaf GMRS repeaters out there. Don't take on the task alone, either. The more support you have, the better (and, for you, cheaper) the repeater can be. Even a low hilltop provides significantly more coverage than a rooftop repeater. Sites cost money, but can cost a heck of a lot less if you get to know some repeater folk and can make a good sales pitch. Don't use LMR-400 for repeaters. Getting above the roofline makes a big difference in suburban areas, particularly when trying to work hilltop sites. For more rural areas, try to get above the treeline if possible. If you're the only one-story house in a block of two-story houses, ouch. Be it ham radio or GMRS, remember that the radio hobby is about communication. This includes, but is not limited to: rag chewing, technical talk, emergency communication, repeater building, proselytizing the wonders of properly configured radios, and being willing to help the confused. A lot of people out there try to assert their dominance over a channel and run around with a better-than-thou mentality, and over the course of your license you'll find at least one of them. They aren't out to improve either service or what each service stands for, so stay away from them. Don't let them change your perception of the radio hobby, either. If you hear confused FRS users on channel 1 that can't get their radios to talk to each other, offer to help. Transmit CTCSS 67.0 and receive CSQ. They'll probably need help configuring CTCSS on their radios. Ask for the model number and look up the manual on Google. Stuff like this happens more often than I'd like to admit, and half the time those people spent a lot of money on those radios. Be a good citizen. Some repeaters will beacon out their callsign. That doesn't mean there's anyone using it. Repeaters aren't supposed to do that, but not everyone has a good repeater controller. It's almost universally agreed upon that such repeater behavior is super annoying. Not all repeaters identify, and that can make it a pain in the rear to figure out who owns the repeater. It's usually private repeaters that don't identify, and some legally don't even have to. It's another fact of life that makes frequency coordination difficult for repeater owners. The FRS channels, especially 1-14, are flooded with business users. They're allowed to be there, and aren't looking for conversation. Let them be. They're close enough together (a few hundred feet, typically) that they won't even notice you're on the same frequency as long as you're on a different CTCSS/DCS code. Not everyone is following the rules. Report egregious violators to the FCC, but don't expect enforcement action. Report criminal activity (eg. terroristic threats, use of radios in a crime) to law enforcement, not the FCC. If you happen to know who the perps are, tell the FCC as well. You probably won't encounter any such activity. If you start getting involved in the commercial radio users crowd, be it on 70cm or GMRS, you'll see a lot of brand loyalty. I'm a Motorola guy, since those are the first commercial radios I got involved with and those radios meet all of my needs. We have a lot of Kenwood folk on here, and boy do they love their TK-880s. Both make rock-solid commercial radios. There's other brands out there, too. Stay away from cheap Chinese radios, those are markedly not rock-solid radios and may not have any type-acceptance whatsoever. It's generally accepted that radios with commercial (Part 90) type acceptance are fine for GMRS (Part 97E) operation, since Part 90 requirements are more stringent in terms of RF performance. While the FCC is yet to make an official exemption, they allude to it frequently in the 2017 rule change discussion. Directional antennas (mostly Yagis or log-periodic antennas at these fequencies) are terrible general purpose antennas, since you need to know the direction towards the stuff you want to talk to. Commercial omnidirectional antennas covering 460-470 MHz at a minimum make the best general-purpose antennas. Browning's BR6157 is a good starter antenna, with some gain and a wide bandwidth. If you spend more than $60 on one before any sales tax, you've overspent. Use FakeSpot when shopping for radios or accessories on Amazon. Don't get ripped off by fake reviews. Monitor channel 1 (again, transmit CTCSS 67.0 and receive CSQ) during disasters. You may save someone's life. Prioritize your safety highest; you're still a victim. Don't be a dillweed on the air that hides from consequences behind a microphone; respect is reciprocal. Not everyone you'll meet understands this. When you got your GMRS license, your whole family just became GMRS licensees as well. Come up with a separate simplex channel for them and them only. It's useful when outdoors, communication between vehicles on road trips, or during disasters. Having a nationwide license to operate a radio without frequency coordination, and with unlicensed operators on FRS, is a beautiful luxury we have on GMRS that you will get nowhere else. Make sure to test your channels ahead of time, and check them regularly if you don't use them often. I mentioned it earlier, but I'll elaborate on it: RTL-SDR is an excellent tool for GMRS. All of the output channels are visible with a spectrum analyzer-type visualization. Interference becomes easy to spot and identify. CTCSS and DCS decoding is straightforward and nearly instant, and works with hardly any signal strength at all. Signal strength readings can be calibrated against an absolute scale (dBm), which allows for comparison between antennas and locations. A fancy setup of them, Kerberos SDR, can do direction finding with real-time map plotting, but requires some technical knowledge. SDR is fairly recent, and there's plenty of user groups online (like Reddit's r/RTLSDR). When shopping for RTL-SDR, don't spend more than $30 for a bare unit, and don't buy anything that doesn't have a 1.0ppm TCXO or better. If the item description doesn't say TCXO, it doesn't have one. RTL-SDR Blog v3 is a good unit, and the Nooelec NESDR SMArTee performs the same. Throw the RTL-SDR Blog 20dB LNA on there as well, life will be much better. Use a USB 2.0 extension cord with SDRs. Talking on a handheld radio while driving a vehicle is illegal in California under the cell phone laws. Mobiles, with a simple PTT-only hand mic, are fine. Don't get a 16 or 48 channel radio as your first real commercial or commercial-grade radio. Go for something with at least 128 channels and a screen. Get the programming software and cable before you get the radio so you aren't stuck with a paperweight. Don't give money to HamFiles. If you have a lot of long conversations but all you have is your handheld radio, get a mobile radio and a power supply. Use a proper antenna (as discussed earlier) and some low-loss coax (RG-8, LMR-240, or better). PL-259/SO-239, also called the UHF connector, is a terrible connector at UHF. Avoid it wherever possible. Use TNC or N for permanent or semi-permanent connections, and BNC for connections you switch out a lot. Keep your connectors clean and seal any outdoor terminations. Assume each adapter adds 0.5-1dB of loss, so use as few adapters as possible. Get your coax terminated in whatever connector your antenna has; don't leave the adapter outdoors. Mastic tape gums up over time and future you will hate present you. If you use cheap non-outdoors coax like I did, it can get water ingress. SWR will still show a rather normal reading, but the wet insulator will suck up all your RF (easily 99% of it). Good coax is thicker than you think. Take that into consideration. Folk at your local ham radio club, or GMRS club if you live in an area with one, have done enough fixed radio installations to be able to help you with yours. Don't go out alone and do it, but take some notes so you can eventually help others. Honestly, they're not that hard. If you're in a place that gets thunderstorms more than a few times a year, lightning protection is a real concern. Nothing will stop a direct strike, so unplug your equipment during such inclement weather. That's another reason to keep portable radios around. Repeaters almost always use hardline instead of flexible coax. Hardline is expensive and requires special tools. Good feedline is critical on repeaters because you usually have a 40-watt transmitter on the same antennas as a sensitive receiver. Slight non-linear effects, even a rusty fencepost nearby, can cause issues with receiver performance. If you have an opportunity to visit a hilltop repeater site (an opportunity you may get if you're involved with repeater groups), take it. The first trip to one is an experience, and you'll get to see a variety of real-world installations. Hilltop sites are surprisingly dirty; nobody's up there keeping the floors clean. Some sites are cleaner than others. It's often a long drive and fair distance from civilization, so bring a lunch and go to the bathroom before the trip. Some sites require four-wheel drive and an experienced driver to get to. Buy their dinner. Flat areas can get significant coverage from a low-level repeater. Rooftop repeaters actually have decent performance in those environments. Even on rooftop antennas, your simplex range to a five-watt mobile/portable can be as short as two miles. GMRS is heavily influenced by line-of-sight propagation. Building penetration is better than MURS or 2-meters.

Free is ALWAYS the right price. ...and if your 213 is free, then you can afford to buy a slightly better antenna to make up for the loss.