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So ive been running a wouxun mobile as a base station for over a year now. It has earned its spot in my ham shack having no issues in over a year. I am getting a couple other brand radios to cover some ham frequencies. Several times in this past year Ive tried to find a reason to dislike this radio that many of the super powers in this forum call junk. i havent run across any to date. We set up and use repeaters which are in very close proximity to very important repeaters. The radio equipment that are being used for the actual repeaters and link radios are a different brand and that is mainly a duty cycle performance of known components. But I have used the repeater with my wouxun radio with no interference in either direction, Some of my ham buddies have switched to the 1000g to run gmrs. One in particular has ove 50 years in the radio world and he describes the 1000g as being solid. So much so that he ordered some more wouxun to run as mobiles. He runs radios for hours every day and continues to say they are solid. I agree completely. So if you are on the fence about this brand, I would say with malice that the 1000g is a great selection for gmrs. WRMK691, KI5UCM

Now this may not be news to some of you, but... One of the things I can't stand with some of the radios, is that they come hard coded with all of the GMRS 'channels' (including the annoyingly occupied 'bubble pack' channels). In the really cheap radios, you're kinda stuck with these as, other than the CTCSS settings, they cannot be deleted and/or altered. If you're lucky, there are a few memory locations for custom channels, but you're still stuck with all 30 of the hard coded channels. From the factory, the KG-935G also has all of these default channels. However, unlike many of the radios, these default channels can be deleted and the memory space used as one desires! A big plus in my book, because I have just a couple of systems I routinely use and, I hate having to scroll through a list of unwanted channels just to get to the ones I actually desire. Sure, I can put up to 999 channels in the thing, but does anybody really want or need that? So now, as I rotate the channel selector knob, it goes through the few systems I have and then returns to the first channel in the list! Much better than feeling like I'm winding up an alarm clock to find the system I want! Additionally, I've discovered that the scan lists, with the exception of #1, can be customized, another perk IMHO. This is where a better, more detailed manual, would be nice, instead of having to experiment with the software! FWIW!

That gain figure I’ll bet is 2.15dbi, or the gain over an isotopic antenna, which is a theoretical antenna that physically doesn’t exist. A simple dipole or 1/4 wave magnet mount has the same gain, 2.15dbi. Manufacturers like to quote gain figures in dbi, verses dbd - gain over a dipole, because it inflates the numbers making the specifications look more impressive. External antennas can, and many do, have high gains over a simple dipole or 1/4 wave type. There are a number to choose from. One thing seems to be true, the higher the gain the bigger (longer) it gets. I have a dual band high gain antenna on my Jeep. It’s nearly 5 feet tall as an example.

You can absolutely use an address other than your home. The only requirement is that it be an address where you can receive mail. Myself and a number of others use PO boxes, while there's also a number in my area using private mailbox stores as their mailing address.

Michael, thank you so much for the detailed information, this is so helpful. this is all very new to me but interesting. Thanks again, Frank WRPV210

There are too many unknown variables for anyone to accurately answer your question - but it is safe to say that that using a 20-30W mobile radio you can hit a repeater anywhere from 1 to 90 miles away.. Maybe more.. maybe less. I can hit a repeater 70 miles away from me with my 5W handheld and I have hit a repeater from 85 miles away on my 50W mobile.. But it really depends on the mobile radio, the repeater, and what is between the two.

That one is backwards: you can use a modified GMRS radio on the Ham bands But of course, once you do that, it may affect its Part 95 eligibility.

I bought a WayALife CB Bar. I have a 2020 Gladiator, but they make them for previous models also. Here is the part I used... just search their site if you have something other than a JL/JT. https://www.wayalife.com/store/proddetail.php?prod=PARTS-CB-BAR A few pictures of my Ham gear... The GMRS radio goes in the same location when I go wheeling.

I thought I would add to this thread that I went back and tested with a dummy load and it seems that I am getting 3.4-3.5 watts on both low and high settings, which is strange. I have reached out to Retevis and while they were quick to respond, I haven't gotten any useful info yet. I've seen folks actually getting 5 watts out from the RT97, so I think this unit definitely has a problem. I'll update the thread with anything I get back from Retevis.

That's something I had lingering in my mind after reading your links and studying DTR/DLR thing. I'll leave hacking for some time later. The first thing (ok, second) is of course, to plug in simplex repeater and bring the whole contraption high up on a makeshift mast. That's could be a lot of fun, I already see it.