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Weird.. My Wouxun KG805, KG-916, KG905, KG935G, KG-UV9G and KGUV9GX ALL transmit on simplex pretty much exactly as the same range as my Motorola XTS5000 - easily 3-15 miles, not "tenths of a mile" as proclaimed by you .. and my Wouxun KG-1000G transmits just as far as my Motorola XTL5000 when at the same power setting. But you know what everyone says... "some people" as they laugh in your face and shake their heads, knowing that you're FOS ..

Have you been under the weather? The vitriol wasn’t flowing quite as strongly over the past three weeks and I was worried about you. I have heard your rants many times but frequently during our network checkins we hear someone really clearly from 30 miles away and it always makes me smile when the net operator asks what mobile they’re using and they report they only have a Baofeng UV5R with a stock antenna. As Randy pointed out you’re full of your own opinions. Not everyone needs a Motorola and those who don’t have one can get just as much use and enjoyment out of their radios. Good luck to you. Being miserable is its own punishment.

No, I didnt. I was quoting the proclamation made earlier in the thread. Keep up.

The original proclamation was about "shitty Wouxun" radios.. Not UV-5R radios.

Great tip, I was just browsing the software (which I tend to do before purchasing anything, maybe I'm a nerd) and I think I won't have any issues.

The radio was 'confused'. I did a reset/restore from the menu and it's fine now. Scanning works now as I had thought it would. Next up, scanning the WX stations, LOL... Thanks!

You can do that but it’s much easier to just log in using your FRN and look at the list of licenses issued to you. It’ll show up there immediately.

Because you never know without trying, there are a lot of flukes in antennae. AND it will have some function regardless, its just a matter of how much. It's not a dummy load.

I think we’re going to hear more digital voice activity. There are plenty of choices for radios to use from the cheap Chinese models and the older but very useable commercial types all with digital voice features People are buying them and programming them up for GMRS and digital, either out of ignorance or just plain don’t give a sh*t attitude because I’m not going to get caught. My feeling is the FCC will ignore it as long as possible until it reaches the point where the chaos on the band seriously degrades the usability. At that point they will have to make a tuff choice, either officially allow it with specific rules on where it can be used or get serious about enforcement. That’s what the FCC did with the rule changes back in 2017/2018 with the FRS/GMRS combo radios. The FCC gave up, though in the towel and just made the wide spread practice legal.

The top green banner on the login page shows where you select GMRS.

@WRQC527 you did a much better job of saying what I was thinking. LOL I have only been working HF since November of 2019. I have worked 90 confirmed countries from my Jeep, using an FT-857 for a few months, but primarily with a 100w FT-891 and a Diamond HF20CL hamstick.

The radio is in your shoe and Agent99 is smarter.?

Me, and most of the guys in my local GMRS-Dork group all use XTS5000s ... Other than the price.. and the size, it is IMO, the best radio you can use as far as performance, durability and quality.. The biggest downside is probably getting your hands on the Motorola programming software and then learning how to use it.. it is NOT easy to learn and it is very ... "deep"... IMHO, I would be sure to get a Model III which has the screen and all the buttons - the only other options that comes to mind is ADP and AES encryption.. ADP encryption is probably enough for 99.999% of people, and AES requires an expensive "keyloader" before you can use it.. but it doesn't hurt to have both options enabled. Many upgrades are software based and you could do them yourself IF you get your hands on that software (different from the programming software) otherwise you might have to pay someone to do them. IIRC, the only hardware based upgrade is AES encryption - but I could be remembering that wrong.

Happy for you... We all get into Ham for all kinds or reasons. I was asked by may Ham/GMRS men to think about it. I too also started with same GMRS radios for the family and did got my Ham Ticket with my 12 yo grand daughter who was my study buddy. We both passed and enjoy being with the the local Ham club but in our area we have a great GMRS repeater and more private to our family needs. We also put up our own Family Private Repeater and enjoy it. MacJack

Okay, I’ll bite here. I own a repeater (Rugged 575) in Naperville, IL at 300' receive / 250’ transmit. It’s on a commercial site with other UHF and VHF radio systems as well. Not only have I spent nearly 5 figures setting this up correctly but I monitor it as if it was my baby, cuz, you know, it *IS* my baby. I built it with no financial help from anyone else. Of course there was other help I received by LOTS of other commercial repeater owners (Those of you that are reading know who you are) as I’ve come a long way in the last year and some change here. I have my repeater system set up for several different private family usage cases and I also have a tone for public which I closely monitor as well and others that are out there do use it. As a repeater owner I’m super happy to turn my radio on and hear other people using it. As a matter of fact just yesterday some other licensed GMRS users were using my repeater and I needed to use it with my wife as I was at the grocery store and I broke in and said, “hang tight guys, I need to talk to my wife for a minute. I’ll let you know when I’m done”. Anyways, I flipped to our tone, talked with her about the particulars, then went back to the public side and said “Carry on guys! Glad to hear you out there using the machine”. That being said, mine is set to “Ask permission” as well because as others have mentioned, I want to know who is using it to verify their license and location because it’s my system and it’s my responsibility to make sure it’s up to par on the commercial shared site. I have sent an email back to EVERY! SINGLE! PERSON! As well welcoming them with the tones to use it! I haven’t had the need (yet) to ever reject anyone from using my repeater but I still keep a tab on who has access to it as in my opinion, it’s my responsibility to do so. Not only that, but I have my custom verbiage I send back with every request as well stating that this is a family repeater as well and to aid to traffic on the other PL tone. Heck, I’ll paste what I send you can see where we are coming from with this: “The tone for my repeater is XXXX (left blank) (N – normal, not inverted). When you key up for the first time please identify yourself using your call sign and call for ROB. I am regulating who is using my repeater as it is being used for my family as well. I have received an exceeding amount of requests to use my repeater. Originally this was set up for family only use but seeing as the range is far better than expected, I have opened it up on an as-requested basis to any licensed GMRS operator. PLEASE NOTE: ALL TRAFFIC MUST YIELD TO MY FAMILY. The tone for public use is different than family so if you see your radio lighting up receiving on 462.575 but no audio is coming through on your radio it's because my family is talking so please do not key up until that traffic has cleared. Thanks and I hope to hear you on the air!” That being said, sometimes users don’t understand what a multi-table is either so I will say this too: When you first use a new repeater you should ALWAYS call out for a radio check IMO because you don’t know how that repeater is set up and should NEVER assume anything! I was in Iowa once and I made contact to the owner on the traveler tone (I was travelling) and he told me that it’s linked to another repeater in California! NONE of this information was posted on mygmrs.com and upon googling I couldn’t even find it either!!! It was good to know that I was keying multiple machines too and me and the owner had a nice long 30 minute conversation and he was glad I keyed up and shouted out! To sum up further as a repeater owner: *MOST*, but not *ALL* repeater owners don’t mind you using their machine I’ve found. Now I’m in the Midwest mind you, so again, no assumptions would be made for other machines that I’ve never used, but around here most repeater owners are very happy to have you on their machine and it brings a great smile to their face to know that they are serving the public with a reliable communication system and growing the hobby as well! Remember that GMRS isn’t HAM and HAM isn’t GMRS. A *LOT* of people out there want GMRS for family use under one license and that’s what I’m doing but I’ve decided to open it up to the public as well as the coverage is fairly decent. I looked at getting a business license and could have easily done it too but I like the idea of being able to chat with my family *AND* other GMRS users so here we are! Thanks!

Great points! I forgot to mention that most of my VHF DX stuff is upper side band. Its a great mode. The transceivers don't run as hot, have a higher duty cycle and are much more efficient than FM or AM.

One thing that VHF and UHF ham radio has over GMRS is the ability to use modes other than FM. Keep in mind that it is a whole different world on 2-meter and 70cm when you start playing with CW, (Morse code), TV, (yes, Television), Data, (Packet, APRS), FAX imaging, AM, and single-sideband phone modes. You will find that there are thousands of other hams playing with those modes also.

There is a tremendous amount of benefits with Amateur Radio vs. GMRS. First, lets just talk about voice. On GMRS simplex, the absolute very best you can expect from a perfect setup, is going to be about 70 miles. Likely less. That would be mobile or base. With Amateur Radio VHF and UHF, the power limits are 1500 watts with no radiated power restrictions. That means with a little elevation, you are talking coast to coast on the higher portions of VHF and the lower portions of UHF. On the lower portions of VHF, you can talk to Europe, Mediterranean, Northern Africa, etc. Even in my mobile, I can talk to NY from Virginia on VHF simplex. With things other than voice... there is no limit to what you can do beyond no encryption. If you can dream it, you can do it on amateur radio. There is APRS, which provides transceiver location services. There FLDigi which is used for texting and simple messaging. There is WinLink which is a 100% radio-based email service that allows you to email other operators as well as people on the public internet. And much, much more. The benefit of HF and MF is, the ease of global comms as you drop in frequency. I was driving around in my Jeep today on an HF frequency that Tech license holders have access to. I talked to people in 3 different countries on 2 different continents with a simple 100 watt mobile radio and a whip antenna. It's really a lot of fun. As far as a base station goes, I don't use mobile radios for base a station. I have base station radios that I use for VHF, and a VHF/UHF repeater. I talk on VHF on the base for several hours a week, sitting in my executive desk chair. As far as the quality of conversation... I can't really say much about that. I would assume there are plenty of people to talk to without getting into religion, politics, etc. I avoid them like the plague. With regard to if it's worth it... that is a personal choice that each person needs to decide for themselves. I think it is. I held my Tech license for 17+ years before I got my General and had a great time. I also think the GMRS and FRS are great radio service and fill a nice niche.