Leaderboard

I was looking at the Retevis RT97S and noticed the specifications listed both narrow (11K03FE) and wide (16K03FE) capabilities. The FCC grant for the device only shows the narrowband 2.5khz designator, 11K03FE. Has anyone else noticed this? I couldn't find any other grants for their company for the portable repeater that listed the wideband 5khz emissions designator (16K03FE), even though the programming software and literature for the radio clearly let you set Wideband or Narrowband. In fact, I checked a bunch of their other GMRS transceivers and none of them appear to have the wideband emissions designator grant, only narrow.

You don't want to see the cable runs I used... really, a 9+ft power lead, with an 11+ft control head cable. What are you expected to do -- mount the control head as a hood ornament? I had to splice another 9 or so feet into the power lead to make it reach from the Liberty under-cargo bed storage box to the battery, the control head cable just made it. I had to obtain a microphone extension cable (I didn't trust the cable I made from UTP phone line and RJ-11 (or was it RJ-45... think it was RJ-11 6 conductor). Also had to track down a headphone extension cable for the remote/external speaker (mounted behind the arm-rest/console). I didn't save the phone images of the cable runs -- 3/4inch split plastic flex conduit from main box, along cargo bed, forced down in the gap of the folding rear seat, along the door trim, to just under the hood release -- with cable clamps screwed in at intervals. Smaller conduit from battery to firewall (at least I found an unused rubber plug passthrough -- cut X in plug, push power lead through it. Cables for the mag-mount GMRS and CB antennas are on passenger side with 1/2 conduit. The 5100 microphone mount is almost visible. Just at the bottom of the photo -- the black bit on light grey next to steering wheel.

Of course it’s a test. If there’s no reception whatsoever a person can rule out some things. It doesn’t test everything, but it helps rule out certain failure modes.

Nothing in the manual... You may just have to look for the highest contrast background/foreground color pairs that can be set to the fields. At least it's an LCD... My Icom ID-5100 appears to have pressure sensitive (ie: it does not use I/R emitters/receivers on the sides of the screen to detect "touch") layer on an e-Ink display (black/white). Even on high brightness it disappears under polarized sunglass (which is not helped in that my prescription when driving is the DISTANCE on, I'd need to put on my computer prescription (fingertip just touches monitor when arm stretched forward) to actually read some of the markings.

Might be coincidental to them shipping with everything set to narrow band. If the testing agency doesn't dig deeper to learn how to change the default channels (being GMRS with just the 22 frequencies (pairs for the 8 used for duplex) they may have just tested on the presets.

First, I'll suggest not trusting those other sites ( .io or .report) 100%, as they aren't official sites and I've seen a few glitches in the data...though that doesn't seem to be the issue here. Here is the actual doc on fcc.gov...looks like narrow only there...11k0f3e and 5 watts only. https://apps.fcc.gov/oetcf/tcb/reports/Tcb731GrantForm.cfm?mode=COPY&RequestTimeout=500&tcb_code=&application_id=46EoA4PpE8zlyRIMY2v7uw%3D%3D&fcc_id=2ASNSRT97 Here is the main authorization search page https://apps.fcc.gov/oetcf/eas/reports/GenericSearch.cfm Perhaps the "wideband" is there for ham use, where they aren't subject to certification testing like they are for gmrs?

I searched it on fccid.io. I also searched it directly through the FCC's website to confirm the information was correct. All you need is the FCC ID which is fairly easy to get. Its listed either on various websites or the retailer's sites. In the case of the RT97S, its listed directly on the mygmrs shopping page as a certified transmitter. It just doesn't seem right that its listed as both wide and narrow but the grant only specifies narrow. All of the Wouxun GMRS radios I searched have both 11K03FE and 16K03FE emission designators in the grants, but none of Retevis GMRS stuff I searched did, even if it advertised it as narrow and wide capable. The link direct to the FCC is here: https://www.fcc.gov/oet/ea/fccid

OK, maybe I read it wrong. From what I understand of this situation. The water company (which may or may NOT be a government entity at this point) has granted not only access but total control for antenna access to a water tower that is owned by the water company. Now again, if this is a private entity and NON-government, they are free to do what ever they want. Except even a private water company has to have back ground checks done on ANYONE accessing a water tower, or potable water facility if that water is a source for public consumption. But we aren't even going to go there. But like you said, these places are HIGHLY regulated, even the private water systems. He further said that the ham group in charge of granting access for antenna/ equipment installation on the site requires a membership with their ham group (which no doubt has a fee THEY are collecting for that membership and no doubt a current ham license) in order to even be considered for access to the site to install antenna's and other equipment. So this would be strike two on the crap you can't allow as a government entity. A private entity CHARGING money to access a government asset. And what do you suppose the chances are they are sending those access payments to the owner of the site? Can't go to the local court house and put up a barrier and require payment for access to a government building as a private citizen. And that is sort of what they MAY be doing.... but with a water tower and not a court house. At least that's what I understood from the original post. OK<<<< NOT ORIGINAL POST This was the post that was created by WRAM370 and NOT the original poster. That might help a LOT. Read what he had to say and then we might be on the same page. Sorry brother,,, I kept sayin OP, and that was NOT the OP's post.

Reception was fine. Continuity was fine within the antenna cable. So I went to look at the antenna specifically and under close examination the cylindrical "cover" had displaced from the base... it's a midland 3db short stubby antenna. I was able to remove the cover completely and see the wiring inside. I'm unsure if this is what caused the issued but I re-glued the cover down to the base and the radio is back to normal. Thanks to everyone for your suggestions. Glad my radio wasn't toast.

Hey there! Just got into the GMRS at the beckoning of a stellar friend in Texas and want to reach out to see if anyone in or around Manchester, New Hampshire is active! Seems really quiet around here and the one repeater in town seems to be dead so hopefully that doesn't stop too many people.

50' of vertical separation is the standard here in Illinois using UHF and 2M VHF. Some taller towers (figure 500' tall) have 100' of vertical separation for even better RX/TX isolation with RX ALWAYS being on the top. Many simply invert antennas and that isn't enough in my testing. It helps to have a folded dipole antenna, NOT a fiberglass stick as they radiate power up into space and down into the earth VS folded dipoles radiate 995% of the power along the horizon and work far better than fiberglass sticks as such and work even better when isolated as mentioned below: For the commercial towers that my systems are on for the one I use 2 separate antennas with no duplexer. The sites master RX antennas are at the VERY TOP - 300' and extend upwards to 310 - 320' up depending on the length of them. All transmit antennas have 50' of vertical separation between the bottom of the RX antenna and the top of the TX antenna. Breakdown below: 300 - 320' = RX DB420 TX is 20' long so it would be mounted at 230' extending up to 250' = 50' between the top of it to the bottom of RX DB408 TX antenna is 10' long so it is mounted at 240' extending up to 250' = 50' between the top of it to the bottom of RX Hope this helps!

this message has been disregarded

If a factory reset doesnt clear it up and assuming the antenna is connected and there are no antenna cable issues then my guess is that it is borked.. Still less than one year old? If so, contact BuyTwoWayRadios and they'll fix you up.

Wow! That's actually really neat... but I personally wouldn't spend that much. The platform is only 17' high. The shooting rail is the part that is at 20', and the rail doesn't look like it would hold much weight. You will almost double your range on flat terrain, but we are talking about going from 3.1 miles to 5.9 miles. I bought this instead.... https://mfjenterprises.com/products/mfj-1906h?_pos=25&_sid=bfd1eb1e0&_ss=r I get about a 9 to 10 mile radius (in flat/level terrain) with my antenna on this. A tripod, ground stakes and guy lines, I spent less than $280. I designed it to be portable, but it can be a permanent setup with zero concerns... in fact, right now and for the past 3-4 months, it's actually behind my house in the woods being used to hold up my 80 meter HF antenna.

Forgot to mention..Thanks for reminding me... Always beware of the "some people" that try their best overcomplicate everything.

Since the OP asked for opinions, I will offer up my opinion. I disagree with his statement that more GMRS repeaters are needed. In my opinion, GMRS is not a hobby, it is a service primarily intended for short-distance communications, to facilitate the activities of the licensee’s family. Since that intended purpose comes directly from the FCC’s definition of GMRS, I don’t see why we need more repeaters. My opinion is that GMRS is not ham radio. It is not CB radio. But the high profile GMRS repeaters in my part of the world are used by people that already talk on CB, and on ham radio . The conversations are exactly the same, regardless of where they talk, so why do we need to waste precious bandwidth on GMRS for those conversations, when we already have other band allocations for that ? For those that believe GMRS serves a function in civil emergencies, I would also direct you to amateur radio, specifically the ARES/RACES groups that provide those functions. Again, I believe we do not need to duplicate these functions across radio services. It is fine if a local neighborhood repeater such as mine could serve people in a time of need, but that is not it’s true purpose, and I don’t have lofty goals of making it that way. And most people within the couple of miles range of my repeater would not have access to repeater-capable radios, and likely only have FRS radios, so it would be of no use in that case. My repeater covers maybe 4 miles…on a good day, and only with mobile radios (hey, GMRS stands for General Mobile Radio Service, not “sit in my easy chair with my walkie talkie and talk to someone 40 miles away via a repeater”). It serves the needs of my family for short distance communications. We do use Zello as a means to extend coverage, if necessary, but it is again only for the family…not for a guy in Michigan to ragchew with a guy in Florida, or to hold “nets”. This is exactly why the amateur radio service exists, and where these activities should take place. A nearby GMRS repeater is connected to the MyGMRS network, and it simply transmits conversations of people not even within the state, all day long (not really all day, just exaggerating to make a point). A nearby ham repeater is connected to the America Link network, and transmits conversations of people not even within the state, all day long. What is point of having these broadcast stations, when local users are not using these repeaters ? We do not need more repeaters for GMRS. We need fewer people that think GMRS is CB or amateur radio.