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Well played M1chael ?. WRQI685 welcome aboard mygmrs.com! Let us all know when you go from Guest to Member! -VVRTQ652 (wrtq652) Everyone typos some times ?

FYI - the speaker on the mic is broken, only weak crackling sound coming out when on speaker 2. Buytwoway radio customer service responded quickly and they are sending me another mic. Great customer service.

Also unplug the microphone from the repeater and see if that changes anything.

For those that enjoy using the Motorola XPR3xxx/7xxx/e series radios, here is one cautionary note. I had a group that wanted to buy new Motorola batteries but did not like the price or the delivery time, about 3-5 months wait to get them. So, instead they purchased two dozen batteries, what they thought were Motorola PMNN4409AR 7.4V Lithium-Ion batteries. They purchased these through Grainger, as someone in the group had a construction company and an account with them. Knowing that I often use a XPR7550e radio for GMRS, and working with radios for years, they asked me why the batteries often did not take a charge. Or the charger acted odd when the batteries were placed into them (single cup Motorola IMPRES charger and 6-bank versions). Users in this group said some batteries would charge, but maybe not charge all the way the next day. This was a group that was interested in starting their own community emergency response type of team. On a whim, I asked if the serial numbers were all the same on the batteries? they said they did not recall seeing serial numbers. I told them to look closer. They gathered half of the batteries and checked them. They all had the same serial number. Luckily, the person with the Grainger account was a good customer, and they will be checking this from whomever they purchased these from as well. Motorola batteries should all have a unique serial number.

Don’t let this bleak response convince you that an SWR sweep is of little value. Dummy loads look completely different to a VNA than antennas He’s right that there’s more to measuring the effectiveness of an antenna than just SWR, but if an antenna has a very high SWR, that must be addressed.

Note, Grainger is making this right, as they should have checked these batteries as well before they were sold. IMPRES batteries are "smart" batteries that work with "smart" IMPRES style chargers, but when every battery has the same chip and serial number, it confuses the charger, hence odd charging/discharging/cycling actions taking place.

asterisk -rx "rpt fun 25312 *3177" This did the trick it now shows that I am connected to the 177 hub. Thanks for the support

They are nice radios. What is a negative for me is the funky antenna connector. I often use an external antenna with my HT's so having something I can screw an adapter into is important. I take my HT's on trips sometimes etc. so in hotel rooms I like to use a portable antenna stuck by the window and run a cable between it and the radio. Same with rental cars. Stick a cheap short magnet mount on the roof and run the cable inside to the radio.

Walmart would be crazy to sell MURS radios when they are using MURS themselves.

it could be but it seems it has to do with receiver desence but its worth a shot, I will look farther to see if my serial-lot number is effected.

I can see from the post above a Standing Wave Ratio (SWR) meter wasn't available at the time and checking the SWR was suggested. It would be worth taking a look at the SWR when a meter becomes available. I'm curious to know if anyone is checking the Standing Wave Ratio (SWR) between the BTECH-U25 AMP and the antenna after swapping the feed line from the handheld to the BTECH-U25? Having an antenna with a low SWR would allow the most output power to be sent through the antenna. I'm curious as to what reflected power the BTECH-U25 is able to handle and if it has any protection circuitry built into it, for example to reduce the output power if the reflected power at the transmitter is too high. It's reasonable to say a high reflected power for a handheld is going to be under 5 watts, as we go up in power closer to 40W, the reflected power of a poor SWR match may be enough to damage the amplifier. A properly matched antenna/feed line is going to be important as the wattage increases so the reflected power will not damage the finals of the amplifier. (Also be sure the SWR meter in use is rated for the GMRS band (~462MHz - ~468MHz) / (UHF)). A good description of safe ranges for radios SWRs is posted on the CB World website. The article describes best practices for SWR common to antennas. SWR 1.0-1.5: The ideal range! SWR 1.5 - 1.9: There's room for improvement, but SWR in this range should still provide adequate performance. SWR 2.0 - 2.4: While not good, this likely won't damage your radio with casual use. SWR 2.5 - 2.9: Performance in this range will be noticeably decreased, and you might even damage your radio if you transmit frequently and for extended periods. SWR 3.0+: Performance will be severely affected, and you're likely to damage your radio with extended transmission use. The second item worth mentioning is having a stable input voltage and power delivery for the amplifier power supply. The BTECH website lists the power draw at "13.8 VDC (±15%), 5.5 A maximum" (BTECH, 2022), another test indicates 13.6V 30A power supply was just under 6A (Miklor, 2022). Two of the most common problems with installing radios and amplifiers are SWR and proper power supply voltage (Shannon, 2022). Testing the voltage at the power supply to the amplifier to be sure it's receiving the proper voltage at 13.8 volts would allow the amplifier to deliver the most power to the transmitted signal. There's a good discussion of the input voltage to the radio, related to a different transmitter, and how a 3.5volt to 4 volt drop was seen when transmitting at the radio/amplifier side of the connection contributing to undesirable transmitting results (Spatz, 2022). A direct to battery connection would make it more likely the amplifier is operating at the correct voltage, at least the power connection would be isolated to power draw from the amplifier. A fused power connection directly to the battery and into the passenger compartment or to where the BTECH-U25 amplifier is located would be ideal. The connection to the battery could have a cigarette lighter input adapter attached to it, to make the install of the BTECH-U25 easier to plug in or move to another location. Thanks @WRVG593 for sharing your install story and I wish you the best in getting the BTECH-U25 installed. Keep us updated if you decide to move the amplifier again and how it all works out for you! I'm curious to know how the 2nd choice for the install location works out if you decide to go that route? References: BTECH AMP-U25 UHF analog amplifier. BaoFeng Radios. (2022, December 12). Retrieved December 19, 2022, from https://baofengtech.com/product/amp-u25/ CB World. (n.d.). What is SWR and why is it SO important? . CB World. Retrieved December 19, 2022, from https://www.wearecb.com/what-is-swr.html Miklor, J. (n.d.). Review btech power amp. Miklor. Retrieved December 19, 2022, from https://www.miklor.com/COM/Review_DMR-Amps.php Shannon, S. (2022, December 19). KG-XS20G Plus problem. myGMRS.com Forums. Retrieved December 20, 2022, from https://forums.mygmrs.com/topic/4932-kg-xs20g-plus-problem/#comment-48811 Spatz, M. (2022, December 19). KG-XS20G Plus problem. myGMRS.com Forums. Retrieved December 20, 2022, from https://forums.mygmrs.com/topic/4932-kg-xs20g-plus-problem/#comment-48819

There is also a UT72G that’s tuned for GMRS.

That's quite the upgrade. How do you tolerate the single watch nature? I don't think I can give up watching two frequencies.

The guy is a recent licensee so the historical background is not relevant. The guy should pay attention to what Rich suggested and review what he entered. If he entered the same thing he used in his Guest name it’s a mistake. Sometimes the difference between a lowercase L and the first ordinal number isn’t always obvious (especially for us old farts that learned on manual typewriters where a single character represented both).

So I'm Brand New to GMRS, but let me clarify a few things. I Unfortunately do not yet own an SWR Meter, Working on that, so when i say power I didn't mean Wattage or even a measured amount of anything. I realistically meant the ability to hit other repeaters, reach people in the area, etc. The Antennae in question was one of 3 that work roughly as good as each-other. I Have a stock 5(?) inch Antennae, a 48 Inch Antennae, and A 15 inch Whip Antennae, all of which work about as well as each-other. I receive and transmit better when I'm not using the AMP/UT72 Combo. I have yet to place another Antennae up to the U25. I am going to hook up the UT72 to the radio later today and see what happens. Maybe then I can diagnose it as being an antennae issue rather than an amp issue. There was a while the microphone i was using was causing bad transmission, but I ended up using the radio itself instead, and that cleared up part of the issue. But even when I found the repeater, for Test purposes I used the radio right underneath and to no surprise got great results and got a repeater tail as well as a human copy. But when I plugged up to the U25 Amp, it almost seemed as a threshold more than an Amp, dimming the power instead of increasing. TLDR; I don't yet have a way to measure power, but after testing the radio in the field, the radio by itself transmits and receives better without the U25/UT72 Combo.

What do you mean by "I get more power?" How are you measuring the "power" you're getting? Or do you simply mean that others receive you better? Clearer? Louder? Or are you actually measuring the power output where it feeds into the antenna? So: GMRS Radio -> U25 -> UT-72 gives you less power than GMRS Radio -> UT-72? Or GMRS Radio -> U25 -> UT-72 gives you less power than GMRS Radio -> Unknown stubby antenna Have you tried using GMRS Radio -> U25 -> Unknown stubby antenna? How does that compare? What's the SWR of the UT-72 at the frequency you're transmitting? What does the amp's SWR look like to the radio? If you're truly measuring power (watts) using the U25 and UT-72 combination, and it's less than measured power going into the stubby antenna, where are you measuring? Assuming they're both the same measurement point (right at the antenna) then it could be bad feedline, bad amp, or bad antenna: high SWR on antenna (reflected power subtracts from forward power).

Just purchased two of these. Both put out the advertised power plus a bit more. Great radios.

Please check your call sign format. It should be four letters followed by three digits.

This step always tells the real story. I have seen some mobile installations that have had 20+ feet of 16 or even 18 gauge wire with crimped extensions and crimped eye-loops at the battery. On the radio side, they experienced a 1.5v to 2v drop when in standby and 3.5v to 4v drop on the radio side when they key up.

Measuring at the radio, does the voltage stay at 14.1 when you key up on high power? I think your next step would be to call customer support.

The two things I would check for are High SWR or Insufficient power supply. Some radios have protection built in that will temporarily shut down rather than transmitting into a high SWR. But it may simply be that your power supply simply cannot provide the power your radio needs when it’s transmitting at high power, resulting in the voltage sagging and the radio resetting itself.

Perhaps the terms of a grandfathered license allow multiple people to operate under a business’s license, but that’s no longer possible for new licenses. Nor is there an exception for community emergency volunteer groups. Unless it’s covered as part of a grandfathered license it’s just not allowed.

My First was a Radioddity GM30, my current one is a Motorla XPR7550E

I just realized something tonight. The Retevis RA25 is the same hardware as the DB20G / AT-779UV. I just sent an email to Retevis tech support if the radio and microphone are compatible since the carry both. I'll let you know what they say. Thanks again to both of you for your help.

So what did you come to GMRS for then ? I'm curious because I see more and more hams going to GMRS when they have it already in HAM. I think in some part that's what's messing up GMRS. Its almost become a "ham light" to me. I get more and more baffled daily on the wants and needs of GMRS users. Ive been a ham for years and use ham radio when i want linking or data or other things it provides, but when i want simple point to point stuff GMRS is what I use. Yet the UV5R is not certified for any of this....so why state the reqs when you dont follow them ?

I wished people wouldn't use WEBLOC files as links. Just copy and paste the URL.

and yet...Radioddity MU-5 MURS Radio, License Free Two-Way Radio Rechargeable, Display Sync for Industrial Bus….webloc

My First U25 pooped out too! Then my second one makes strange noises when plugged up to a 12V that isnt a full 13.8V power supply which didn't happen on the first one. Strange, crazy, and annoying. Maybe i'll just keep the U25 in my Garage and hopefully it will be okay and hook up to my House Antennae okay.