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It's a hobby. People will comment about the money I've spent on my radio collection and electronic test gear. I ask them how much did those new snowmobiles motorcycles and boat, they use just a few months out of the year, cost them. The silence from them is pure gold.

I went back into the gallery and found one of my pictures, showing antennas on my old Pontiac. I had a Sirius satellite radio antenna, a UHF Antennex Phantom antenna, and then a whisker style VHF antenna mounted on the right side of the trunk lip. Original configuration was spaced out, but too many people thought it was a cop car (local PD's bought Pontiac's for their detective vehicles), and I was even pulled over a few times to find out how they could get the shorter antennas like mine. The local radio shop put larger antennas on those detective vehicles and they were not very discrete. Once I put all the antennas next to one another, people just thought it was the factory configuration and I never had anyone wonder (at least to me) after that. Worked well with a VHF and a UHF Vertex VX-3200 stack mounted in the console. It was nice having enough room to mount mobile radios in the dash, making them look like part of the dash. I miss that car.

I went ahead and joined at the $50 level because it’s the only way to support right now, but I still think that if there were additional, lower priced levels of support, even if they don’t receive anything for it, people would join them, just to provide some financial support. Having 200 people pay $20 is better than 20 people paying $50. $50 might not seem like much, but it’s more than twice what I spend to belong to other hobby forums. I’m not a professional. I don’t have a repeater and I don’t care about most of the features that come with premium membership. I just enjoy the forums. Although I just use GMRS radios for very simple communications, apparently forums are my hobby.

DB20G isnt bad for the money, makes a good ammo can radio.

Post pics of your GMRS (or even Ham...) setup! Some people have goofy setups, some have over the top amazing ones. I have friends who told me mine looks a little off haha. I have a bit more equipment now including an antenna i built on top of the house (sits above the chimney). Show your Base (or mobile) stations!

Ammo can build in progress, the plastic box on top has a MEANWELL LRS150-12 set at 13.8v Antenna is a N9TAX roll up at 30’ on some secondhand LMR600.

An update on how this all happened. I have a private channel just for our house to our mobile units. Asked my wife to call me on the Orlando 700 and she didn't move the band up. She transmitted on the Simplex Channel. So I stand by and wait for the repeater and hear nothing. That's when I asked her to talk again and was surprised to be getting her from that distance. Friday I will be trying for more distance with another Antenna. Thanks for all the feedback everyone.

Sorry it took me so long to reply. I appreciate everyone's feedback. I haven't heard anything more from the complainer. The fact that it's mostly pleasant people out here has kept my enthusiasm.

That looks fine...though you might ask the maid to dust next time she is in. Also it might help to actually plug the antenna into the radio. Kidding of course. Here is my GMRS base. I don't have much more equipment, but I do have a couple of rooftop antennas to test soon. Looks like I need to dust as well.

If a small steel baking sheet can work, it is worth a try. That gap is not going to make much difference for UHF......you get up into SHF and then it will. Just mount the antenna with some steel under it and go on with life. More sheet metal and more uniform shape under the antenna will be better. I had an older Antennex "Phantom" antenna (probably where they get the "ghost" name from) the same size and shape mounted to the corner of a 2004 Pontiac Grand Prix trunk for about 14 years, everyone said that it would never work for GMRS because it was not in the center of the roof, center of the trunk, and the car fender sloped down to one side. I was able to get 10-12 miles easily with that small antenna, and often times more if I was on top of a hill. Even being on the trunk lip rather than the roof did not impact very much. The advantage of this type of antenna is that they do not get ripped off by car washes (no coil to grab), they look discrete and a lot like some vehicle antennas now, and many are sensitive to the electric and magnetic field that gives you a little gain (just stay away from the soup can VHF version of these antennas that are very narrow band and must be tuned). Ideal would be in the center of the steel roof, but barring that, just being on top of the roof will be fine. A good test would be a steel baking sheet mounted as you want, 8" off the roof to see how it works. Testing is always a good thing before mounting something more permanent. When finished show pictures and results here too, might help someone else.

You can use aluminum. The antenna isn't that good of a unit to worry about the 8" difference in height. Just mount it and enjoy. Personally I'd swap on a uhf 1/4 wave but thats me.

Thank you very much, this map really helped me this morning in seeing it like that, I didn’t realize there was a map view.

Ahhh! Thank you so much! It finally clicked in my head, or was that the repeater sound? With your and others help I can hit two different repeaters in my area this morning! I guess I was over complicating things instead using the available frequencies! Thank you so much for your help, I really appreciate it. One more tool in the tool belt now. And I really enjoy Notarubicon’s videos as well, I know he doesn’t poke fun at newbies and that’s what I like about him, he wants people to be able to enjoy the hobby.

My personal experience. A j-pole in a tube just above the roofline made a huge difference over a 1/4 wave on an ammo can in my living room. I can get 10 miles easy and 20 with high ground All with 15 and 20 watt Chinese mobile/base radios.

I bought one too because it was shiny and new, and quickly realized it is a purpose driven radio. It works well, but better if the whole group uses the same one.

Premium members can download a list of all repeaters. Maybe I should put those in Arcview. ?

No.

Under your Chirp folder is a sub-folder called "stock_configs" It has all of the generic channels that you can import for any radio using Chirp. It is full of CSV files. I'll attach the one for standard GMRS/FRS channels. If you put your file into this format (not an IMG!!!) and place it into this folder, you might be able to simply import it into Chirp. Have Chirp set for the correct radio in the first place. Then see if you can upload it to your radio. I do not believe you can move IMG files from one radio type to another. I think all file migrations must be done using CSV files. US FRS and GMRS Channels.csv

This may be a similar issue as when I tried to program my tr-bander Uv-5x3 after using CHIRP for my UV-5Rs. Be sure you are using the default codeplug that you should download from the G while it is still a “virgin” and copying and pasting the entries from a separately open window of the R code plug. Does that make sense?

Not unheard of. Mobile unit to base station I get 20 miles simplex and HT to base station I get 12 miles in Central Texas

Weather was snow all day yesterday and today so our tower climber cancelled again FYI. We cannot win it seems! Will update more when we have more details at a later date!

Thank you Sshannon, I appreciate the help.

Well i really like Chirp But I Also Get Why the Owner Dont want any Pay Wall BS In his software Open Source software and to be honest i dont blame him and HERE IS WHY It is very Easy to slip in/Sneek in about Any kind of spyware & malware & Even Viruses into the system But When its All Free & open source For any jo blow to just Download and look at the Code then ANY one that is slightly curious an a with a tad of knowledge can check the code for their self's an this Always Always Makes it Much Much Harder To Do ! So Stay Open Source and Always Just Say NO To ANY PAYWALL'S..That is How It Starts the World keeps trying to sell you a service of one kind or another JUST SAY NO Keep Your Hard Earned Money in your Pocket...Trust me when i say Big Tech Dont Need a Penny But Want it ALL ! You Can Research These Facts For Your Self you dont half to believe Me..Go Look!

Your two radios can identify themselves to each other or to others of the same type. I would put my first name in it, but you could put “WRVY822-1” and “WRVY822-2” or something. Then you and a relative have the ability to send each other your locations, etc.

Oh my… please don’t answer that last reply, I just realized in the back of the manual the repeater channels are all designated already. I was thinking that the repeaters use unique frequencies.

The one in Troy is WRAL242. It has great connectivity from Northern Austin up to West, Tx. If you search WRAL242 in the repeater list, it comes up. I've spoken to the repeater owner and it is an open repeater and free for use for all GMRS licensees.

Just when you thought this would end. We need a wooden stake. This vampire just won't stay down.

They are likely to (for a tailgate location) to slightly tilt the elevation pattern, and may turn the azimuth pattern from a circle to an ellipse. All the metal on one side will make it seem as if the ground is tilted.

I have to say, I haven't been to my Florida home for almost a year, so I cant speak to any weather issues happening now and my experiences. However about 10 miles base to mobile is normal for me when i am there. This is when I am in Hollywood, Altamonte Springs, and St. Pete. Also, depending on geomagnetic activity, troposphere activity, etc. I have gotten hundreds of miles during Spring and Fall months. That said, there may be something going on that is boosting distance right now. I'm in Virginia right now and yesterday I made a simplex contact at 32 miles and another simplex contact minutes later, but even louder, at 48 miles. It's always fun when odd stuff like that happens.

I think I just go back to playing with my D-Star, NXDN and P25 radios.

And, while I doubt the following may be possible (for I am a real no0b), it would be a neat deal *if* one could via external programming software program their own "beep" and to transmit at a subtle volume so as not to aggrieve those bluetooth headset users alluded to earlier in this thread. I like the old-school, analog, true "beep", like one we might hear from the Mercury capsule days of the early 1960s... and just above barely audible at the end of one's tx... /ponder

Then why not post a link to said discussion (or discussions)? Many new members and GMRS new users every six months, yours truly included. Thanks for your help.

If you want to contact me at wrvp693@gmail.com we could probably work something out and I can make one for you.

Okay I got to jump in here as I just tried to give a “like” on another thread after leaving a thanks here for Steve and nope! Ionically I’m over my limit for the day!

As reference Radio Reference is $30 a year. Others I belong to are $50 a year for download or limited access. Some sites use points systems to allow you to view or download certain items based on how many points. I think that's complicated. I think 2 levels would make things better with a basic package with no adds and maybe limited downloads to a premium package that lets you download other data (maybe base codeplugs, firmware, etc). I hate to say this as I run multiple sites also but it costs to do this stuff and most want everything for free.

my pro seems deaf next to the kg935

I just received my GMRS Pro yesterday. It seems to be alright, so far. I do like being able to add channels quickly via the app, but do wish there was some way to add/edit them on a computer (even if it was via CHIRP). My first of two gripes with it as of right now are that you can’t scan more than the 30 channels in your active group. I have a list of all GMRS channels plus some local businesses+HAM channels I like to scan/listen to, but now I’m being forced to narrow down the list to just a few. Maybe that’s good, maybe not. Right now, I don’t like it. Second complaint is that when in scan mode and it detects activity, I *think* it starts scanning again the moment the transmission ends, instead of waiting a few seconds for a reply. That’s causing me to miss out on some activity/replies. Maybe I’m wrong and both of these are completely possible. If that’s the case, please let me know.

Not a big fan. Was sold on it when I watched the notarubicon review. Bought one sight/review unseen. Got through about 3 minutes of the review and ordered one. IMHO, the radio is just OK as far as RX and TX. It has some nice features (bluetooth, texting, etc) but those (for ME anyway) don't overcome the poor radio performance. I even tried it with a 771G antenna, didn't improve it much at all. I have also both the Wouxun KG-935G and KG-UV9G Pro. Both of the Wouxun radios transmit and receive clearer than the BTECH. My favorite is the KG-935G. Your mileage may vary...

How will passing the ham test make the GMRS Pro useful?

Not digging it atm. I think if their product blows up and most of the cool features are usable I might change from a 3 star to a 5. As of now, I am very meh about it. I should mention it did xmit at 5w as advertised and iirc my swr was around 1.2 with their antennea. Lastly they do not have a CS line. Sending them an email is the only option. This might have a lot to do with my displeasure now that I think about it.

I hope it will continue sending text messages over repeaters.

Bluetooth is actually a good feature that I didnt mention in my post ^ above, but i have not tried to connect it to anything yet.

As someone (someone) who has enjoyed your fine YouTube Hobo channel, one thing that intrigued me about this radio was the bluetooth ability. I was wondering if you tried it with connectivity (connec-tivity) to a headphone or an automobile, aka hands free? Seems like this could be useful on the road if it works for that.

Its a nifty little radio, but unless everyone else in your party also has one, most of that nifty'ness doesnt matter. As for basic use and fars, it's pretty much the same as any other radio.

If they are “bubble pack” radios, they are automatically low power on 8 through 14. They are built that way and can not be adjusted by the user. Thus they are totally legal.

OK. I think we all agree you dont like GMRS, dont like the rules of GMRS and dont like the FCC. Simple solution go find another service to use.

All I can say is Wow! Thanks Berkinet for saying what was on my mind. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

"The FCC when they approve a cell tower and a cell provider a license, require them to install and maintain a GMRS repeater." Would never every happen. I remember a group of hams who said the same thing about ham radio repeaters to help with RACES/ARES/Skywarn. If cell companies and the FCC weren't willing to work with emergency communications groups (Who by the way, often help those company's by setting up portable cell repeaters) they sure as heck wouldn't want to pay for and maintain GMRS repeaters that could be used by anyone, anywhere, anytime, while being liable for any issues that could come from such operations. The only way they would allow it would be if it was a pay-to-use system which is not allowed by FCC rules.

The rules were changed in 2017 and became effective in 2018 for all of the Part 95 services. All previous combo FRS/GMRS radios are now classified as FRS radios. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2017-08-29/pdf/2017-17395.pdf This site has a good summary of the new frequency and power limits. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Mobile_Radio_Service The Baofeng UV5R, and variants, don't have the required Part 95 certification from the FCC and thus are technically illegal to use for GMRS. However people use them as such since they're cheap. Is the FCC busting people for using them? Maybe not, but you are playing a game of twisting the dragon's tail so if you get flamed you had fair warning.

I'm not sure about your overall point, but this in particular is not correct: Baofeng radios like the UV5R And 888s are legal to transmit on GMRS GMRS radios are supposed to have certification from the FCC that they are compliant with Part 95 of the rules. To my knowledge, only a couple of the Baofeng models have any sort of type certification.