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Honestly... that is very normal. Radio manufactures advertise "up to" a specific wattage. They don't guaranty a certain wattage. They radio may make 45w to 48w under specific conditions on a specific frequency, which may not be easily reproduced. The manufactures have to keep the power low enough below the 50w legal limit, because is a random radio gets tested and FCC finds that it exceeds the limit, the company can have the certification pulled. Also, a good portion of 50w radios I test, typically have a max power of 34w-38w... depending on the frequency used compared to the frequency tested by the manufacturer. That is just the way it is most of the time. Worth mentioning, there is a reason why other radios cost twice as much, if not more. Sometimes that few extra watts is part of it.

No disagreement, just a couple things to add... The first, the tone mode column will need to be "dtcs" The second, same again for tone mode, and also need to set the cross mode...can use "dtcs->" for testing with no Rx tone, or "dtcs->dtcs" to use both tones. https://chirp.danplanet.com/projects/chirp/wiki/MemoryEditorColumns

From a regulation point of view there are only 5 MURS allowed frequencies. A repeater would tie up two of them. Add in more repeaters the open simplex channels would be gone. Then there is the technical issues. For a good repeater system you need to use a split frequency. Currently the Ham 2M VHF band, that's just below MURS, the repeaters use a 600KHz split, which requires some very good cavity filters to achieve it. The only MURS band split that will work is one channel from the 151MHz block and one from the 154MHz block. Then to really screw things up the 151MHz block is restricted to narrow band FM while the 154MHz block is wide band. Also there are NO purpose made MURS specific radios that can even do split frequency operation. That leaves just old Part 90 radios. And it's iffy those can be legally used on MURS, all dependent on on the FCC grant date.

That looks correct to me also, but again, and I want to emphasize this. It’s always best to leave the receive tones off when getting started. If you leave the receive tones unset, you receive everything on that rx frequency.

In the first place, we don’t all agree. In my opinion MURS is intended for short distance unlicensed simplex communications. Allowing repeaters drastically changes that and would make it harder to use those five channels for short ranges. The fact that a licensed service like GMRS is permitted repeaters doesn’t justify MURS repeaters. Repeaters aren’t permitted on any unlicensed services that I know of. I’m not sure why anyone would want to spend a couple thousand bucks to put a 2 watt repeater on a tower anyway. I just don’t understand what you’re trying to make MURS into.

A lot of amateurs use the space weather tools on the home page of QRZ. https://www.qrz.com/ Same data here, in the top, left corner. http://www.hamqsl.com/solar.html An my absolute ? favorite is Dr. Tamitha Skov, Space Weather Woman. https://www.spaceweatherwoman.com/

What are Signal Reports? What is an s-unit? Why does this matter? But, Why? First, why does any of this matter? The General Mobile Radio Service was segmented with the concept of being a short-distance two-way communications for licensees and their immediate family members. It doesn’t require any special knowledge, exams or understanding of the science behind the magic. However, you will occasionally hear both professional and amateur radio operators who are also licensed GMRS operators, who may be using lingo more common to other services. One of the most common will be an RST style signal report. I’ve noticed that many new operators will call for a radio check, especially on a repeater. They may get a 'signal report' from a Ham that sounds like this, “I copy you five nine.” Or you may hear “You are full-quiet into the repeater.” While these answers may be true and accurate, for new operators, hearing “Your radio sounds great” or “I can hear you fine, but there is a bunch of static. How far are you from me (or the repeater)” would likely be a lot more helpful. Well, in the event that you come across me or one of my well-seasoned friends and we forget that not everyone knows what we are talking about, this may help you understand what you are hearing with regard to signal reports… and if you would like to use the same method, provide you with the best guidance I can. What are RST and Signal Reports? The RST signal reporting system is primarily used by amateur radio operators and other radio hobbyists to exchange information about the quality of a radio signal being received. The original reporting system was created to be used with Morse Code, and is a three digit number. Each digit is used for conveying an assessment of a signal's Readability, Strength and Tone (RST). Over time, amateurs adopted this reporting scheme for voice communications as well, but it was modified a bit to be more friendly to reports about voice signals. Readability is still used to define how intelligible your voice is; meaning how well can I understand what you are saying. Strength of your signal is also still used, based on the meter on the receiver’s radio. However, Tone was dropped for voice reports. Though on occasion you will hear someone tell an operator, in plain language, if their transmitted signal has too high or too low of a tone, as some radios allow the owner to adjust the tone. Readability – This part of the report is subjective, but still helpful. Readability is used to define how intelligible your words are, on a scale of 1 to 5. A readability value of 1 means that I can tell you are transmitting and talking, but I can’t make out anything you are saying. A readability value of 5 means that, regardless of anything else, I can understand every word you say. A report with 2, 3 or 4 would be some variation between 1 and 5. Some examples on how I personally would rate your readability on GMRS would include a 2, meaning I may be able to hear enough of what you’re saying that in a life or death situation, it may be enough to get help going. With a 3, I may be able to understand 3 or 4 words out of every 5 words. We can talk, but it’s kind of a hassle. A 4 would be I can hear every word but there is static. Pretty straight forward. Strength – With regard to strength in a signal report, there is nothing subjective about it, sort of. Unfortunately, if it is scientific or subjective depends on your radio meter type and if the meter is calibrated. We are actually measuring the voltage of your signal on the receiver’s radio. This voltage is measured in S-units or Signal Units. Where this can get tricky with GMRS is, not every radio has a signal strength meter designed to support the common s-unit scale. You may have a display that shows 9 units on some unknown scale, or 10, or 15. I have even seen some radios that only have 4 or 5. I’ll explain the technical parts of signal strength measurements and if you have a radio that doesn’t use a traditional calibrated s-meter, you may be able to adopt the idea to your personal radio. This meter below is a classic analog meter. The top line measures the received signal strength in s-units. If the needle were to swing to 5, you would give them a 5 as the Strength portion of the report. For example, if you understand every word and the needle stops at 5, you would provide a signal report for their voice signal of “five five” or “5 5”. If you could hear all of the words they are saying with a lot of static and the needle is on the 3, you would report a “four three” or “4 3”. Below is a newer radio with a digital s-meter. It looks a little different, but the same rules apply. In this picture, my meter is showing a signal strength of about 5.5 (almost 6) s-units. If I could hear them perfectly, I would tell them their signal report is “five five plus” or “5 5 Plus”, meaning I understand everything perfectly and their signal strength is never less than 5. Now, the next two images show a radio that I know doesn’t have a properly labeled or calibrated s-meter. This type of meter is the reason I said there is nothing subjective about it, sort of. While an s-unit is a true measurement of voltage, this radio has 10 lines and nothing in the owner’s manual tells me what the increment values are. However, you could still adapt the concept to a signal report, making it a bit subjective. In the first image, the meter is completely full. In this state, it’s very likely that I can hear the person talking perfectly and they almost certainly met or exceeded the voltage requirement of 9 s-units. So, I would tell this person that they are “five nine” (5 9) or they are “full quiet”. In the next image, below, the signal goes to the fifth line. Being familiar with this radio, there is a good possibility that I can hear everything they are saying, but with a lot of static. So, I would be providing a signal report of “four five” or “4 5”, since the meter measurement is half the total scale. In this case, the signal report is 100% based on my interpretation of what I am hearing and seeing, rather than providing a “metered result.” I hope this makes sense. For those of you who are interested in the science behind an s-unit, here is a little history and values. In the 1930s, the industry agreed that 9 s-units would correspond to 50 microvolts (50 μV) at the input of a receiver. However, based on meter design and how the value was sampled, this was not accurately measured from radio to radio because the input impedance of receivers was not standardized. This changed in 1981. The International Amateur Radio Union (IARU) agreed on a technical recommendation for S Meter calibration, separately for HF and VHF/UHF. IARU defines 9 s-units for the HF bands to be a receiver input voltage of 50.2 microvolts and impedance of the receiver of 50 ohms. For VHF and UHF bands, the IARU defines 9 s-units to be a receiver input voltage of 5.01 microvolts and impedance of the receiver of 50 ohms. For both HF and below, as well as everything over HF, the IARU defines that a difference of one S-unit corresponds to a difference of 6 decibels (dB), equivalent to a voltage ratio of two, or power ratio of four. For example, if 9 s-units equals 50.2 μV, than 8 s-units is 25.1 μV, 7 s-units is 12.6 μV, etc. Signals stronger than 9 s-units are given with an additional dB rating. For example, “20 dB over S9” or simply "20 over". You can see these values on the s-meters in the first 2 images. Repeater Caveat There are some important caveats to signal reports for repeater users. The RST style signal report is not a valid reporting method. The voice quality or 'intelligibility' of the transmission is likely not going to be valid. If the reporting operator is receiving the repeater's signal well enough that there is little to no chance that the voice quality is impaired, you may be able to give and get a valid readability report. This condition is often when you will hear signal reports such as "loud and clear" or "full-quiet." These replies indicate that you have a very good radio and voice signal into the repeater, as reported by someone who has a very good signal from the repeater. Additionally, the signal strength is not relevant through the repeater, at all. The receiver's station is going to be seeing the signal strength of the repeater, not the originating station asking for a signal report. It is not possible to know the received signal strength at the repeater site unless you are the repeater owner or admin and have the ability to see the actual repeater's receive meter. Even then, most repeaters do not have any easily visible signal strength meters. The next best method would be if the receiving station listens to the repeater input frequency (assuming the receiving radio has that feature). If the reporting station can hear you directly, they can tell you how strong your signal is at that person's location. It's still not indicative of how strong your signal is at the repeater. I hope this information helps anyone who may hear this lingo out on the General Mobile Radio Service. Quick Reference Chart for S-Units

This is why urban areas with houses full of fat people get such poor fars.

That is the opposite of a problem

I played with the UV 50x2 (2nd gen) on HAM bands (yes I have a HAM license). This is supposedly the same radio as the GMRS 50v2. It was pushing 45 watts on UHF and 60 watts on VHF... and 40 watts for those higher UHF frequencies into a dummy load. So this makes sense. I'm not sure Btech did in fact "redesign" this radio for GMRS. Just took their UV model and locked it at GMRS frequencies. Either way, it got returned. But more so for the bad speaker mine came with. The front end is also not as sensitive. My 779UV is much more sensitive on receive. Overall quality of the radio seemed cheap and clunky. My experience has turned me off Btech, at least for their mobiles. It is a good price for 50 watts (or really 40). It works. But I feel there are better options in this price range... the Wouxun KG-XS20-G comes to mind. Many of which have been tested above 20 watts. I really wanted to like it... maybe I will give the GMRS 50v2 a look... for science. Nice to have a dedicated GMRS radio. But as always... YMMV

With a repeater you either have to have two antennas, separated by enough distance that the transmitted signal doesn’t overwhelm the receiver or you need a duplexer. The transmit side goes into the transmit connector on the duplexer and the receive side of the duplexer runs to the receive connector in the repeater. Then the antenna connector on the duplexer runs to the antenna. The diagram you attached in your first post illustrates it. Just remember that both the transmitter and receiver are in the same box.

Probably none. The cost to install those chips, parts - labor - shipping, would very likely exceed the cost of a new radio with them. Unless you have the expertise and equipment to install them yourself I would just buy a new radio with everything installed and working.

Look at how the Elecraft AX-1 and AX-2 do it! ?

Good evening all! I am traveling to Florida next week and was looking to talk to some people down there and just have fun while in vacation, does anyone have a baofeng UV-9G programming list?

12 and 20dB sinad is all I care about. Where does it open and where does it close in CSQ or pl

I just realized while double-checking the menus for my reply that you may have "Dual Watch" check box marked when you go to "Radio Settings" in the menu. If that's the case, the radio won't scan. It uses the second band as the "scanning" channel and the primary band stays put.

On mine, the top button on the side (just below the PTT button -- also the "up" channel button) to scanning. You hold it in for a couple seconds starts scanning the channel group. It shows "Scanning" on the screen where the second channel would be, if you were monitoring two channels. The other way I get it to scan is to go into the menu on the device (bottom left green "hockey stick" button), scroll down to "Radio Settings," scroll down to second option (Scan), and make sure the box is checked. Should see "Scanning" on home screen when you exit out of the menu. You can also do it through the app -- three bar menu button in app -> all the way at the bottom you'll see a "Scan" check box. Hope this helps!

I just ordered an MFJ-884. I did so based on reviews on Amazon and ehams.net, which were very positive except for a couple people who ordered from the bargain basement selection of used meters. https://mfjenterprises.com/products/mfj-884 These are the features that swayed me: Range from 1.8 MHz to 525 MHz Reports of accuracy Reports of accuracy even when measuring low wattage devices (milliwatt sensitivity) Ease of use (simplicity). This meter just measures forward power and reflected power. The intersection of the two needles occurs over meter markings that show the SWR. Ability to calibrate. Retail is $160. Ham Radio Outlet has it for $150 with free shipping. I generally receive items very quickly from the Portland store and that's where this is shipping from. It's not digital. It doesn't have a frequency counter. It only needs external power for the meter illumination (as I understand it). I was sorely tempted to get the MFJ-874. It also had very good reviews. https://mfjenterprises.com/products/mfj-874?pr_prod_strat=use_description&pr_rec_id=ec31e14d7&pr_rec_pid=4393832153187&pr_ref_pid=4393832349795&pr_seq=uniform

You rock, man. Even when I think I know, I still always learn more when I read your write-ups. You should very seriously write a book!

thank you everyone this is so helpful!!

AHA!! So the duplexer was a separate device from the repeater I confused myself as I thought the duplexer was built into the repeater on mygmrs.com the BridgeCom 40du. I went to the manufacturer website and saw the duplexer and it all makes sense. Low to transmitter, high to receiver, and middle to antenna. Now it all makes sense. I will make another post to sum everything up into simple bullet points and ensure I have it down. Again, thank you everyone! This has been extremely helpful!

https://ftp.elecraft.com/AX1/Manuals Downloads/AX-Line brochure, rev M1.pdf or for the full line: www.Elecraft.com

You guys tease us! We have no idea where to look for images of such splendor! ?

If there was zero other terrain? That would be correct. This is exactly why RF LOS terminates about 15% further than visual line of sight. RF is both scattered and partially refracted over the horizon. The closer to the horizon line, the more dense the scatter is. It's really hard to answer that question. For example, are we talking about a building? A small hill? or a 5,000'+ mountain? My house is in a recess in the ground by about 100 feet, with the ridge line about 150 yards away. I can stand in my driveway with a handheld radio and still reach another handheld about a mile away before the shadowing become to great. There is a way, but it is way beyond my skill set and understanding. The level of effort and all contributing factors vary too rapidly and greatly to attempt to try to calculate it in some practical time-frame, as well. To make things worse, the results would only be valid for the exact forecasted locations of the two radios. If you move either radio even an inch in any direction, the values are no loner valid. Items in the sky like rain and fog will attenuate the signal more. While diffraction, reflection and scattering of radio waves is the principle behind extending LOS, as those conditions increase, the amount of dilution increases, leading to more attenuation, not more extended range. The PPM of the photons simply drops too low to receive.

1. DTCS Code: 025; DTCS Rx: 025; NN 2. DTCS Code: 315; DTCS Rx: 411; NN I believe that's correct anyway! Somebody will correctly me if I'm wrong, I hope.

Excellent information. Thank you!

I just viewed Randy's review and all I can say is: "40 watts"??? It's a redesigned product and you couldn't give us 45 watts? I do wish Randy would have tested the Low and Medium power levels.... but at this point I think it is a pass for me.

Thanks all

Total agreement with you Marc.

Boy, did I get the Error message. Several times, and using the red Wouxun cable... but when I plugged in the three-yr-0ld BTECH/Baofeng programming cable (for a couple of UV-82HPs I bought at the time*), IT WORKED just fine for modifying the layout of the KG-935G. Sure glad I had that BTECH cable! I let my buddy know to be sure to order his own programming cable 'cuz, well, mine didn't work!, see. I had most of what I originally wanted to do to this Wouxun HT (named a couple of repeater channels, entered some CTCSS and DCS tones already accomplished by way of the radio's keypad but with the cable I was able to watch and learn from yet another NotaRubicon vid and ended the session with only changing the display name of the radio. I see now from the vid I posted above how I can add the variations for DTCSS/DCS tones for different repeaters (in different territory) that share a Channel freq. That's pretty neat, as is the other 950+ spots reserved for whichever channels I'd like to monitor. Pretty neat stuff. Thanks for your help, Three Five Zee-ro. ? *HAM Technician ticket study never took, but now that my motor's been revved by my intro to GMRS w/ this great Wouxun, I can see that in the not-too-distant future I may resume my amateur radio study.

@Lscott yes, Sir! It gets a bit tricky with a mobile, though. LOL

The shorter the better.

It's funny that you're using the wording to create a rule that applies to "family" when the rule in question does not use the word "family". Perhaps you think that is what the rule should say? It also does not say "individual's license". If it did have that apostrophe, then it might actually mean a License that belongs to a particular individual. I still read it as saying that if the individual operator(s) of the repeater use their FCC Station License Call Sign, the repeater itself does not need to identify. You may disagree - and that's OK. What anyone here thinks doesn't matter. What the FCC thinks is what matters, but I think they don't really care.

Just looking at the extremely tight tolerance of the line section speaks volumes of the type of gear the Bird is.

Correct, 8300 analog OR digital, and 8400 analog AND digital. For those that may have a Motorola XPR8300 repeater, there are still many radio shops sitting on Entitlement ID's for adding that AND function to make a 8300 into a 8400 for a reasonable price too. Does not apply to GMRS, but still something to think about. Takes more rack units of space than the newer SLR5700/8000 (50W/100W) Motorola repeaters, but can be found at a lot lower price on the slightly used market. Places like SunnyComm sometimes even have a duplexer mounted to the top of some of theirs for around $1200 or so for UHF XPR8300's.

You're on the right track. It's not uncommon for both tones to be the same, but until it's confirmed working, I would go with 'tone' (which just sends a transmit tone, and uses normal.squelch for receive) vs tonesql (which uses the same tone for both transmit and receive). On that group on 18, it is possible they're using tones within their group, so wouldn't hear another user using no tones on transmit or receive.

I could be wrong, but are the transmit and receive tones supposed to be the same? If so, don't set to 'TSQL', just set to 'Tone'. I THINK... I don't have it here in front of me... If only the receive tone is supposed to be set, remove the "Tone" setting. I'm guessing somebody else can answer this better than me.

I need something better so i can calibrate my Fars-O-Meter 2000! I am also looking at some of the MFJ's but I want something that "some people" wont declare is just 'junk' and i'm not sure where MFJ falls on the home-expert's scale of "just junk"...

After 5 months on the waiting list, I received notice my KG-UV9GX has shipped. My order # was in the 130xxx range. I also ordered the Smiley Slim Line Whip. Received my Ed Fong DBJ-UHF antenna kit last week. I completed a CERT program via our county sheriff's office a couple of months ago. Now studying for my HAM Extra class exam. Major snowstorm will impact us middle of the week. WA7HPK

Not to mention cross banding between MURS and GMRS you’re going from an unlicensed service to a licensed one. The FCC definitely won’t be pleased.

We have two repeaters that cover virtually all of Southern California and the use of roger-beeps is very strongly encouraged.. This discourages "some people" from using the repeaters making for a more pleasant repeater experience for everyone. One of the repeaters also has it's own roger-beep.

I call BULLSHIT - just another Sad-HAM disguised as a GMRS user. YOUR radio YOUR choice - if the sad-HAM control freaks dont like it, they can change the channel.. HOWEVER - as you mentioned, if the repeater owner requests that you not use a roger-beep on his repeater, then following the wishes of the equipment owner who's equipment you are using would be the polite thing to do, IMO..

I have no idea how it could be destructive. I understand that “some people” find them annoying — that’s obvious from @gortex2‘s reply — but destructive? I don’t see how. I agree with you that the repeater owner definitely has the last say, but I also think there’s little to gain by joining a repeater and right away doing something that irritates many or most of the other users. I would listen to hear if others use roger beeps and then follow the community norm, just to keep the peace, especially if you hope to talk with any of them on the air.

Some of the early UV9GPro and the UV9GLite had Roger beeps, but IIRC, the bulk of the UV9GPro units do not have a Roger Beep.. Due to the outcry of customers from around the world, they added it back for the UV9GX. Mid power is now 2watts, high power is still 5watts.. I dont remember what low power is, but its the same as the the UV9GPro. I'm only telling you this because YOU are my favorite user here at MyGMRS ...

There is an anomaly when using the weather alert on the KG-935G and the KG-XS20G. When selected 'On' and scanning in area A, the scan will be continuously interrupted while it interrogates the NOAA weather channels for an alert tone. This is very distracting and inefficient. There are two ways to work around this "feature"; (1) Turn off weather alert or (2) Set your scan in area B where it will not be interrupted. The weather scan only occurs in area A. If you find your scan still being interrupted by the weather frequencies, no matter what you do, then set Scan Mode to 'CO'