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I have a theory that they wait until I purchase a certain radio and then wait a short time to release the new and improved "plus" model. It has happened too many times to be coincidence.

Well, Logged in after not having been on here a while, and saw this thread. Thanks to Marc for taking the time! I shudder at the thought though of "ham" style culture becoming the "norm" for GMRS. Please refrain from emotional reactions, but I promise everyone that if this "cultural" situation of "hammy style" becomes the norm? GMRS will be in trouble. Using CW lingo/shorthand for voice modes is one of the operating habits of hams that are not the best. How many times have you heard the propane delivery guy using ham lingo when on the radio? Aircraft? EMS? Timber crews? Pipline? Railroad? Marine SSB (not ham but actual maritime SSB), Coast Guard, I can go on and on!! The phonetic alphabet is essential at times, and important to learn. Utility use is "inclusive" and using ham lingo is "exclusive"...

North Georgia GMRS use Tac numbers after their call signs. That's the way they "prove" they are paid members.

I have had/used the KG-1000G, the 1000G+ and the DB-25... The DB-25 is probably my lease-favorite radio, and the KG-1000G+ is my mostest-favorite Part 95 GMRS radio, with the older 1000G right behind it.

It doesn’t matter. You will always want one more radio. You might as well buy one now. ?

I live on the east side of a large valley at around 3300 feet elevation. There is a repeater on the west side of the valley at 4700 feet. I do not have a perfect line of sight. I had been hearing traffic on the correct repeater frequency occasionaly but couldn't tell if it was on that specific repeater. At one point I had thrown a slim jim roll up j-pole in a tall oak tree and did open the repeater with a handheld. I spoke to someone that didn't know where they were or what repeater they were on. Last week my daughter and her family were on the other side of the valley. I had asked my son-in-law to see if he could hit the repeater in question. He texted me that he could and that he was listening. I was able to talk to him on my 5w handheld but the signal wasn't very strong and reception was spotty at best. I threw the j-pole back up in the tree, 16' off the ground, and has a great signal. I am 83 miles from the repeater. Pretty good for GMRS. Just a good reminder of what a few feet of elevation and a good antenna can do for you. I got my s-i-l and I each a roll up to carry when one of us goes up into the high country. The picture is the peanut gallery watching me throw a line into the tree.

Thanks for the responses! I assumed that was the case, but I couldn't know for sure. Not knowing of anyone in my area that uses GMRS to ask. I'm sure I will meet folks in my general area to learn from as time passes, but this forum will be my source of info to learn in the meantime. Thanks again!

Yes!!! I totally support your pal in what he did with his repeater. It is as though we need to have some kind of "intervention" for hams once they come to GMRS. I dare say that holding a zoom meeting with camera's and faces where discussion about the inappropriate habits that "hams" develop would be addressed. It is NOT about "good people" or "bad people", yet bringing out into the light, an open discussion of the horrid operating habits that "hams" rapidly develop. It would be like some type of initial "repeater orientation" style meeting which would be a requirement before a repeater owner will allow access. I can't see any other way to deal with this other than head on... I SAY AGAIN! Utility use is people inclusive! Hammy ham lingo makes it people exclusive!

There actually is data to support this theory.

I dont know of any radio manufacturer that releases their GMRS radios/updates on any set schedule - they come out when they come out.

In that map, the two radios would need to be inside both respective circles. If you are going to have either a permanent base station or a portable/temporary base station at a camp, you would be much better served with a 5w-10w mobile used as a base station, and a portable mast with a high-gain antenna on it. This will increase your range due to the base antenna being higher and the gain from the antenna helps with transmit power and receive sensitivity. Below are a couple of my portable antenna's for example.

I thought I had read something like that before but couldn’t remember where. I guess we’ll see how the works out in practice.

This is their site. I live in Monroe County (Coker Creek) TN & listen to them daily.

It may be that the network operators have assigned them a user id of sorts on the network, based, as @Sshannonmentions, on which node on the network they connect through

Did someone say TOO MANY radios? That'd be like saying your girl friend is too pretty. Just can't ever be true.???

So I've seen quite a few good reviews on here of RadioDan's service and I've seen some bad reviews. Well, I have a glowing review of RadioDan's service! I ordered the IDOM IV board (assembled), a voice board, and a couple interface cables last night. Unfortunately, his site indicated they were out of the fan relay boards, so I was unable to order one of those. After submitting my order, I sent an email to him inquiring if he has a waiting list or backorder list. He replied within an hour stating that he has plenty of them in stock he had recently received but had forgotten to update the website indicating such. He then PayPal invoiced me for one so it could be added to my existing order without increasing the shipping cost. OUTSTANDING!!!

Nice catch. I guess it's another difference between Ham and GMRS. Section 97.111 of the Commission's Rules, 47 C.F.R. §97.111, authorizes an amateur station licensed by the FCC to exchange messages with amateur stations located in other countries, except with those in any country whose administration has given notice that it objects to such radio communications. Currently, there are no banned countries. 47 C.F.R. §97.111, authorizes an amateur station licensed by the FCC to exchange messages with amateur stations located in other countries, except with those in any country whose administration has given notice that it objects to such radio communications. Currently, there are no banned countries.

Re-reading the rules for something else, thought of this thread: 47 CFR 95.1733(a)(9) Prohibited GMRS Uses: Messages (except emergency messages) to any station in the Amateur Radio Service, to any unauthorized station, or to any foreign station;

At least... I just received two and I still want one two more ?

Also note that these are SIMPLEX frequencies -- digital data is not permitted on repeaters.

Dash mount mobile, right-angle connector/adapter... And a ceramics drill to put a hole through the windshield ?

I received my Wouxun KG-935G on Monday and the new KG-935 Plus was released on Tuesday.

When sales of the existing model falls way down they add a few more features to the radio and release it as the new-and-improved one. Then of course you want it, sell your perfectly good older model at a huge loss. Then you buy the new-and-improved model, which of course costs way more. You're happy for a while until the "new" new-and-improved-model comes out and the cycle repeats.

@WQWX838 I agree. I really think that it's in everyone's best interest to speak plainly. Unfortunately I hear a lot of lingo from Ham and firsr responders on the repeaters in the DC metro area. Many Hams use GMRS like its amateur radio, to the point where one of my friends revoked permission from a bunch of people on his repeater.

No, it’s digital data. That’s permitted in accordance with the regulations, but digital voice is not allowed: Digital data transmissions. Digital data transmissions are limited to the 462 MHz main channels and interstitial channels in the 462 MHz and 467 MHz bands.

That's sort of correct. So far the FCC has NOT authorize any type of "digital voice" modes. People are hearing digital voice signals, not necessarily only DMR, on GMRS breaking the rules. Some very brief "data only" transmissions are allowed with significant restrictions. I think sooner or later the FCC will throw in the towel and change the rules. The FCC for years wouldn't allow FM on the CB radio band. Now they changed their mind and its OK.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_mobile_radio

Almost any external speaker would work, the issue being cords between the radio and the speaker. I bought this little peaker for when I operate away from my home. AYL Mini Speaker System, Portable Plug in Speaker with 3.5mm Aux Audio Input, External Speaker for Laptop Computer, MP3 Player, iPhone, iPad, Cell Phone (Black) (amazon.com) It is amplified so its volume is independent of the radio volume meaning I can leave the radio's level set or normal use and increase or decrease the volume at the external speaker as needed.

+1 on this. Watts is output power and has no bearing (mostly) on receiving ability. The key for both is antenna height and the higher the better. Second to antenna height is the antenna itself. Antennas have a gain measurement which translates to the amount the signal at the antenna is amplified by the antenna design both outgoing and incoming. There are two scales commonly used, the dBi scale and the dBd scale. The dbi scale is how the antenna output compares to an imaginary antenna while the dBd scale is measured against real conditions. The dBi scale can be converted to dBd by subtracting 2.1 from the dBi figure.

?

MURS = Simplex. Period.

I love how folks get on forums and try to change services that have been in place for years to make it do what they want to do vs finding a service to do what they want to do.

If your all using handhelds 4 watt portables a 50 watt base wont receive them any better than a 10 watt base radio. Just something to think about.

Alex... Man, I am trying so hard to be nice/respectful, but I am totally bewildered by every response from you and I am starting to get a little upset. Like, it's giving me a headache. I will do what I can to make this as clear as possible. Read the next two sentences very carefully, and then read it again. I am NOT discussing RST reports for CW. I am talking about a modern Signal Report for analog voice, with origins rooted in RST. This is going to be my last reply to you on this... the only two reasons I am replying at all is because I am hoping what I'm writing will finally make sense to you, and to explain to new operators and non-hams who may hear this lingo, what it is that Hams are saying to them. One more breakdown... please read carefully. The radio's s-meter is literally, exclusively reflecting the signal strength and in the current/modern Signal Report, the S represents signal strength. You get the signal strength from the s-meter. Period. End of discussion. We are not using RST for voice. The Readability (intelligibility) of the words being spoken describes how well the listener understand what you are saying. That's it. Nothing else. I am talking about modern signal reports. There is no mutually exclusivity. The s-meter literally provides you with a measured value (if the meter is properly calibrated) for 50% of the report you are delivering. Unless you are not using a modern analog voice signal report scheme, you can't provide an accurate signal report without a calibrated s-meter. The requirement for a calibrated meter is why I said it could be scientific or subjective, depending on your radio meter type and if the meter is calibrated. I don't participate in CW exchanges, so I can't speak to how the RST reports are being used today. However, I can say (agreeing with you) the original RST reporting system was created to be used with Morse Code. However, I am NOT explaining the original RST reporting system. I am explaining the current signal reporting system, that has been adopted from the original RST system, for the purpose reporting voice quality and signal strength for all analog voice communications that amateur radio operators use and that GMRS operators may be exposed to. CW RST reports have nothing to do with this, beyond the origin story.

If you want to run a roger beep run it. I’ve talked for many years and don’t really notice them. I do find them useful if talking groundwave or dx on other bands. People that are offended by them are controlling and should worry about their own transmissions not others.

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.

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.

I have way too many radios, to include the BTECH gmrs pro and the wouxun KG935G. As I think others have noted, I can set them side by side both with Nagoya 771G antennas. The wouxun picks up way more traffic. The BTECH does work pretty well and I think the Bluetooth and easy program on the fly make it a worthwhile radio to own. If I really needed one radio I knew I could count on though, this would not be it. The wouxun is hands down the best gmrs I have.

Handheld radios and mobile radios are not usually capable of receiving while transmitting. In order to receive distant transmissions, the receiver circuit must be sensitive to millionths of volts. Your transmitter is capable of putting out a lot more than that. They're both connected to the same antenna, so when your transmitter transmits, that power would overwhelm your receiver. So, while transmitting, your receiver is effectively disabled. Depending on the convention (and whom you're talking to) that's either called half-duplex or simplex. Repeaters however, must be able to transmit and receive at the same time in order to do their job. That's referred to as full-duplex. But the problem still remains; how do you keep the transmitter power from overwhelming the receiver. So they transmit and receive on two different frequencies and a special device called a "duplexer" provides even more isolation. So, a repeater transmits into a duplexer. The duplexer filters out everything except the frequency being transmitted (as much as it can) and routes that signal to the antenna. Simultaneously, the antenna is picking up signals over a wider bandwidth, which go to the duplexer. The duplexer filters out everything except the frequency that the repeater must receive, which it sends to the receiver. A duplexer is like a traffic cop. In order for the duplexer to do a good job, both sides of it must be pretty precisely tuned and it must be capable of aggressively filtering both signals. If your handheld or mobile radio had a duplexer, you would be able to hear what the repeater is transmitting at the same time as you are transmitting. That should also make you appreciate the fact that cell phones are full duplex. Does that help?

I've been playing with this radio for a while and thinking it's a great idea very poorly executed. The activities that I can think of, where this radio would shine are hunting, snowmobiling and possibly atv'ing. The nearest thing to this is the Garmin Rino at $650 each. I have been unable to figure out how to make the team's function work and the "ID Signaling" function is also fubar'd. If you have more than 1 radio connected to the app on a device (phone or tablet) the app will change the ID to the same on all radios. Then there is the map part of the app... Really btech? Why did you even bother. Where to start? It's as bad as can be. If anyone in se Idaho would like to do some field testing, please get in touch. I am near Rexburg.