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I agree. I don’t want to be geocoded for any of my hobbies. However, a map showing GMRS clubs might be helpful.

The network hubs definitely are. Hit the main page for the network, and hit the 3 lines near the top left to open up the sidebar. Toward the bottom of that is a drop down list box for the different hubs that will allow listening. https://mygmrs.network/

They're inexpensive, but they seem to work to introduce folks to radio use. I would expect all of the negative characteristics you listed, but sometimes they work surprisingly well. I have no problem with folks who buy and use them and I have a couple UV5Rs myself that I bought to see what all the ruckus was. I also have some Yaesu handheld amateur radios and a Garmin GMRS radio that are better radios, but for the price difference they should be. The Baofengs desense when placed next to a transmitting radio. The Yaesus do not. I haven't tested power output on any of them.

I put it to you that anyone who compares a $20-$50 Baofeng to a radio that costs much more and expects it to perform like that radio that costs much more is the fool. Those are the people you need to watch out for.

Isn't that what the radio is used for? ?

No thank you.

Probably. Similarly, I have a good GMRS specific mobile antenna (Midland MXTA26) that is completely deaf on the 2 meter band. With it I cannot hear my friend down the street on 2 meter, even though he can hear me transmit, and even though my handheld, with a dual band antenna, can hear him. Edit: 3/24/23 - At 2meters the SWR for the MXTA26 is around 7:1 No wonder it doesn’t work ? That’s certainly not a knock against the Midland antenna. I bought it for GMRS.

Going back to your original question, the range of frequencies the Crane Skywave covers are those which allow you to listen to transmissions from around the world, given a good antenna system. They are the frequencies used by shortwave radio stations and ham radio operators which are best at long distances. They propagate worldwide, bouncing or skipping off layers within the atmosphere and the earth itself and when conditions are just right you should be able to listen to radio stations from around the world without any networking or repeaters. That specific range of frequencies is also called HF which stands for High Frequency. In the Amateur Radio world HF extends from 3 MHz to 30 MHz (3000 kHz to 30,000 kHz). VHF is 30 MHz to 300 MHz and UHF is 300 MHz to 3000 MHz (3 GHz). As frequencies get higher, they no longer bounce as well. They travel more in a straight line. This makes radios in the VHF and UHF ranges better for local communications, such as fire, police, and utility services. It also makes them better for communicating via satellites. If you wish to listen to those services, a true scanner, with the capability of listening to trunked and digital transmissions would be appropriate.

No thanks. No need to know me or where I am in my opinion. GMRS for me is a utility and not a hang out to meet folks. They have websites for that.

Without getting into the debate on Part 90 vs 95 figured I'd list some basic Repeaters for UHF that would be good base units if your shopping for new. Low Power RT97 - List Price - $536 (Sale Price - $371.99) - https://www.retevis.com/rt97-portable-gmrs-repeater-mobile-repeater#A9150CX1 Midland MRX10 - List Price - $ 459.00 - https://midlandusa.com/products/midland-mxr10-repeater Mid Power Bridgecomm BCR-40U - List Price $1499.00 - https://www.bridgecomsystems.com/collections/amateur-radio-repeaters/products/bcr-40u ICOM FR6300H - List Price $1819.00 - https://theantennafarm.com/shop-by-categories/radios/repeater-systems/uhf-repeaters/11680-icom-fr6300h-detail Kenwood NXR-810K - List Price - $1770.00 - https://theantennafarm.com/shop-by-categories/radios/repeater-systems/uhf-repeaters/9640-kenwood-nxr-810k-detail Motorola SLR5700 - List Price $ 3700.00 - https://theantennafarm.com/shop-by-categories/radios/repeater-systems/uhf-repeaters/9581-motorola-slr5700-detail To be noted none of the mid power repeaters come with a duplexer. That will tac on another $300 and up depending on what you purchase. Granted there are many UHF part 90 repeaters used on the market that can be had for way less money than above but wanted to list new prices. If your searching online and someone is advertising a GR1225 on GMRS for $1000 I'd think twice. For mid power I have no experience with the Bridgecomm or the new NRX (however have many of the older Kenwood) units. Just wanted to put some info in one location. The low power units are nice because they basically work out of the box. I also realize the prices on the mid power units look high when your comparing to some of the CCR world but they will outlast pretty much all the home brewed stuff as they are built to do what they are. Some used older stuff that can be had reasonably are the Vertex VXR Series, Motorola GR1225, Motorola MTR2000, Motorola Quantar, Kenwood TKR850, Midland Base Tech II (Was a solid unit), ICOM FR4000 and the Motorola XPR series.

There are literally thousands of hams who attach antennas to trees, but most of them are wire antennas. How you attach the antenna to the tree will determine whether it damages the tree. There are straps to minimize damage to the tree. Here's a link to a forum thread in another forum talking about this. One person said that TV reception suffered, but it's important to understand that TV signals are much wider band and more susceptible to problems than our analog voice signals. https://www.arboristsite.com/threads/antenna-mast-in-tree.198967/ I wouldn't hesitate to do it. If it doesn't work, then you look at your second choice.

One thing I noticed about the UV5R is that the one I bought back in around 2013 had better receive characteristics. The new one tends to drop out more with weaker signals. A Signal Stick antenna helps, but who wants to walk around with a 19" antenna on a 4" tall radio. I even re-wrote the squelch settings using the CHIRP service settings tab, which only helped a little.

After reviewing… I totally agree. This site is pretty excellent

Thanks so much for taking the time to reply. Means a lot!

I have a few Wouxun radios and they're great but so is my Boefeng UV-9G and GT-3WP. They don't cost much and after dialing in the squelch they perform nicely. I don't have to worry about damaging an expensive radio if I take them hiking and I like that they have a little more pause time before continuing to scan in CO than my KG-935G Plus and quite frankly the battery fits tighter than my 935 as well. People here bag on Baofeng all day long but I have never gotten a complaint on the other end and they have their purpose. I can only speak to the two models I have but I would add that putting people down for having what they can afford because you can afford more doesn't make you better. Not that anyone here does that...

They are nothing but cheap Chinese junk! Anyone that uses one is not as smart as I am! ...just wanted to get that out of the way right up front.. I own several different model BoofWhangs and most of them offer great bang for the buck. Anyone that compares a $20-$50 Baofeng to a radio that costs much more (as done in this forum all the time) AND expects it to perform just as well is a fool and should be ignored.

Agreed. I wouldn't be opposed to having something that gave users an opt-in basis though.

I also have the 771G, it works well. So far, I like the smaller 701G for carrying, and the 771G for in home use.

Hi Steve, Thanks for answering the original question in such a concise way! I've been reading a lot online and have found pieces of this information here and there. It's really nice to see it summarized. Now, I know why emergency radios have the bandwidth they have, and I also know what I need to do to listen to local emergency services. All of you here have helped a lot!

Thanks that will work great

I beleave you are correct in your assessment. It certainly makes sense that the GMRS tuned antenna is going to be less efficient in the VHF range than the stock duel band. Now that I have said that, I have done a side by side with two UV-9G radios comparing the receive of the stock antenna, the 771G and the 701G. The 771G was best overall however the 701G was almost as good and I felt it was better in the out of band UHF than the stock duel band and just as good receive on the VHF. No this didn't make any sense to me but that's where I landed. This was over a couple hours and I swapped antennas back and forth incase one radio was better than the other. I didn't have anything at 131 MHz but I do have some around 151 MHz. I don't recall if they came in as good but I did receive them. So the 701G has ended up being my go to. I like the shorter stance and it seems to work well and I wanted my TX to be as good as I could get for GMRS. As they say though YMMV.

Strange... I've got the same three radios

@WRQH837 You may want to take a look at the Wouxun KG-UV9GX if you are interested in also using the radio to communicate on GMRS as well.

Repeaterbook shows one IN Hopkinsville, and a couple others in the vicinity, if that helps.

If it's the metal box that's the decider, the mygmrs shop has the rt97s in the metal case, rather than the 97 in plastic. https://shop.mygmrs.com/collections/repeaters-and-accessories/products/retevis-rt97s-portable-gmrs-repeater

Radio check.... Totally in love with the KG-1000G plus and the KG-935G plus. Decided to grab both while in stock, thanks to a certain YouTuber doing a overview of the new plus versions.

I used BCD235XLT for years, till all the law enforcement, fire, EMT, and even city comms in my area went to P25 Phase 2. I gave away this scanner, it was good, but a bit tedious to program: everything must be done from the front panel. It also had a NiMH battery pack, that was easy to replace. Just a few days ago I found a deal on ebay that I can't pass, for the BCD325P2 scanner, beaten up but working. These P25 scanners are expensive. It also a breeze to program from computer using regular mini-USB cable. The difference between scanner and regular HT is that scanner is scanning much faster, so less chance to miss communication, and a lot of them, even cheap ones, can also scan trunked systems

Gonna stick something ELSE in here that I don't think has been covered. If you are on a LINKED repeater system, even if you are a repeater owner on the system, you have to identify. Reason is that your transmissions are not only coming out of your repeater, but other owners (call signs) repeaters as well. That being said, I don't know of any owners on the linked system that don't identify. So this isn't a ding on anyone I have ever heard or talked to. But it's worth mentioning for others. I see this being debated here and in several other threads. And I frankly don't understand why it's a big deal to identify. And thing for a second WHO it is that consistently DOESN'T identify. The clowns that are causing hate and discontent with their beeps and burps and other crap being jerks. So you are wanting to fall into that group and act that way? Not sure what your motivations is for that. Repeater ID requirements. What the regulations say has been covered, several times. What you choose to do on YOUR repeater is up to you if it's stand alone. If it's linked, it has to ID every 15 minutes. And you are better off to set the ID for 10 minutes so that if it's held off by traffic, it will still go out in time to be compliant.

I like the lemon

Please excuse me but I feel I need to post something very controversial.... Girl Scout Cookies Peanut Butter Do-Si-Do's are the very best. Thin Mints are for ? There, I said it. Glad to have it off my chest.

According to the FCC's Rules and Regulations that would be Big NO. Just as the name implies, the Multi Use Radio Service was created for commercial and noncommercial use, even though MURS is in part 95 J. FM Voice Data PC to PC Texting Image

When you're there have you tried to monitor 446.0 to 446.2? That's the European PMR446 license free band there. Likely foreign visitors bring their PMR446 radios with them not realizing they're not legal here, and are in fact operating on the Ham 70cm band. They operate narrow band FM and or DMR! Some will do a mode called dPMR446, which is very similar to NXDN. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PMR446 https://kenwoodcommunications.co.uk/files/file/comms/uk/pmr446/PMR446-White-Paper-V6_18AUG2016_JT_KB.pdf

Since I am in Douglas County, Washington I will also keep an eye on this thread. I did just find a GMRS repeater in East Wenatchee that is up that I requested to use.