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This is like the old joke about how 3 people can keep a secret. It works as long as two of them are dead. That seems to be the only way it’s going to happen on GMRS, agreement on a travel channel.

Around here you could ask a LEO for a 10-21 and a Firefighter for a 10-21 ... one would call you, the other bring you a 2 1/2 inch hose. QSL?

Sorry I disagree. GMRS was never a service to meet folks or talk to others outside your group. It was intended for private family communications. This is yet another topic that comes up many times thru the year. Some folks say 4 for 4x4, some say 19 because CB uses it (even though we can't above line A but most say who cares) and others say use CH20 that was the original "emergency channel". No one will ever agree and its not worth the effort. If someone asks me I say 20 as that's what my FCC license showed for years. To each their own. If you had searched this forum you would see multiple threads on this topic. None ever conclude with a true answer. As to your points above - # 1 - If you call me I wont answer. I dont use GMRS to meet new people. I use it as it was originally intended for. # 2 - Use PL or listen to FRS and the CCR World. Go to HAM, CB or any other band and hear the same. # 3 - 462.675 was the unofficial emergency channel (such as CH9 in CB). Many folks set up repeaters on that. Our SAR team inherited a repeater from REACT (go research that). It was on GMRS 462.675 as that was the emergency channel at the time. Over the years our SAR team upgraded it and incorporated the "travel Tone" when that came to be. Never once, including my REACT days did anyone ever call for help on the channel . I'm sure in a week we will have 200 posts on this thread with pro and con of all but in the end there is no need for a travel, emergency or call channel in GMRS.

I have! and there is a great result: No more "WhiskeyRomeo". Thank you! Steve for the nudge and thank you very much, Rich for the fix. I sincerely appreciate it.

I’m not sure if you are aware of this but on the main map page if you go to Edit User Profile you can select Weekly Repeater Digest and you’ll get an email every Monday on any changes to repeaters in your state. I just thought of this as I received mine this morning.

I dropped my Alinco radio tonight and it landed on the Tidradio 771 antenna. The antenna was a copy of the Nagoya 771, which produced surprisingly good results. Compared to the standard rubber duck antenna, I get two whole s-units registered on the local DMR repeater; my signal report goes from S6 to S8, with no other changes. Not bad for an antenna that came free with my first UV5R. Anyway, I could see that it was at minimum bent, but when I picked it up it became obvious that a nylon stud that connects the antenna element to the SMA connector was sheared. I guess that means I need to go antenna shopping. ? Here is a picture of the innards:

dead horse beater

1) It's allright. 2) It's allright. GMRS can be used for whatever purpose by anyone. Being this kids, cute moms of said kids, ugly angry fathers of said kids, sad hams, road flaggers, valet parking lots, you name it. It's a free country. 3) No, there is not. However, there is sort-of an agreement, explained by gortex2. And there is a certain youtube influenzer pushing something else. It is a free country. But you can always use a scan feature of your radio.

Hey congratulations on your new title/name @WRVX790 so long WhiskeyRomeo. ?

I think yo will see HAM gear with less and less product. Sadly the CCR world is where 90% of the ham community has moved to. There are still guys spending $2000-3000 on a HF rig but to spend $600 on a dual band mobile makes their head hurt. I love my older HAM rigs but very few "new" hams would spend what I paid on any of them. If they can't sell gear and make money they wont.

I wouldn't be shocked. There is a lot more margin in a $5,000+ commercial radio that there is in a $170 amateur radio. If I had limited supply of common parts, I'd do the same thing.

That's correct, the RT97S is also a metal case. It looks like the Midland MXR10 is just a custom-molded case with their logo on it, but it's otherwise the same thing more or less.

Virtually all repeaters will have an input tone - that is the tone that you transmit to the repeater. The output tone which is the tone for receiving is optional. Some repeaters dont use one, even if they do, putting it on your radio is optional to help block-out other noise/traffic on the same channel. TL;DR - If it has just one tone/code, put it on the TX of your radio

With a utility pole, if installed right, you don't need a big cement base to anchor it like you would with a more traditional metal tower. I had a discussion with a coffee group buddy about a tower recommendation for his house. I suggested a 30 to 40 foot tubular crank-up design. Those you normally don't need guy wires. Being a crank up tower they can be lowered enough that a step ladder can be used to access the top for maintenance. Also when very strong storms roll in the tower can be lowered to minimize or eliminate potential damage from high winds. Also some neighbors may not like looking at the tower either. You don't want your house to look like something out of the X-Files. Keeping it down when not in use can promote better neighbor relations too.

A few people have used a wood utility pole as a cheap antenna tower. Of course the issue is lighting protection and how do you get the antenna up there and service it later. You can use either certified climbing gear, or better rent a bucket truck for a few hours. Oh yes, you will sooner or later have to check/repair/replace the antenna and cable, maybe more than once, at some point. This goes for any place you put your antenna. That might change your mind on the mounting location.

Radios are like guns -- if you can count how many you have then you don't have enough!

I do like this kind of stuff. I guess that’s why I took things apart as a kid. Thanks for sharing @Sshannon . I’m guessing the radio is okay as you didn’t show the insides of it, so that’s good news ?

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

I sent out a bunch of requests for quotes on a new Kenwood NX-1300DUK5 radio. I had more than one vendor tell me the radios are unavailable due to chip shortages. The last email from one said Kenwood advised them they won't see any until late summer. I found one vendor that had some of the analog only models in stock, and purchased the DMR feature license key to upgrade it before shipping. By the way if somebody wants a new good quality commercial grade radio for GMRS these are nice. They are not going to be exactly cheap, even in the analog only version. https://forums.mygmrs.com/gallery/image/290-nx-1300duk5/ I read about the cheap Baofengs being shipped without a chip, I think it was for the FM broadcast feature, a while back. I also haven't got my Bluetooth remote for the D578 yet. That's been a couple of months on that too. Anyone else having issues with ordering and getting delivery on radios?

What is a radio “Travel Channel” and how do other radio services use the concept? These are my thoughts. I am not an expert, I am not a ham (sad or otherwise) but I might be “some people”. Some of you will disagree with my thoughts, some will point out that I am wrong on some issues (I invite that, my goal is to raise the knowledge base of GMRS operators not pretend to know it all). I may leave out important things, I don’t do it on purpose. When I refer to GMRS I also mean FRS unless I say otherwise since they both share the same frequencies. In my un-scientific review of the GMRS forums (that I know of) the three main recurring topics are: 1) I bought my new GMRS radio and now no one will talk to me or I don’t hear anyone talking. 2) I turn off my PL filters to scan GMRS so that I can hear EVERYTHING on those channels and now I am hearing too much (kids, highway flaggers or businesses) so I want them to stop using the channels. 3) Is there a GMRS Travel Channel (or road channel or calling/hailing channel)? I think GMRS was designed to solve particular communication issues among small groups of people that already know each other. But, I think finding an answer to Topic 3, a well thought out, commonly recognized national Travel Channel, could act like a magnet: drawing in people that WANT to be heard by strangers and repelling those that do not. But first I need to give my definition of some terms (that some will disagree with). TRAVEL CHANNEL I see a travel channel is comprised of three components. CALLING/HAILING The first is the most obvious and that is the channel used to call, hail, make initial contact with strangers. This could be to call that Jeep that just crossed the trail or contact a local for information. This includes those that hope a stranger will call, so they listen on this channel. CHAT/RAG CHEW CHANNEL You may think that this should be the same channel as above but you will see that some other radios services separate them. This is where information is passed, conversations take place and stories told. On CB 19 I think of it as just noise. DISTRESS CHANNEL This is the channel that could be used to call for rescue or more likely (due to GMRS short ranges) a channel to help rescuers zero in on the person in distress. I think that is what the Wyoming 307 radio plan is all about, assisting rescuers find the caller, not making the initial distress call. We will see that some of the other radio services have these 3 components on one channel, some have each on its own channel and some use a combination. CHANNEL What makes a channel different from a frequency? Some people confuse frequency and channel. Some confuse the radio or programing software memory location as channel. My definition of a “channel” is a combination of frequency, PL filter and a label. I know much more goes into a channel (TX power, band width etc) but for this rant it is all I will use. FREQUENCY Two-way channels have 2 frequencies (RX/TX- sometimes the same, some with an off set). Monitor-only channels have 1, but I will refer to frequency as singular most of the time. PL FILTER I am talking about CTCSS/DCS codes but I am using “PL” for short hand (get over it). I am calling them “filters” and not “codes” because filter is actually closer to how they work. LABEL Giving a frequency a label is what, in my mind, really makes it a channel. Most newer GMRS radios allow some type of label on a screen, even bubble pack radios have a label (618 is a label). Some labels are just common knowledge (CB 19, marine band channels), some are labeled on flight/mission plans, or on harbor or airport maps/charts, or just on a slip of paper Scotch taped to the radio or mic (that is how we did it early in my public safety career). When frequency is combined with PL filters our 30 (22/8) frequencies can become over 3,000 discrete channels, so assigning a label becomes very import when referring to any one of them. “Discrete” is used here according to Merriam-Webster dictionary meaning of: “constituting a separate entry: individually distinct”. NOT PRIVATE and certainly NOT SECURE. Just meaning a channel where you may not be bothered by unwanted noise and transmissions, most of the time. RADIO SERVICES CELL PHONE While not technically a radio “service” they do use radio waves. For this rant cell phones suck as a call/hail device to reach strangers. Once contact is made there is nothing better for chat. IF you have cell service there is no better way to call for help. 911 works almost everywhere and you can “stay on the line” to zero in the help. SATELLITE PHONE This is similar to cell phone with better coverage. But expensive. SATELLITE DISTRESS DEVICES (inReach, Spot etc) Also not really a radio service but does use radio. These are totally worthless for contacting strangers (or even friends) around you. They are very limited for chat, usually only text with pre-arranged computer equipped people. But they seem to be very good at calling for help (I must admit very little personal knowledge). I plan to buy one for my next out west adventure. MILITARY The military does not seem to have any national or generally recognized call/hail pre-set channels or distress pre-set channels. They do have those channels but they are geographic or mission designated. RAILROAD The railroads have many frequencies, both analog and digital, and they seem to be shared by all of the companies. But any call/hail or distress pre-set channels seem to be geographic, route specific or company specific. BUSNESS RADIOS On the business radio service frequencies are usually allocated by license to geographic areas. Communication between businesses is rare without a new license allowing it. So any call/hail or distress channels are within each license. Businesses make up their own labels. PUBLIC SAFETY Like business radios public safety is limited to local or regional licenses. Some states have statewide licenses for interop or mutual aid. For public safety I am using “channel” as interchangeable with trunked “talk groups”. At one time 155.370 was common but rarely used now. I do hear it being used in northern Indiana still. Most agencies use their dispatch channel for calling/distress and have Tac or car-to-car discrete channels for longer or more detailed info. So, there is not a real national pre-set channel. BUT since 9-11, National Interoperability Field Operations Guide (NIFOG) has been developed. NIFOG has discrete channels on VHF lo, VHF hi, UHF and 700 and 800. On each of those bands there is a call discrete channel with 2-8 associated “Tac” channels, I assume, for more chat type traffic. NATIONAL INTERAGENCY FIRE CENTER (NIFC) This is sort of a subset of public safety but also uses aviation channels. NIFC has many labeled discrete channels but they are incident assigned not really a general use group. CB (Citizens band) CB has both Call/Hail and Chat/Ragchew on the same channel (CB 19) and has its distress channel on another (CB 9). I know some people change channels to chat but not enough for me. I find it hard to listen to CB 19 due to the noise and language. BUT there is no better source of real time information in a traffic jam/situation. I have a $800 police scanner on my dash but when I come upon a traffic problem I go to CB 19. No where else can I get real-time info on which lane to use, what is actually happening and maybe even an alternate route. MURS These lonely little frequencies stuck in the middle of the business band are rarely used and don’t really have any discrete channel labels other than each business user. But MURS 3 (third when listed numerically) is listed on the 333 Radio Plan (SHTF) as are channels from many of the radio services including ours. I have seen this 333 Radio Plan dismissed or mischaracterized as having to do with something called the 3 percenters? The threes actually come from the plan, during SHTF, to turn on your radio at the top of each third hour, for three minutes on your radio’s channel 3. It seems like it is worth knowing about. They list our “travel channel” GMRS 20 with 141.3 PL filter and FRS 3 and GMRS 17. In fact, threes are use a lot in wilderness survival, SAR and prepping. One use is the survival “Rule of 3”: you can live 3 minutes with out air, 3 hours without shelter (could be as little as a hat/gloves or a tent), 3 days without water and 3 weeks without food. Threes also show up in emergency signaling. The mother of all emergency signals is SOS, which is just a series 3 dots and 3 dashes (I have no idea of the order so if I had to use it I would just dot-dot-dot, dash-dash-dash, dot-dot-dot, dash-dash-dash, dot-dot-dot until someone figures it out). Also, with a lamp or mirror you should flash three times, there is three horn, whistle, gunshots. Three bon fires, three colored panels on the ground, three pyramids and on and on. I know none of this has anything to do with radio services but next time you are out adventuring and detect a series of three anythings, you may want to investigate. I am not suggesting that we (GMRS) adopt this but we should be aware. HAM Ham operators are by far the most knowledgeable, professional and educated about radio operations, science and devices. I come from public safety where we, as a group, have no idea how radios work, or why. We just push the button and talk. Ham does have some discrete channels labeled for calling and they seem to then rag chew on that same channel. Hams are boring to listen to. In disasters and disaster planning they set up some very good distress channels but they are don’t seem to be nationally recognized. AVIATION This service, along with marine, has the best Call/Hail, Chat and Distress channels, in my opinion. Hailing is done on one of two discrete channels. They call them UHF Guard and VHF Guard (or Military Guard and Civilian Guard). I believe that aircraft are required to monitor one of these channels. You will recognize these channels as the ones used in movies and TV when a fighter jet comes up to a civilian aircraft and orders it to land or tries to wake up the pilot. This and distress calls are all that is allowed on these 2 channels. I have heard plane-to-plane directing the plane being called to change to another frequency. There are a few listed as air-air (fixed wing and helo). Mayday calls can be made on these guard channels and (maybe more frequently) on local tower channels or regional center channels. By the way Mayday calls are also given in threes. Mayday is something we can consider but it can ONLY be used when life or craft are in danger. On aviation and marine radios, PanPan repeated three times, is used for non-threat to life or craft emergencies. Mayday is now being used by some fire departments. MARINE This service is, in my opinion, the best at handling the Travel Channel issue as I have defined it. No traffic is allowed on the discrete hail channel except for hailing and distress. You cannot even do radio checks on this channel. AND it is enforced by the US Coast Guard. Vessels are required to “set a radio watch” on this channel. This leaves this channel available for destress calls. They have boat-to-boat and bridge-to-bridge (navigation bridge, not road bridge) discrete channels labeled. CONCLUSION Why is any of this important? Well, if we are going to have a “Travel Channel” it should be with the knowledge of how others before us have handled the concept. We (GMRS) are probably the newest radio service and as such we can learn from earlier mistakes and successes. No need to re-invent the wheel or use an imperfect wheel. I know the un-official GMRS Travel Channel Committee has met. And while I disagree with the Committee’s findings I whole heartedly agree with the beginning premise. That is SOMEONE HAS TO TAKE THE BULL BY THE HORN AND JUST DECLARE A TRAVEL CHANNEL. I am just hoping, after I present more ideas in my next 2 rants that the Committee might reconsider.

And boy am I pleasantly surprised. First of all, about my forum username. I made a mistake, tried to contact support@gmrsdotcom or whatever the hyperlink was, asking if my username might be modified to my simple FCC GMRS Call Sign, losing the phonetic gibberish... and have received no reply and this after over one month. I remain both slightly embarrassed and sad at the same time. That said, I was, as the thread title implies, able to communicate using my KG- 935G HT, both factory Wouxun antenna and the Nagoya 771G (and where there was no discernable difference between the two after several conversations) using the Santa Monica Mountains' Saddle Peak GMRS repeater with my friend in Calabassas/Woodland Hills and his KG-935G Plus, 6 miles from the repeater. To say I am surprised, excited and completely satisfied with my purchase of this Wouxun would be an understatement. Thanks goes to N.A.R. Prods/OffroaderX for his efforts, his informative videos and his wonderfully-dry sense of humor for steering this 2-way radio user in the right direction. And to think I was about to bust out the ol' Cobra 25LTD! to use in the desert. I still can, but, why. ? ?️ ? ?️

Do you like simple or more bells and whistles? I think you may find many opinions on this topic which can’t hurt. My picks… Midland MXT575 for the simple. I like the controls in the hand set. Reputation seems good. Wouxun KG-1000 for bells and whistles. Lots of programmable space for repeaters, duel listening, scanning, superheterodyne I have been thinking this very thing over and it’s a tough one. I can do a lot with my HT’s and I feel like I’m leaning toward simple on the mobile. Look forward to hearing what others think.

???

Even before Covid hit, Kenwood had an issue because one of their major chip suppliers (AKM in Japan) had a huge fire that destroyed most of their factory. Then, once Covid hit, Southeast Asia went on lockdown, and most of the chip making factories locatd there were stretched pretty thin. Last batch of the NX-1300 series radios I ordered took almost 4 months to get in. They are a nice radio. I like the audio on those, especially compared to the similar priced Motorola CP100d.

I just got on the wait list for the Wouxon KG-UV9GX. I figured I could use it as a scanner to see if I have any real interest in scanning and/or Ham before spending big bucks, and I can use it with my GMRS.

You never actually need the receive tone. Setting a receive tone only limits what you hear so with no tone set you hear everything on that channel. Setting a RX tone on repeaters that have both insures you will only hear an output of the repeater but you may be missing simplex on the same channel.

Gortex2 gives great advice on antennas. For a few dollars more you can get the Tram 1486-B antenna that will give you a bit more gain. I have one on the side of my tower and it performs really well for its small size. https://www.amazon.com/TRAM-1486-B-Tunable-Black-Antenna/dp/B092DWP4NG/ref=sr_1_2?crid=2ZYF5H8KAOIT2&keywords=tram+1486&qid=1678122509&sprefix=tram+1486%2Caps%2C72&sr=8-2&ufe=app_do%3Aamzn1.fos.006c50ae-5d4c-4777-9bc0-4513d670b6bc

I suspect you’re absolutely correct about our antennas coming from the same antenna mill. It’s a relatively easy design to build; the element is connected to the SMA adapter with a loading coil. A capacitor bridges the shield to the coil. I can count the coils and read the cap value if anyone wants, but it’s obviously nothing that revolutionizes handheld antennas. Nor does it have to be. Also like you say, silkscreen the 771 number on it to take advantage of a recognized product. Comet and Diamond make similar antennas as well. I’ll probably pick up one or two of them, but I have no intention of opening them up to see how they look. Of course I had no intention of popping this open. ?

Thanks for posting the pic. That actually looks like a solid attempt at making a useful antenna (not that I am any kind of expert), and not just a placeholder. Your UV5R came with a Tidradio 771. My UV5R came with an Abbree AR 771. The only difference I can see between the two is the text and color of the print near the base. I am guessing both are knockoffs of the Nagoya 771. Perhaps they are built by the same manufacturer, and then private labeled. This actually is a question: What's in a name? Is the 771 designation just a model number that is being copied so that buyers associate the antenna with a model perceived as being good, or does a 771 have specific qualities related to the number 771 (the way a 427 engine has a bore and stroke that nominally totals 427 cubic inches)?

Yeah, I didn’t see any damage on it. The antenna gave its life to protect the radio. The male SMA that’s on the radio showed no sign of damage either. The female SMA on the antenna unscrewed easily and I put the original rubber duck antenna on. Taking things apart (and learning to put them together again) led me to a satisfying career as an engineer.

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.

I believe there are two stubby antennas offered by them. The 2.5" and then a 1.25" or something close... The same feller that bought some Wouxun KG-935G Plus has ordered two of the 2.5" Smileys. I'll try to paraphrase his report as soon as we test them. He and I know each other "in real life", and we tested our radios through a local repeater last week. [<-- link] We'll test again when he gets those Smileys.

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

In my experience, Repeaterbook is good for ham repeaters, but not the best source of GMRS repeater information. That honor goes to MyGMRS.com. I say that because when I look at Repeaterbook and list by California GMRS repeaters, I see 35 repeaters. When I look at MyGMRS and filter by California, I see 144 repeaters. 265 if I include stale repeaters. While I'm no expert, I would think that indicates that MyGMRS is the more comprehensive source. And I've had to make a number of corrections to Repeaterbook entries, both mine and others. They rely on users to some degree to report or edit outdated or wrong information. That would indicate to me that of the thousands of repeaters on Repeaterbook, there are other inaccuracies or outdated information that have yet to be fixed.

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.

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

No thank you.

Welcome! You’re pretty fired up over a two year old post. You’ll fit right in here. ?

Forgot to mention..Thanks for reminding me... Always beware of the "some people" that try their best overcomplicate everything.

I agree.. I have put one up, and am [partially] responsible for getting a 2nd one up, covering most of Southern California.

The $3000 HF rig and $600 mobile serve different purposes. Indeed it hurts my liver to spend $600 on dual-band mobile, but it looks like I will be spending it.

Mostly the 65w Toshiba PA's... but pretty much any of them over 4w-5w are going to big companies. Even big brands of assembled gear is hard to find in stock unless we go north of $4k. ACOM and even the old-timer at TES are not putting out affordable gear right now. I tried to order a TES UHF amp through a local shop and they told me indefinite backorder.