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You are correct. My mistake. It's always a 5 MHz split... only 'always' +5 in GMRS. Thanks for the catch!

I'll pull on this thread, if we're talking about Android. All apps and services on an Android phone are not created equally. If you're writing apps as a non-Google employee, you're using the public Android SDK. Google employees write apps using both the public SDK as well as having access to private calls made to Google Play Services, which you could think of as a root-level service running in the background. If you turn off location services, non-Google apps won't see your location. Google Play Services will still have access to location services and other Google apps can request these data through Google Play Services. The way to avoid this is by using a Google-free version of AOSP or using GrapheneOS, which sandboxes Google Play Services and allows you to truly turn off location services to all apps and services running on your phone.

It was very clear what you meant from the context of the conversation.

Shouldn't that be w0of (zero-oh) {caveat -- W0OF is an actual assigned call}

One nice thing about GMRS is that radios which are certified for use for GMRS come preprogrammed with the correct channels. All you have to do is choose one of the repeater channels and set the tone to access the repeater. So, for most GMRS radios, channels 1-22 are not for use with repeaters, but rather for direct communications using a single frequency, which is known as Simplex communications. The repeaters reuse channels 15-22 for receiving, but add eight more frequencies, which are almost always exactly 5 MHz higher than the receive frequencies. That’s done usually without you needing to know much about how it works. The repeater channels will often be called something that implies that relationship. So, for instance, 15RP would be the “channel” that you set your radio to which receives on the same frequency as 15, but transmits on a frequency that is 5 MHz higher. The frequency offset is necessary for a repeater to transmit at the same time it receives, which is called Full Duplex. Channel 15 for example is 462.550 MHz. Channel 15RP receives on 462.550 MHz, but automatically transmits on 467.550 MHz. You should not be entering frequencies for transmitting and if you have a radio that’s certified for GMRS you don’t have to. Sometime the company doesn’t call the repeater channels 15RP through 22RP. Sometimes they number them 23-30, but it means the same thing. I echo the others who recommended watching Notarubicon videosas a way to get started in GMRS. As Marc pointed out GMRS and Amateur Radio are two completely different service. In GMRS you simply buy a license and radio and begin using it. GMRS is primarily about using the radio for short range personal communications. Amateur Radio encompasses that and much more.

I agree with the GMRS statement, but I see lots of 70cm repeaters in California in which the offset is positive or negative (but always 5MHz).

I learned a lot about GMRS via YouTube, specifically from the Queen himself NotaRubicon Productions. For amateur radio, I read through the ARRL Technician study guide/manual/whatever it's called.

It looks like I will likely be making a business trip to the UK in the next few weeks or month. I was considering taking one or two of my HT’s with me on the trip. I’ve researched what I need to have for Ham operation. However their license free service, PMR446, appears to be very popular. The sticking point is there are two different digital modes used, DMR tier 1 and dPMR. That’s in addition to narrow band FM. Neither are compatible with the other. My dilemma is which of the two digital modes is used the most? If it’s DMR I can use my NX-1300. I’ve been doing some research and it seems to be DMR, but that’s based on the availability of the radios I see being sold. If it’s dPMR I’m out of luck, though it is similar to NXDN but uses a different protocol, in which case I would likely use FM. PMR446 White Paper.pdf D-PMR446.pdf

Ham testing will NOT go away until the rest of the world agrees to it. The ITU (International Telecommunications Union) set the rules for all countries to follow with regards to radio communications. One of the biggest things that allow's GMRS to exist with no real verification of knowledge is the fact it's UHF and low power. Other than Canada and Mexico, no other countries are going to be in the communications range of any US station (other than MAYBE Russia and users in Alaska, but even that's a big IF. Lower frequencies especially HF stuff will carry for extremely long distances when the conditions are right and that happens much more often than band openings in the UHF region. So it's really not as easy as the FCC just handing out ham licenses. The ITU was the reason that the Morse Code requirement hung in so long. And it was the maritime industry and regulations for ship to shore communications that was the driving force. A bit of history. Just prior to the ITU lifting the International code requirement, ships over a certain size were required to have a licensed radio operator on board that knew Morse Code for emergency communications. That requirement was lifted a year or two before the ITU met and recended the Morse Code requirement for ham licenses. The whole idea was that a ham operator would be able to receive and handle emergency traffic from a ship at sea that was having problems. With the full implementation of the EPURB satellite system and a new requirement that all ships were required to have on board emergency radios that would automatically give location information via GPS to the monitoring stations for the system, there was no longer a need or requirement for Morse Code. So ham radio requirements were lifted for the first level of ham license (No Code Technician) and the flood gates opened. The higher class licenses still at that time had a code requirement, mostly due to the older hams raising hell claiming that it would be the end of ham radio,,,, of course that didn't happen and the requirements for code were lifted for all ham license classes. I actually started as a No Code Tech, and held that license for over 10 years. I did finally upgrade to general, but I am yet to get my Extra class license. I may do it at some point, but I really don't know that I care enough to bother. Regardless, I will maintain my current call sign as I have had it now for almost 30 years (originally licensed in 1994). Point is there is a reason that hams have to test. And those are the reasons. With GMRS on UHF we don't really have much ability to interfere with other services in other countries. With Ham radio on HF or even 50 Mhz (6 meters) there is that possibility and operators need to know where they can operate and where they can't. And remember, GMRS radios are NOT suppose to have VFO's, or be programmable one any frequency outside the bounds of the 30 frequencies we are allocated. Ham radios are not that way. Granted, they do have transmit blocks in the newer radios. But the old tube gear was smile and dial so to speak.

I guess, I mean he’s a dog so who knows why he says what he does ?

Check out the map page on the link above and go to your area. You have to log in there separately from here even though it’s Mygmrs also.

So if someone is putting a repeater up in the area they can avoid conflicting signals. A friendly heads up, it is not permitted to post repeater tones and info here in the forum unless it’s yours.

I assumed we're talking about UHF in and around 400-500 mhz. Hence my answer/examples. That said, you're correct and I'm sure the information will be helpful.

GMRS repeater offsets are +5 MHz. For example, transmit on 467.55 and receive on 462.55.

If you are a Jeep enthusiast and love to drive around with your doors off, but hate that the road noise is so bad that you can't use your radio, I highly recommend getting an XTL5000 or another Motorola model that was designed for use by first responders and has noise cancelling microphone features. I have had a total of three XTL5000 radios and I have never realized there is a noise cancelling feature before this one. This feature absolutely rocks. With every mobile radio I have every owned, I could never drive around in a Jeep with the doors off because the tire hum and wind noise would make it so my voice was washed out. It made the radio unusable while the Jeep was in motion. I decided to mess around with the mic auto gain control and noise suppression. I found that I can have the roof and doors off and still use the radio. I have aggressive 37" tires that hum so loud, that with the wind and tire noise, I can't talk to my passengers if the doors are off. BUT... now I can still use the radio! I setup my home-based FTM-300DR to record and went for a spin. The slowest I was going was 45 mph, at the very beginning. The fastest I was traveling during this test was 70 mph. I'm pretty happy with the results. You can hear the processor work its magic when I first start to transmit.

Thanks. Pretty much the same settings i had on all mine except for some reason the AGC:Total was set to 6 so i just set them all to 0 because Marc says thats better. FYI - On some older XTLs with more miles on them, they may 'buzz' when the noise suppression option is enabled - so if you have any XTLs with a buzz/loud hiss in the carrier, turn off Noise Suppression to fix it.. Out of our group we had 3 radios that had that issue.

Here is a screen grab of what my settings are... Radio Configuration --> Radio Wide --> Tx Audio Control Per Mode. It's the Noise Suppression check box and Attenuation Level option. The directions say it works best with the Mic AGC disabled, but I find it works best with it on.

"This is K9DOG. Can I get a signal report?"

I've got a VGC VR-N7500 Bluetooth 50watt base radio that is totally controlled by a Android or iPhone app, doesn't even have a head on it. The Bluetooth works about 40ft, good enough that can sit on the back porch with my tablet or cellphone to use it but not on the other side of the house. However if I leave my tablet connected to the radio and on internet, I can run the app on my cellphone and access the radio anywhere over internet (kinda like Zello) and can control the frequency and tone of the radio remotely - but not scan or other features. It's a fun radio to play with but I hate the interface so it sits on the shelf most of the time.

My dog does this if it’s a radio, phone, iPad… and she is saying “put that down and pet me”! This happens multiple times a day every day.? for this photo though “this is w-o-o-f, do you have my food”?

Please note I am a total newbie at this So I was looking at the Wouxun KG-1000G GMRS base station versus the Wouxun KG-935G Plus with an amplifier, is there any upside to using the base station versus a handheld with the amplifier? I cannot seem to find any good articles on pro's and con's. The amplifier has a 40watt output and the base station has a 50 watt output, but from what I have read the 10 watt difference does not make a whole lot of difference. Thanks in advance for your assistance

Upside to using the 935G is you can slap the rubber ducky back on it and quickly/easily take it and use it anywhere you want.