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First off, I never said that keeping unauthorized users off a radio system was the only reason for trunking. But it WAS a sales point. Never heard of people using 'illegal radios to access a trunked system' Maybe not in your state... Ohio has had several instances of people being busted for selling radios that were programmed for the state wide system. Never heard of it prior to trunking? I have worked with the FCC and in one case the FCC and FBI tracking someone that was interfering with repeater systems that were County EMA equipment. All EMA's fall under Homeland Security. And due to that screwing with them can be considered a terrorist activity. And that's not some guess or interpretation, that was directly from the agents I was working with. We also figured out that the radio that was being used was indeed a cheap import. The 'roger beeps' on those radios are distinctive and the logging recorder that we had running did hear that specific set of tones multiple times in the case where the FBI was involved. The other times were fire and police repeaters that the FCC came out and tried to hunt the person or persons down but had no luck, other than whoever it was stopped doing it. But it was made public in the radio communities that the FCC was in town and that is what seemed to make it stop. Back to the trunking thing.. Yes, the primary reasons for trunking systems is frequency management and sharing. But interoperability, access control and radio resource management are also big parts of it too. And wide area coverage beyond the county level is a big piece of it was well. You simply couldn't use a single frequency across three or more counties that contained any significant population.

And this thread ladies and gentlemen is why some of us that actually work or have worked in the communications industry and might know a bit more about these topics than the casual user tend to steer clear of posts like this and giving technical answers to questions. There is always somebody that thinks that someone told them something else that they have ZERO first hand knowledge of will argue with guys that do this crap for a living. It gets old. And is one of the reasons that guys like me no longer bother with these forums like we did. But here's the sad part of all of this. There are some on here that DO know. And when they get driven off of here due to the BS, you loose that knowledge base.

Yeah, I got involved with a forum that started as outdoor warning siren techs and manufactures. We would exchange info on different things we had seen, odd issues that we couldn't figure out and crap like that. Then the 13 year olds took it over. And they wanted to discuss leaning poles and what specific frequencies the sirens operated at and all sort of nonsense that had no bearing on keeping them running. Then of course they started disagreeing with people. Once case the guy that dude was arguing with was the guy that designed the equipment in question. He was the designer for that manufacture. And this clown is arguing with him about what he's saying about the equipment is incorrect. That was the beginning of the end. All of use that were in the industry left. And it was a shame, because at one point it was a very helpful took to reference. Now, not so much. But I actually am tired of stirring the pot. And any more, there is no need to stir it. It just happens on its own. And again, it just gets boring to see a horse beat to pink slime.

All the good YouTubers talk very slowly and deliberately.

I snuck away from my desk for a second to check it out a little bit more. You were right! I'm just not entirley sure what exactly I did to put it into GMRS mode, not sure which button did the trick lol.

I'm of 2 mindsets... either you have to stay off the internet (you, generally.. not you specifically) or you need to stir the pot and embrace the suck. Very little of my job is RF related; mostly computers. I haven't been on an IT forum or group in more than a decade. I gave up after someone with no standing in the industry was trying to tell me how wrong I was after answering a question and telling someone how to correctly configure a product I designed, built and took to market. It was like a high school freshman with a 3.0 GPA telling Jeff Snover he was using PowerShell wrong.

Welcome to the forum, but, if you are using GMRS to find new friends you have chosen the wrong hobby. GMRS is more for communicating with existing friends while driving, hiking, etc. For finding new friends/talking to strangers, ham radio or the Grindr app might be a better choice.

I'm going from memory, so take that for what it is worth, but I think you turn the radio off, press and hold the V/M button while turning the radio back on. That should take you to a menu. Make your selection and then turn the radio off. Next time you turn it on you should be in the band you selected. I think when you do this you lose any changes you had made. I don't know for which bands this radio is certified, so keep that in mind as well.

I will check that firmware update out tonight. Hopefully it's some help! Thank you!

Took some looking, but I found this in an older thread...looks like you switch it to the range you want, turn if off, then turn back on normally. It does also look like (at least in some firmware) that the tones may be locked out in the menu in gmrs mode https://forums.mygmrs.com/topic/2307-anytone-at-779uv-gmrs-mobile-radio/?do=findComment&comment=25937&_rid=2738

You did not mention anything about your radio/antenna. Raising your antenna if possible should increase your range. This is the best bang for your buck improvement. Make sure you use a decent coaxial cable such as LMR400, otherwise the improvement in height could be offset by the loss with a longer cable of a smaller diameter or unknown quality. Make some noise and see if you can get a response. I suspect during commute time would be the highest chance of finding someone who is also just scanning like you. If everyone is just listening, making a contact is not likely

it might be the "fun" button that selects the mode, once you're in that menu. From there, all you REALLY need to do is dial up the correct repeater channel (the base 30 should be there in gmrs mode) and enter the transmit tone. The instructions @WRXE944 linked has how to set the tone on page 14.

I heard they do that because the chicks find it alluring.

Looking for the post right now (may have been another thread), but I was corrected that it's holding the v/m button when turning it on that will give you the option to change modes. Be aware it does wipe any channels you program when changing modes, and for gmrs mode, reverts to the base 30 channels (22 simplex, 8 repeater). Edit: found it. https://forums.mygmrs.com/topic/5871-radioddity-db20-g/?do=findComment&comment=60575&_rid=2738

It may have been shipped in the wrong mode...it does have a mode that's locked down for gmrs, but there are also unlocked modes that can be used for ham use (I have one that was in the older car for exactly that reason)

That’s from 2014, but thanks for the nostalgia. My point is still valid, agencies should be reorganized and made to operate more efficiently and with purpose.

I’m glad gmrs is not like cb. But I’m still gonna scan the channels, and I take mine everywhere and leave the other radio with my wife just in case I can talk farther than 2 miles. And I do plan on using them for every road-trip as well. Anyway thank you for your reply.

I never compared them. However, I did use the UV-17 on a road trip, and it worked okay between two cars about a mile apart.

Gonna expand on what I said a bit. There were / are technical reasons that the regulations were put into place that simply continue to exist even though the technical reason no longer does. I sort of spelled out the HAM VS everything else reason. And the real truth to that is if you had a radio that was full TX/RX from 400 to 500Mhz (UHF) and you started showing up on commercial and public safety parts of the band. The argument could reasonably be that the radio came that way and I just used it. Hence the TX block for the ham radios and of course the no end user programming for commercial and GMRS radios. It keeps people from doing dumb stuff and minimizes the calls about interference to the FCC. We as radio operators know that only goes so far. There will always be those people that will interfere with communications on any repeater they decide to. And that's part of the draw for public safety to switch their operations to 700/800 digital trunked radio systems that require a system key and assigned ID to communicate on the system. It's a more effective (not 100% effective) way of keeping purposeful interference to a minimum and offers ways of stopping it by disabling the radio ID from accessing the system. Some of this functionality has existed in analog for years in the signalling systems like DTMF and QC2 where the radio ID could be sent a stun command and the radio would disable transmit. That was effective for radios that were stolen or misplaced that were programmed to accept the command and be stunned. With the newer digital trunked systems, the ID can be disabled in the radio system. Since the radio ID is transmitted every time the radio is keyed, the system can ignore the radio and block it's access to the system regardless of the programming in the radio. This happens at a system / repeater level. This was looked at a number of years ago by some ham buddies of mine that were fingerprinting radios. Every radio as it goes into transmit 'rings up' as the transmit oscillator comes online and the modulation circuit becomes active. This 'ring up' is typically unique to every radio and can be used to identify a specific radio. That part they had down. The next steps were to compare that to a set of files that were banned radios and disable the repeater if a banned radio was attempting to transmit. The computers we had at the time were simply not fast enough for all that to occur before the person started talking. Of course this was all done in the days of 8 and 16 bit computers running DOS ( think Windows 3.1 time frame) and the first generation of SoundBlaster sound cards) Software was called XMITid. Written by Richard Rager.

I suppose someone who wants to do this can do what an overwhelming number of people have... buy a quality radio that does everything and keep your mouth shut about it. If you don't tell anyone, no one will know. Don't cause interference, don't be an ass, and don't go on frequencies you shouldn't be on, and you're going to be fine... not that I am making any promises or condoning violating the rules.

Just my (conspiracy theorists) opinion, it's the same answer for radio, firearms, and everything else the government touches... it's not about safety or the people; it's about control.

The FCC is just keeping us safe, how dare you question their motives!

I would drill a hole through the block wall. If you have two grounds you can end up with a current between them that can do anything from causing an annoying hum to destroying equipment in between them.

You shouldn’t drive another ground rod in either case. Your antenna shield and lightning protection should be bonded to the electrical system ground. Just run more solid bare copper wire, #8 or larger diameter. Save the coax and run the wire to bond to the ground.

Comet GP-6NC GMRS/FRS Commercial Dual-Band VHF/UHF Base Vertical Antenna Get a Cheap 20' Push up flag pole and some lmr400 and you will have a very nice set up.

The AT-779 UV is a bit confusing. I have owned many Anytone radios for many years, and I find them to be responsive to customer requests (provided they get those requests there in China). I bought an AT-779UV a few months ago and it was configured for GMRS operation, where I wanted to use it. Channels 1-22 were as expected, along with repeater offset channels 23-30. Also, the U.S. weather channels were programmed into the last 7 channels (ch. 494-500). No TX outside of the GMRS frequencies, and not all menu options were available via the menu. Notably, the option to switch from Narrow band audio to Wide band audio was not available, nor was the option to add/change a sub audible tone. This is fine for many users, but I bought this radio specifically to install in my wife’s car, and only want to have our repeater frequency programmed in, to make life simple for her. I had to download the programming software from Anytone.net (navigate to their download center) in order to switch the audio bandwidth from narrow to wide and add the required tone. The second issue I ran into was that you cannot delete GMRS channels, and I did not want to have 30 channels programmed into the radio, since I only need one channel in there. This required me to download the other piece of software on Anytone’s site labeled AT-779UV SetO(V2.0). This software allows you to change the configuration of the radio (as does the power on button sequence) and I had to change to a frequency configuration (400-470/136-174) in order to be able to delete unneeded channels and just program the repeater frequency needed. It is now a one channel radio that I needed, but I suspect some will say it is now not valid under Part 95E, even though I am only running one GMRS repeater frequency in the radio... whatever. I tried to do it the way it was meant to, but that doesn’t work for my situation. It is exactly the same as running under the GMRS configuration...minus the additional GMRS channels. Some time later, I received an email from the seller indicating a new firmware version was available for the AT-779UV, along with a link to the download. I will include the email text below. I performed the firmware update and now other menu options (including the selection from Narrow to Wide and tone) are available in the GMRS-only configuration. A nice upgrade. It does seem this upgrade does eliminate the power up button sequence to select different configurations (I don’t care, as stated previously, doing that wipes your memories), and the other software mentioned gives you that access anyway, so if that function is eliminated with the new firmware, it doesn’t impact me. As far as the radio in concerned, I like it very much. I was first licensed for GMRS in 2003 (let it expire in 2013, and got another license when the price dropped from $90 to $70 a few years ago), and I have run a lot of commercial radios over the years. While these Chinese radios are not of the same overall build quality, the Anytone radios are quite good. I have several Anytone radios for amateur use and they have worked well, and Anytone has put out firmware updates to correct issues or add features. I tried the Midland MXT-275 for my wife’s car, but the narrowband audio was too low for our repeater use. The AT-779UV is nearly the same size as the MXT-275, and honestly easier to use for her needs, with only having one channel in the radio. The transmit output measures about 19 watts out with one of those Amazon-sold Surecom SWR/power meters, and I have a Tram 1174 antenna on the trunk lip. Previously ran a Laird ETRA 4503 phantom antenna on there, and it did ok for a 4” antenna, but the 1174 helps out with the challenging terrain around here. It is literally like a roller coaster ride with all the hills and valleys. so the 10” Tram (trimmed for 467/462) fills in some of the dips and valleys better. Because the terrain is so rolling and varied, the AT-779UV/Tram 1174 combo works nearly as well as my 50 watt capable mobile/Comet CA 2X4SR combo in my truck. As always, your mileage may vary...literally. edit... here is the email text from the seller regarding the firmware. I tried to attach to the post, but the link was apparently not available. Hi, thanks for you purchase AT-779UUV. The purpose of this email is to let our customers know more about AT-779UV. ----NOTE---- 1. The factory default setting of the radio is GMRS band and the GMRS band cannot programmable, but it is also a dual band radio, you can operate it on VHF and UHF if the GMRS band cannot meet your needs. You can to do this as below: a. Hold 【V/M】 key and power on the radio until enter the band selection. b. Press 【up/down】 key to choose the mode (dual band), then repower radio. 2. The function of GMRS band is NO.17-30, other function was locked, you can upgrade the radio to get more function (excluding function NO.7-10/14） How to upgrade this radio? a. Please download the upgrade firmware at 【 https://hnt.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/779UV+upgrade+20210427.zip 】 (includ prgramming software, model name is AT779UV_Setup_2.01) b. Running the software 【QXCodePro_Update_Setup_1.05】 as an administrator. If your computer firewall or security software warns of risks, please allow this software to run. c. Connect PC cable and radio. d. Hold 【MON】+【FUN】 key and power on radio, release the key when red light flashes. e. Hit 【open update file】, choose right comport 【at779_UV_500_v2_30_1_VOX 2021_4_27.spi】, speed set 【115200】. choose 【Duplex】. (Please check attachment). f. Hit 【wirte】, upgrade compelete. Thank you for checking our email during your busy schedule, we hope it can give you help. If you have other problem, please feel free to contact us. Have a good day.