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Without knowing more about it I can only speculate, but the distance alone wouldn’t prevent it. So you are transmitting on 467.675 MHz with a tone of 141.3 Hz? The reason I usually suggest that people listen without a tone is because then you hear everything on 462.675 MHz. First, make sure you can hear the repeater. If you can’t, it doesn’t matter if the repeater hears you. Once you know you can hear the repeater then try transmitting. Feel free to ask if anyone hears you. Most people are friendly.

I can see a lot of usefulness for it, since it gives you a "written record", so to speak, of information instead of relying on voice. I've done work tracking runners in 50k trail runs with no cell service, and it would be very useful to "text" runner numbers back to race control rather than dictate them over the air and have someone try to hear and write them.

MTS2000? http://www.batteryuniverse.com/two-way-radio/motorola/mts2000/btexc450sf-motorola-mts2000-radio-antenna?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&adpos=&scid=scplp9-24541-BTEXC450SF&sc_intid=9-24541-BTEXC450SF&gbraid=0AAAAAD8Yjy-XpLrRokYZeHm-DIBekxYoi&gclid=Cj0KCQjw06-oBhC6ARIsAGuzdw2eJxZ-NWjBRWo_Q2E7B6fhTM1hPKpF4ybW7kSdZSVdZmotJ_Hs-1UaAlYWEALw_wcB

But the good news is it might only have eight repeater channels to memorize.

I don’t think it does that.

I saw the post about Ribbit yesterday, became intrigued, and got lost down an ODFM rabbit hole for a few hours, but then, I loaded the Rattlegram App on two phones, put a phone/GMRS radio in another room, and sent a text message between two phones over GMRS radio. It was really cool. I'm addicted. Links: https://www.ribbitradio.org/#/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ubPP48ojJ3E Also, anyone have any idea what it might be useful for, so I have an excuse for all this time I'm wasting on a burgeoning new addiction?

Why? Because features that are not supposed to be there are sometimes not there?

As far as I know there were no GMRS UV-5Rs on the market when I got my UV-5Gs, which were sold in pairs. Anybody know what the differences are between those types?

Ooohh, I never thought of that, the error correction would eliminate most of the issues you get with a weak or spotty signal...

Yeah, I found that post yesterday, and read the discussion. The app is just a technology demonstrator, to show you can send data easily and quickly with Ribbit. It works like a charm, too! I can see pairing this tech with vox mode to set up on-the-go networks with uplink stations miles apart with nothing but cheap HTs and laptops, at the very least...

You also can't have two different repeaters programmed in that use the same frequency pair. You would have to change tones to go back and forth. There are no memory slots to program additional items into.

All true... I was addressing the unit's capabilities which are completely inconsistent from unit to unit 1 - There are GMRS UV-5R versions out there that ARE capable of transmitting on non GMRS frequencies with NO modification... as evidenced by the operator who entered an "emergency" TX frequency by simply programming with CHIRP. Even Randy at notarubicon addresses that in his video review of the GMRS flavored UV-5R unit that he purchased 2 - And there are GMRS UV-5R versions out there that can TX on non-GMRS with software modification by editing the TX frequency on a memory channel in the XML file and then uploading that file to the radio. 3 - And there are GMRS UV-5R versions out there that are locked down at the hardware level and can't even be programmed to TX on legitimate GMRS frequencies in memory channels 31 through 128. Those channels can only be programmed to RX. I actually had 4 of those units and promptly sent them back to Amazon... what good were they if I could not even program legitimate GMRS repeater channels into the empty memory bank channels. Nothing illegal about that. My point is that nobody knows what they are getting when they buy one... its like the scene in the Forrest Gump movie where he describes a box of chocolates as never knowing what's inside.

Microwaves were invented during Roman times - Emperor Nero cut off some dude's fingers & left him with only his thumbs. That same guy (Digitalis Minimus) went on to invent the UHF PL-259 connector, for hams who were 'all thumbs'. True story.

@WRYC330 The "GMRS" UV-5R is, as the name suggests, an FCC type certified GMRS radio which means it cannot transmit on any frequency outside of GMRS frequencies. The original UV-5R is not type certified for GMRS. There are lots of radios out there that will physically allow you to transmit on GMRS frequencies but it is against FCC regulations to do so.

https://www.fema.gov/press-release/20230803/fema-and-fcc-plan-nationwide-emergency-alert-test-oct-4-2023

If she hasn't started yelling about stopping to ask for directions, you're doing it wrong.

What radio do you have? Most importantly, channel 20 is not a repeater channel. It doesn’t transmit on 467.675, which must be done to hit the repeater. That’s usually shown as 20RP or something like that which transmits on 467.675 and receives on 462.675. Are you certain that CTCSS number 22 on your radio is tone 141.3? Not all manufacturers assign the same numbers to the same tones. I recommend leaving the receive (down) tone empty while getting the transmitter tone right. That way you’ll hear everything on that frequency.

That’s not bad. It even sounds good in NATO phonetics. I wouldn’t worry about it.

It has been advised to me from an Anytone technician that there are many Anytone versions of the AT-779UV. Use CPS version 2.01 and change the radio service in the CPS and then save first file. Then restart radio and read from the radio into CPS. It should give you all common GMRS channels. My Version of radio from Let's Get Ready did not have GMRS option in start-up. I had to change it in CPS 2.01. Remember every time the format is changed in radio all memory will be erased. So Using as a ham or part 90 commercial radio or GMRS Part95e, make sure to read from radio and save file i.e. "Ham radio 9/6/23" or GMRS radio 9/6/23" Alwayts date and save you last updated files in a folder so you can go back to older files if necessary. RJ

@WRKC935 I really appreciate everything you said about lightning protection, but EMP is different. The fact that we haven’t been damaged by EMPs when the North Koreans tested their nukes really isn’t very indicative of anything. If those tests had been done in the upper atmosphere it might be different, but they were done in tunnels within mountains.

Here's the issue with this. We don't know what we don't know when it comes to an EMP. And much of what we do know about it, or think we know comes from Hollywood where all the battery powered everything from automobiles to wrist watches are going to throw sparks all over the place and fry in a very dramatic manner. Yet it's said that old tube gear will be fine. Which honestly makes little sense. So here's what I know about it. And this comes from being an R56 certified installer and digging deeper into the bonding and grounding aspect of it. First thing is you can't 'prevent' lightning, you can only attempt to prepare for it and hope you have done all that is needed. We all know some CB operator that disconnects his antenna cables in puts them in a glass jar. News flash on that. Lightning jumps up to 9 miles during a strike. That little bit of glass, the 6 to 8 inches of rubber on a car tire or whatever is NOT going to stop the strike. And in truth, disconnecting the antenna cable if the cable and antenna isn't grounded at all past the shield being connected to the chassis ground of the equipment actually increases the chance of a strike. Glass jar be damned. The antenna has no where to bleed off the charge that builds up on it and it actually becomes a better path to ground because it's charged and other stuff isn't. Less of a voltage difference. Yeah, you may see some arcing on the connector in the jar, but that is an indication of the very thing I am talking about. You ground and bond everything to a common point to bleed off that charge. But you also bond it all together for when it does get hit. If you have a couple radios, a computer, power supply and such all connected together as a station, and your your tower gets hit. If EVERYTHING is bonded, then all that gear jumps to several thousand volts and then back to zero,,, but it all does it at once since it's bonded together. If you remove that bonding. Lets say on the computer you are using for HF packet and the power supply. Now all of a sudden, there is several thousand volts of potential difference between the power supply the computer and the radio. Guess what happens. So back to the EMP business. An EMP is nothing more than a light lightning strike. And if you think about that statement, think about lightning and the voltages and currents present you will realize that 10 million amps across a number 2 or even a 4/0 wire is going to be THOUSANDS of volts in the wire. Yet, towers get hit all the time. R56 is a standard used for 911 centers where they CAN'T unhook their antenna's and stop working during a storm. And if there is a tower at the center with radios connected to it and the dispatch console, then there is a direct DC path (considering the voltage potential of lightning) from the top of that mast to the headset of the dispatcher. So what do we really know about an EMP? Do we need to stick radios in Faraday cages to expect them to survive the pulse? What happened to all the electronic equipment (yes it was tube back in the day) when the US and Russia would test nukes in Nevada and the island chains they were known for? And when did the testing actually stop? Well the US's last test was in 1992. And the North Korean's was in 2017. Yet there is no information available about peoples cars stopping, radios dying, or any of that. So at what point would you need to store a radio in a Faraday Cage in order to protect it? And the answer is striking. If the EMP is that strong, the radio would need to be stored 30 to 50 feet below ground in a Faraday Cage to survive because you are close enough that the blast wave will destroy it at ground level. Now of course connected to the grid, and an antenna that distance increases, but not if you have proper bonding and grounding and correct surge suppression on the equipment in question. Antenna size and type will also play a role in this. A big HF antenna like a 40 meter dipole will take a bigger induced voltage than a UHF DC grounded folded dipole Like a DB-404 or other DB series base station antenna. This is due to the design of the antenna. Folded dipoles are closed loops with one end being grounded. HF type dipoles are open ended and typically are NOT grounded. In fact the standard half wave dipole is suppose to be a balanced design. So in theory a balun of proper design can be used with an HF dipole to protect the antenna to some degree when coupled with a proper surge suppressor. A good reference for this stuff is the Military grounding and bonding manual that goes into not only lightning suppression but EMP mitigation.

Always keep at least one radio in the gun safe.

I am not speaking for Randy... but I agree it's not for everyone. The are large, get hot, have more than enough power and programing capability to get you in trouble (if the FCC ever starts enforcing the rules). You could legit get a surplus radio that wasn't decommissioned correctly or not at all and all of a sudden you can find yourself on Fire, Police or some federal agencies digital encryption system and a lot of trouble. (Not an I guess or think. A buddy found a bunch on ebay) Then, one in good shape will be anywhere from $700-$1,000. You need to acquire one that is new enough that the programing software will run on modern Windows unless you have a way-back machine or are a computer systems engineer who know how to 'fake it' with a legacy OS. Then, you have to know how to program it once you actually get the software going. I wouldn't tell anyone that they are not capable of accomplishing any of this... but unless you are a tech savvy person with time and resources on your hands, it can be time consuming and frustrating to start with. Given that many new users struggle with using tones and getting repeater access configured, I don't normally point people in this direction.

The + indicates an offset, meaning you are on a repeater channel and is not related to the bandwidth.. Check again on page 17 of your manual.

I’m height-restricted, so can’t go with something that tall. But have considered it, just to have it in the stable. My BB4503 came from the factory tuned at 452.900-453.000. I set it to about 463.500, and it’s still less than 1.5:1 all the way down to 440 MHz (70cm). I could use it for both bands, but would re-check where its impedance is closest to 50 Ohms, to be safe. Like others have mentioned, the Midland MXTA26 is an excellent performer, so is the Browning BR-450 (which might require trimming).

Tip: When mounting under the seat (or other hard to access locations), invest in another programming cable and leave it plugged in and coiled up so you can plug it in to a laptop whenever needing to re-program the radio's functions/memories.