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I see my giant UV-5R pez dispenser idea is gaining traction. I vote we put @OffRoaderX 's head on the top since he's responsible for more people getting in to radio than most.

Thank you @Sshannon, that clears it up. I will click the thanks when I get some new reactions.

31-50 are repeater channels. DIY just means you have to program the tones yourself and maybe even the frequencies on some radios. The repeater owner should have given you a "tone" to use. Sometimes the TX and RX tones are different. You will need to enter the tone in the TX for your radio which will be on 467.xxx not 462.xxx. With that, the repeater will acknowledge your transmition. (Assuming you are in range.) You may want to leave the tone out of the RX until you are sure you are hitting the repeater.

Yes. SO-239 is the SOcket. PL-259 is the PLug. I have no idea why the number is different.

BTW, I'm studying for my ham license. I'm looking forward to talking to people like @Sshannon and @Lscott and other "happy" hams and if the "sad" ones don't like it they can kiss my fat a.. I'm not going to let the "sad hams" keep me from getting involved and enjoying amateur radio. @OffRoaderX I encourage you to do the same. Don't let the sad ones ruin it for you or anyone else.

SMD components are fine. I used to be able to solder them without any aids, just with my sharp eye and a steady hand. Basically, the same things and skills you use on ladies to get a score. But now, in my advancing age, I need a good loupe or microscope, and have to rest my elbow on a sturdy surface. Works for me for now, both with PCBs and ladies. Surface mounts are not what is holding the youth to join. If anything is holding them.

I see eager high schoolers and college students designing and building surface mount altimeters with gps and gyroscopes that track the location and control the recovery of high power rockets. They have adjusted just fine. That’s not holding them back.

I’m a big fan of the Yaesu FTM-200dr but I am a fusion repeater owner so I have to have digital. I also have the 100, 400 and FT-70. All of which have excellent receivers. The 200 stands out because of the PMG feature which allows 5 frequencies to be monitored simultaneously with signal levels. Currently I have my repeater, my hotspot (uhf simplex), local repeater, 146.520 and GMRS 19 in the PMG list. I know it’s way more expensive than the FTM-6000 but it’s a much better radio and it has GPS and APRS. Good luck and 73. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Here's the page from the manual.

GMRS has 30 “channels” which are 30 defined frequencies that you can transmit on. The top 8 are in the 467 MHz range and are primarily used to transmit to repeaters. Because there are only 8 and because different repeaters use CTCSS codes to reduce interruptions DIY channels allow you to program additional combinations of channels and CTCSS (or DCS). So, your repeater uses channel 29. It probably uses a CTCSS tone as well. A hundred miles away another repeater might use channel 29 also with a different CTCSS tone. Having DIY channels allows you to program all of the different repeaters that you want, instead of constantly changing the tone. Yes, if you have two radios set to talk through the repeater, separate them by some distance and you take one and a family member using your call sign takes another and you can try to talk through the repeater. Or you could just use one and ask for a repeater check.

Indeed it is a budget radio, but perhaps my UV-17R Pro is a different model, as it will certainly transmit on GMRS. Edit: I can't remember if I used the UV-5R unlock trick on it or not. Perhaps I did.

I decided to pass on it. Motorola told me I need a windows computer to run the software. I have mac stuff. I'll just wait for the right opportunity for a GMRS designed unit. Thanks everyone.

@nokones Although it wouldn’t be a great substitute for in-person tutoring, I would be happy to try and answer any of your questions about the electrical questions. I would like to do that in a separate thread so others could chime in with their questions and explanations. Do you think that would be helpful?

The short answer is I have considered and tried twice and I can't get pass the electrical stuff. The test does absolutely nothing to verify if I would be a good HAM operator or not. I've looked into attending in-person classes with various Club's and all they want to do is refer me to on-line sample tests, they no longer have in-person classes. I had a difficult time trying to remember the correct answers or if "All or None of the Above" was the correct answer or not, especially on the electrical stuff. I remember when there were Community College classes for learning amateur radio and they no longer exist. I also remember there used to be a lot of ham/radio hobby businesses and they no longer exist. Some do still exist but only with limited hours a day for only a couple of days a week. Why is it this way now, I wonder. I wasn't impressed by the various clubs on their willingness to help. A matter of fact, several didn't even return my telephone calls. They didn't leave me a good impression on a group that I wanted to be part of or want communicate with. I moved on. Also, I considered taking the test for a third time on-line with a certified test person and the hoops that was required to jump through to take an on-line test was more than I wanted to endure. Something is telling me this may not be not be worth my while any longer and I shouldn't waste my time on. Time is precious and there are more radio paths to take with less effort in being compliant with the rules set. I've had a GMRS license since the mid-90s when my license had a mobile license callsign and I was restricted to one repeater channel pair and 462.675 MHz was for emergency use. I have seen the growth of GMRS take off in the last couple of years and I think it is great especially with a couple of the Club's I am involved with. I just don't see things like such happening in the HAM radio world especially with the social aspect and the willingness to help and welcome others to the hobby. This is where they get a "F" in. I am one of the Ambassadors for one of my Repeater Club's. My job is to not only welcome new members to the Club but help them get started and make sure they understand the technical side insofar to ensure their radios are programmed correctly with the Club's repeaters. It's a fun job. As an Ambassador we are a Club resource for members to learn radio and also we learn more still along with the new members. It's great even at my age. I would hope that exists on the HAM side as well. I just never saw it or experience that effort.

Affiliate link below… I agree that his videos probably have been responsible for encouraging young people of all ages to pick up a radio and try it. And even though he’s not one to exactly encourage people to take up ham radio, his videos make people believe they can learn radio. Whether he knows it or not, his videos (and others) led me to finally study for my ham radio license after 55 years of not getting around to it.

Is it the 25W or 40W version? Either way, its a great UHF radio that has the capacity for 128 channels to be programmed. It will work well for GMRS if programmed correctly, however, it should be noted that it is not type accepted for GMRS. Do what you will with that information.

Yeah, I really didn't see too much of it either. There are always going to be disagreements with everything. Radios, antenna's, radio services, etc etc etc. Some people are going to be polite when they disagree and be cordial about it and say police things about that disagreement. Others will make wild comparisons bringing up wack jobs like Jim Jones. But the underlying point to this is still the same. Ham radio membership is in a slump. And it's cyclic in reality. GMRS right now is on a significant upswing, and I am seeing discussions of GMRS in the ham magazines even. People have a number of different reasons to get a radio license. Be it ham, GMRS or both. I will have been a ham for 30 years next April. Got licensed in 94. I have had a GMRS license for just a few years at this point. But I am active with both services for different reasons. The biggest part of my involvement is building out infrastructure. I currently have 5 different repeaters locally at this point and support a number of others. The 5 are my equipment. I talk from the house on a microwave link to the tower via an IP based radio console that currently is connected to 10 different radios and I will be adding more this weekend. This stuff ranges from HF radios to 900Mhz radios and everything in between. I don't currently have any 220 radios (ham band). And I don't have any gear operating in ham bands above 900, but that is subject to change as well. Radio is what I do though. And while I never thought one way or another about the no code licenses, I did have issue with the ARRL pushing ARES really hard and getting people in the hobby that just wanted their 15 minutes. One thing with some hams is they have some misguided idea that in times of an emergency that they alone will be humanity's last best hope of survival. I did have issue with that. And still do in truth. But that didn't 'destroy' ham radio either and the cyclic rise of membership over that has waned. Then it was the prepper community. We still see that push on YouTube, but that fell off too. GMRS is actually a better option for those folks in my opinion, as one license covers their entire family, and if a real SHTF situation arises, I don't know that the FCC is going to be running around giving people hell for operating on the ham bands since they are preparing for situations where the government is non-operational. The EMCOMM (emergency communications) guys in ham radio have boxes and stuff they refer to as a 'go kit' which is nothing more than a radio mounted in a Pelican case they can drag out in the field and operate from. Prepper's have something similar called a 'go away kit' which consists of several semi-automatic firearms and thousands of rounds of ammunition to make undesirables 'go away' by whatever means necessary. But adding to the ranks of either radio service is going to be cyclic. Even if we did some 'crying Indian' public service commercial and pushed the virtues of either service, it's only going to be so effective. Ultimately, it will show some level of increased membership for a time, but in the end that will wane as well.

Not legally. The FCC regulations generally prohibit different services from cross connecting.

Back to the original subject, I was just telling an unmet friend that one way I think we could attract more young people to ham radio would be to give away FRS or MURS radios accompanied by free lessons on radio rules and etiquette. That could lead to free lessons towards the technician test and maybe even a free or cheap dual band radio (A UV5R in every pot!)

“Off with his thumb!”

Every time someone keys up without a license, a puppy dies.

So... this horrible problem that you feel the need to complain about consists of two pairs out of eight being occupied by linked repeaters in your area. And that leaves you with 'only' six channels for your preferred 50W simplex activity. IOW, you have the exact same number of linked repeaters in your "general area" as we have here in the MSP/STP metro. Yet no one gets bent out of shape over that situation here. If they don't want to listen to linked traffic, they use the other six channels. Using a repeater is not "tying it up". Perhaps other people would consider your use of the other un-linked pairs to be "tying up" the frequency with "useless chatter" that has no relevance to their lives. It really doesn't matter why GMRS was created. Many of the Services created by the FCC have taken off in different ways than the FCC originally envisioned. What matters to the FCC is that they are used in compliance with the regulations. So please don't imply that the FCC is backing you up in your crusade against "useless chatter". CB, for example, strictly forbade "skip" contacts since its creation (QSOs over 150 miles, specifically). Yet, in the last Part 97 overhaul, they eliminated that restriction. CB was originally conceived as a licensed service, yet that didn't matter to the FCC when they eliminated the need for a license. VHF marine used to require an examination and a marine operators permit. Yet, the FCC did away with that and reduced it to a Restricted Radiotelephone permit with no exam. When the FCC created GMRS, they didn't envision the FRS. Yet, they made sweeping changes to expand FRS use in traditionally GMRS space. Certainly, linked repeaters were never envisioned when the FCC created the Amateur service, nor packet or satcom. Instead, these new uses were accommodated. There is nothing in the GMRS regulations that require conversations be erudite, sparkling, or serious. There are limitations on profanity, of course. But I've heard plenty of "family" conversations that would fit the category of "useless chatter". That doesn't bother me, or anyone else. Change the channel. You admit that only two pairs in your area contain this "useless chatter", so you have options. It's not that dead air is "worrisome", as you put it. Not even sure where you came up with that strawman. As a licensed ham, I can recall curmudgeons bitterly complaining about Echolink and IRLP traffic on local repeaters when that began a decade ago. They employed the same arguments as you do: it's not what 2M FM was intended for, and some people didn't have deadly serious discussions of RF theory. If that's what you want, you should get your General license and operate on HF, they said. They lost that battle to keep ham radio firmly in the past. As it turned out, a lot of hams enjoyed being able to talk to people in other countries simply by accessing their local FM repeater. Those that didn't like it went elsewhere, and nobody missed them. In short, it seems to me that you simply resent people enjoying themselves on the radio. I'd suggest that you move to amateur radio, but those attitudes have faded away in that service over the past decade. There are still a few sour hams shaking their fists at the clouds, snarling about Dumb People, and pretending the FCC would be outraged about it if they only knew. But they are dwindling rapidly. GMRS is now seen as a tool to build communities on-air. That's the purpose it serves here. And I really doubt the FCC is bothered by that. - KAF6430