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Control station. A station at a fixed location that communicates with mobile stations and other control stations through repeater stations, and may also be used to control the operation of repeater stations. IMHO, the two keys to understanding Part 95 are to just read the regulation as it's written (and not "interpret" it) and to accept the definition of terms as the FCC lays them out, even if they don't agree with common usage. If you have a mobile radio (because AFAIK no one makes a GMRS 'base' radio) connected to a power supply and antenna on your roof, and you are talking through a repeater, the FCC calls that a control station. That's what Part 95 A (which applies to all other subparts of 95, including 95 E) says. Base station. A station at a fixed location that communicates directly with mobile stations and other base stations. If you have a mobile radio connected to a power supply and antenna on your roof, and you are talking directly to other mobiles or base stations (i.e. simplex) the FCC calls that a base station, even if it's the same setup you use to talk through repeaters. Again, that's what Part 95 A says. Mobile station. A station, intended to be used while in motion or during halts at unspecified locations, that communicates directly with base stations and other mobile stations, and with control stations and other mobile stations through repeater stations. A mobile, on the other hand (and HTs are considered a sub-class of mobiles) can do both ... direct and through repeaters. Again, the key is not to try and make sense of the distinction between base and control stations. Just accept the definitions and go with them. I will also bet that someone is going to come back and argue with me about what a control station is because they want to interpret "may also be used" as MUST BE USED. Uh, that's not what it says. It says, "may". "May" does not mean "MUST".

What kind of response are you expecting? Are you saying anything or are you just clicking the PTT(kerchunking)? The normal response to kerchunking is to ignore it. If you’re asking for someone to verify they can hear you then it depends on whether someone is listening at the time and whether they are inclined to talk.

Anderson power pole connectors will fit the tabs on the battery perfectly.

Ditto on firmware issues. The firmware that shipped with the radio was out of date and had issues with programing the PF1 and PF2 keys along with a number of other problems. I tried to do the update and ended up bricking the radio. Same thing happened with one of the H3's I had so I sent all 4 of them back. Tidradio HTs have been having a lot of issues and until they get fixed it's best to look else where.

Works for me. What version is your firmware? If you hold down the FUN button (whether on the radio or the mic) too long, it will lock the keypad and the word LOCK will appear in the bottom right of the screen. A long press of FUN toggles this Lock on and off.

This is a work in progress, but here’s what i have so far. Intended use will be for camping, fishing, power outages, and when SHTF. Ammo can $17 - 6ah lifepo4 battery $19 - 10w eco-worthy solar panel $21 - 30a mppt charge controller $12 - surecom sr-112 simplex repeater controller w/kenwood mobile plug $55 - leixen vv-898 10w uhf/vhf transceiver $67 - velcro $5 - so239 to so239 bulkhead connector $3 - n9tax murs/gmrs tuned slim jim antenna $33 - 2 cig plug sockets $8. Total = $240. I’d still like to change a few things, but it’s functional. Mainly i want to add an external power connector of some sort for solar charging so that i don't have to open it up to get to the other cig plug thats attached to the charge controller. I’m thinking about a marine grade water proof cig plug with dust cover and cutting another hole in the ammo can to mount it, but not sure yet. Also want to add some foam inserts to keep the battery in place. Everything else is either screwed down or held on by velcro. I also want something other than alligator clips on the battery that can be quick connect/disconnect. Inside the box i labeled i have the mic and some other goodies if i want to use it for comms rather than a repeater, or in case of an emergency. The radio is programmed in Bank A with just gmrs repeater freqs, Bank B is programmed with murs/frs/gmrs/marine (for emergency use)/2m calling (for emergency use) and noaa. The leixen only draws .3a idle/RX and 1.5a during TX, so the 6ah (72wh) battery should last for a few days without the solar panel attached if need be. Anyway, here is the functional, but not finished product. (and yes, i have to remove the box to close the lid. the charge controller fits in that spot. might look for a smaller charge controller so that it all fits inside.)

First question is how bad is it bent? If the tower is bent to the point the leg / legs buckled then you can't fix it. It has to come down. At that point you need to figure out the cost to get it down safely. It's obvious that it can't be climbed in the condition it's in. Leaving you with few options. You didn't mention the height of the bend, the direction it's leaning, what it could fall on or what access there might be to get up to it with a bucket truck and crane. Give a detailed description here and pictured if you can get them be fore a real discussion can happen.

This is sick. Following topic!

1. There is no privacy. PL tones don’t work that way. Anyone with a receiver capable of receiving on the GMRS frequencies can hear any nearby transmissions. 2. The repeater channels receive using the same frequencies as channels 15-22, so congestion will follow you.

Ok, so I tested my usb connection in VirtualBox with the CHIRP install and my UV-5R and it was a "no go" so I installed the expansion pack and still nothing. It seems like VB doesn't want to play well with my usb connections(and yes, I set them up in VB so they were suppose to be active) so I just went back to my WINE version of the KG-905g software since I can't change the size of the window in either. Also, I think I figured out why they have the different channels split up with space in between them. They're Scan Groups in the 905g so you can pick which Scan Group you want to scan. You have G1-1 through G1-16 all the way to G16-1 through G16-16 so there's 16 Scan Groups each with 16 channels for a total of 256 memory spots. This is nice because if you have say Public Safety channels in Scan Group G6 you can move to Group 6 and only scan those channels but it also leaves you free to move to any other group you'd like to scan without having to add "skip" in the program to stop them from scanning like I have to do now. I have all my GMRS/MURS channels set to "skip" so when I hit "scan" I'll only scan the 4 Public Safety channels. The way I'm understanding it I can scan them in their group with the KG-905g or I can move to a different group and only scan those channels. I really think I'm going to get the KG-905g and give it a try.

The really good programmers (like RT Systems) default to the last file opened. Some of the vendor-supplied ones don't do that and you have to re-open the file. If you click on "Open" you should see the name of your saved file.

I would start with the D162N. That's for normal. Most don't invert DPL unless they are trying to eliminate users.

Thank you so much!!!! That was exactly the issue. I didn't even see this menu, as my left window toolbar in the software was not expanded very far and I only saw the words "Information Of". I knew it had to be something simple I missed. Amazing when you unlock the radio, how many settings get changed. I only thought the only thing that would have to be changed is reentering your channels that you lost. For anyone else that is doing this, I can't stress how import it is to download a backup of your current settings before you play around. While it's a pain to be able to have one file open at a time, once you get used to it, its easy to switch back between to in order to check settings or to copy a channel line from your original file. Thank you again.....much appreciated.

I am on V2.36, but I do not think that is the problem. Also I switched all of your setting into my radio and I can still SCAN. Open up the Information of Scanning Channel menu and be sure SCAN MODE is turned to ON: When I switched mine to OFF, when I attempt to Scan, it does not work and I hear a Beep!

I don't have a Wouxun KG-905g, but I do play a 905g programmer on television. It looks like that is their implementation for how to handle multiple repeaters on the same frequencies with the same or different CTCSS/DPLs: I suspect that the "gaps" do not show up when you manually scroll (or scan) between these channels.

No wonder the radios I've been getting lately have sucked. I've killed off part of their QC Department.

I scored around 300ft of hardline and had the same question. I watched Youtube videos on how to terminate the cable, tools required, etc. Since the connectors are around $25/each I didn't want to screw it up. I ended up just measuring how long I wanted the cables and took it to the local Motorola shop. The local shop is very active in the ham radio world and has a club station. I bought the connectors and they cut the cable to length and terminated them for free. Don't know if you have somebody around that has the tools and knowledge, it might be worth checking around.

Some thoughts: Even though you hear the squelch tail, while you might be managing to key the repeater, you may not have a strong enough signal to actually be heard and understood. (you are mostly noise) What kind of power and antenna are you using, and how far from the repeater are you? Is the repeater an "open" one, or one only available to members? Have you gotten permission to use it? It may not have many users and you don't have much of an 'audience' to hear from. Try specifically asking for a report, saying you are a new user, and want to confirm the operation of you station.

Unfortunately, to save money, the Chinese radio industry utilizes doves in their quality control department!

That’s a nice gift. Here’s a place that carried it before it was discontinued and it looks like they have connectors. https://www.anixter.com/en_ec/products/FXL-540-NHR/COMMSCOPE-ANDREW-SOLUTIONS/Coaxial-Cable/p/438625 Here’s the data sheet:

Welcome @WSBN871!

Welcome to the GMRS community James!

Yes. The frequencies of the channels are established in regulation: § 95.1763 GMRS channels. The GMRS is allotted 30 channels—16 main channels and 14 interstitial channels. GMRS stations may transmit on any of the channels as indicated below. (a) 462 MHz main channels. Only mobile, hand-held portable, repeater, base and fixed stations may transmit on these 8 channels. The channel center frequencies are: 462.5500, 462.5750, 462.6000, 462.6250, 462.6500, 462.6750, 462.7000, and 462.7250 MHz. (b) 462 MHz interstitial channels. Only mobile, hand-held portable and base stations may transmit on these 7 channels. The channel center frequencies are: 462.5625, 462.5875, 462.6125, 462.6375, 462.6625, 462.6875, and 462.7125 MHz. (c) 467 MHz main channels. Only mobile, hand-held portable, control and fixed stations may transmit on these 8 channels. Mobile, hand-held portable and control stations may transmit on these channels only when communicating through a repeater station or making brief test transmissions in accordance with § 95.319(c). The channel center frequencies are: 467.5500, 467.5750, 467.6000, 467.6250, 467.6500, 467.6750, 467.7000, and 467.7250 MHz. (d) 467 MHz interstitial channels. Only hand-held portable units may transmit on these 7 channels. The channel center frequencies are: 467.5625, 467.5875, 467.6125, 467.6375, 467.6625, 467.6875, and 467.7125 MHz.

I think I'm going to pass. There's not enough info out there on this radio. If I can get the CPS for the KG-905g working correctly I may just pick up one of them for $100. It's a known entity that's been around for a while so it's solid.

Here’s a simple little site that answers the question. Just type a ham or GMRS call sign into it and it will display both licenses if they have one. https://gmrs.app

I have had the KG-935G and now have the Plus. On both, I compared the factory antennas to a Nagoya 771G by talking to the same person in the same place 3.7 miles from my house. Both times the 935G (and Plus) oem antennas were a little better than the 771G. I did the same comparison with a 905G and the 771G and the 701G were slightly better. I have not tried the Smiley but have stopped looking for antennas as the oem 935g antenna does what I need it to do. I do understand about wanting a shorter antenna, but oh well. If you try the Smiley let us know what you think.

Eight miles should not be a problem for a HT to reach if the repeater antennas are high enough. It sounds like either the repeater antennas aren't that high or you are dealing with a lot of RF/EM noise in your area. Urban and suburban area are going to have higher RF/EM noise. This is commonly called the noise floor. For the OP, I agree from personal experience that VHF definitely does better cutting through foliage and getting around hills compared to UHF. I notice this all of the time when using the local repeaters while in my vehicle. I can be in a valley or surrounded by cedar trees and I can still get out fine on 2m while 70cm and GMRS struggles at times. Now UHF has its advantages too. UHF works better inside buildings and such.

There are a few restrictions when one instals Windows 10 or 11. As mentioned, there will be no tech support. Another thing is that you won't be able to change some of the customizable features either. But Windows 10 and 11 will still work without activation.

Half joking here, if everyone is on 17 move to 15. seriously though if you are really planning on GMRS as a SHTF family plan have a secondary channel choice to go to should your first choice be in use.

Heard about the new Kenwood TH-D75A and saw it posted on gigaparts. Was curious about your guy's thoughts on it. I am seriously considering getting it as I always wanted the D74, but was unwilling to pay the inflated prices for a used HT. What say you all?

Just had someone testing my repeater with his Baofeng and stock antenna and he was hitting it from 45 miles away. But that was with decent line of sight, your fars will vary.

Your Baofeng and the hypothetical baofeng standing next to the repeater have 6 inch antennas, low quality components, and output only a couple of watts.. The repeater has (probably) a perfectly tuned 10-foot or larger antenna, (probably) very high-end expensive and very sensitive components, and is outputting (probably) upwards of 50 watts.. So not only can the repeater hear everything much better than your $19 Baofeng, but it can squirt it's RF electricities many more fars as well.

So I just tested the Betec 50v2 power and SWR with a Surecom SW-102 meter and 2' RG 8x patch cable and connected to LMR 400 to my j-pole antenna. Here are my results across several channels: Low Power 6.4 watts Medium Power 24.6 watts High Power 55.7 Watts My first test was with a 12' rg8x patch cable and the numbers were considerably lower (eg 38.4 watts high power) then I used a 2' patch cable and got the higher above numbers.

If it was one of my cousins, I would tell them to get their own license. Maybe I'm just bitter because none of them sent a wedding gift ?