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Then you should stick to FRS or MURS. I doubt that the FCC would consider self-consciousness as an excuse for violating their rules. If anything they would think your rationale sounded stupid.

FCC rules still apply. Call sign is required on GMRS.

I'm happy with this install. The remote head mount fits in the bottom front console box with no fasteners. Radio is mounted under the passenger's seat. No wires are showing anywhere except what you see here and the coax from the bumper to the antenna. Antenna coax and direct power from battery thru floor drain grommet. Antenna on spare tire mount. Remote speaker wire plugs into Uconnect radio aux input ⅛" socket and functions thru the Uconnect to the Jeep's factory speakers that can BOOM the audio. Ran the coax along the frame and behind the passenger's rear tire skirt to get to the bumper. The radio is programmed to recieve tons of stuff outside the ham bands for monitoring: CB, GMRS/FRS, marine, air, business vhf, and TV alternate sound.

Not sure if it’ll help, but i downloaded the rt97s software and drivers without issue from retevis’s official site, and put them on my google drive. Here’s the link: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1WbdCZIB1ilz64gNe8QtS6NG1gLHcsg-0?usp=sharing

Thank you so much! I got it to work. I finally made myself talk and ask for a signal report and got a loud and clear. I’m picking up people from 50-60 miles away on this repeater! I’m hooked! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

There's several reasons that you may not be hearing any response from the repeater. For instance, my amateur radio repeaters are at almost 6,000 feet and have a reach of probably 100 miles. But they're 80 watts. Your handheld is 5 watts and at ground level where there are more obstructions, so it may be that your signal is just not strong enough for the repeater to hear. If you are transmitting from in your house or car, your signal can't reach the repeater. Go outside where you have fewer obstructions between you and the repeater. You also may have the CTCSS tones set wrong. I would recommend that you only use a CTCSS tone on transmit, and turn off the receive CTCSS if you are using it. Also make sure your power is set to high. It's also possible that no one is using the repeater. GMRS repeaters are generally not social clubs, so often times there is just no one on them. When you press and release the PTT on your radio, do you hear anything back from the repeater? Like a courtesy tone or any sort of "noise" (squelch tail) from the repeater that drops after a second? One other thing, when you say you are not hearing anything, is it just because you are listening and not saying your call sign and not announcing your presence on the repeater? Just listening may result in never hearing anything. You need to let people know you're there. Ask for a signal report. Just something simple like "This is WSBV888. Can I get a signal report?" Good luck. Let us know how you do.

The best and most important functions to have on a radio are the ones that are most important to you and allow you to do whatever you want to do with your radio. In other words, only you can answer that question. That said, by far, THE single most important feature to have on a radio is the Roger Beep - because without it you will never be able to draw-out all the Sad-H.A.M.s and laugh at them when they start crying about hearing your Roger Beep.

The Mesa Crest repeater is up and running. We have had check ins from Huntington Beach, Pomona, West Covina, Upland, Ontario, Adelanto, Apple Valley, Phelan. Feel free to check in and give us the city you are in. 462.725 T Squelch 141.3 467.725 T Squelch 141.3

Who wants to ROAST/critique my home station setup plans? I would love any constructive criticism before purchasing and setting everything up if anyone feels the need to give me a good roast, lol. Here's the plan: Radioditty 20W DB20-G <-- I have an extra one, so I'm not willing to buy another radio at the moment; but of course, feel free to criticize regardless, lol Comet CA-712EFC Commercial/GMRS UHF Base Vertical Antenna This will be mounted on two 10' fence top rails with base of antenna at approximately 20' in the air https://www.dxengineering.com/parts/cma-ca-712efc#overview 10' LMR-400 N-type cable from antenna to attic vent https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0752VYSST/ref=ox_sc_act_title_4?smid=A3H9JF6OQF5L9G&psc=1 Cable in #3 above will connect to lightning arrester at attic vent https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0C6D3Y9NT/ref=ox_sc_act_title_6?smid=A3VP7QY3689O35&psc=1 30' LMR-400 N-type cable from lightning arrester, into attic vent, thru ceiling and down to workdesk https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B084KNHK4X/ref=ox_sc_act_title_5?smid=A3H9JF6OQF5L9G&th=1 Type N to UHF adapter to connect to radio https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0C68XLQ95/ref=ox_sc_act_title_2?smid=A3UZ9UTGZSE0RX&psc=1 Lastly, one ground wire from lightning arrester to grounding rod, and another ground wire from top of mast to grounding rod Not really concerned with the method that I'll be affixing/securing the mast or details concerning grounding, just curious if folks have opinions on the antenna/radio/wiring.

It is asymmetric. Read the regulations. Although the regulations prohibit certifying a radio for GMRS that can be easily converted to a ham radio, they do not prohibit a ham from building or converting an existing radio to be used for amateur radio activities They do however explicitly prohibit using non-certified radios for 95E. Many ham radios are not certified and certainly not for 95e. There is an argument to make for using part 90 certified radios for GMRS. TL; DR: You can use a certified radio on a service that doesn’t require type certification, but the rules prohibit using a non-certified radio on a service which requires type certification.

Well, technically those are limited to people who participate in MARS or members of the Civil Air Patrol, not so we can use an uncertified ham radio on GMRS , which requires 95E certified radios.

Personal feelings are not rules. You'll likely never be prosecuted for failing to ID with your call sign on GMRS whether you're using a repeater or not. But that doesn't change the rule.

This is why there are Part 95 certified radios.

I have one mounted on a cookie-sheet in the window. You only need a few inches of metal around the base, and it doesn't even need to be solid-metal, it can be strips. There is also an inexpensive ground-plane mount you can by that will do the job, but i dont think the hand-railing alone will do the job unless it's at least 6-10 inches wide. My 72G on the cookie-sheet works fine - it has an SWR below 2 and I can hit repeaters 70 miles away and talk on simplex with HT's ~20 miles away.. YMMV based on terrain.

No, tones don’t prevent interference. Tones are part of the received signal. A directional antenna might make it possible for you to selectively use one or the other repeater.

And something to consider is that commercial lighting arresters do a good job of limiting static buildup on an antenna.

When swr goes erratic like that it could be a damaged connector, water absorption at the end of a cable or at a damaged spot, poor electrical connections on the antenna components or several other things.

Something to keep in mind. Ham radio satellites are running 1 to 4 watts. Ham radio satellites orbit over 100 miles from the earths surface. So it has a LOT to do with line of site and less to do with lots of power.

Sir, the term "CCR" is racist and moolahphobic.

He makes a good point. I'm new to this as well and noticed that I didn't know what features I wanted because I'd never used one. Nothing wrong with buying a $20 CCR and turning it on. You'll soon get a feel for what you like and don't like -- and probably end up with a Wouxun. You can chuck the CCR in the glove box.

For me, I wanted the ability to program the radio without the use of a computer, to be able to program it in the field. Plus receiving NOAA channels. Bought a pair of the Wouxun KG935G+ HTs. IMO, great radios.

How big is the ranch? One centrally located repeater with an antenna at 30’ or higher should easily cover 3-5 miles. If there is no power available in the middle of the ranch you could always set up a small solar powered repeater relatively cheap.

We all have opinions. For your first radio I would recommend a radio that makes it very easy (as intuitive as possible) to program tones. That’s where I see new users get confused. Second, @marcspaz has a video on this site that’s a great introduction to GMRS. Watch it. Third, I would recommend watching Notarubicon videos about GMRS basics. They really are good tutorials.

Some of the radio features to consider are: 1. Talk Around/Direct/Simplex Operation 2. True Monitor (PL Defeat on Receive) 3. Multiple Radio Zones (the ability to have various number of channels in a Zone/Bank) 4. MDC1200/PT-T ID (some repeater owners are starting to implement this feature to validate access for authorized users.) 5. Split tone operation and ability to encode only with CSQ operation on Receive. 6. Narrowband and Wideband Channel Operations 7. Radio Model with After-Market Support for batteries, accessories, and programming software. 8. Frequency Agile for full bandwidth of the Radio Operating Band Range (i.e. 450-470MHz) 9. Ability to have 250 or more channels. 10. Radio model with large capacity (4000 Mah or more) batteries.

Well, that depends on your current, future plans and interests. 1. Do you have or want to get your Ham license too? A significant number of GMRS users also have their Ham license. For example I am dual licensed. 2. If answer to #1 is yes, then do you plan on using the radio for both services? There are used commercial grade radios with Part 95 certification so they are legal to use on GMRS, and can be programmed for Ham 70cm band frequencies. I have a number of those and they each have their place and uses. When you say cost isn’t important there are some radios that run up to the high 3 figures and low to mid 4 figures, so you might want to quantify that a bit more. Those radios typically are the commercial grade types, tend to work better and have a lot of features the usual CCR’s, Cheap Chinese Radio, don’t offer.

So I'm a member of the NGGMRS network, because getting access to 20 linked, professionaly designed and maintained repeaters, covering a few thousand square miles for around $90 a year is one heck of a bargain in my book!

Use the equipment regularly. That way you will understand what works and doesn't work. Watch videos/research on questions that may arise as you use the gear. Rinse and repeat. Sent from my SM-S901U using Tapatalk

The repeater receives on 467.### and transmits on 462.###. The .### part is almost always the same. I've heard of it being different but I've never seen it myself. You have repeater channels that are already set up like this. You have to use the tone on TX or the repeater will ignore you. You can hear the repeater with the same tone as the repeater or no tone at all. Tones work like this: I set a tone on receive and I only hear signals with that same tone. I don't set a tone on receive and I hear all signals regardless if they have any tone. Hope this helps.

Be careful!!1 I have read that the rubicon guy is just a shill for cheap chinese radios and will say anything the manufactures tell him to say!!!1 I know it must be true because the people that say that have been licensed ham radio operators for 20+ years, it says so right in their forum signature!!1

"Upgrade" and "midland" in the same sentence...

To close the loop on this thread. I can confirm through testing that I was likely loosing to much power via my HT through the cable run as mentioned by marcspaz. In testing the same setup with a higher power mobile radio, there was a night and day difference in the repeater clearly hearing my communications. The repeater owner verified I had a very good signal. I even learned my HT performed better to this repeater when not plugged in to the attic antenna. This just confirms more power is what I need to get through the attic space. Now to figure out which mobile station to setup...

Imagine living a life where you get so angry and butthurt over videos that nobody forces you to watch, that you then go around complaining and making up stories every chance you can.. We should all pray for sad people like this.