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Even though this scenario can actually happen, I encourage you to get your ham license and get on the air. You will increase your circle of trusted friends which can be a real asset during such an event. Also, I think it was @Lscott that pointed out once that in a stressful situation you want a radio that is very simple to operate. It sounds like good advice to me.

While I was not initially impressed with the radio, after spending time using it, it became 1 of 2 radios I recommend for an OTC purpose built radio. I recommend the KG-1000G for those who want the bells and whistles and like to play with tech, and I recommend the MXT500 or MXT575 for people who just want it to work out of the box and simple operation. Everyone has their opinions. There are plenty of good radios on the market for varying prices, but the Midland radios are definitely a good brand with quality options.

As someone that has recommended a few radios to a few people in my day, i have, and still do recommend Midlands to "regular people" that just need simple vehicle to vehicle comms; ie; The Jeep Crowd. Radio Dorks and latent hams will require something with more bells and whistles, but MANY normal people are more than satisfied with the simplicity and performance of the Midland mobiles. Choose the radio with the features that are right for you, and ignore the online "experts" that look down on you for not being the same kind of socially reet-ard-ed know-it-alls that they are - it's difficult, becuase there are a lot of them right here in this forum.. Even in this thread..

You can do some math and set TX offset to a frequency that you have a license for. Not exactly great but at least if you accidentally key up you won’t be causing interference on something you have no business being on. Or don’t put things in that you’re not licensed for and remove the risk. Dare I say this won’t be an issue with a type accepted GMRS radio.

I made a repeater using to KG-1000Gs and I never had an issue with duty cycle, even when our entire group was banging away at it for days at a time. I DID however run into the issue of desense which was limiting the range of the setup - I was getting 25+ miles, but why my geography I should have been getting a lot more fars. As Mr @WRYZ926 said, I too upgraded to a purpose-built repeater and with LESS power out, i get 2x+ more fars.

Welcome to myGMRS.com. In one sense GMRS is quite simple, yet you can take it to quite an extreme. And some people do. Your budget will determine a lot about what kind of radios you buy. I would start with a couple of HTs to get your feet wet. GMRS is in the UHF band so don't expect to get the distances you hear by hams doing HF. Trees, terrain, etc. will affect your distance. It could be anywhere from 1/2 mile to 50 miles or more. Do your own testing in your area of operation to find out what's real for you. "Privacy Tones" aren't private. Others can still hear you, you just can't hear them unless they transmit with the same tone. Repeaters typically use tones to operate. These are just some basics to help you get started. @OffRoaderX has some good videos to help you get started. As you come up with more specific questions, feel free to ask. Also, you can do a search to find questions that have already been answered. 73 Edit: I forgot to mention, @marcspaz did a real good video on intro to GMRS.

What you say we try that again... Seems like you are getting off on the wrong foot and coming in hot. I don't think initially people were trying to be disparaging but perhaps you took it that way. First, thank you for your service. Second, no one cares about your degrees. Oh Yeah, Spoiler alert it's a forum not the help desk where you bought your radios so advice and opinions are going to be at the discretion of the people giving it. You wouldn't ask a stranger for directions on the street and yell at them would you? What people are trying to point out is older commercial grade equipment has a well regarded reputation for doing the job that your set up does not. Perhaps someone at your local Ham club has a set up you can buy that isn't some "shady seller". If you stick around you'll find some helpful people here, in fact there right here in this thread. Good luck.

Well there goes the neighborhood... Be careful you don't snap your neck putting your nose in the air.

Had to do some reverse engineering but found the FAA study approval for the water tower. it was some time ago, I’m going to follow up with the water authority tomorrow morning. With that height, it’s no wonder I can hear the signal everywhere I go. Some days it blows through all the way to 467 MHz. My home is line of sight as well.

Enjoy the CCR you purchased. I'm sure you wont be on this forum long. Manage expectations. Buy junk get junk results. I love how a new GMRS user jumps on here and complains when those in the field for 30+ years give them honest answers. Maybe youtube should be your friend.

Look at hamfests or ebay. I paid $400 for my TKR-850, and I've seen a pile of them at the past 2 hamfests for only $600 (I bet they would haggle). https://www.ebay.com/itm/226048057405?itmmeta=01HSHB2F643BSH9B3Y7YX7EVA1&hash=item34a183a03d:g:UtcAAOSwJCVl9OK5&itmprp=enc%3AAQAJAAAAwEF%2FByVwUUmCl%2FrSSYnqjIKsJDuuv%2BUF61HYqlhp%2Bl0UQInVAy1%2FCs0ZUmjcqVxV85Jr0xLhK%2FY92GLCMomKzm1FEXDp%2BQpqtdPw3xYprvgtU9643vKqX3HjuqAuWVvSSuFzMnpJNrHZGdVJCrBL1QPYPi%2FqiSuokF66kwG%2F2wwBC9bPWlHY9j6quv8J5soB1N1VzJJC40eIFSrhbzIyDisTk3RfFrG8UaHKSOGsoMrGjCDhJxRaGm8ph0GHewvT9A%3D%3D|tkp%3ABk9SR6zziavMYw https://www.ebay.com/itm/386631482370?itmmeta=01HSHB3RKHS3ZKZJ4SYYPMY15T&hash=item5a05083c02:g:mi4AAOSwOg5lozE6&itmprp=enc%3AAQAJAAAAwD6YdARKhicet%2FJCqsdaQ%2FNO1DooBikEygrcPjnosm5ovx92qKiNDmmQJ6dQVo23GdFlYV7tlSLK6%2B2L0grP84qtgJ3tIDWYGFPEiG2KT6%2F6l3EJNOVdf%2FuRC6v9VeQD808EGQnNlwmzv8eRP8RSKUeqxoxrykFr4Y63N%2BYt0ABrk%2B04%2BbKU0VFkhN3rGpmHs17xTQC0z96ui0QIF3r%2Bb7Zo98aglrB3A8HiF0kvYnuqaNavZeOZKCsOiXZHWBZ8mQ%3D%3D|tkp%3ABk9SR_6Jj6vMYw https://www.ebay.com/itm/186330130294?itmmeta=01HSHB5FGYB0DNN6TCJPT9G53M&hash=item2b62242776:g:lkcAAOSwmjFl55rG&itmprp=enc%3AAQAJAAAA0GhDq3Q60ViK0xGgPO0ErM%2B5CQjGV2gizzQB%2BTDIOQIOrHPspeu9XSyISNUpb%2FJV9FAQZfX27azoe1KS2YxF8l8M7vFjBQl3oIx%2FANIs9oHlN8tDtucAgFnXy5wwfWYRNrYIb%2BTQpAFAi846ftGP72nDAV491up63tmCBwGDxRENOLY15J7tCoCnHH53Atz5zfAKwfZDD3JImmOS3r6mtVsFlcj70oIGyBBYNBoKZlc9OA9nUkZbYAU6uKH31zWTjc1rjrH1y4soVKvw93H2elM%3D|tkp%3ABk9SR8j4lavMYw Three examples................

I would consider his comments constructive. Iirc, he himself tried at one point, and there are about a dozen other people here that tried. It's not worth the effort as it never works out. Besides, as he pointed out, you could have just bought an actual repeater for the costs of the 2 radios you just bought.

So after testing on vehicle and the metal hand railing overall average swr was 1.35 on railing and a little higher give or take frequency in the vehicle. Nagoya 72g and kenwood 8180h.

I had the same issue with power output on my MTX500. Midland claims they bench test every radio on power output. Mine only put out 39 watts. I sent is back for warranty repair because in was not even close to being in the +/_ wattage output specification. They returned the unit to me and it was damaged in shipment. They sent me another radio and I asked them to test it before the sent it to me. When I received the new unit it measured 48 watt output which is within their specification output.

It has become apparent to me that I will be learning for the rest of my life. That's one of the things I really like about two-way-radio.

I use the UT-72 for GMRS and have not had a problem with it. A friend and I were talking this morning through a repeater and at one point we hit talk-around for a while. The antenna works quite well for GMRS. Marketing and manufacturing costs are certainly always in play but keep in mind that the UT-72 is designed/tuned for dual band so the UT-72G should perform better for GMRS than the UT-72.

In my experience it's also somewhat buggy too. Maybe by now they have more of the crappy bugs fixed. Also the firmware in the radio had some annoying quirks too. The feature I find most useful is the DMR monitoring mode in the radio. I wish my commercial radios had this, but that wasn't necessary since the market for them ends up with the radios pretty much programmed up once and that's the end of it.

Pro Tip: Normal people only answer questions when someone asks a question. You're welcome.

Welcome to the new forums! Unfortunately, over the last year or so we've had serious problems with our previous board software (phpBB and vBulletin), so I did some shopping around and decided that Invision Power Board is the way to go. Between vBulletin and this new software, I've had to lay out over $400, so I didn't make the decision lightly. While it's possible to migrate the posts from the previous software, I decided it wasn't worth the effort. I prefer having a clean platform and I will be tying the forum software to your main user accounts, so you no longer need two accounts for the site. This extra step will take some time for me to implement, so I'm going to lock down user registrations so we don't have duplicate accounts everywhere. Keep a look out for an update in the near future! So without further ado, welcome to the new forums! I hope this will be our last migration for many years to come, and donations to help offset the software licenses would be very much appreciated.

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.)

Geezus.... Thank you for proving that the people we make fun of actually do exist. But don't worry, because we are all VERY impressed with how smart you think you are!

Here is the pinout for the Wouxun extension cables. 1-1, 2-2, 3-3, 4-4, 5-7, 6-6, 7-5, 8-8 I will suggest using a good shielded Cat6 cable along with shielded RJ45 connectors if you plan on making your own cable. The shielded cable will help keep out RFI from other radios. Again, it will work, but you will be better off getting a purpose built repeater and a decent duplexer versus using two KG-1000G radios for the reasons already mentioned.

Hello New to GMRS. I have seen several videos where it was said that it is possible to listen to frequencies on a GMRS radio that are not GMRS. If this is possible, is there a web site I can check and see if I can find these frequencies based on location? Thanks.

There is no field called "Duplex" in the FT-65R. "Duplex" is simply the field name built into Chirp map which is mapped to the fourth field in the channel table. Yaesu calls that field "Offset Direction" and the three choices for it are (Plus, Minus, and Simplex). If its function is confusing to you, it's because a poorly matched Chirp field name was used instead of using the Yaesu field name.

Write it on a piece of tape on the radio or mic until you have it memorized.

It's not really difficult, but it is needlessly complex, mostly because of leftover commercial radio characteristics: First, you have to create a list of talkgroups. Then you have to create channels. A channel consists of a channel name, Brandmeister ID (or other digital ID), timeslot, color code, frequency, bandwidth, whether transmit is inhibited, whether it's an analog or digital channel, and if it's digital you need a talkgroup assigned. That's why you have to create the list of talkgroups first. There are other fields as well including encryption etc., but you get the idea. Then you have to create at least one zone and assign channels to the zone. You may (not mandatory) also populate a database of digital IDs which links the call sign, Brandmeister ID, and contact name. This can be downloaded. The newest DMR radios have room for 500,000 contacts. My radio handles 200,000 so I can only load most of North America. On your radio you select a zone and then select a channel within that zone.

I’m aware of how the duplex off works but like you said not every radio does this so… If you can program repeaters then there is such a provision. It’s done with the offset. You can change the Tx in programming software. You can do it in chirp. Repeaters use different frequencies for TX from RX, it’s the same thing. You just have to figure out what the offset needs to be. Thus math, for each one you want to change. edit - of course my thought is if you have a ham radio why not get a ham license so you can use it as intended.

There is. I’m still helping my blind friend with his DMR radio (as well as my own) and I wish I could get the ear of the firmware programmers for these Anytone and Alinco DMR radios. There’s absolutely no reason it has to be as difficult as it is. With simple changes in firmware a person could easily just create two channels for each repeater (one per timeslot) and then just input or select the talk group. DMR radios would only be slightly more complicated than analog.

The Wouxun KG-1000G and KG-1000G Plus do not use a standard straight through or crossover cable. The extension cable that comes with the radio works for both remote mounting the head and for connecting two radios together for a repeater. This is where a common and inexpensive RJ12/RJ45 cable tester comes in handy. Hint for you - pins 5 and 7 are reversed. That being said. There are plenty of members here that have made a repeater using two KG-1000G radios. Most, if not all, of them have since went to using an actual purpose built repeater. The reason for this is that the KG-1000G does not have sufficient duty cycle rates for use as a repeater. An actually repeater will have a 100% duty cycle and will hold up to constant use. PS: Here is a good thread explaining duty cycle https://forums.mygmrs.com/topic/1399-duty-cycle-explained/#comment-26152

Midland works fine for the intended audiance. There are way more folks out there using midland products than you think. If not Midland would stop selling it. I've seen them at Farm Shows, Jeep Events, RV Shows and other places. To be honest Midland has been doing GMRS stuff since beforer many of you were born. I have a xstal midland GMRS rig at home that my father put in a car 40 years ago. Yes products change but Midland is just one of many folks that sell stuff. They just cater to folks who want a plug and play radio. Not everyone wants 15 repeaters in there radio or ham and everything else. My parents love the KISS method. I run them in all my Jeeps for that reason.

As said do some searching. We have done this for years for SAR stuff as well as other EMO related boxes. Currenlty we have 2 in harbor frieght peican cases. One is a repeater and one just a mobile with mag mount and cirgarette lighter plug. We also have 2 in Plano tackle boxes.

Outstanding that’s pretty good for sticking on a hand railing.

Do yourself a favor & search the term "intermod" as it relates to RF. What you're seeing is likely a product of 2 (or more) frequencies mixing & creating an un-intended 3rd frequency. I'd bet dollars to donuts that the water tower has some high powered stuff that's throwing out birdies & mixing with something else nearby.

I'm still learning all the sciency stuff about how weather and such effect radio waves...but last night it was an overcast evening and I was able to hit the repeater just fine. So, some cloud cover helps. Either way, I'm learning, and that's what matters most to me.

For the proce you paid for 2 radios you could buy a good used LMR repeater. I've not seen many folks on this site successfully impliment one and have good resoluts. Lots of choises out there if you look.

Those are just fine. Repeater frequencies transmit at 467.xxx MHz rather than 462.xxx MHz, so the SWR changes. But either SWR is just fine. You’ll never be able to tell the difference when using the radio

Management.

I see that a certain repeater lists the rx and tx as 462.XXXX and 466.XXXX. Is this most likely a typo or is this possible? Thanks. Still learning!

It's programmed to be +5.000 MHz for the repeater channels on commercially sold GMRS radios, but the regulations don't actually require that. They simply say that radios transmit to repeaters on the 467 MHz Main Channels and receive on the 462 MHz Main Channels. Some repeater owners have chosen to deviate from the 5.000 MHz offset. It's not technically non-compliant, but it effectively makes it very difficult for commonly available GMRS radios to be used. I don't know why they do that, but I suspect a bias against inexpensive GMRS radios. So, they end up with inexpensive ham radios instead.

From the regulations: (b) Revoked or withdrawn certification. In the event that the FCC revokes or withdraws a grant of equipment certification for a type of Personal Radio Service transmitter, existing transmitters already in service may continue to be operated unless and until the FCC determines otherwise and gives Public Notice of that decision.

Thanks for explaining it like that. The "must use" vs "may use" is what was confusing me before. You're explanation made it very clear. I appreciate the explanation!

Hold on for a minute.... before we start looking at more power, lets look at something else. Namely your receive signal level. Is the signal coming from the repeater full quieting and strong or is there noise with it? Do you have a 'bar' type signal level meter on the radio? If so is the receive signal full bar's or just one or two? Increasing power output can correct poor signal to a receiver / repeater, but it does NOTHING for your receive. And having some sort of obstruction between you and the repeater can NOT be corrected with you increasing power. What do you know of this repeater? Is it a high profile repeater on a tower with 200 foot or better antenna height or is it some mail order antenna built in a piece of PVC pipe 12 feet in the air on somebodies garage? Is this the only repeater in your area, or are there others? If there are others, what sort of performance do you get with those other repeaters? Are those repeaters closer to you or farther away and are they in the same direction from you or different directions? Next question, do you have a metal roof on the house or is it shingle? You are not going to get signal out through a metal roof. You would be better off to put the antenna in a corner on the highest floor that wasn't in a metal roof if that's what you have. Point is that 7 miles to a good repeater shouldn't be an issue from a handheld radio. Even a really cheap one. I am surprised that you even need an external antenna to talk 7 miles to a repeater. But since you do, I am wondering why that is and if putting more power in the air is going to solve anything.

This ^^^!!!

In my humble opinion, it's not an issue of ham vs GMRS. Or what ham has over GMRS. There are advantages to both. GMRS doesn't require a test, just your $35 and a promise to obey the FCC rules. And the license covers family members, up to a point. But the frequencies are limited, and channelized. Ham radio requires a test, the same $35, and only covers one person. There are many more frequencies available with UHF ham radio. Both ham and GMRS can operate simplex or through repeaters. You'll probably find more repeaters on ham radio. I use both, since I have ham radio friends who communicate with me, and I use GMRS to communicate with my non-ham wife through a repeater if I'm out somewhere with no cell coverage. My suggestion is to use both and don't fall into the "one is better than the other" trap. Also, there are a few mobile ham transceivers out there that do HF, VHF and UHF. They're not cheap, and you may end up rolling the dice in the used market to find them. The Icom IC-706MkIIG, IC-7000 and IC-7100, the Yaesu FT-857, and others.

Should have refreshed the page before searching on my own... It appears that a revised hard copy was discontinued and was limited to remaining stock earlier this year. The publisher's site appears down/broken now. DX Engineering was supposedly selling it, but did not appear in a search. The link that Steve provided is good.

Try this: https://duvalaresjax.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/nvisBook.pdf Also, because I’m working with a tablet, it’s not easy for me to save the file here. It might be easier for you.

Thanks. The 2.06 version has the DIY columns with the correct frequencies.

It’s relative. TX CTCSS is the tone transmitted (or output) by whichever radio is transmitting. One radio’s transmit (output) tone is another radio’s receive (input) tone. You must transmit with the correct tone because the repeater filters out all transmissions it receives that don’t have the correct tone But you don’t have to filter out transmissions on your receiver You can leave the RX tone empty and receive all transmissions

From top to bottom... - Open the repeater, but hear everyone. Doesn't matter if the repeater is running splits/etc., you will still hear it and everyone else. - To open the repeater and only hear the repeater or simplex stations with the transmit tone set. - Running "Splits" to open the repeater with one tone and only hear the repeater output or simplex stations running a different tone than the input tone. (*not all radio models and firmware versions support this mode.)

"Two Meters"? I'm no ham, and it is entirely possible that I am totally confused, but isnt GMRS closer to 70cm?