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I doubt that Ohio has any desert area or that type of terrain.

I’m not sure I understand what you’re saying here… but I’ll take a shot at some possible answers. Channel 17 is 462.600 and repeater 8 is 462.725 receive and 467.725 transmit so different frequencies won’t hear each other. If what you are saying is that when you call out on one radio and you don’t hear anything on the other when they are on the same channel like 17 you may be too close with your radios, try putting 50’ or more between them as they can desense each other. If you are on a repeater channel they won’t hear each other unless going through a repeater so you need to set the tones of the repeater to operate it. Lastly are you sure there are “others” to talk with? Give this video a watch it may answer your questions if I didn’t.

All of my different hand held radios vary in output power from 4 watts to 6 watts. As said, it's the luck of the draw. But one or two watts won't make a difference. I agree that Baofeng radios are not the best even though they do work. A lot of us like the Wouxun brand radios. Check them out to see if one fits your needs.

1) your actual power output depends on what frequency you transmit on, and the luck of the draw - but no, there is no way to fix/change anything to get more out of it. 2) "Best in class" depends on what is important to you and how you define "best" - but generally speaking Baofeng radios are not on that list Dont make the mistake of getting overly hung-up on whether or not a radio is transmitting 5W or 3W - In most cases, usually, most of the time, on average, you will not notice any difference in FARS when comparing 5W to 3W - what you will notice however is that 5W will suck down your battery much faster.

These are vestigial settings left-over from being a ham radio. Most GMRS radios are not designed as GMRS radios from the ground-up. Instead, they are repurposed ham-radios, and usually a lot gets lost (or remains) in the translation. Look through the menus of most of these radios and you will find options that make no sense on a GMRS radio, they do nothing, or, both.

XPEL Clear Vinyl Paint Protection Film

Our amateur radio club has officially opened up our GMRS repeater to the public. The repeater frequency is 467.600/462.600 with a PL tone of 141.3. I will see about getting it listed on the map. For more information about the repeater and our club: https://www.aecimo.org/?page_id=6974

I'll fix my typo. Thanks for catching that. I agree with you that it sounds like he is overloading his power supply.

My understanding is that it’s a 30 amp power supply, not a 30 watt amp.

If it is not a voltage drop, then possibly RF is getting back into the supply. What antenna and feed line are you using, and how is the SWR? Also, it there are fuses in line, make sure they are making good contact; pull them out and put them in a few times to be sure the contacts between the fuse and the wires is good.

The uv-5g plus is a GMRS radio, so the offset is baked in as long as you’re on a repeater channel.

It sounds like the voltage drops. Hook a voltmeter to the power terminal right at the radio if you can and watch what happens to the voltage when the radio transmits.

You may need to check the plastic inserts in each antenna/cavity port. I believe the XLT Duplexer is one of those cheap duplexers that are susceptible to the insert being burned out easily by RF.

Kenwood offers some very good radios for a reasonable cost. For rugged outdoors use as you mentioned a public safety grade radio is a must. I would recommend the VHF models in the attached brochures. You will need the software and license for them. To add some of the digital voice modes to the higher end models requires additional licenses. The NX-5000 series is the only one that can do three digital voice modes, two at a time, NXDN, DMR and P25. The licenses for the first two are really cheap, about $42 each. The P25 license is very expensive and typically used by government agencies and first responders like police and fire. If you don't need P25 then the somewhat cheaper NX-3000 series hand held might work for you. The cheapest option is the NX-1000 series. They are good radios but aren't really public safety grade. Encryption options are available for some of the digital modes if required. The attached catalog has all of the options listed and the current "list" price. You may qualify for a discount if you're a local, state or federal government agency etc. Kenwood Land Mobile Radio Guide 2024.pdf NX-5200_5300_5400.pdf NX-5700, 5800, 5900.pdf NX-3200_3300.pdf NX-1200_1300 Num 1.pdf NX-1700_1800.pdf

The owner is @rdunajewski, I find using the contact link located on the map site is best. You can also report your own comment in upper right corner.

Your best bet would be a commercial license and commercial grade radios. Almost all the radio dealers can help you decide on exactly what radios and the number of frequencies you would need. My suggestion is for VHF itinerant band radios and frequencies, unless you are going to be in the same area for more than a year or two. Then you would want regular business channels still in the VHF band for coverage. Your HQ or base would need a base station and commercial grade antenna system. Be aware though that just having the radios doesn't mean you'll always have contact with your base or handhelds because of the terrain you'll be working in.

Welcome to myGMRS. We’re not all cranky all the time.

you used to be able to use Excel (the newest version) to pull the data from the web site.. But that is no longer working. I agree with you that the site owner should use the KMZ option to the his paid service.. He would easily increase his paid service subscriptions by doing so. I did offer to help him do this for no fees. Even offered to give him the template i built to get the data into KMZ/KML format, he never answered my message. The template i built would allow him to make KML/KMZ for all states. I hope the sample of data i sent will entice him to get this going. In the mean time another web site has reached out to me asking to help them build KMZ files for GMRS. I would rather help this site get it going but we'll see what happens.

It is much easier on the paint than what was originally on the base, and it can be easily removed and replaced when necessary. I have been using this for many years on different vehicles for various applications, and as I stated, the vinyl is attached to the base, not the paint of the car. Alternately you could apply the film to the roof of the vehicle, which is actually what it is designed for anyway. I have some attached to the paint of a motorcycle to prevent paint damage where something rubs against it. It comes off easily. The base originally had a very thing plastic/vinyl covering, not rubber, so this isn't really different, and with a 6 inch tall antenna, it isn't moving while driving. The only time it moves is when I try to remove it.

I used 3M clear paint surface protection vinyl film. I applied it to the base of the magnet mount, trimmed around most of the base, leaving a wide section about an inch or so long one side, then folded the tail over to make it double thickness to be used as something to grab when removing the antenna. Also keep the paint under it well waxed. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B004VG8DS0?ref=nb_sb_ss_w_as-reorder_k0_1_7&amp=&crid=1ELGBGSQ87X09&amp=&sprefix=3m+clea And it looks like I need to remove and clean it and the car once the weather breaks.

You could save some money and use a lower powered radio. Wont need as big of a battery or a higher wattage solar panel. For instance my recent simplex repeater build has been running for a few weeks now on a measly 6ah battery and 10 watt solar panel. However my radio only draws 1.5 amps at 10 watts while transmitting, and .3 amps when idle. Here is the link if you want to see what i used and how it turned out. Might help give you some ideas.

Update: The Anderson connectors worked out fine. Fit nice and snug and easy to connect / disconnect. I also managed to fit the solar controller, microphone, programming cable, and manuals so that the lid closes with everything i need inside. I used velcro to secure a zip lock bag to hold the manuals and programming cable to the lid. I also had an old fiberglass 102’ whip from my CB days laying around along with an old mirror mount, so i used its guts which got mounted to the lid. Then i zip tied my n9tax slim jim to the 102. Now wherever i put the ammo can repeater, the antenna is a “minimum” 9 feet off the ground. If i stick it on the roof of my truck, then 16-17 feet off the ground. All thats left is an external charging port for the solar panel and it’s done. Pretty happy with the result.

I picked up a Rocky Talkie 5W radio. Some peculiarities: All channels are set to narrowband by default. You can however go through a process to change each (high power) channel to wideband, and the change persists across power cycles. Channel 22 had a CTCSS tone configured out of the box. Its "TX beep" is local only, meaning when the beep's enabled it doesn't transmit the beep. It is not a roger beep. When setting CTCSS/DCS tones you can only see a slot number, not the frequency itself. Set your repeater tones with manual in-hand before you head out! The scan feature only offers CO mode, continuing scanning a few seconds after carrier drops. You have to enable repeater channels with a special power-on sequence. Once enabled, they stay enabled across power cycles. What I like about it: USB-C charging. Solid feel in hand. Battery life should be great, I haven't tested it. Simple enough for any family member to use. Relatively small size. The clip actually is a set of jaws with teeth for traction, unlike most clips that are a single blade that just presses against the battery with a bottom lip. Honestly I didn't buy this to use it, but I make accessories for HTs and needed this for that purpose. I thought some of you may benefit from these observations.