Leaderboard

I suggest you be careful getting answers to deep questions about a firmware update on the gm-15 pro in a thread about the TD-H3. You are just not going to get the depth of responses from experiences users of the gm-15 pro, because, other than a few, why would they be here? For example: I do not have a TD-H3 and am only here because reviewing "Unread Content" at this particular moment in time revealed:

The firmware updater runs only on Windows.. It *might* run via Parallels on your Mac.. But, it might not.. and I dont recall, but you may also be able to do it via the ODMaster app... But... are you really sure you even need the firmware update? I usually avoid firmware updates unless it fixes something I actually care about.

My wife is to refer to me as El Conquistador when in public or on the air.

I will still suggest using a shielded CAT5/6 cable and shielded RJ45 connector for making extension cables for removing the head. The factory extension cable is shielded and uses shielded RJ45 connectors. Shielded cable and connectors will help keep RFI out of the radio. I have to agree that the overall length is not as critical in this instance. In fact I don't see anyone making a 100 foot, let alone 300 foot, extension cable.

For about $300 a better quality 870 channel radio (Motorola XTS2500) with a ton more features that Chinese junk don't have can be had with a lot less headaches in programming and use. That Radio can be had with the programming cable and the CPS and the radio also comes with belt clip, speaker mic, charger, and battery. This about $300 radio package will last a lot longer and be supported than a chinese junk radio.

@WSCF738 In my limited experience, the biggest benefit to more power is when trying to transmit through a bunch of thick trees. Now don't get me wrong, if you want more power, go for it. But if you are having trouble with perfect line of sight, there is likely another issue you need to be looking at besides more power.

In your situation personally I wouldn't rely on radio. I carry a Garmin Inreach for places like that now as I rutinely work/play in areas with no cell. People can argue all they want about coverage but I've never had a message not go thru for giving an update to family or friends. For $15.00 a month I like the safety of it in my back pocket.

Heres a good start: https://www.miklor.com/COM/Review_UV17proGPS.php Specifically, this part: GPS Capability The UV-17 Pro GPS supports both GPS and BDS modes. The coordinates and elevation measurements are exact as expected. This includes location sharing between two UV17 Pro GPS radios. The UV17 Pro GPS also has the ability to send GPS coordinates between two radios. Verify GPS capability To verify that your radio has GPS, Menu 4 should display GNSS to select the GPS options. When GPS is turned ON, a long press of the Blue key in the upper right of the keypad will display the GPS screen.

Just don't use a cheap Chinese junk duplexer. Use a quality duplexer like EMR Corp. Celwave, Sinclair, Motorola, and Telewave.

As long as you identify with callsign every 15 minutes, you're legal. "Hey Fred this is dad" is perfectly legal so long as you throw your callsign out there every 15 minutes. WRTS881/1 this is WRTS881/2 is too anal. Talk to your family like you normally would, just include a callsign every 15 minutes.

Picked one of these up and gave it a good what for. Wrote my thoughts down on my blog. I have a few other ham related blogs and probably some old Short Wave content as well. https://hagensieker.com/2024/04/06/retevis-ailunce-ha1g-gmrs-radio-review/

That's what I normally had always thought. However this antenna was mentioned as no ground plane required. The poster who pointed it out said they had one and it worked fine. I have no experience with this particular one so I can't comment about it one way or the other. https://www.talleycom.com/product/ANXTRA4500N

Your statement about losing 180 degrees of radiation is incorrect. An omni antenna has a larger lobe facing the ground plane and will still radiate in all directions. The increased radiation is from the opposite side of the radiation pattern.

Just my little $0.02 of an update. According to the man that spec'd the KG-1000G with Wouxun, all of the GMRS rules & restrictions are burned into the firmware, and according to him, the radio cannot be unlocked.

It only plays when you are trying to focus on doing some other work.

Check with frank.scaglione@azgmrs.org and ask him what he did on his Bronco. I believe he has a setup for both GMRS and HAM (2M and 70cm).

Never mind. I just checked and the Odmaster App does not support the H3 radio.

I posted the correct pinout for the extension cable on page 1 of this thread.

Okay, I figured it out. All of the problems were because the frequency counter and CTCSS/DCS decoder functions were enabled. I disabled that and everything started working fine.

Firmware updates make me nervous. I take much time researching the issue before I do them. i have not yet bricked a radio, but that is my fear. My concern was not the hijacking of this thread but that a more focused thread will get more replies and information

With the exception of the trails near the Mexican border between Yuma and Tucson and well south of Interstate 8, most of our trails in Arizona have GMRS repeater coverage with the addition of Mingus Mtn. recently. Towers 575 is essentially restricted these days but Towers 600 fills in in place of Towers 575. We're pretty fortunate and several of the repeaters are linked for wide area coverage.

Me three. My Inreach is a feature of my Garmin Overlander Nav System with S.O.S. at the touch of a button. The email portion of the Inreach obviously works slick.

This is actually a VERY good point.. I am The Queen Of GMRS, and even I dont rely on GMRS (or H.A.M.) for emergency communication when out off-roading because 90% of where we go has no Cell,GMRS, or H.A.M. coverage.. I carry a Garmin Inreach, and I too have NEVER had a message not go through.

Sorry, it was not my intention to highjack this thread. My comment about the GM-15 Pro was only meant as a general comment to back up Randy's comment about firmware updates.

I agree also. The reason I asked was because people were talking about line length limitations for cat 5 cables which really only apply when talking about network protocols. If these are analog or even serial signals like RS485 it’s a different matter.

Steven (BTWR tech), said that was for the tethering (radio -> face) cable. But after sleeping on it.... it looks more like a mic pinout. And that image makes the 5-7 crossover even weirder. I just emailed him again to verify if that is the Mic or Data cable pinout.

Is that for the Mic or the tethering cable?

I have been using CHIRP on a mac book m1 for about 3 months now. Now this is on a wouxun kg1000 plus, but CHIRP supports a ton of radios. You may try the manufacturers website first since there software may be more tightly aligned with your specific radio, than CHIRP. I went with CHIRP since wouxun did not support mac m1. So far all works. try https://chirpmyradio.com/projects/chirp/wiki/Home . best of luck UPDATE: You may end up using CHIRP, but only for programming. Any firmware would be by the manufacturer of the radio

An antenna that's advertised as 6 dB gain, is probably 6 dBi, or 6 decibels of gain with respect to a theoretical single radiating point called an isentropic antenna. One of the simplest antennas is the dipole. A dipole has 2.15 dBi or 2.15 decibels of gain with respect to an isentropic antenna. That establishes an additive offset of 2.15 dB. Most antennas are labeled with respect to dBi, even if the manufacturer doesn't include the correct unit. But sometimes they're labeled as dBd, meaning the performance of a dipole is the reference point. An antenna that's advertised as 6.15 dBi is 4 dBd. And you will definitely not lose anything by using a magnetic mount.

A ground plane antenna doesn’t require a DC connection to your roof. Magnetic mounts make a capacitive connection to your roof in spite of the paint, rubber base, etc. I live in the mountains and a 6 db MXTA26 antenna is just fine. But it’s important to know whether that gain number is dbi or dbd. I would agree with Ryan if he was recommending not to use a higher gain antenna but 6 db antennas still have 3 db gain 10° above and below horizontal. That’s 17 feet of rise in 100 feet of horizontal distance. This guy likes the MXTA26.

@LarryWRWH885 Take a screenshot like @WRXR255 did and post it. That will help debug. Also, smudge out the tones if they are not public.

I've heard that story before, but the Harvard Radio Club history says nothing of it: http://w1af.harvard.edu/php/history.php Wikipedia has an interesting page on the etymology of "ham". A couple different versions of that story appear there, but nothing truly definitive. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Etymology_of_ham_radio

Let me clarify this a little. There are 22 FRS frequencies established by FCC regulations. Modern certified FRS radios can transmit on all of them. Those frequencies are grouped into three groups: 1-7, 8-14, and 15-22. The frequencies established for those channels are not sequential. The two groups with channels 1-7 and 15-22 are limited to 2 watts ERP (effective radiated power). But channels 8-14 are limited to 1/2 watt ERP. All of that is laid out in the FRS regulations here: https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-47/chapter-I/subchapter-D/part-95/subpart-B GMRS regulations allocate those same 22 frequencies for use by GMRS radios and add 8 more channels which handheld and mobile GMRS radios may use to transmit through repeaters. Those eight channels are referred to in regulations as the 467 MHz Main channels. So, the groups are channels 1-7, called the 462 MHz Interstitial channels; channels 8-14, called the 467 MHz interstitial channels; channels 15-22, called the 462 MHz Main channels; and finally the eight repeater channels which the FCC calls the 467 MHz Main channels, but some manufacturers refer to as 23-30 while others call RP15-RP22 or something similar. The GMRS regulations limit mobile (including handheld portables), repeaters, and base stations to 50 watts on the Main 462 and 467 MHz frequencies, but on the two Interstitial groups, output power is limited. On the Interstitial 462 MHz channels (FRS 1-7) GMRS radios are limited to 5 watts ERP. On the Interstitial 467 MHz channels (FRS 8-14) GMRS radios have the same 1/2 watt ERP limit as FRS. Furthermore, for GMRS, only handheld portable units may transmit on the Interstitial 467 MHz, so base and mobile GMRS radios are officially prohibited from transmitting on 8-14. Various radios handle that differently, but that’s the regulation. However, by regulation, FRS and GMRS radios are permitted to communicate with each other on those 22 channels which are shared between the two services. That’s clearly established in 95.531(c) in the FRS regulations and 95.1731 in the GMRS regulations. Here’s a link to the GMRS regulations: https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-47/chapter-I/subchapter-D/part-95/subpart-E I hope this helps.

There is nothing to establish.. Talk to whoever you need to talk to, however you want. The FCCs says to announce your callsign every 15 minutes and refrain from profanity but since they dont bother to enforce the rules, it doesn't really matter.

There is no difference between different Ethernet cables with differing Cat labels. The ratings have to do with the capacitance and coupling between the pairs in the cable, which affect how well the cable handles data bits. In actual practice, a Cat 5 cable handles data up to 100 Mbps as well as a Cat 6. For extending a radio's faceplate from the radio body, a Cat 3 cable has all the capability needed. The distance limit, 100 meters, is based on the resistance of the wire to current flow.

Your group should invest in radios on a service that allows encryption.

True. Any radio that will work in the above situation will likely be a commercial radio. Try looking for a Kenwood TK-370G-1, 128 channels, TK-3170, 128 channels or a TK-3140, 250 channels. These are 1 to 4 watt switchable hand held radios, and can be programmed to do wide or narrow band FM on a per channel basis. All of these are Part 95 certified. The radio I normally use is the 370G-1. https://mra-raycom.com/wp-content/uploads/simple-file-list/Specifications/portables/TK-270G-370G-Product-Brochure.pdf https://5.imimg.com/data5/MT/AL/MY-2136226/tk-3170-handheld-portable-walkie-talkie.pdf https://www.ameradio.com/doc/Kenwood_TK2140_3140.pdf While the official lower frequency limit is 450MHz for the models that cover the GMRS frequencies but I have programmed them down close to 440MHz in the Ham band. The software pops up a warning window every time you try to enter the out of band frequencies but will accept it when you click OK. The radios will work a few percent outside of the official range. Most of the Ham simplex channels and repeaters are located between 440 MHz and 450 MHz per the ARRL band plans anyway. The main point with these kind of radios is there are I means to front panel program them and nothing like a VFO on a Ham only type radio. What I did on mine is program a sequence of channels with frequencies like 446.000, 446.025, 446.050 etc. The channel names were 446-000, 446-025, 446-050 etc. This gives a fair simulation of a VFO with a 25KHz step size which is pretty standard on 70cm. I think most Hams have their radios programmed for repeater access with a few simplex channels used by a local groups. I’ve recommended the aboveKenwood radios because that’s what I have. There are other very good radios from Motorola and others that members can recommend too.