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Think your best best then is an Excel or Google Numbers type spreadsheet. Easy enough to whip up with fields like Date_Time_Callsign_Name_Location etc then with the call lookup here on the website, can fill in most the details...

I agree.

He said his 778 gets hot and it looks like you have the 779 aka DB20. By the way that looks like a really convenient spot for mounting, very nice.

Mwaaa is very close to mwahahaha!

I kind of did the same thing with buying a pair of Midlands. I then bought better units, but kept the Midlands for when I am out working in the garden so the wife can call me and tell me it's time for supper................

I can understand that but can they not just shut down the link but leave the repeaters on the air? It just seems like overkill to go totally dark.

Smileyantenna has a decent lineup of monoband antennas. Signalstick and Zbm2 industries has good dual band whips Those are all mom-and-pop companies based in the USA if that’s important

Good choice. I have the 890 model. The antenna appears to be too long, though.

I agree with Steve. Especially since the FTM-500 is a crossband repeater already. I was using two FTM-300DRs as a repeater for EmComm purposes, but I had two radios in two different vehicles and only set them up as a same-band repeater for emergencies and training. Even then, it's not practical and I ended up getting another DR-1X repeater.

Technically it’s possible but it’s not really very smart. The FTM-500 is the top end price wise of the Yaesu mobile radios. You’re paying twice for features that simply aren’t needed. You would be much better with a purpose built repeater like the yaesu dr-2.

Possibly a Standard Horizon HX300.

I use either the OE antennas or Nagoya 701Gs, but I also keep a Signal Stick 440 wrapped up in my hiking backpack. 99.9% of the time, the longer SignalStick & 771 antennas (which some of my radios came with as well) just sit around because, at least out in the open here in northern Utah, I can get 50+ miles with the OEM antennas. Only reason I like the 701s is that they're even shorter than the rubber duckies so they get in the way less when out and about.

Yeah, the limits of 5w in 462 interstitial, 0.5w in 467 interstitial, and 50w in the 462 mains are not necessarily desirable in a handheld. Nobody wants 50w next to their ear. But I think the assertion "most power allowed by law" on a radio that outputs (as their answer says) nearly 3w is misleading, and I can't think of any way to reconcile the statement with the actual FCC rules, which is why I sent them the question.

Ah, you're correct, I missed that. But I've read that several times about the 779uv variants as well, hence my question

Well I don't want a reprimand on my membership....

Change of ownership.

He looked like he was staring straight into my soul.

I run one of these that i got as payment for helping somebody out. I then sent it in to Ritron to get reprogrammed, had the duplexer retuned (it was on a business band originally), and had them enable the auto id function with my callsign. They are high quality USA made repeaters. They are low wattage 2- 5 watts, but i get 10-15 miles with an antenna only 50 feet high running at 2 watts. The other nice thing about them being low power is that they draw next to nothing for amps. I run mine with a 10 watt solar panel and a small 7ah lifepo4 battery. It's always on even during power outages. Anyway, i see them on ebay every so often for $250-$500 (compared to over $1200 new). Just make sure its one of the 450-470 MHz models. The cost for Ritron to retune/program is less than $100 with shipping and is much cheaper than buying the software and programming cable for it.

Yeah, that's just wasteful... especially since we are limited on frequencies. Now I have said before that we (and hams for that matter) don't have huge budgets to select our tower sites of construct a site where we need it to minimize overlap. But there is little sense in putting several wide area coverage repeaters on the air when the overlap completely. When I was still in the game for linking, I was looking at fill sites. Low power, low profile sites that would fill in specific area's where coverage wasn't as good as I liked. But that was starting to get into heavy RF coverage calculations, high power (20 watt) attenuator's for both TX and RX so that I could limit the coverage. The one site I was looking at had antenna's at 400 feet. That created a problem because I needed them much lower but that wasn't an option. Now that I have got off the linking boat, it doesn't matter so much. But I was looking at actually building two additional sites that would have been true simulcast on 462.600 for a total of 3 sites.

It is becoming the norm for off-roading, but when I'm out I scan/listen to all channels.

I once received a complimentary compliment that I wrote down and filed in a compliment file as a complement to my collection of complementary compliments.

Wow, I didn't realize that my comment sparks a grammar war now too (lol)

The TYT TH-8600 and Anytone AT-788UV are both amateur band radios which are not Part 95 certified for use with GMRS. That being said, yes they work quite well on GMRS when opened up. If you are wanting to stay with a Part 95 certified radio then I will suggest the DB20G or Wouxun KG-XS20G. If you aren't worried about Part 95 then the TH-8600 and AT-778UV are good choices once they are unlocked. PS: No need to argue about using Part 95 certified radios versus using unlocked amateur band radios. That horse has been beaten until pulverized into ground meat.

Good discussions…. For myself, I got started in radio with CB. I had to talk to truckers at my job and the best way to do it was with CB, so I asked one of my CB-using coworkers to set up a “base station” for me. He walked me through some of the basics of radio and it sparked my interest. It wasn’t long before I started researching CB, and, in the process, I discovered a fascinating, powerful alternative called GMRS. I realized that GMRS could help me communicate with my family in several cellular dead zones we travel through (though not perfectly, cf. line-of-sight), and after I started talking on repeaters to extend my communication range (and also to chat with like-minded old-schoolers that use my local repeaters), I was permanently hooked. Now, I’m studying for my Technician license for ham radio and will be taking the test in a week and a half. But even so, I’ll probably use GMRS more than anything else.

I run the midland mobiles in my parents vehicles as they are KISS and plug into the lighter jack.

Many folks have dropped their links over that and other stuff. GMRS was never meant to be long distance communications.

That would be "compliments" compliments of the spelling police. Sorry, I couldn't resist....

No it doesn’t, unless you’re one of those who feels better about himself when ridiculing others.

If there are repeaters near you and since you’re within the Amazon return period, yes - I’d return and get something that offers repeater capability. No sense spending money for something you won’t end up using. Consider watching some YouTube videos to get an idea of the different handhelds and their respective pros & cons. I’m not a “fanboy” but I’ve found Randy’s provides some good information on his “Notarubicon” channel.

I like my DB20-G. The software to program it is a little clunky and the manual is *thin*, but there's plenty of user support out there (there's a few good thread on here regarding the DB20-G and the other Anytone 779uv clones). It's a bit restrictive in how it wants you to program it in GMRS mode but if your needs are for something a bit more open, it's easily unlockable if you're comfortable programming in the GMRS rules yourself. (EDIT: Note that there are versions that do and versions that don't come with the programming cable. The DB20 did. I believe the Retevis did not. Just keep an eye on the listing to make sure it includes the cable) I ABSOLUTELY DO NOT recommend the BTech GMRS 20v2. The interface is a mess, changing the volume involves hitting the MONI button and then tapping down the volume while listening to the speaker scream from static, and the speaker sucks so it had to be near full volume for me constantly. That was before it just stopped working after a couple weeks. So...that one went back to the rain forest from whence it came.

Totally true. That is why I have the Garmin Inreach Satellite Service and it works great.

Poppycock! I for one think that more threads with links to those videos are what society and the world needs! Think of the children!

Most other replies have already noted that the majority of GMRS users don't log contacts. It wouldn't be hard to make a google sheets or excel spreadsheet to log contacts if you do want to do so. Callsign lookup would be easy enough here on mygmrs.com or the fcc ULS database. In my case I can't see the need to use repeaters when traveling except for Off-Road runs, where there's a repeater handy, JIC. Most my use of the service is for mobile to base. In town mostly simplex, with some repeater use, to call home, as does my wife (she has zero interest in two way radio other than this). Up north, it's great for mobile to base and base to boat on simplex as we're out of cell phone range on most areas around the cabin. I do have a couple friends I chat with, very occasionally, on local in town repeaters, and one net I try to check into when I can. But I have no desire or need to log any of this radio traffic. Same goes when I talk to people on 2 meter amateur. Mostly people I know and as most FM and repeater contacts don't qualify for awards, no reason to log them. Dave WRJG283

Most people do not approach GMRS as a hobby to itself. They’re not really interested in making and logging QSOs. I use GMRS as a communication tool while pursuing my other hobbies. But, there’s nothing wrong with what you suggest. Just don’t expect QSO cards or log verifications like you get on QRZ.com A friend of mine uses a composition book for logging his ham QSOs. I use the logbook built into HRD for my ham QSOs. I used to just use QRZ.com ARRL makes a nice compact paper booklet for logging. Amazon has it for about $8.

I was going to say the exact same thing. and just so everyone knows, the newer UV-5Rs do not suffer from the horrible deadly spurious emissions/"dirty transmitters" like the early models that you referenced.

I don't have much use for a 2 watt limitation on VHF, so when needed, I go over to the 2 meter Ham band. I do include MURS in my scanning and here in Los Angeles, I hear quite a bit of Spanish language use and English language construction site and traffic rerouting use. And there is grandfathered Walmart use on MURS 5 (Green Dot) with probably older Motorola HTs and radios. There are of course the non-certified typical Baofeng UV-5Rs and MARS/CAPS modified 2 meter HTs. But for certified license free MURS use, I have seen some reviews of radios by Wouxun, Retevis and BTech, and on some forums including this one, I do see much discussion of Dakota Alert products. I personally would use MURS more, if they allowed up to 5 watts or more and repeaters. In the interim I would like to get ahold of a certified 2 watt MURS unit to do distance comparisons to 2 watt FRS HTs. I have done some experimentation on the low power setting on my Anytone AT-779UV (a/k/a Radioddity DB-20G), but that doesn't count! @OffRoaderX did a YouTube comparison of MURS vs. GMRS. Or of course, study up a bit and get a Ham Radio Tech license and all sorts of opportunities become available!