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Just another Tuesday at the MyGMRS forums..

Dammit, Jim!

There are some problems with your logic. First.. Amateur radio rules have exactly zero to do with GMRS rules. Don't waste time comparing them. Second, we (members of this forum and the GMRS community) have been debating on the rules and requested verification from the FCC if linking repeaters over public internet for the use of simulcast is within the scope of rules or a violation. There are several contradictions and vagueness in the rules about network connections that the user community just can't say for sure and the FCC is refusing to comment. (plenty of posts here about that) Last... this wasn't an FCC action. It was reportedly two people (FCC employee and a GMRS repeater owner) who are either friends, acquaintances or have some type of professional association, and the FCC employee started some unofficial communications with the GMRS repeater owner. It's unclear if it was a warning or a courtesy from an acquaintances/friend, or if an agent was subverting processes due to some pre-existing work relationship. In either case, there will not be any official documentation in the FCC database. Also, I personally am aware of several people in the professional comms world who are aware of this situation and asked their FCC POCs about this specific situation, as well as GMRS simulcast over public internet, in general terms. Those FCC POCs are refusing to comment on anything. Until formal action is taken and it ends up in court, everyone is just guessing at the regulation.

I wish I could get my wife to buy stuff for herself. She and I talk about purchases, but I would never expect to control her purchases unless I was concerned about her cognitive functioning (not even on the radar!) and I think she feels the same way about my purchases. She might ask me what I bought if my monthly credit card bill is higher than usual, but it’s curiosity rather than control, but i usually will say something like “I’m ordering a new gun” or radio or computer. After 45 years we know how to communicate well. But, neither of us have ever had “my money” or “her money”. It has always been “our money”, so it’s only considerate for either of us to discuss large expenditures with each other. One of the first signs of drifting apart is when couples begin separating their money. We were adamant that wouldn’t happen to us.

OK, I'm an engineer, not an English major.

I used to routinely do this with firearms.

I hope you don’t mind, I took the liberty of fixing it for you.

I generally get what I want, she does what she wants. Back in the day when we were married less than 10 years money was tight and we discussed things. Now after nearly 40 years we try to enjoy life.

There is no real difference between the radio brands. Yes, commercial and public safety models generally have better specifications but that is reflected in the price. System on a Chip (SOC) radios work perfectly for general hobby/personal use. Personally, I think the Motorola, Kenwood and other "top-tier" radios are all way overpriced and for personal use. I recommend some of the Tytera, TYT, Wouxon and other brands as being perfectly usable for general use. 5 W output is 5 W whether it comes from a Moto or BaoFeng.

I absolutely agree with you but as I’m sure you realize, tones do not reduce clutter. They simply mask it. If a channel is busy it’s entirely possible that an emergency call will never be heard. This is part of the fallacy of relying on GMRS for an emergency wherever it’s in heavy use. With that said, having a two way radio of any kind and knowing how to use it is infinitely better than having no way to communicate.

@wqnd300 and @WRXP381 You both are being obnoxious jerks. @Lscott has just as much right to be here and talking about what digital might bring to GMRS as either of you. He brings much more intelligent discussions and less judgmental rhetoric than you also. If you don’t agree with him, that’s no problem. He and I have disagreed about digital modes also, but it’s easy enough to disagree without becoming disagreeable.

It that beautiful person who makes you sandwiches in the morning for your lunch.

Congrats !! What is the height of the antenna?

It’s molded into the cover. The top jack is for the headphone. The bottom is for the microphone. Both are necessary for programming unless you’re using Bluetooth.

I have 39 portables (38 UHF and 1 VHF) and 12 mobiles all UHF. I am able to afford my radio hobby along with my car racing and other car (sport cars and Jeep) hobbies because I have a good income for the rest of my life.

Memory is just fine. Do you remember if it was an FCC ruling or a court ruling? I would be curious to look it up myself. I actually do want to link and out of state repeater with an in-state repeater and the information would be helpful to me

"masking" clutter is all I need. If the un-masked clutter chases me off the channel then there is a 100% chance I will never hear the call.

On the side there are two connectors for the mic and programming. One of them is the output to an external speaker. Not sure which is which though.

Congrats on the long run. We've been at it for 33 years now ourselves. Married later on in life, don't know if that helped us, but that's how it goes. Learned years back to "pay my self first" and basically busted my butt early in my post army days so that I now can work because I want to, not because I need to. And like you it's always been our money, even though the majority of it is mine as my wife has not been able to work for close to 20 years now. Oh, yeah, I've been a Ham for 32 years now, LOL!!!! (just in case the Great Randolpho cares to be reading this thread...

I don't have any DMR repeaters to use it on. HT to HT simplex on DMR is fine. Analog thru repeaters or to my Motorola XTL1500s on simplex works fine. Wish they were >1 W but even that 1W does a surprisingly good job thru a decent repeater. Audio is great.

100% this. Neither of us are getting permission to spend $100 here or there on our hobbies. Just big purchases we discuss. I don't know what kind of harpies everyone else seems to have saddled themselves with but like... it doesn't need to be this way lol

I buy radios, guns, guitars and off-road accessories when I want, as long as I have the money and it doesn't take away from another part of the budget. And I've yet to have to ask permission or otherwise "run it by" my wife. Same for her and her hobbies, most of which, except the guns, she doesn't share with me. Am I the exception or the rule here? I can't see having to ask if it's okay to do something like that. Buying a house, or a new car for the wife, maybe, but not any of the above!

The 8180 is the 30 watt version and the 8180H is the 45 watt version as previously mentioned. The 8180 30 watt version does have a low power setting of 1 watt and the low power setting for the 8180H is 10 watts but unfortunately the 10 watts is not legal for GMRS channels 1-7. Get the TK 8180. The difference between the two radios you will never know the difference between 15 watts in performance. It's only about a dB and a half less. In a group of other wheelers on the trail, more than likely the other wheelers are using either CCR POS junk or Walmart special bubblepack radios, in that case the TK 8180 30 watt version will be more than sufficient. Also, you can't go wrong with the cables built by Blue Max 49ers.

And Guitars.....Theres always one that I MUST have

I'm considering the 30 watts cause its also cheaper lol. Still hoping I can get the people I off road with to switch channels I just saw the prices of a LMR license and if I had to get one I would but glad I wont have to. Not much of a long winded talker so shouldn't be and issue but the sun light exposure is a concern. I think I saw on this forum that someone said there is a kit to be able to mount the face plate and store the body of the radio somewhere else. Might try to see if I can find that kit and use it instead of mounting on the dash. According to the listing both radios are on the 450-520 band split, maybe they meant 450-512 band split for the 45 watt? Checked both through the link you sent, thank you for that and both are Type 95 compliant. Appreciate all the links and the programming software, you're making this real easy for me to pull the trigger on one of these bad boys

Given that the description mentions it being linked to the GMRS Live network, it's absolutely possible that there's another repeater you're within range of that's also linked to the network, but is using the other frequency you're hearing.

Something is very wrong. Those radios, right out of the box should be loud and clear at up to at least 1/2 mile or more, assuming no mountains/hills between the cars. I would try more testing outside to rule out a problem with the radios or something in one/both of the cars causing the problem.

I've been using the RT-10 on 902MHz ham repeaters for a couple of years now. Nice little radio, easy to program with the computer. Great deal for the price although it would be nice if it was higher power.

Were they set on high power? What antenna were you using? But regardless, that doesn't sound right. When you say "noisy transmission" do you mean you were hearing your brother but cutting in and out? Or do you mean "there was a whole bunch of other people trying to talk on the channel we were using"? Tones will fix the latter, but won't fix the former. A handheld in the car isn't ideal (you're inside a Faraday cage with a few holes cut in it), having antennas on the exterior helps, but for just road trip use (car to car, <1 mile range), a 5W handheld should do just fine. What specific radios are they?

People sometimes get hung up on height. We have 60 miles and several mountain passes between Butte and Helena Montana. It’s extremely difficult to get higher than the mountains to get line of sight. Yet we have a guy who checks into our 2 meter Net from Helena. We asked how. He does it by bouncing his signal off a mountain that’s in his sight line. I don’t know if something like that could be done in your instance, but look for high topographical features and see what happens.

DORKS.. The politically correct term is radio-DORKS... "Radio geeks" is offensive and hurtful to geeks.

Agreed. As mentioned, I’m at about 44’ above street level which is as high as I’ll be able to go. We’ll see if I can get through the treetops. BTW, LMR400 is bad ass. I had no idea. Replaced my 50’ run yesterday. Will be testing longer distance than the driveway to my wife in the house very soon

I'd recomend the 8180 and not the 8180H. You wont see a difference in 30 vs 45 watts and if 90% of your use will be simplex and low channels being able to program 5 watts is better. No need for an LMR license unless you want an LMR frequency.

It does not have this capability. The bluetooth is strictly for accessing the programming software from a phone.

Listen both to what is said and what is NOT said. We are only getting a tiny fraction of this story.

On the three recent radios I picked up for GMRS, only the Retevis RA-87 was preprogramed with CTCSS and DCS Tones. Both the DB20-G and the GM-30 from Radioddity came with no tones!. Quick work with the laptop fixed the RA87. Deleted the tones on the shared channels, except the ones wifeypoo and I use, and corrected the repeater tones for the 6 local repeaters hereabouts....

Based on all your multiple previous comments about how EVERY person you know dumps EVERY radio (Midland, Retevis, TidRadio, Wouxun) unless that radio happens to be the same brand of radios that you use, it is becoming clear that you don't actually know anyone. ... Or, you are just F.O.S. But either way, your mythomaniac comments are great for pointing at and laughing so keep up the good work!

When I installed my new radio it was clear it wasn't going to fit the way my previous radio did. Here is what I came up with. Perhaps it will help someone with ideas for their next install. Radio- I installed a mobile radio (Icom IC-2730A) in my truck (2015 Tacoma). Some things I came up with could just as easily be used with a radio like the KG-1000. The radio has a remote head and I ended up installing the main body under the passenger seat. I attached a layer of speaker cloth around it with velcro to keep dust out. It is attached to a piece of leftover fake wood flooring that is basically 1/4” plastic with a rubber backing which prevents it from sliding around. The head unit is installed with magnets to a bracket that is screwed to the same flooring material and was painted black and cut to fit into a cubby and attached with 3M tape. Mic Cable- I installed a cable with a cat five jack in the center console box to the radio base for the mic. The mic can easily be stored away in the box without having to unplug it and the remote face can be unplugged and stored away as well. Cool thing for removing and storing the head unit is a case I had for glasses that it fits perfectly into to protect it and is made of metal so the magnets on the head unit hold it in the case. Mic Holder- I am not a fan of the hanger style mic holders so I found a button style on Amazon to attach to the mic. I didn’t want to drill holes for screws to mount the mic clip incase I wanted to move it so I cut a piece of aluminum, tapped it for some 6-32 flathead screws for the mic holder then 3M taped it in place to the center console. Speaker- The speaker under the seat was less than optimal. I tried installing a remote speaker in the cubby behind the head unit but this was too muffled. I played around with other locations like in the overhead console but when I was waiting for the speaker I had ordered I had thrown a small speaker I had laying around loose into the cup holder and it sounded great. So I decided that was the best route to take and installed it permanent. I have plenty of other cup holders. I drilled about an 1/8” hole to run the wire in the bottom of the cup holder. I lined the cupholder with some foam and hot glued the speaker in place (keeping holes to minimum). I found a speaker grill on Amazon that looks like it was meant to be there and attached it with more 3-M tape (again no holes if I can avoid it). Someday when I feel like busting the board for the head unit mounting loose from the 3M tape I would like to put the bracket on a hinge so you could access the space behind it for storage. A project for another day.

"A repeater that is beneficial to the end user" can be quite limited in reach, if it covers a small, user-dense, area with no cellphone coverage, though. Low-altitude, low-power, and transportable systems can be extremely valuable. You just can't pretend you're going to blanket a whole ZIP code with two potatofengs. Understanding and evaluating your requirements is the first step in speccing out any system, be it radio, computer, or chemical plant, for that matter. Frankly, festivals and such are probably 30% of my use case, all of which can be covered by a truck mounted repeater without much trouble. (It helps that the fairgrounds slope away from the parking area, in my case - but again, understanding and evaluating requirements.) Mobile Repeaters can be done!