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You spelled 'retard' wrong.

The troll from the desert has an opinion. You know what they say about those…

One thing that I like about the Brendan Carr nomination is that he is already a commissioner. Regulations are some of the most complicated things there are in government and bringing in an outsider who has little experience exponentially adds to the burden for the people who do the actual work.

This video was just posted to YouTube. I have no affiliation with it but I have seen the presenter’s videos before and he follows the science of things. I have long been fascinated with the Amelia Earhart story and this video largely focuses on the radio aspects of her final flight. I thought you all might enjoy this. Cheers

Expanding on this with an example ..I think of it like you and a friend in a room, 6 ft apart. In the absence of other noise, you can carry on a conversation at a normal speaking volume just fine. Desense is the equivalent of now you have a rock concert speaker stack playing next to you, while you try in futility to hear your friend....you see their lips moving, but can't hear anything they're saying.

It’s a little known fact that H.A.M. is an acronym for “Hounding Anonymous Men.” No, that’s wrong! It isn’t an acronym at all.

Are you testing with the two handhelds in basically the same location? If so, since the repeater is passing the transmitted audio in realtime it's entirely possible that the audio is getting through, but the nearby signal from the transmitting radio is causing the other radio to desense (or "go deaf"), so it doesn't "hear" the audio coming back. Having done a little testing for/with desense, the behavior in practice is pretty much what you described ...receiving radio shows an incoming signal, but no audio. Unless there's some pretty severe barrier (like a hill/mountain) to the signal (or a pretty bad blind spot near the repeater), getting into the repeater from a couple miles away should be doable.

Thank you, I guess l am too far away from a couple of repeaters, am hoping l get approved on 1 that is top of a tall building and only 1/2 mile away. Maybe l will take a drive along the river and see how it goes. Thank you T

It’s just the choice some manufacturers make. RPT15 is exactly the same as 23, RPT16 = 24, etc. Personally I prefer using 23-30, instead of RPT15-RPT22, but it’s the same thing RPT15 (aka channel 23) receives on the same frequency as channel 15, but transmits 5 MHz higher.

Are you typing in a location or using location near me? If the latter, it’s possible your browser isn’t set with permission to use your location. That’s just a guess.

Thanks for including page and sitation number... I'd be reading all day lol. Nice find. I guess the repeater might want to consider some tones for the radios RX.

No, the frequency 467.550 is not solely allocated to GMRS. Look at US287 on page 153 of this document: https://transition.fcc.gov/oet/spectrum/table/fcctable.pdf

That’s correct. When you specify TSQL you send a tone to the repeater and you filter out any transmission that you receive unless they match your receive tone.

Yes, if it has a decimal it is always CTCSS. For the other questions, keep this page handy. If you are like me, you will forget and have to refer back to it from time to time.

Hmm, $200 huh, I think I just might have to get my "IZARUBI" dirty more often. At my age, I think it's time to pay to have someone to wash my Jeep while I watch.

Actually if Grindr and Tinder were mentioned, now that would be all-inclusive.

Humor and sarcasm are never necessary, but they sure are funny and never against etiquette. Apparently, some found it offensive somehow. Very important life tip coming. Offense cannot be given. You have never heard anyone say "Standby, I am about to give you some offense". Many say "I take offense at this or that". Getting offended says more about the one who took offense that the supposed offender. Not good things either. It typically shows a lack of something. A sense of humor for example.

No, not always, but I try to be accurate. Like anybody I’m far from perfect.

I would recommend at least watching the video before commenting on it. The problem discussed has nothing to do with a radio, but the fact that all parties involved did a very poor job of communicating and coordinating with each other. Taking unprovoked digs at Hams for no reason is in poor taste, too... though I'm not going to try to tell you not to share your opinion... I'm just mentioning it.

While there has been a significant increase in GMRS license holders and repeaters in recent years. Not every corner of the US has a GMRS repeater. There is always a possibility that you are having issues with what you are doing with the search, it might be that there are simply no repeaters in your area. If you are willing to give a basic location of where you are, one of use can take a look and see if there are any repeaters that you just aren't seeing or if you don't have any coverage in that area.

Welcome Mike, I’ve never been to south east Massachusetts but it didn’t strike me as a bad place. There’s plenty of good people willing to help here. There may be some clubs out your way.

I like that one too. Spoiler ahead, I really liked the point in the story where they basically point out the importance of using the correct antenna for the job…

Forgot to add, do l just us the VFO mode and find the freq that's for the repeater in question, from the HH or just use Ogmaster (which is probably be easier)and where it says Decode(rX) Encode(TX) is this where l put the tone?

Let me get my tinfoil and popcorn for this one.

Thank you as well, always appreciate kindly avuncular advice! Amusingly, the linked K5+ manual also only shows two Tx power levels, so I will assume for now that this is a persistent typo across several manuals. I should note that the 5RM CHIRP (legacy) profile works fine as far as I can tell and does show three power levels for my AR-5RM. Thanks all.

You could try Baofeng K5+ ... they seem very close and it is 10W tri-power, aircraft ban RX. I can't tell what if anything is different. The extra battery being sold for AR fits them both. It has 5RM as part of the ID #s on the inside back label. https://www.baofengradio.com/pages/download

Fascinating documentary. Favorite quote from Hertz, "I don't think the radio waves I have discovered will have any practical application."

The 150 - 154 mhz frequency is in the MURS band, while the 2 meter band is 144-148 mhz, so I had no reason to check the SWR in the 2 meter band. I bought the antenna specifically to use in the gmrs band and tuned it for the best response. There is a Larsen glass mount antenna specific for the gmrs band, Larsen KG450UDPL 450-470 MHz, for $109 art Gigaparts which was more than I wanted to spend. I know that there are several glass mount 2m / 70 cm ham antennas available that might work for you.

Welcome, Mike! There are a few other threads based on your level of expertise. Feel free to ask questions!

So I think I'm beginning to see a trend here. 1) CB is for citizens to talk to other citizens whether they know each other or not. 2) GMRS is for co-workers / family / friends to talk to each other IF they know each other, but not to be mixed between the categories. ("Don't cross the streams." ~ Egon Spengler, PhD) 3) HAM is for talking to random strangers. Is that about right? Give me a minute to grab a snack... I've still got a lot to learn here.

Thank you, as an absolute novice, I sincerely appreciate your assistance. However, I already found both a UV-5RM and the UV-5RM PLUS manuals online. The problem is both manuals document only two transmit power levels where AR-5RM has three. So, I wonder what else in these manuals might be different?

I hit my repeaters at 21 and 17 miles normally. I've hit them still at 28 miles but it's starting to get to the limit. If you can't hit the repeater it's likely you have a small hill or lots of trees in the way diluting your signal to the repeater or you are not programming your radio correctly. It's also possible you've gotten one of their defective output radios. I've had two of them that would receive just fine but transmit power was nil. I just requested a replacement and received them I find the TD H3 radio to be a very good radio for the price. The one real limitation it seems to have is channels above 54 only seem to be able to receive and not transmit. I talked with them and they know about it and don't seem concerned. It would have been nice if they documented it.

On the far left half we have International. On the right half, we have US. Within the US half, we have 460-470: Meterological-satellite space-to-Earth, and we have 462.5375-462.7375 LAND MOBILE - Personal Radio (95). They do overlap. But I don't see how "Meterological space-to-Earth" can justify someone setting up a digital land based repeater. But the international Fixed Mobile, on the left... that could interfere if you're in Key West and picking up Cuba, I suppose. But there's more overlap in the 467 range: Maritime (80) and Personal Radio (95). Perhaps that's one more reason why channels 8-14 are limited to a half watt? Also notice that 462.5375. Strange number, right? The lowest GMRS channel is centered on 462.5500 (15). So why doesn't the chart show 462.5500? Because channel widths are 25kHz, which means -12.5kHz and +12.5kHz. So 462.5500-0.0125=462.5375. Or to put it a little clearer, 462.550MHz minus 12.5kHz (half the 25kHz channel width) is 462.5375MHz. You'll find the same math problem at 462.7375, 467.5375, and 467.7375.

Wouldn't the FCC regulations override the ITU regulations in this case? Although I'm sure the FCC is in no bigger hurry to enforce this any more than they are in a hurry to enforce other GMRS regulations.

Keep in mind that maritime users ARE allowed (even digital!) on the GMRS repeater input frequencies of 467.550 and 467.575 per ITU (not FCC) regulations but not the outputs of 462.550 and 462.575. They may affect (as they do in my area) the input of a 550 or 575 repeater mixing in with legit traffic even if on a different tone causing a bit of chaos on the output.

Just like many will never read an owners manual for a product they've purchased. But they are still provided one none the less on the off chance that someone who cares enough to truly search for answers will be able to find them there. Otherwise you end up with 100% of the newbies asking the same questions over and over again and that aggravates "some people". Either someone is willing to help, or they're not. And that includes the person asking the questions. If you aren't willing to make an effort to try to help yourself, then don't waste other peoples time asking them to do it for you. ($0.02)

If they refer to it as a tone, it’s CTCSS, but the decimal makes it certain. When a different tone is listed for receive, you can always just leave the receive tone empty. If you do use a tone for receiving, there are only two choices that make sense for Squelch Mode: Tone or TSQL. The difference is that TONE means you send a tone to open the repeater but you don’t filter on the receive tone. TSQL means you send a tone to open the repeater and you filter received signals, breaking squelch only when a matching tone is received. DTCS is only used when you send or receive digital codes (aka DPL).

Sounds like they may finally be getting embarrassed about all the re-labeling they do.

Maybe that's why I haven't put any real effort into it yet.

And you as well. Welcome

You’re sure welcome. And pay no attention to the guy who has thrown away more radios than Baofeng has manufactured. We all just understand that he only feels good about himself when he’s sniping at others.. The range you’re getting is reasonable inside a city with trees and buildings. He lives on the edge of a desolate valley and apparently doesn’t understand the difference.

The world we live in today is much too soft. [emoji849]

Perhaps we need some more emojis added to the collection eh?

The best GMRS channel to monitor is the one in your local area that has the most traffic to monitor. But: If you got a GMRS radio to monitor/listen to people talk or to find anonymous men to chat with, you bought the wrong radio. Using the Grindr app might be a better choice for you.

Are you sensing that you are not welcome in the Copper State? You are a good fit for California and fit-in very well.

Here’s a video from Notarubicon about the AR152. Note that at about the 20 minute mark he discusses using Chirp and which radio the AR152 “self identifies“ as. And yes, wrkw566 is exactly right. Save the initial and various versions of the data as you program with any software.

Jeep is owned by Stellantis, a Dutch corporation. So it’s literally a Dutch car company building Jeeps in Toledo, Ohio from 70% US parts and 30% foreign parts.

Asian product built in US: Tundra US product built in Asia: Your radios

I don't have this radio but maybe my two cents will help. As mentioned by @dosw, when programming Air Band in Chirp be sure to select AM in the mode column. Also some radios that do Air Band receive will only do so in the upper display and not the lower. Good luck.

Nice detailed review. Thanks for the antenna tests. I got 2 of these a few days ago and have been going through them pretty thoroughly. I am getting about 7.5w on H, 4.5w on M, and 1.4w on L on the GMRS freqs. I did test on the 2m call freq and got 9w, but I don't use this radio for 2m. I bought the minimal set that only has the one short antenna. I have no way to test the antenna other than comparing it to the GMRS tuned antennas that I currently have for other radios. So, with my current GMRS antennas, I can easily open and talk on the closest repeater to my house with the AR-5RM, which I can not do on my other 4 and 5 watt radios with the same antennas. I also can not even open that repeater with the AR-5RM using the included short antenna you tested. One little thing that might be a big thing for some. is the placement of the USB-C charging port that is on the battery. Many times these ports end up on the bottom of the battery or radio so you are not able to stand the radio up while charging. The port on the AR-5RM is on the back of the battery and has a little rubber cover. One last thing. This radio has the typical Roger Beep, but it also has a MDC1200 sounding tone just for fun. This is a decent radio for the $30 I paid.