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This ^ is the best advice.. Unfortunately too many people react, argue, complain, etc, etc, over the air and that is the exact kind of attention most jammers want. If you ignore them and pretend like they aren't even there, and just talk over/around them, without any reaction, they often/usually get bored and go somewhere else to get attention.. Much like a spoiled child.

First thing is NOT giving them what they want, which is to be recognized and acknowledged for what they are doing. If at all possible, when the show up and there is a conversation going on, continue the conversation without commenting on the problem. Keep right on talking. If one of you gets covered up by the guy, DO NOT directly say that. Claim it's noise, or something else. If possible have a conversation going on a different channel so that it seems transparent. But DON'T say anything that gives them recognition. That is what they want. If you clear the frequency, again the person 'wins' by default. Don't let that happen. If needs be, get several other people into the conversation. Get a conference call going on telephones so everyone knows whats being said. And just keep talking like the person isn't even there. This will frustrate them the most. If they aren't having any effect, they will go find someone else to screw with. Make sure when they get on initially, ask them to REPEAT their call sign. Act like it's just another conversation. Act like they are having sign issues if you do this. Tell them they aren't making the repeater very well and advise them to try again when they get closer. Mention that they might want a better antenna. This is regardless of how good their signal is. Full quieting or not. THey are weak and barely making the repeater. But address them the same as you would anyone else that had a poor signal and them tell them to give you a call once they get closer. Throw your call and wait. That typically will confuse them and again cause them to be frustrated. I can't explain the mentality of folks that do this. And I use to do it all the time to certain individuals on CB because they had it coming. But to take time out of your day to just be an asshole. I don't follow that thought process, and I even identify as an offensive asshole, so I speak from some level of experience here. But DON'T give them ANY level of satisfaction if you can help it. If you aren't showing any level of frustration with them, they will be more frustrated than you are. They are looking for a captive audience. Don't be one.

Cheap beer is a helluva drug.

Some people will never learn

We had a kid that was using his grampa's radio without permission. He kept getting on the repeater using CB lingo. We ignored him. Then he tried using a totally made up call sign. Again we ignored him. Then he was dumb enough to use his grampa's call sign. One of our members then started talking to him. We got his grampa's name and address from the call sign. We then send an email to the grampa. We haven't heard the kid on the air since. We have had instances of kerchunkers bouncing from our GMRS and 2m repeaters in quick succession. Again we ignore them while members try pin point the person's location. We have found a couple and just the threat of FCC fines was enough to stop them. We also programmed our repeater controllers with an anti-kerchunk feature. It keeps the people that just push the PTT in for a second from even opening up the repeater. That has took the wind out of a few kerchunkers sails. Sometimes a cease and desist letter is enough to stop people and other times it's not. A cargo van with a bunch of mag mount antennas on the roof parked across the street is enough to stop some people too.

Per antenna height. a 100ft antenna has 14 miles line of sight to someone laying on the ground below. But it has 28 miles to another 100 foot antenna.

We used to put a nail through an offender's coax.

I wonder what it took the get the FCC to send that one letter to that one guy? Whoever prompted that action should publish an FCC How To.

That machine is one of mine - it's not well documented, but if you use app_rpt (asterisk/allstar/hamvoip/etc.) as the repeater controller it supports MDC decoding and can be configured to behave accordingly. The software can map MDC to DTMF instructions and macros, and DTMF codes can be used to establish an access table (dtmfkey=yes), so that's how you get the two systems to work together. It can also do things like automatically link or reconfigure based on MDC statusing, so it has use cases outside of access control. Use of MDC was encouraged; the member website automatically generated random PTT ID codes for every member (existing and new), and automatically uploaded the keylist to the repeater system every 15 minutes. Users without MDC capable radios were able to use DTMF PTT-ID which worked too, just slower and not as reliable in noisier signals. The area that machine covers had a lot of issues with bad behavior on high-profile repeaters, so this was our way to send a message and clean things up fast; it worked very well for that. We had it on for about a year, and its since been disabled to make programming easier for new users, its stayed relatively clean since. Once you have it configured it's really easy to turn on-and off, literally one line of code, we had considered propagating to the rest of the repeaters on our system but haven't had a real need to just yet so make life easy for the non-problem areas it was kept off. The other benefit is that every user's keyup is logged; it made it really clear who some of the chronic kerchunkers were and they were contacted directly to knock it off (wait you can tell it was me?? :shockedpicachu:)

I bought one this summer when Amazon had it on sale for $89.99, which made it cheaper than the DB20-G. I returned it immediately because about half the time it would go through an off-on cycle when the PTT was pushed. The replacement has worked fine. Connected to a Nagoya UT-72G I'm all in at ~$125.

Yes he was on our 2m repeater. We would have just told him to use the proper callsign if he was on our GMRS repeater.

I should have been more precise when I talked about the kid. He is at least old enough to drive. He was driving grampa's truck the time he used grampa's call sign. The email to grampa was nice in that we offered to help the kid get his license. We also stated the consequences of what could happen if the kid continued using the radio without a license. Grampa has only been licensed for a couple of months. I bet grampa was pretty upset when he found out the grandson was using his radio(s) without permission. Like I said, we haven't heard the kid on since we sent grampa an email.

I recently picked up a Baofeng AR-5RM. The kit included the radio with battery, a standard "701 clone" antenna tuned to FM (broadcast radio) / 136-174MHz / 400-520MHz, an Abbree AR-771 VHF/UHF antenna, a desktop charger, wrist strap, belt clip, and a manual which turned out to be better written than the manual for my old UV-5R radios. For those who are unfamiliar with this radio, it is pretty much identical to the UV-5G Plus, the UV-5RM Plus, and possibly other Baofeng radios. It's marketed as pushing up to 10w transmit power. The radio is quite a bit larger than the older UV-5G (UV-5R sibling). The screen is much nicer, though I've seen complaints that it's hard to read in bright sunlight. I suspect that's true, though it's still legible to me. The menus seem better laid out, but maybe that's because the display has more characters, so it's easier to understand what the menu is saying. Compared to the UV-5R's 128 memory locations, this radio has 999. Just about the first thing I did was use my old Baofeng UV-5R USB cable to program it with Chirp. This process went smoothly, and the data upload/download is about twice the speed of data transfers with the older UV-5G. Chirp is going to be Chirp -- if you know how to use it with one radio, it works just about the same for any compatible radio, with the addition or subtraction of a few field columns depending on the radio you're programming. I noticed that this radio allows up to 12 characters in the channel name field. And it offers three power levels, low, medium, and high. Through some testing I determined that these equate to about 2.5w, 5w, and 10w. Spurious emissions.... When transmitting with my older UV-5G and looking at the spectrum waterfall on my RTL-SDRv4 I would see a sharp peak at the frequency center, with two short peaks a few kilohertz away in either direction. This isn't terribly surprising, as my SDR's antenna is only six feet away when I test. But when I transmit with the AR-5RM and observe the waterfall, I don't see those secondary peaks on either side of the frequency center. I also used some software to do a wider scan with the SDR to see if there were other significant emissions across a broader portion of the UHF spectrum, and really didn't see much, in my unscientific test. Next I hooked up the Surecom SW-102 along with a dummy load, and tested power output at 2m, MURS, Marine VHF, 1.25m, 70cm, and GMRS frequencies. At low power, the output was usually in the 2.3-2.7w range, with a bit of a dip, closer to 1.9w in the 1.25m band. At medium power, there was another dip down to just over four watts at 1.25m, but in other VHF and UHF portions of the RF spectrum power was very close on either side of 5w -- sometimes a little over, other times a little under, but just barely. At full power it came in around 8.2w in the 1.25m band, but everywhere else was between 9.4w and 10.2w. It's worth noting that as a GMRS radio (for which it isn't type approved), it would be inappropriate to set it up to transmit on GMRS channels 8-14, since they're supposed to be 0.5w channels, and this radio really doesn't go below about 2.5w. For MURS (for which it is also not type approved) you're also pushing it a little, since MURS is supposed to be <2w. But 2.5w is only 25% too powerful, versus 5x more power than it should be putting out, which is the situation for GMRS 8-14. The antennas: I did sweeps with a NanoVNA within each of the ranges mentioned above; 2m, MURS, Marine VHF, 1.25m, 70cm, and GMRS. The included antennas perform fairly well. The shorter one had an SWR of <2.5:1 throughout all the ranges except 1.25m, where it was something like 3.5:1 -- not appropriate for use in that band. The longer antenna scored consistently better in all of the ranges I tested. Still not really appropriate for 1.25m. With both antennas, they tended to see a bit too much rise near the top of the Marine VHF spectrum. If this spectrum is important you would probably want an antenna better tuned to that set of frequencies. But they both did pretty good at 2m, MURS, 70cm, and GMRS. I compared a Nagoya NA-771G, and it did even better at GMRS frequencies, at the expense of slightly higher SWR in the lower parts of the 70cm band. The 771G did okay in the upper portions of the 2m band, and MURS as well, though it's not designed to be a dual band antenna. Testing with the long antenna (the Abbree 771) at 5w (medium power) I hit the Ogden repeater (43 miles away) and the Promontory repeater (64 miles away). It helps that I have line of sight to those repeaters. Over Simplex I tested at about 3 miles and 5 miles from my home at each power level using both the shorter and longer antenna. The 5-mile test was more interesting, so I'll rank the results of that test from best configuration to worst. First, though; I did manage to get through to my home, with where I had a VOX recorder set up, using each of the configurations. I'm going to mix my RA-87 (40w radio) with MXTA-26 for comparison: Best to Worst: Retevis at 40w: Full quieting, no static at all. Crisp sound. Retevis at 25w (M): Nearly full quieting, no static. Crisp sound. The noise floor was just very slightly higher. AR-5RM at High with long antenna: Obviously it's going to sound a little noisier at 10w with a 771 clone antenna than the Retevis, but still very good. Retevis at 5w (L): slightly higher noise floor than AR-5RM at 10w. AR-5RM at Medium power, long antenna: noise floor was just a little higher than before. AR-5RM at High power, short antenna: I had to listen several times to hear the difference between high/short and medium/long. But medium/long won by a hair. AR-5RM at Medium power, short antenna: Still pretty good, but high/short was a little less hiss. AR-5RM at low power, long antenna: Noise floor was quite a bit higher, and some static coming through. AR-5RM at low power, short antenna: Considerable hiss and static, but my voice was still very clear, easy to make out. I should have tested against my older UV-5G but I ran out of time. At higher powers, the difference between the long and short antenna wasn't as important. At lower powers, the antenna length mattered a lot more. Overall, though, antenna length seemed to make more difference than power level. Configuration: I don't see much point in draining the battery and singing my eyeballs by transmitting at 10w all the time. The sound quality at 5w from 5-miles away was pretty good, particularly with the longer antenna. And I was able to hit those distant repeaters at 5w. Therefore, as I configured the radio with Chirp, I set channels 1-7, 15-22, and repeater inputs to medium - 5w. I set MURS to Low, 2+w. Marine VHF/16 and the 68,71, etc working channels are set to Low (2+w). I haven't tested it with an antenna -- only with dummy load -- at 2m, 1.25m, and 70cm, and currently have it configured to not be able to transmit on any frequencies. And I've set GMRS channels 8-14 to not transmit, since its minimum power level is way too high compared to the requirement of staying below 0.5w on those channels. To configure it to not be able to transmit on a frequency that you have programmed into its memory slots, you set the "offset" to "off." At that point, when you hit PTT, nothing happens. In Chirp there are four possible offset modes: (blank) which is no offset/simplex; off which is no transmitting possible, + (positive) offset, and - (negative) offset. Air band: I've listened to air band with this radio. When you set it into the airband (108.0000 - 135.99875MHz) it automatically switches to AM, and will not transmit (tested with a dummy load). It does pick up ATC just fine. Battery life: I've never run it all the way down, so I don't know. But I do like that you can charge it either from the desktop base, OR with a USB-C plug. In the spirit of avoiding surprises: This radio, at least in the package I bought, doesn't come with a USB data cable. But it works with the same data cable used with the UV-5R or UV-5G. And within Chirp you chose the Baofeng 5RM profile (my UV-5G uses the Radiodity UV-5R profile). The green button (search): Hold the green button for a few seconds. The phone will say "Search." Now hold the PTT on another radio. In a few seconds this radio will show the frequency, and a second or so later, will show the DCS or CTCSS tone. Then it will let you save it into a memory bank. I can't remember for the life of me how to delete it (other than with Chirp) but that's in the manual, for sure. The point is that you can pair it up to another radio that is already set to a frequency and tone quickly and easily. I tend to be the one setting up my radios and handing them out to family members when we go skiing or hiking, so it's probably not a feature I'll need much. But if you find yourself bringing a radio to an event where you know others will be using GMRS or FRS to keep in touch, you can get paired up to their radios easily. I'm well aware this isn't a $50, $80, $100, or $150 two-way radio; it's a $35 (with extra antenna) multi-band two way radio; it should, by all rights, be a much worse radio. But its power levels are quite close to what's advertised, within about 5-6% of advertised across most of the bands I tested. 1.25cm is kind of the exception, being more like 10% off. But still, this radio is better than it should be. It feels pretty solid. Its sound quality is quite good. Listening to my recordings, it sounds like it transmits clearly. Scanning is pretty slow -- scanning is always slow on 2-way radios I've used. Squelch isn't perfect -- scanning 2m repeaters I keep getting hung up on one that must have another more distant one on the same frequency, too far to hear, but powerful enough to break squelch even when I have it set high. When people review equipment there's often some level of confirmation bias. I'm probably looking for reasons to like the radio, and to defend my purchasing decision. If I were looking for negatives, things not to like, I would come up with a few: It's quite a lot bigger than the UV-5G / UV-5R. It doesnt' fit into a pocket as easily. The included ABBREE 771 knockoff antenna feels cheaper than my Nagoya 771G, and the 701 knockoff is even cheaper than that. The scan button requires a long press, and an accidental short press puts you into a DTMF transmit mode that you can't seem to get out of except by hitting the "monitor" button once, which is an undocumented path. The antenna jack is SMA-M, whereas the UV-5G was SMA-F, so I had to order different adapters to be able to use an external antenna. The dust cover over the mic/speaker/data ports feels like it could wear out if you're opening and closing it a lot. Unlike the UV-5R/G you can't alter the levels associated with the squelch settings. That was a common customization people made with the UV-5R series. The USB-C charging light on the back of the battery shows a dim green when fully charged -- too dim to see in outdoor daylight. You can't set the power level low enough to meet power requirements for GMRS 8-14, but I don't really care about using those channels anyway; my mobile radios can't use 8-14 either. In the overall picture, those are minor things, for a $30-35 radio.

i

The poor horse should have been beaten so much that it is nothing but liquid puree by now.

A generator that is NOT properly shielded for EMI and RFI will definitely jam radios. You would have to be within 150 feet or less with the generator though. And yes I know this is a fact since I would purposely jam certain peoples radios with my truck mounted machine shop while I was in the Army. The truck had a PTO driven 25 Kw generator that would jam all commo equipment within a 150 foot radius of the truck when running.

Thanks all for your input and feedback. I took a stab at tuning it with a NVNA. I’m sure it’s not as good as it could be, It’s inexpensive equipment so good enough is something I’m okay with for now. I did ensure my VNA was frequency accurate, thank you for that. Getting about -70dB with a 25mhz spread from both hi/lo. I don’t have the resolution to get much more and it got to the point where I was just chasing it so I’ll live with -70 for now. who knows, it’s a cheap duplexer so maybe it can’t even get better than that. I did happen to connect everything backwards at first which caused an interesting and frantic full volume loop at midnight. Wife was not happy. Thanks again everyone.

I have had one now for nearly 2 months. I recently was on a 650 mile road trip up to Portland OR and it performed quite well using a mag mount antenna on the trunk. The audio is loud enough to hear at highway speeds. Good audio reports from people I talked to along the route. While it's rated at 25 watts, most people measuring it report it at 18-20, but certainly enough power to hit local repeaters. In Portland, and other big cities, there is an issue with intermod and it was so bad I just had to turn the vol. down until out of the city. Not an issue in the suburbs. I did have a problem within days of the tuning knob cover coming off. Also the quad monitor can be tricky when engaged in a convo and if someone keys up one of the other channels- it will go there. Work around for me is to set all the other channels to the one I'm using when in a conversation. These can be set at different levels, that is all in monitor mode; none or somewhere in between. Easy to program with CHIRP, but as previously mentioned, the cable provided does not work on Windows 11. I ended up buying the one that works instead of trying the driver work around, which did not work. I mostly use it as a base station connected to a power supply and outside antenna with good results listening to 4 channels at once. Oh, there is a scan function and you can program which channels you want to scan, but it is slow and there is no delay on the channel stopped- just keeps going after the transmission ends. WSEN524, Fremont CA

I would expect the settings in repeaterbook to be correct. This site, mygmrs.com, has a more comprehensive database of GMRS repeaters, but there’s nothing wrong with repeaterbook. As far as setting the right tone for transmit, that’s the tone that appears in either the Tone or the Tone Squelch column. In both instances the tone that’s listed is transmitted to the repeater. But, if Tone Mode is set to TSQL, your radio will not reproduce any transmissions that don’t include the tone shown in the TSQL column. If Tone Mode is set to Tone, your radio reproduces everything it hears on the RX frequency. So, when I say clear the receiver tone, I mean change the Tone Mode to Tone. For some radios, manually programming them you literally remove or clear the RX tone. For people who are failing to receive signals from a repeater, the first troubleshooting technique I use is to clear the RX tone (or set the Tone Mode to Tone, which is the same thing.) My concern about VFO usage was because I saw that you have 467.625 MHz in your B VFO. That could cause confusion because you’ll hear the other radio direct as it transmits to the repeater while you’re trying to listen to the repeater.

A group to communicate what??

The "experts" on my local repeaters ignore them expertly. For real, they are some wizards when it comes to dealing with people. It is a large regional 2m linked system with repeaters that reach into four surrounding states. So with a network that large you are going to have some knuckleheads. Surprisingly few, though, but there are some. Best thing to do is literally ignore them. Sometimes I will hear someone come on and give their "Callsign, monitoring..." and that shuts them up some times. Guess if they feel like the frequency is being monitored, that sounds awfully official and they scram. The best way to get the FCC to take a look at it, in my humble non-expert non-accredited poor-boy opinion, would be to make sure your offending party is a commercial entity not always easy to do when it is just some riff-raff. But if you can convince them to become a commercial entity

I would also like to add that lest we not forget there is a HUGE difference between what the FCC CAN do and what the FCC actually does. Again, I reiterate, that based on the FCC's own public enforcement record of the last 10+ years, statistically speaking, they do not care what happens on CB, MURS, GMRS, or H.A.M. radio with regard to jammers, iD10Ts, and degenerates.

Even then, based on the FCC's public enforcement record, the FCC will not do anything .. IF/when that occurs, get recordings of it and take it to the local police - THEY have the power and the will to actually do something. SOURCE: Public FCC records a AND this happened with one of the repeaters our group uses. Three years later, zero action from the FCC, the Sheriff was ready & willing to act.

You may have some challenges. I use the compactenna scan-III for gmrs, and swr results for 2 meter is not great but acceptable. Another user mentioned the compactenna dual band for 2M and 440. Its a little shorter (7 inch). The scan-III is 9 inches. Best of luck...

Nothing, short of triangulating his position by using either old-school methods or a Kraken tracker, then beating his ass in front of his family can be done. And, just for clarification, reporting him to the FCC will also result in... nothing happening,IRREGARDLESS of what "some people" will try to tell you - just look through the public FCC enforcement record and you will see that the FCC stopped caring about 12 years ago.

I can say that the Bingfu definitely has less than stellar real world reviews from people that have tried them. I would say the other two are probably no better.

There are some similar to the Ghost, but purportedly dual-band: here, here,and here. I have no idea if they're any good. They're really inexpensive compared to the Ghost, which may indicate a lower quality, but maybe not. If you try one, I'd be interested to find out how it works.

Okay, you should not be transmitting on 462.625 to a repeater. And you should not be receiving on 467.625 unless your radio is the repeater. You shouldn’t have to use VFO channels if you’re using a GMRS radio. Just change to one of the repeater channels, add the right transmit tone, clear the receiver tone, and use it. The repeater channels might be numbered 23-30. Simplex means that you transmit and receive on exactly the same frequency. The only time you should transmit on one frequency and listen on another is when you’re using a repeater. You always transmit at 467.xxx to the repeater. You always receive from the repeater on 462.xxx.

There is this option, which for some people might be a solution. This one happens to be a BNC-style, but they are also made for SMA-mount HT antennas. the idea is to put your HT's dual-band rubber duck antenna on the mount and attach it to the roof. I've never tried one, so I can't comment on how well they work, but it would certainly fit your requirement of "super-short" and "dual-band 2m/70cm". https://www.amazon.com/Anteenna-TW-35B-Magnetic-Mount-Female/dp/B07H8GNG33/ref=asc_df_B07H8GNG33?mcid=ab23b401e2ad3497b1bacdfeb7124d0c&tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=693297383718&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=11318577053321875493&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9198055&hvtargid=pla-2069911870245&psc=1

And nothing wrong with that either. I find that I learn best by hands on.

In my case, i'm just wanting to learn the tunning process.. Unless i can compare to a professional tune i wouldn't depend on the Nana tune.. Another reason i got a 'el-cheapo' duplexer...

While one can tune a duplexer with a NanaVNA, how accurate is that going to be. And you really want the duplexers spot on when there are other repeaters on site and/or other GMRS repeaters in the area. As we all know RF can do weird things. I'll say it again, ask around with your local amateur radio clubs and see where they get their duplexers tuned. Most of those people will be more than happy to help.

Exactly what happened to me with a UHF Fiplex.. In fact i was worried when i sent it in to BuyTwoWayRadios of getting a message saying 'No Go'... I just picked up a Panorama UHF on Marketplace for $25 bucks.. Basically got it to mess with and try to learn the tuning art using a Nano... Going to also order a Tiny SA for a sig generator source...

While I disagree with it needing to be done by 'someone with proper knowledge and equipment' the nano VNA is fine for a NOTCH duplexer, in my opinion, that's the opinion of a guy that's been donig this for 15 years professionally and over 20 years in general. The little flatpack notch setups aren't going to be tight enough that if they are only close they will not be close enough. And there are tests that can be done to ensure they are at least that close. I have tuned them with nothing more than a radio, attenuator, RF signal meter and a bit of know how. And when I put them on a regular VNA they were dead on. Biggest concern is does the VNA output the frequency it says on the display. Easy test is put a frequency in it that you have a receiver for and verify it can be heard in the receiver. If you can hear it as a carrier, then it's on frequency enough to tune a flatpack. If you decide to take it on yourself, you need to know a few things. First is the open port on the fatpack needs to be connected to a dummy load. If it's not terminated, ti's not going to tune up right. Second is how you actually move the notch. Guys without any experience will just start cranking on whatever cavity they feel the need to and NOT move a little at a time. Once you move one cavity off far enough the notch in that cavity will disappear. Once that happens, it's a PITA to figure out. So make your changes up or down about a half turn at a time and do ALL three cavities with each step move. You will want to set your VNA with a wide frequency range to start. Once you are close, then you drop the bandwidth down to 1 Mhz and finally 500Khz to walk it in all the way. Remember that you are notching the TX out of the high side (receive side) and the RX out of the low side (transmit side). They should be marked high and low. So follow that and you will be fine. DO NOT however attempt to tune one the way I talked about before with just using a radio, attenuator and RF meter. I have tuned hurdreds of duplexers, built up combiner networks from parts, learned all the math and crap that goes with doing that. It's not stuff for a beginner to attempt.

I ordered a set of SMA to BNC adaptors from Amazon not too long ago. They work with my Baofeng, Explorer (TYT), Icom, Quansheng, and Wouxun HT's. I mostly bought them so that I can use a loop antenna or hand held yagi for fox hunting and chasing down kerchunkers and jammers. onelinkmore SMA to BNC Kits 2 Set RF Coaxial Adapter Male Female Coax Connector 8 Pieces

I have to agree with everyone else, I would not try to tune a duplexer using a NanoVNA. We have member in our local club that retired from Sound Solutions and he still has access to all of the proper equipment to tune duplexers for us. A person really does need the proper equipment if they want to do it right. @WSGB808 I suggest reaching out to any local amateur radio clubs near you and ask them.

Your tuning is probably fine. Using two radios to talk to each other in proximity to each other often results in a condition known as desense, which is where the receiver of one radio goes deaf to a weaker signal when placed too near a transmitting radio. Its like standing next to a person who is shouting and trying to hear their words echo while they’re still shouting. Take the receiving radio a block away and try again.

I bought one of these cheap, Chinese spectrum analyzers and I was pretty successful in tuning the flat pack duplexers. I tried tuning one, then took ot to a local guy that had REAL equipment and he was surprised at how close I had it tuned. They are a pain to work with though! https://www.ebay.com/itm/353219998270?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=_4IuJVqfS0m&sssrc=4429486&ssuid=0zihXCkJQWG&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY This will give you an idea of what it looks like while tuning

I tried to tune one myself using a Nano VNA and watching on line videos.. It didn't go very well . Ended up sending the Duplexer to BuyTwoWayRadios.com. I live in Calif i think i sent to a Florida address. Overall it took about 8 days to and from at a $60 buck fee.. There are people that advertise on Ebay offering Duplexer service as well, fees are about the same.. I'v always had good luck with BuyTwoWayRadios, personally i'll stick with them.. Good luck

I am a big fan of its less expensive cousin: the Radioddity DB20-G

Yes the squeaky wheel will get the grease. But sometimes it will just get removed/replaced with something worse. A prime example is people constantly asking the ATF if it was legal to shoulder a pistol with an arm brace attached. It seems like someone was writing a letter to the ATF about arm braces on a regular basis. The next thing we knew, the ATF came out with their arm brace/short barrel rifle rule. That rule change is still caught up in the court system. I know that we are talking about two different government agencies. The whole arm brace thing is a prime example of what can happen though. As far as the topic of rights goes. I spent many years of my life defending everyone's rights and I am still willing to defend those rights. And if I don't agree with someone, then I don't have to listen, I can walk away or block them (in cases of online forums) and they can still say what they want. I have only blocked one or two people on this forum and it was because they were being hateful towards me. I don't always agree with others and they don't always agree with me but I will still read what they post and/or skip their posts. Once they start getting hateful towards others then they get blocked. The problem now days is that some only want to hear opinions that matches their own and get rude when others state an opinion that differs from their own. As far as the FCC goes, I don't see them making any drastic changes to the amateur or GMRS bands. If anything we will have to watch so that we don't loose any bandwidth. That happened years ago when UPS wanted a portion of the 1.25m band (220 MHz). The FCC granted a portion of the band to UPS who never used it. And we will probably never get that portion of the band back. And currently there is a company wanting to take a portion of the 900 MHz band for GPS devices. If allowed, that will take away the portion of the 900 MHz band that Meshtastic devices use.

I just received my AR-5RM yesterday. I can confirm it works on HAM and GMRS frequencies. It also received air / police bands and works with Chirp. What I can't believe is that this a 10W radio. The reason I say that is because all I did was add a Nagoya 771 antenna to it and I was hitting a repeater some 25-ish miles away (I was told my transmissions were crystal clear) but with a couple other 10W radios with the same antenna I couldn't hit the broad side of a barn. I was sitting on my front porch in a neighborhood surrounded by oak trees.

If any of you with repeaters in the Austin area are interested in linking them via IP, let me know.

Not much you can do outside of going to jail.. there is a guy in this community, his name is 'Ron', he lives on Desert Candles and even has a General Ticket... Yet this clown enjoys the art of jamming, cursing people on the radio and playing with several repeaters both on GMRS and WIN around here.. He loves to make farting and burping sounds... Dozen of letters by various people have written the FCC, people have encountered him at his front door, yet he keeps playing his games.. Even ignoring him doesn't work,, his childish game is a routine for him... Some people don't give a crap, and at the end of the day, there aint nothen you can do about it.