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The regulations say nothing about being in the same household. They simply say: Any individual who holds an individual license may allow his or her immediate family members to operate his or her GMRS station or stations. Immediate family members are the licensee's spouse, children, grandchildren, stepchildren, parents, grandparents, stepparents, brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews, and in-laws. But they do require that the licensed individual retain control of his/her stations while being used by someone they have authorized.

You seem to be pretty obsessed with regulations and what other people do. I’m gonna find an old “Junior Trooper” sticker badge and send it to you. Be sure you wear it whenever you wear your Radio Shack helmet, the one with the flashing red light on top. …..but only when you’re taking enforcement action! Edit: below from your Sept post. You called the FCC?! Man, life is too short to be wound this tightly.

Hey folks, a few months back, I discussed providing a presentation on the introduction to GMRS, to just cover the basics. We held the presentation a couple of weeks ago and I wanted to share the video with everyone. Fair warning, I'm not a pro YouTuber and my collar mic dropped with a few minutes left... please be gentle. LoL This is geared towards people with little to no experience. Hopefully it helps some people. The PowerPoint presentation is available for download, here... https://marcspaz.com/gmrs/GMRS101.ppsx Thank you to those who helped with content ideas.

I got the programming cable for this radio and I found out it works great with chirp instead of the btech software. I was able to put names of two repeaters

Has AI ever helped in these situations?

yes, i have an idea: You're doing it wrong. Are you on the correct repeater-channel, and did you add the necessary tone to access that specific repeater? (my guess is two no's..)

Probably need the firmware to overwrite it. Reset it numerous times, password changed it using multiple different resets and DB25-G, DB25 since is the same but multi-band, etc. They all worked, but they all still putting out 11w. I can get about 18w on VHF changing out the antenna for 2m (Yes, I am licensed for 2m as an Amatuer Extra). Guess it is a lost cause unless I can get the firmware for the radio and overwrite it. Thanks for the help and info guys.

The DB25-G CPS is here: https://radioddity.s3.amazonaws.com/Radioddity_DB25-G_GMRS_CPS_20220819.zip

Glad you got it figured out. That being said. All of the Wouxun programming software from Buy Two Way Radios is Windows 11 compatible. I have never had any issues with the Wouxun software for the KG-XS20G, KG-1000G, KG-935G, and KG-Q10H when using the Wouxun programming cables from Buy Two Way Radios. All bets are off when using third party cables from Amazon, especially if they have a copied/pirated Prolific chip in them. The Wouxun two pin cable also works well for other brands of radios with the 2 pin Kenwood plug. I've also not had any driver issues with the Wouxun cables in Windows 11 Home or Pro version 23H2. I have yet to upgrade to Version 24H2.

240702 works good for me. Fixed the previous firmwares issues of not releasing the squelch in a timely manner.

actually I just found the solution on BTWR. https://www.buytwowayradios.com/blog/2021/05/how-to-install-the-programming-cable-and-software-for-the-kg-905g.html

Windows 11 drivers are much more aggressive at blocking the counterfeit chips used in some programming cables.

TX DCS, menu 12

Firmware is different than the info in the data file, two different creatures. Firmware controls the radio functions while the DAT file contains how those functions operate. Restoring a DAT file is similar to reloading a program on you computer.

Ahh yes.. Now I remember. I had a couple of H8s but gave them away. So then, to set up your repeater, whilst in GMRS mode, choose the correct Repeater Channel, which I believe for 462.600 will be Channel #25, go into the menus and find the TX/Transmit Tone option (you may have to resort to the user-manual), and select your DPL116 from the list - (it might be listed as DTC), save it, and you're done! You can (and should) ignore the OUTPUT (aka RX) tone for now, as that is only for confusing the n00bs..

Love it no problem

The Tidradio H8 Gen 2 is interesting for a couple of reasons, one of which is that it is a HAM radio as well as GMRS: the choice depends on how one turns it on. For details, please check out this Youtube video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sSEh7L4QIgY

How are you liking your 50v2?

Happy New Year to you as well. Here’s a link to the regulations: https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-47/chapter-I/subchapter-D/part-95/subpart-E

Thanks for the help at least you're not rude happy new year

I can see how that would be a lousy antenna close in but different elevations. That’s the problem with high gain antennas at any angle other than the main lobe. Going back to what has worked in the past makes perfect sense.

not much to find on the FG4607. Gigaparts sent me this. They said the antenna works great at high elevation. Apparently the Hustler has a wider and lower elevated pattern.. I ended up ordering another Hustler on a christmas deal.. Going back to what worked good for me

I have a .dat file for the DB25. Do you still need one?

Sounds like you are either trying to use a simplex channel and/or you don't have the transmit tone set correctly on your radio. Make sure you are using one of the repeater channels that corresponds to the repeater you are trying to reach. Then make sure you have the correct tones set to match the repeater's tones. You can leave the RX tone turned off on the radio and you will still hear the repeater. But if the repeater is using tones then you must have the correct transmit tone set on your radio.

Oh, I am monitoring this one

I loathe it and loathe me for using it lol

The Arizona NOAA site shows another Tucson station, KXI24 (Safford) on 162.475. If you do not have any CTCSS or DCS tones enabled on receive, as Steve mentions, you should be able to hear it. Might the .475 transmitter be closer to you?

Yeeap... Hackin radios is risky bidness!

Switching to lower power and not getting in to a station that receives you on high power is most likely because their squelch was turned up too high. The signal is most likely still there, just below the squelch level setting. As Steve said, in the fringes, more power brings you up out of the noise. 1 thru 10 notches in software is harder to change than the old analog knobs we had on our CB's. Some radios have a preprogrammed button to turn off squelch (I think many of them are labeled "monitor"). Other radios will require you to assign the function to a button. You should always use this function when doing tests as described in my first sentence.

Power is probably the most over emphasized part of VHF or UHF radio comms. There isn't much practical difference between say 20 and 50 watts assuming that the coax feeds and antennas were the same. VHF and UHF being mainly line of sight bands, terrain becomes your limiting factor long before power does. 50 or 500 watts will not defeat the mound of terrain between you and the receiving station. Only getting your antenna physically higher will. But once you've accomplished getting your antenna up into the clear, again, it doesn't matter if you're running 20 or 50 watts. It'll get out and sound essentially the same. Heck, even 5 watts if you're getting it through your coax feed enough to have a reasonable amount of it left to squirt out of the antenna. Consider this. Voyager, that is now hurdling through interstellar space, is equipped with a 33 watt radio. And is currently still in touch with Earth. When you conceptualize that an antenna in the clear, is an antenna in the clear, you'll understand that it doesn't even matter if you're running a 15 watt GMRS radio or a 50 watt one. I see a lot of people wasting a lot of money and energy buying 50 watt GMRS radios and dealing with the hardwire install needed for the amp draw needed to run it at 50 watts. It's largely a waste.. Concentrate on your antenna, geography, and coax. The actual radio part of radios (generally speaking) are interchangable appliances. The science of success in radio is entirely done at the antenna level..

Jeffery, Thanks for hosting the Gallatin 650 check-in. I started out with a longer list of repeaters but cut it back when the schedule was getting too long. If this works out and we do it again on another holiday, we can change up the list. Steve WSBM 443

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.

Here’s the actual rule the specifically permits traffic reports: 95.1731(b) One-way communications. The operator of a GMRS station may use that station to transmit one-way communications: (1) To call for help or transmit other emergency communications; (2) To provide warnings of hazardous road conditions to travelers; or, (3) To make brief test transmissions.

We should request that it be pinned to the top so we can refer new people to it.

CTCSS is older and more prone to spurious noise opening the squelch - weather or ambient. Additionally, there are relatively few usable tones. DCS is newer was was designed to address those shortcomings. Both came out of Motorola, who initially was one of the only manufacturers of radios with enough frequency stability to use DCS (though others caught up quickly). Even today, some Baofeng as they age have trouble with a DCS system. Also, many older radios can't use DCS at all, and a few transitional models needed modules to enable it (usually you'd swap our the CTCSS module to a dual mode module). So, yes, DCS is better, but CTCSS more compatible.