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There are 30 numbered channels on that radio (plus a bunch you can customize). 1 through 22 are simplex. 23 - 30 are reserved to transmit to repeaters. Those eight receive on the same channels as 15-22. Some manufacturers label those eight channels with the letters RPT-15 through RPT-22 to display the common receive channel. So, the channel labeled RPT-19 is actually number 27 in your radio. You shouldn’t delete the channel (and I doubt you can delete any of the first 30, but I don’t know that for a fact. You must have the correct transmit tone or code programmed into your radio to open up the repeater or it will not repeat your transmission. You’re doing the right thing in learning to program your radio from the front panel. It is easier to program with a computer but it’s much better to be able to program without having a computer. Don’t give up. Look up the tone needed for the repeater (PL or CTCSS, same thing) or code (DPL, DCS or DTCSS, they’re the same thing). Don’t worry about programming a tone or code for the receiver, at least not yet. Leaving it open will allow you to hear everything on frequency 19. You can always add a receive ton to match what the repeater transmits later, but leaving it off for now might simplify things as you learn. Don’t get down on yourself. Once you see how it works you’ll be fine.

Repeater 19 is channel 27 and 462.650. It will already have a built in offset of +5 on Tx but you will need to add the tones for the repeater you are using. Go to menus 9 and 10 to enter your tones. I have no issues with programming in this radio. You have a great GMRS radio.

Why not? These aren’t nuclear secrets.

Here is a video that may help you get things figured out. @marcspaz is a contributor here and very helpful. You’ll get there.

It matters a little.. A superhet radio will have slightly better sensitivity to pick up weaker signals.. Slightly better 'selectivity', so it will ignore static/off-frequency noise slightly better.. But yah, most normal people would never notice any differences between a superhet and an SOC/HOMOdyne... HOMO...dyne.. Type radio.. As to the question: IIRC the GXT67 Pro is a partial/modified superset receiver.. Meaning that the receive side is superhet but the transmit side is not (or visa-versa) - But that is just going by memory - and I just woke up, so, that could be wrong.

You normally want the antennas to be at least a 1/4 wave length apart which is not going to happen with the CB antenna as you would need 8 1/2 feet. My brother runs a Comet 2x4SR multi band VHF/UHF antenna on the top of his truck cab with a Tarheel HF antenna mounted to the left front corner of the truck bed. Has has at least 3 foot of separation between the antennas and he has no issues. You might find that the CB antenna does act as a reflector for the GMRS antenna being 1 1/2 foot away which can cause the GMRS antenna to be more directional. The only way to know for sure is to try it out. You should not have any interaction when it comes to transmitting since we are talking about 11m vs UHF.

I will give one word of caution about the Yaesu FTDX10 and FT710. NEVER plug in or unplug the USB cable while the radio and computer are both on. You take a big risk of blowing the USB port by plugging the USB in or unplugging it with everything powered on. And Yaesu will only fix it once under warranty and only for the original purchaser. Otherwise it is a $900 repair since they have to replace the entire main board. Several of us have had the USB ports go out on the FTDX10 and FTDX101. And the Yaesu tech said they will only repair the rail once under warranty for the original purchaser. If the USB pops a second time and/or you are not the original purchaser then the repair will cost you $900. The tech even suggested using an external sound card. SO Yaesu knows about the issue but won't fix it. The USB port is out on my FTDX10 so I ended up getting the Yaesu SCU-17 external sound card for digital modes. I have since gotten myself an Icom IC-7300 which is much easier to use and the controls are more ergonomic. That is a common complaint about quite a few of the different Yaesu radios. This is especially true about the menu system on pretty much all of them.

I have the ftdx10 and really like it. The complaints I’ve heard about it consist of three things: 1. Buttons are too close together and too close to the tuning knob. 2. Buttons are not backlit. 3. Too many things require using the menu. I acknowledge the veracity of all three of those, but none of them bother me anymore.

Original post corrected...

My favorite T-shirt says "TANSTAAFL" which is a fake Russian word popularized by author Robert Heinlein in the novel The Moon is a Harsh Mistress. It's actually an acronym for "There Ain't No Such Thing As A Free Lunch". You never get something for nothing and in order to gain in one area, you have to lose in another. The AR-5RM has three Tx bands: 70cm, 1.25m, and 2m. I only recently programmed some simplex frequencies on the 1.25m band which necessitated buying a tri-band antenna. I went with the Comet HT-224 which doesn't suck, but it gives up a noticeable amount in clarity to the NA-771 I had on it before. In turn, the NA-771 does not perform as well on GMRS frequencies as the NA-771G which is GMRS-specific. From my living room, I can work a 2-meter repeater about 20 miles away with a HT. This morning, I used the tri-band antenna for the first time, and although I still came through okay, I was told my signal was weaker than previously. With the 771 antenna I can blast into that repeater "like gangbusters" according to the net controller. I'm going to stick with the tri-band because it's good enough, but I did lose something in the transition,

Pretty much, only thing I would say is since the menu starts on “one” you really only press it nine times to get to menu 10. Also it depends on what the repeaters tones are, but yes you got it right, you did in fact go to the menu I mentioned. As @SteveShannon mentioned previously you don’t need to put the RX (receive) tone in. Without it you will hear everything on the frequency with it you will only hear people on the repeater. It looks like you are set to go. Enjoy

This is what I did. I found this on the forum. Go to repeater channel 19 (displayed as RPT-19) Press "Menu" Press the up arrow 10 times (display will show TX-CTCSS) Press "Menu" again Use the up arrow to select 141.3 Press "Menu" again to confirm and go back Press the "Exit" key and you are done. I went to check it out yesterday and I heard someone talking. Am I on the right track? I haven't gone to the menu options 9 or 10 yet as mentioned, as I'm getting brain fried. I'll watch that video too. You people are awesome and I appreciate your help. Thanks.

You won’t communicate on simplex for a repeater. Simplex is for radio to radio and won’t use the offset. The offset makes you transmit at 467.xxx but the receive is the same at 462.xxx

No, for simplex you use the same frequency. A typical repeater must transmit at exactly the same time as it receives, so it must receive on one frequency while it transmits on another. In the case of GMRS the difference is 5 megahertz. So you transmit to the repeater on a 467 MHz frequency and the repeater receives them and immediately transmits on a 462 MHz frequency for your friends to hear.

Thanks for your words of encouragement. So I have to make sure the transmit tone/code is correct. If I have friends connected to the same repeater, do we communicate on the simplex channel 19? I might as well expose my total lack of knowledge.

I started playing with solar about a year ago. Nothing overboard. Just a little 320ah power bank w/150 watt panel to keep things running and/or charging (phones/handhelds/flashlights/fans/led rope lights/portable tv) while camping, fishing, etc. Also built a small ammo can gmrs simplex repeater thats powered by a 10 watt panel and 6ah battery. Great for extended comms when out in the wilderness.

There's a very accessible repeater in my area which occasionally the users get a little long-winded. But everyone's friendly and generally respectful. They use their call signs. Good order. I also get to use the nice repeater for free! When using repeaters, I do use my call sign often and try to be on the brief side of my transmissions. On simplex, with my family, I tend to be a little more loose with the call sign rules. Some of them are using FRS radios. I'm using the interstitial narrow band channels of the frequency. Fortunately, my area's not too crowded with FRS/GMRS. Add: I've noticed areas like Mooresville (I-77) and Charlotte (I-77, I-85, etc.), the GMRS/FRS frequencies are much more used.

I think you probably intended to say the db20g wasn’t certified for MURS. It is certified for 95E, GMRS, as shipped.

Me and the fam go deep within North Cascades/Diablo Lake/Ross Lake, Olympic, Mt. Baker/Snoqualmie Forest, etc. fairly often and have been using just FRS+InReach the past few years. We haven't had anything scary happen, thank goodness, but this summer I plan on leaving a RT97S on battery+solar at a base camp (park rules/etc. permitting) to really extend our range. Sure we could text InReach-to-InReach but I'd rather save those for true SOS/emergency needs, besides it being expensive. Otherwise for more day-to-day stuff local drives or walks around the property have spotty cell coverage at best. Have already got the household accustomed to simplex etiquette and we're already liking the upgrade from FRS to GMRS a lot!

Road trips with multiple vehicles and outdoor activities with friends. The value of radios when out of cell range is obvious, but I'm always amused when the "just use a cell phone" crowd realizes the radios free up the cell phones for other uses. Plus, texting in a car is not easy, and who wants to set up a conference call when there are 3+ users?

I can’t hit repeaters 10 miles from me but I can hit a couple others that are 25+. I can talk to my north/northwest but talking south/southeast is impossible. Those Appalachian foothills are a bugger. Seems to me 462 mhz doesn’t work as well in the woods as 27mhz

Normally one would put a second vertical antenna up that is a 1/4 wave length away from the main radiating antenna to get some gain and directional characteristics. A 1/4 wave for GMRS is only 6 inches. So that chances of that happening are definitely less with the antennas spaced at 1 1/2 feet apart. Yes there is still a chance of making the GMRS a bit more directional but not like if the CB antenna was only 6 inches away from the GMRS antenna.

Radio waves do weird stuff. There used to be a GMRS repeater about 25 miles northeast of me. From the back yard, I could always work it with a 5 watt HT and sometimes could even do it from inside the house. From the driveway, I couldn't hit it with a 20 watt mobile and an antenna on the vehicle roof. The only thing in between is my house. It's made of 6" logs, but I wouldn't think that would make that much difference.

I think it’s good to remember that it’s radio and radio isn’t private. You can’t control how people want to use it or what people want to use it and certainly not if they are within the rules. Respectfully, there are cell phones for conversations you would rather were just between you and your people. I do understand where you are coming from regarding your wife being made uncomfortable and that is unfortunate that happened to be sure and shouldn’t. If on simplex and you don’t want to be intruded on you could set up tones to try and eliminate some unwanted bother. As for someone asking for your call sign, I have not heard anyone do this on GMRS simplex ever but if you are on simplex you could just as easily tell them you are on FRS and not to worry about it. I personally would expect that two people talking without call signs was just that. However if you’re using a repeater, well at the very least the owner certainly has the right to ask you for a call sign, after all it is their equipment. I suspect where the population is denser you might have more to deal with. Where I am there isn’t a lot of traffic on GMRS and seems to be enough room for all. You will hear occasional conversation on GMRS repeaters often it will be someone on vacation and they are looking to see if they can reach it from where they are and someone local will jump on and respond. You might hear some simplex traffic that will be a couple or friends traveling in separate vehicles, the occasional farm communication or even a daycare. Once I heard a young daughter giving dad a play by play report of where she and her mom were to her dad, “now we are at the post office” lol, adorable. I never hear anyone unwanted jump in those conversations. That’s just my experience where I am.

I have both on the roof of my truck and I haven't noticed any change in directionality. Since the two operate on such widely different frequency ranges, it's likely the CB antenna is no more than any other piece of wire to a GMRS signal. As such, it could affect directionality a bit, but I haven't noticed it.

I think I have five GMRS certified radios, beginning with a Motorola Talkabout set of 2, nearly twenty years ago, then 2 Midland handhelds. At about that time I got my FRN, but the $70 for five years seemed too high. Then I felt I needed a Garmin Rhino because my rocketry friends had them and used the location sharing feature. Then, in 2021, I got my GMRS license at $70 for ten years. About then I started watching Notarubicon videos. My interest in radios was rekindled and the following year I got my ham license. Then I bought two more GMRS certified radios, both DB20Gs, but I converted them both to ham frequencies. They’re the only 95e certified radios that I have capable of operating on ham bands and I no longer use them on GMRS. If I buy better mobile ham VHF/UHF radios I’ll probably revert them back to GMRS use. I’m not sure what I was supposed to be a perpetrator of.

I'm only about 30 miles away from you, so if you're having trouble setting up a radio and it's one of the models I know, I could walk you through it. OTOH, if your question is about repeater access, they're likely too far away from me. If you can explain more clearly what you're having trouble with, I'll try to help.

[Edit - I just realized I'm responding to a 12-year-old thread that I found via a web search. Sorry for the thread necrophilia.] I have one set up piggybacked onto a UV-82HP extended battery for underground (mine exploring) use. If you hear yourself back from the parrot and topside can also hear themselves back, you know you can talk to each other. And if you don't hear yourself back, you know you're out of range. Aboveground they can be pretty annoying. Out in the middle of nowhere (Mojave Desert, up on a mountain) I was reaching Dumont Dunes with it, and it confused a bunch of off-roaders with a bunch of "What? What?<beep>" going on as everything the parrot heard was retransmitted.

It's probably linked via AllStarLink https://www.allstarlink.org/

1. Are you on repeater channels for the local repeaters? If not, they’ll never hear you. 2. Do you have the right TX CTCSS tone or TX DCS code set for your local repeaters? If not they’ll never hear you. You can hear everything without an RX tone/code, but you must have the right TX tone/code set.

I have watched that video too. But most people are not going to even attempt that repair themselves. And Yaesu is ripping people off by charging $900 to swap the entire board out on the FTDX10 and FTDX101D. Again they know there is an issue but won't fix it. The main thing to keep from blowing the USB port on Yaesu radios is to make sure the radio and computer are both turned off before messing with the USB cable.

Heck yeh man. I worked at mt baker when they broke the world record for the most snowfall at a ski area in world. Baker is so sick. Artist point. 542. One of the heavy equip operators got drunk one night, drove his 4Runner off the side of 542, stole the loader at 2 am which had square V log chains on it, and ran it down the highway to pull his runner out. The state police were looking for him the next day. Did thousands upon thousands of dollars of damage to the asphalt. Place was absolutely wild. Baker is unlike anywhere I’ve ever been. Pure magical in the wintertime. This was before cell phones. The only comms I had when I was there was by letter mail.

Very much liking it. Took a bit of tweaking to get the Mic audio sounding good, but was fun doing it. Easy set up for CAT control for digital modes with the built in soundcard. Have mouse and DVI monitor coming to hook up next. Not going to get rid of the FT-450 it replaces, that'll be a backup and one I can take out in the field for portable ops. But can't go wrong with any of the others there. Have used the 7300. "The People's Radio" and was very impressed with it. Haven't tried a Ftdx10, but it's Yaesu, so gots to be good!

Great job!

The FCC disagrees with you. EDIT: To @SteveShannon's point above, it's Part 95E authorized (GMRS), but not Part 95J (MURS)

Hahaha yeh if you lived on a lake or the desert. You gmrs users who speak like this make all of us who live in the more wooded foothills scratch our heads. We are lucky to get 4 or 5 miles simplex on a good day.

Are you near Plainview, NY? Perplexity says, The East Coast Reflector has a repeater on 449.300 MHz. The W2YMM repeater, located in Plainview, Long Island, New York, operates on 449.300 MHz with a PL tone of 192.8 Hz[8]. This repeater is linked to the East Coast Reflector from 7 am to 10 am daily for the "Morning Brew" net[1]. The repeater is privately owned and maintained by Bob W2YMM, who took over ownership in 2021[8]. Citations: [1] https://w2ymm.home.blog [2] http://allstarlink.org/allmondb.php [3] https://southcoastreflector.com/links/ [4] https://www.eastcoastreflector.com [5] https://www.eastcoastreflector.com/connecting-to-the-east-coast-reflector/ [6] https://w2ymm.home.blog/commands/ [7] https://www.eastcoastreflector.com/welcome-to-ecr/ [8] https://w2ymm.home.blog/449-300/ [9] https://www.eastcoastreflector.com/ecr-repeaters/ [10] https://www.repeaterbook.com/repeaters/feature_search.php?system=East+Coast+Reflector+System&state_id=%25&type=systems

The concept behind the "calling" frequency actually is a bit like the Star Trek "hailing" frequency. The idea is that you go to that frequency to make a contact and then change to a different frequency to have your conversation. However, I do hear people having protracted conversations on the calling frequency. To be fair, I almost never hear any other traffic on those frequencies, so maybe it doesn't matter much that they're gabbing about their gardens. It may be different in some other areas. A lot of the purpose of the calling frequencies may have been obviated by cell phones. I didn't have a ham license back then, but it's my understanding that they got used quite a bit for people stranded on the road, etc. I don't know how many hams routinely monitor calling frequencies, but I do. Historically, ch 19 on CB has been and is used as a "trucker" frequency and it got the most traffic, hence was the one people always monitored. CB became popular long before dual-monitor radios were a thing, so you could monitor either the channel everyone was using or the "calling" channel. Obviously, most people chose the popular channel, so a calling channel just never became a thing. It would actually seem to make sense in CB since you have 38 (excluding ch 9) other channels you could switch to after making contact. Ch 9 historically was monitored by emergency services agencies and perhaps still is. I don't know whether a calling channel for GMRS would ever take off simply because anyone who might want to hear from a stranger is probably already scanning all the GMRS channels anyway. It still makes a little sense for amateur radio because there are literally thousands of frequencies available, but for CB and GMRS, technology has made calling frequencies obsolescent, if not entirely obsolete.

It may be an old thread but this is a unique use that I had not heard or thought of. Thanks for sharing.

I use it above ground to talk to family and other GMRS license holders. Underground (mine exploring) I use it to communicate with others in my exploring group. I have a parrot I set up in the shaft when underground, and it does ID with my call sign at the required intervals. Not that any signals are making it out very far from inside a lead mine. Occasionally I'll hear someone announce their call sign requesting a radio check on the channel I monitor, and I will answer those in kind. It's mostly quiet here except when a local taxi company uses the channel in their rotating "frequency of the day". There are a few repeaters that are barely in range, one of which does some sort of chime thing and announces the time with ~58 minutes of error. I assume that this is a repeater that hasn't been reset since DST ended for the year, along with accumulated clock drift. I guess nobody using it knows the repeater owner, and the owner isn't monitoring. There are a few (possibly including the one I mentioned above) that Morse their IDs. They barely break squelch most of the time and cut in and out, so I haven't been able to copy their full IDs.

It's far from free.

I have had 2 or 3 50V2 radios and none of them output more than 32W (iirc) .. When I called BTech about it I was told the low power reading was because I was measuring the power with the antenna connected instead of with a dummy load.. So I purchased a dummy load and the power output reading was the exact same... When I measure my KG1000G radio(s), they all read 48-51Watts.. This is one of the reasons the BTech's are inexpensive- because they lie.

We disagree then. People should feel free to ask about the radio that someone else is using. And I really don’t think that radio nerds moved in on GMRS to the extent you imply. Certainly some people do use both. I do. I started with GMRS and became a ham, not the other way around. GMRS made me want to learn more about radio. To say that asking about the technology while using it is not allowed is completely impractical. People will be curious. Just like any other aspect of life. There are those who want to absorb information and those who just want to use it. Both are perfectly acceptable.

Here are some things to check/consider: Are you sure you are on the correct REPEATER CHANNEL? Are you sure you are using the correct TRANSMIT TONE? For simplicity, remove the RECEIVE TONE for now, it is optional Try driving closer to the repeater - just because you can hear it does not mean it can hear you.

Yes

It’s absolutely the correct use. It’s not a coincidence that GMRS is Family Radio Service adjacent, and that a license is good “for a family”.

One of the real self-gratifying myths of radio, not just GMRS, but also ham radio, is that in an emergency (or the SHTF scenario people get so giddy about) it will save you. Unless you have already arranged for someone to actively monitor for you to send a SOS on a specific channel, it’s really just BS. The fact is these frequencies are not actively monitored in most places.

GMRS is not particularly good in valleys, it does not penetrate hills. If you are not in visual line of who you intend to speak with, it may not work. On mountain tops, it is great. Also it is very likely that unless you have coordinated a contact, no one will hear your call; it is not something monitored like marine distress channels. There is even great debate over which channel would be best when traveling on highways.

Limitation of the machine. lol Maybe? Technically I transmitted on CH185 on ~2M. Haven't tried GMRS that high.

Yep, it's sad that you have to do things like this sometimes. You shouldn't have to find a way around it. I think some of the manufacturers misinterpret the regulations. Any GMRS radio should be able to have multiple repeaters programed in with the same frequency but different tones so that as you travel, you just switch to the one you are near.