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No, people don’t really come looking for advice. They really just want to see how useless you can be. It’s entertainment.

Switch it back to English. Plug in the programming cable. Open the software (it should still be in English). Read from the radio. Open up the Edit menu. Choose Function Setup. Menu Language is the third selection on the right column of the Function Setup dialog. Change it to English (the middle selection). Write to the radio.

Well, I got up and running with my new antenna, a $40 “uayosek”(whopping 2.5db) off Amazon and 25 ft of DXEng RG8X connected the BF UV5G Plus. At 16’ in the air with my handheld, it got 4.84 watts on high @1.04 swr. Worked well enough I bumped it down to medium and got 3.42w, and 1.62w at low. I was able to hit the big repeater on Sunday full quiet at high, and a little scratchy on medium. Having listened to suggestions made, and the Euro being about even with the dollar, I ordered 25 feet of MP Ultraflex 7 Sahara, which arrived today. Preliminary test shows 7.94w, 4.95w, and 2.61w, a significant improvement. SWR appears a tiny bit higher, but it is coiled and only tested on the antenna down so that will probably change. Price wasn’t too crazy for the Ultraflex, about $65 assembled and shipped. It definitely fits the bill though, lighter than LMR400, only .28 thick, the BNC connectors they put on it look like they were straight up machined out of bar stock, and its db loss is only a touch higher(.1 or .2 db) than LMR400UF. I am gonna try to get it all put up tomorrow night for the local net, but so far it looks like it will work well.

That question gave me work PTSD The customers I've worked with have never once in recorded history made a change to their equipment before it started working improperly. Sometimes, they never made a change even after we hold their hand and show them the evidence of the change they made

Thanks to everyone for their help; I should have realized the answer was in the programming software.

Day the truck got dropped off at my house it had 5 holes in it....

Tested on my 935G and it does the same thing. I dont think its a bug, it's just how it is. There may be logic behind it but if you turn off The monitor function it goes back to working "normal". Probably more of a function that if you are monitoring and hit on the flashlight you won't be blinded.

I have asked you several times. What would you suggest as a better alternative with similar capabilities? Yet you never answer. If you want to rip something down go for it, but you better be able to not only back it up but suggest an alternative. I have to assume you either have no idea of what your talking about or something else in you life is affecting your logic and reason.

One more down vote. I’m getting closer to winning the pool all the time!

Welcome to the forum. I know you’re new but you will find Southern California has quite a lot of repeaters. A massive number by comparison to most places. Maybe a few less where you are but still more than most. When going to the map page click on the gear icon in the upper left corner and select stale and offline repeaters as well and you’ll find a few more. If the owner hasn’t updated their repeater info in more than a year it will fall into the sale category. Cheers.

If you look on the map of repeaters here on myGMRS.. there are at least two or three repeaters that cover your area pretty widely.

There's no menu option on the radio to change the language, I believe it can only be done through the programming software. My guess is you mis-clicked an option. Should be easy enough to switch it back.

Modern vehicles use thinner sheet metal to save weight for improved fuel economy. What might have been in the past a minor adrenaline surge when the antenna whacked a tree branch now may result in some real damage to body sheet around the antenna mount. I would think a bit more about the usual advise to "just drill the hole" and mount the antenna.

There's NOTHING wrong with that connection at all.

Sounds like a good config choice. My buttons are setup with PF1 being the things I use most, Weather and FM and the two thing I need but use less frequently; monitor and flashlight. The reason I prioritize FM (tuned to local news) and weather over other options is my GMRS use-case in primarily for emergencies and special events where realtime info they provide is important. After posting I thought about using setting SQL=0 as a workaround and that seems to work without problem. Thanks!

I don’t know if you need to fix anything. You’re transmitting You mentioned hearing a sound after you transmitted but you wouldn’t call it static. It might have been a squelch tail. If you have a nearby friend who has a radio have them listen while you transmit. Announce yourself and ask for a repeater check. As @WRUU653 said the red bar shows that you’re transmitting. Once you get someone to respond you’ll feel a little more confident.

Just installed Comet CP-5NMO (finally got a warmer day) and did exactly what i needed it to do and the Comet SBB-1 NMO works perfect. Nice a sturdy and the antenna is actually quite impressive on AIR band besides what its designed for. Ill be using it with my H3 and my Q10H depending on needs.

Just think about what the INSIDE of that car must look like!

I see that they also have the option to buy just the mount and coax for $60.

Thanks, ill make sure to do that. Ill get to use my rarely used Fluke meter.

This guy has a few more.

Sweet!! Looks like you have some unused real estate that can accommodate 5 more.

We have a total of 6 repeaters. Our 2m repeater sees the most traffic and somedays it is really busy and other days you might go hours in-between hearing anyone. Then we have our GMRS repeater and it is the same way as our 2m repeater.We also have our main 70cm repeater at the same location that hardly gets used anymore. We also have two other 70cm repeaters that are located at opposite ends of our area. All three 70cm repeaters are currently setup for analog and DMR. No one uses DMR or any other digital FM modes. So we are in the process of getting rid of DMR and will then have all three linked together with the ability to to also link the three to our 2m repeater. Our 2m repeater has around an 80 mile radius of coverage so we get a bit of traffic from people traveling through mid Missouri. As Steve has mentioned, there is definitely more to amateur radio than talking on FM repeaters. a lot of guys use Single Side Band on the HF bands and even on the 2m band. And there are all of the different digital modes being used along with CW. Just because you don't hear anyone on the 2m/70cm repeaters in your area doesn't mean that amateur radio is dead.

Except for special events, most ham traffic is not on VHF/UHF and not through repeaters. Those repeaters will certainly see use during special events, nets, or sometimes casually by hams as they run errands or travel through a city. I have used the Phoenix DMR repeaters before, but 99% of my ham activities are spent on HF making contacts directly to other hams. There’s no real challenge to making contacts via repeaters and a lot of ham radio is about making distant connections, exchanging signal reports, and moving to the next connection. I’ll see if I can show you a signal report map showing a snippet in time in the Phoenix area. Here’s a map from PSKreporter of activity over the past hour: Each inverted teardrop shows one ham. I suspect you’ll agree that between 5 and 6 AM is probably not a really busy ham time, but there are still a pretty decent number of people who are working contacts using digital modes. None of this is through a single repeater and they are almost all trying to make contacts with someone at some distance:

Looks like they didn’t fill the notch with an excess of solder. I wouldn’t worry about it. If you’re concerned, leave the cable unattached and the antenna removed and take an ohm meter and test that there is no continuity between the center and shield. I’m sure it’s probably fine. edit- as @OffRoaderX said, test that it’s not shorted. This is good practice regardless of what the ends look like especially after dragging the cable through the firewall and what not.

I have used dozens of 'special' connectors like that with zero ill effects.. If you have an SWR meter just check it after you hook it up to make sure it's making contact/not shorted.

Since I got my Wouxun KG-XS20G Plus have been learning how its features behave individually and in combination with others. Today I was trying out the programmable keys, PF1 and PF2, individually and in combination. I have the PF1 short press configured to enable/disable FM radio and a long press to enable/disable Weather radio. For PF2 a short press I have it configured to enable/disable the radio’s flashlight and a long press to enable/disable the Monitor function. Using PF1, I can independently enable and disable both the Weather and FM. However, when both are enabled the Weather radio audio will preempt the FM radio audio while displaying “FM” disabled icon. All good! Using PF2, I can enable and disable the Monitor function independently of whether flashlight, FM, Weather and Monitor are enabled or disabled. However, with Monitor enabled it will preempt FM and Weather radio audio while displaying their respective disabled icons. Makes good sense to me! Now here’s the surprise. Enabling the Monitor function with a long press of PF2 disables the ability to turn on or off the flashlight, in this case, with a short press of PF2. After some further testing, the problem persists independent of how I assign the Monitor function and Flashlight to the PF keys. Is this a bug or some necessary constraint of the radio’s architecture?

I’ve heard complaints about the price from people who haven’t purchased it, but not from those who have. It’s nice to have almost every radio I have programmed with almost exactly the same software.

Worth the money too I think. I never hear complaints about their software.

The Comet SBB1 NMO is a good antenna for how short it is. Mine does well for 2m, 70cm and definitely usable on GMRS too. I have mine in the center of the roof on my Ford Escape.

"Let him who has never made a silly, bonehead mistake cast the first stone" or whatever it was Jesus said to those guys.

Maybe it's a regional thing. In central MD dozens of repeaters have dozens of daily users. I am certain the NYC metro area is likewise. DC/Baltimore and NYC are certainly larger Metro Areas. As above, FM VHF and UHF are a tiny fraction of amateur radio.

I'll race you. Though I think I won as far as posting memes go!

@WRNU354 I suspect that where things are may very well effect how other things work. I have mine set with the top PF1 button short press for flashlight, long press for FM radio (I never use). The bottom PF2 button short press for monitor and long press for weather. It works good that way for me.

The red bar just means you are transmitting, it will have a blue bar if your radio is receiving. Meaning if you get a transmit or squelch tail back from the repeater it will be blue

Same. It performs pretty well for me and I like having it. I get better range with it than I do with any stick antenna.

Where is the best location to mount a vehicle antenna for optimum performance? It probably depends on the type of antenna. The type of vehicle. I'm not sure so that's why I'm asking. My circumstances are on a 2024 Bronco Sport and I was looking at this antenna. Amazon.com: HYS Amateur Dual-Band VHF & UHF Magnet Base Antenna for 2m/70cm Motorola Mobile Ham Radios & Repeaters with 3.5inchs Magnetic Mount, W/13ft RG58 Cable PL-259 UHF Male Mag Mount (Black) : Electronics What are your thoughts. P.S. SoCal, give me your best shot.

It is NOT deformed; the lower area makes it easier to hold the solder against the connector and cable. Not all are made that way, it is not supposed to be straight across at the end. You can touch a soldering iron to it for a few seconds to get the solder to flow a bit better if that will give you peace of mind, but really not necessary.

I found this vehicle specific option. Is this a fair price? Ghost GMRS Antenna Kit for Ford Bronco Sport (2021 - 2025)

I’m just curious. What did you do right before the language changed to Chinese?

Damn, you made it 6 days without punching a hole in it? That's got to be a new worlds record for having the willpower. You're going to drill, so get it out of your system now.

GMRS and Ham Radio are BOTH Hobbies. IF you don't want to hear normal conversations on Gmrs, then turn it off.

Check out this Bronco Sport forum. Several different approaches to your exact situation. One drilled the roof and he gives measurements as to where. Anyway looks like a few options to consider. Good luck.

That is one of the reasons we used to get our club to put in the GMRS repeater. And we have had a couple of GMRS users decide to get their amateur license afterwards.

If you are talking about the Ghost antennas, The Midland Ghost MXTA25 and Melowave Shadow are pretty good for being so short and they work better than the Nagoya UT-72G antenna. But they won't work as well as a taller antenna such as the Midland MXTA26 or Comet 2x4SR. I have a height restriction since I park in the garage so I run a Tram 1174 tuned for GMRS on my Ford Escape.

New guy here. I am hoping we will get more repeaters and operators here, in SoCal.

Well that didn't take long. I knew Negative Nancy would put his worthless half a pence in. The negative vibes need to go. Plenty of people use J pole antennas with great results. One of my friends has made several J poles for GMRS for other club members and they all work. He has also made a 6m j pole out of copper and a giant 11m/CB j pole out of aluminum tubing. It works well too. I have a 2m j pole made from 3/8" aluminum rod that works well and sometimes use it portable. I also made the faraday clothe j poles for portable work.

Based on what I’ve read, the ones made,of copper tubing are about equivalent to a dipole in performance, not high gain, but decent omnidirectional performance. I intend to build one this spring sometime. It’ll be single band, possibly 6 meters. That’s the only vhf band I don’t have an antenna for now.

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.