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Double check that the antenna is screwed-in/connected correctly and fully - assuming you mean no shorts or high SWR when checking on your meter I'm not sure what else to recommend. I would point out that of all the mobile antennas I have tested (probably about 20), the UT72G was the worst performing of all of them - performing worse than even the little ghost-antenna's I have tested.. So if you have to replace it, dont feel bad and be secure in knowing that whatever you replace it with will perform better (unless you replace it with another UT72G).

Hi @jerrym58, If you compare the topography of Oklahoma and Puerto Rico you'll notice the huge difference. In the center of Puerto Rico covering mostly all the island there is a mountain range called the "Cordillera Central" with mountains exceeding the 4Kfeet, so GMRS being UHF will be greatly limited. Besides this, throughout all the North, there are many small limestone/calcium carbonate mountains, so overall Puerto Rico is a mountainous island being small in overall area. I believe this is the reason there's so many GMRS repeaters, more repeaters are needed to cover the same area compared to OK. Hope this is somewhat helpful.

buytwowayradios.com in their video promoting this radio, stated that one of the Improvements over the 935G was a Much brighter display option, so it could be seen easier in bright sunlight. I can say the 935H has a VERY bright display, if you set it to max.

Steve, Wind is still up a bit, but I took it off the car and threw it on a pizza pan on a 6’ shelf in the garage(only about a 1’ taller than car and 4’ away). Hit the repeater a little unreadable, but got a response to a radio check. Threw it back on the car with all the coax outside the car, nothing. Then threw it on top of a water heater, got a squelch tail from the repeater. Either that extra foot is all the difference, or my car is a radio blackhole. I think I am gonna read up on Kia Souls and ham radio and see if there have been any issues. Thanks everyone for the help. If I find the issue, or a fix for the issue, I will report back.

You're going to get a lot of opinions basically re-affirming what everyone purchased themselves as "the best".. As mentioned previously I have tested pretty much every GMRS antenna on the market and literally, with the exception of the UT-72G, they all work pretty much the same (ie; your human ear will not notice any difference, nor will the human ear of the guy listening to you)... MY favorite, that i use on both of my Jeeps as well as on a cookie-sheet in the window of my office is the Midland MXTA26 - it performs the same as any other but because it has the twist/coil in the center its a couple of inches shorter than most. If you want REALLY short, and ONLY IF you are able to mount it top-center of your vehicle, then the Midland (and other brand) Ghost type antennas work very well .. not quite as well as their larger brethren, but noticeably better than the UT-72G based on my testing. WARNING: "Some people" will proclaim that the ghost antennas "do not work" and are "just a dummy load". These proclamations, based on my data from actual testing, rather than based on opinions, low self-esteem and biases, are 100% stupidity-based fallacies and anyone making these proclamations should to pointed-to, laughed at, and ignored.

are you pulling your Kia out of the garage before you try taking?

They changed the incoming tone because someone gave it out and the repeater was taken over by people in Hartford who only spoke Spanish. They overwhelmed the repeater and the owner decided the only way to have it stop was to change the input tone. If you go to the repeater facebook page and private message him he should respond and you can get the tone once again. He is also implementing an ID # to users like the Holyoke 575 has. So when you get the tone code you will also get an ID #.

Or a car stereo installed properly...

@OffRoaderX We don't know how the OP plans to mount the antenna for his proposed repeater. He may very well be within one of the propagation nodes for whatever antenna he chooses, and then, he may not be. Your testing of HH with your repeater's antenna above you has you within an area of very low propagation for your antenna and therefore, your results are applicable only to you. As to suggesting amateur radio, this is an option just as using GMRS, MURS or FRS are options. GMRS and amateur radio services are the only services having repeaters available for use by other licensed users and therefore fill the requirement for repeater availability. It is well known you are a vehement adversary of ham radio preferring to classify all amateurs as sad hams. Does that make you a sad GMRS user? l believe you need to be more moderate with your tar brush remembering when you point your finger, three are pointing back at you.

That will definitely make a difference, especially if it is a low ceiling and the metal garage door frame and tracks can and will have an effect.

Often you can lift the edge of the weatherstripping and fit the cable in under it. Follow it to the bottom of the door and then sometimes you can squeeze it into the recess next to the end of the rocker panel to get into the vehicle.

Just as a single data-point. I have tested 50.. maybe 100? hand-held radios with my ~30watt repeater with the antenna on the roof, about 18 feet above me.. Never, not once, ever, has the repeater overloaded any radio I have ever tested.. Not even the worst $9 radios I have tested. I am not saying it could never happen, but the 5W RT97 is not going to overload anything. Do you get a referral bonus if he signs up to your cult? Because it kinda seems like it..

I used one of these to relocate the mic plug for my Icom IC-2730A.

The UV-5R ham-radios now sold in the United States are locked - meaning they will not transmit on GMRS and the new ones cannot be unlocked. Also, because they are H.A.M.s radios, they are more difficult/complicated to set up for repeater use. You might get lucky and get one/some/all that are not locked, but it is a literal krapshoot as to whether or not you will get an unlocked one. So for GMRS use you may want to consider the GMRS version of the UV-5R (Info here: https://amzn.to/43dSVDk ) . Or for almost the same price, the much better UV-5G Plus: https://amzn.to/4hlLmhr ...or, any of the dozens of low-cost GMRS radios available: https://amzn.to/4h4vMq4 TL;dr: most H.A.M.s radios will not work on GMRS and all of them are more complicated to configure/not as simple to use as GMRS radios

Yes it should work using a straight through CAT cable.

Probably one of the biggest misconception is people assume that just because they go to an "established" brick and mortar car stereo shop they will get a two-way radio installed properly. Do they even have an SWR meter? You'll possibly burn more time and stomach lining dealing with these shops to even get the job remotely done correctly. My suggestion for you is to Google commercial two-way radio installers in your neighborhood. They will probably be more expensive than a car stereo shop, but your chances of getting quality work in a timely fashion is greatly increased. Of course, if you DIY you might find out your install will most likely be better than a stereo shop's.

I'd also point out that in 2017, when Hurricane Maria blasted through Puerto Rico, many people were basically left to fend for themselves, and went weeks and months without grid power, running water, or even cellular service. This was especially bad in the inland areas up in the mountains, but was still an issue even in areas outside of Ponce & San Juan. They aren't necessarily doing this for overall footprint, they're doing it to allow for localized reception in pockets and areas that aren't served by larger systems. They also want to maintain control and ownership of the repeaters, and not rely on someone else to keep a system powered up 24/7.

If by the club you mean The Mesa Crest Club if you click on the link and post your question in their forum you may have better luck than asking in the overall forums general area. Good luck.

Although I have an expensive smartphone that can (supposedly) do lots of amazing things, there is zero cell reception out this way. Once you get away from the WiFi signal. Texts or calls, forget it…It’s pretty rural, easy as pie to get off road and out in to areas where you’d unlikely see anyone else for considerable amounts of time. Lots of wilderness. So, GMRS covers the several square miles of turf, around home, going in all directions, “down the road”, or just out in the neighborhood, so to speak.

The use-case for my GMRS radios is family / community communications during emergencies and special events. To that end, I selected the KG-XS20G+ for my mobile and base station solution since it can be easily powered by my cars' auxiliary DC power outlet or small portable power station or A/C powered 13.8vdc power supply. The KG-XS20G+ big red power button connects to circuitry drawing current as long as DC power is connected to the radio. This always-on circuity detects the power button being push and then switches on the rest of the radio's internals. Also, in case DC power is removed, this power-button circuitry returns the radio to its prior on/off state once DC power is restored. Since one of my power sources, the small portable power station, is limited in capacity I decided to measure power consumption with different radio configurations and uses. DC Current draw * Radio off - 13.5 mA Radio in SINGLE DISPLAY with nothing being received or transmitted - 195 mA Radio in DUAL DISPLAY with nothing being received or transmitted - 266 mA Radio in SINGLE DISPLAY with Area A in scanning mode and nothing being received or transmitted - 197 mA Radio in DUAL DISPLAY with Area A in scanning mode and nothing being received or transmitted - 266 mA Radio in SINGLE DISPLAY with Area A receiving with audio set to moderate volume - 270 mA Radio in DUAL DISPLAY with Area A and Area B receiving with audio set to moderate volume - 345 mA Radio in SINGLE DISPLAY with Area A transmitting at 5W on Channel 1 - 1.76 A Radio in SINGLE DISPLAY with Area A transmitting at 20W on Channel 15 - 4.61 A Radio in SINGLE DISPLAY with nothing be received and FM on at moderate volume - 290 mA Radio in SINGLE DISPLAY with nothing being received and WEATHER on at moderate volume - 339 mA * All measurements were made with a Fluke 17B+ and connected in series with the positive line of the BTECH RPS-30M 10A switching power supply to the KG-XS20G+. No other devices were connected to the supply. When DC power or the radio was turned on or off time was given to allow the DC current draw to settle. DC current values measured during receive or transmit are approximations. Results I expected: Radio OFF current draw is reasonable and likely not a factor under normal conditions. Running with DUAL DISPLAY is a bit expensive. I'm going to avoid using DUAL DISPLAY when running on my portable power station. Transmitting at 20W is really expensive and should be limited especially when running on my portable power station. Results that surprised me: Scanning is free. It doesn't consume more power than monitoring one channel. Scan away! Weather radio consumes more power than listening to FM radio. A surprise, but not a big deal.

I like the Garmin Rhino also. There’s no better gps/GMRS radio and the screen is so good in daylight. I just use the built in maps, but for a price you can get higher resolution maps on a card that you install in the radio.

It’s much brighter than either of them. It’s very nice for seeing the screen in the outdoors!

Of course it Helps to have property in another name, not tied to you for these reasons too.

I must be lucky since my BTECH GMRS-50V2 is showing over 50 watts simplex (channels 15 and 22) and over 45 watts on the repeater frequencies. SWR shows 1.18 on the simplex channels and 1.42 on the repeater channels. I have a YNIBST GMRS antenna with 50' LMR400 to a lightning arrester then another 10' RG58 to my radio. More importantly, I am reaching a repeater that is almost 25 miles away and have talked simplex ~20 miles away in 2 different (opposite) directions. All contacts report that I am coming in loud and clear. I am very happy with the performance of this radio. Hopefully time will prove that it's good for the long haul.

Nothing prohibits it. Some people dislike the idea of GMRS turning into a sort of "Ham Lite" service, but if nobody is breaking the rules so who really cares?

Some people say they only use GMRS radio for communications while pursuing their hobbies. What if their hobby is talking to random strangers?

I guess I think the premise of this thread is wrong. It’s not up to me or anyone else here to say whether someone else is using GMRS “as intended”, as long as the regulations are followed. And it’s not up to me to enforce the regulations I’ll gladly help somebody understand the regulations (as much as I can) but I don’t get to reinterpret them to fit my ideas of how GMRS is intended to be used. If you want to have a conversation on the repeater with someone you’ve never met who announces they’re “monitoring”, it’s not my place to pass judgement. If you want to run your family ranch, good for you! If you use it while you’re out boating or hiking, do it. I think there are way too many people who want to decide what’s right for others to do

Well yes and no. I use it to keep in contact with my wife. Sometimes I'll give a HT to one of my adult children when we are traveling in separate cars or getting stuff at a big box store when we'll be at opposite ends. And I'll chat with friends that are definitely not family on the local repeater just for the conversation and to find out how everyone is doing in general or their jobs.

Using GMRS is infinitely better than not. Nothing is gained by having silent channels. If you have long conversations, pause every so often to allow someone else to use the frequency or repeater. Help someone else get started with GMRS.

Not one reported DB20-G/AT-779UV cigarette lighter plug melting to the date of this post...

Stick a penny in that fuse box and you can power a 100 watt radio with a cigarette lighter plug Just keep transmissions brief..

Absolutely not. This is actually a dual band radio that can be opened up. Why would you want to pay more for a radio other than bragging rights? If you feel the need to impress others, just get the label maker out and type in "Midland".

Oh man! I'm going to start having to go through my bucket-o-HTs!