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You forgot to mention: Also transmits on GMRS with 100+Watts, jams H.A.M.s and GMRS repeaters with music when bored and broadcasts on H.A.M.s radios frequencies with no license, just so I can feel something. C'mon man, if you're going to be butthurt and whine like a girl, at least be complete and accurate about it.

After all this chatter on the DB20-G, I bought one and popped it into the lady's car for a recent road trip where we were using two vehicles. It's a really great little unit for the price. We're often in a situation where we are using two cars, so this is not a one off. After I got home, I set about doing some programming. Overall, I am pretty happy with it. I also bought a DB25-G for my truck, sadly it stopped working on day two, so that's gone back and I've opted for a second DB20-G. This way, I can keep a common code plug for the radio's. As noted above, you are limited in what you can program while in GMRS mode. I've unlocked it (yeah I know! It won't get used on the HAM bands as I have another better dual band for that anyway) and have programmed it to my specs. I only had two repeaters to code, but I've now named the GMRS and FRS channels as I like, and turned off the dual watch. The color display makes reading the display easy. Perfect for my lady who is not a radio geek! Overall, happy for now and an inexpensive way to chat between vehicles.

Well, you’re wrong….again. The cowl mount works fantastic.

My rise to the King of all that is H.A.M.s radios is not dependent on getting permission from the government or guessing 35 questions correctly. In the 21st Century greatness is measured by subscribers and views..

Great progress! Good job!

Chatting is an activity.

@SteveShannon I finally got back to check to see if the bar was blue and it was! I also heard the noise again (not static). Squelch tail was mentioned. No one answered when I did a repeater check, but I'm in quite a remote area so I really didn't expect someone to respond. Thanks so much for all your help. I was reading yesterday there's a way to program in "scan groups." My next adventure!

I've recently found a great use for our radios. Once in a while I like to use my phone to do livestreams on our YouTube channel. There have been times when Katie has called me while in the middle of the stream, asking for me to bring her a beer. Well, as soon as my phone rings the livestream instantly ends. Now that we have switched to radio comms, I no longer have to march into the house and throw a beer at her. Instead we now have cute pet names for each other, and less beer-soaked holes in the wall... (I have terrible aim)

This is gonna be fun to sit back and watch!

I understand what your trying to do, its a cool idea and I sincerely hope it works out for you. However, I believe the FCC is going to tell you you cant do it because it is a clear violation of the rules as written. POC uses the Cell telephone / data network. It is a network in every sense of the word. As I and others have stated before, yes you can connect a repeater for remote control of the repeater, you cant do it to carry messages / voice comms. In any case, please keep us posted with the FCCs answer. This is and has been a good conversation.

I saw on a few videos in the recent past you saying you were the "soon to be King of H.A.M.S. radio" or words to that effect? Wondered if the Great Randolpho was secretly studying that Technician book?

You all need to stop rag-chewing and chatting about this subject here on the forums because that is not covered in Part 95 and is not allowed you know.

If all you are wanting to do is check the SWR and power output then the Mcbazel Surecom SW-102 Digital VHF/UHF 125-525Mhz Antenna Power & SWR Meter from Amazon is hard to beat for the price and for the simplicity/ease of use. You can get a NanoVNA for not much more but they usually have a steep learning curve. Antenna analyzers are great for tuning antennas along with building your own antennas. But they are usually $300 or more for a good quality analyzer. I have a Rig Expert Stick Pro and use it quite often. I make my own HF antennas so I can justify the cost of the Rig Expert. It also comes in handy when cutting/tuning VHF/UHF antennas. There is no guess work on if the antenna is short or long.

Are you looking for assistance? If so, I’ll ask the obvious questions. 1. Have you cloned a working radios settings into the non functioning one? 2. How far are the repeaters from you? Is it possible that you are actually at the radios range limit. 3. Have you tried the following, as you have multiple radios? Let’s call one of the non functioning radios R1 Take a second radio, R2, and program it on a SIMPLEX channel with the input frequency of the repeater(R1 transmit frequency) and with the same tone as the repeaters input. key up R1 and see if R2 responds. If it does, then you’ve proved the radio works and your just not hitting the repeater. let us know how it goes.

Antenna Farm was closed for a while due to the owner's health issues not too long ago. I wonder if that's why people on Radio Reference are bashing them. I've never seen Antenna Farm get bashed on other forums and they usually are one of the recommended vendors. Club members, including myself, have ordered antennas from Antenna Farm without issues. PS: the Radio Reference forum is the radio version of the Glock Talk and ARFCOM forums in the firearms world.

That will work fine as a ground plane. You are slightly below the minimum radius front to back but have more than enough ground plane left to right. The minimum ground plane is a 1/4 wave length radius which is 6 inches for GMRS frequencies. And the ground plane does not have to be solid metal either. I have one of those expanded metal cargo racks on the back of my SxS that works well with my Comet 2x4SR antenna on 2m, 70cm, and GMRS. The only concern I would have is possible interaction from the soft top cross bars. That may or may not be an issue for you. For Negative Nancy - the soft top material should not be an issue since radio waves can pass right through the material. A fiberglass hardtop again should not be an issue either.

Interesting. Ive never seen anoy one bash antenna farm on RR. As a matter of fact they are recommended quite often. They did some changes last year but still one of the best places for hobby folks to get stuff. I use Talley and Tessco for work stuff but get alot of non work items from Antenna Farm.

I run the same setup on my Gladiator (Soft Top) but with a commercial UHF LMR antenna. Works excellent for its use case (GMRS Simplex and TLMR). On my one JK I also run the same on my Midland GMRS Radio. I can't run either with my hardtop but the JK has no top.

That’s the roll bar on the JL. It’s flat approx 10 inches wide and spends the entire width of the vehicle. It clears the soft top fine. It’s probably to most horizontal metal on this vehicle aside from the hood.

Fixed them for you.. That spot is fine as long as your soft-top doesn't tear it off, but heed this warning: "Some people" are going to proclaim that ghost antennas are "no good" and "dont work", or that your location is not "perfect" enough.. These people should be ignored with extreme prejudice.

OK, looks like the speaker bar. We looked at this location in our JKU and decided against it, partly because we use both hard and soft tops and it won’t clear hard top. Also because we wanted the antenna outside of the cab. We also wanted a low-vis solution to minimize the chance of damage or vandalism. With those factors in mind, we installed to the removable piece at base of windshield. Super easy install, great reception, no issues. We also chose a Pulse-Larsen LP450NMO instead of Midland version, as the Larsen is lower profile. I used the Midland first on my Toyota, then swapped to the Larsen and found better performance.

Finally got down to the marine electronics store. Quite a learning experience. They don't usually do a lot of GMRS stuff, but certainly have everything needed to install them . they also can make up a custom coax. Unknown to me was that there are a number of different types, including some that are designed for high heat environments. Stranded and non stranded. Made a lot of recommendations on coax routing, grounding and on and on. Frankly, it was overload, but they said to just call with any questions. So, for my NMO mount and coax I need to get an accurate measurement and let them know and they will make it up. Apparently, it's a high complicated five minute job. I had figured I would get a premade coax longer than needed and just loop the extra and stuff it out of the way. Apparently it's not a good idea to loop the cable.

I know for a fact that on the TD-H3 the transmit bar will show output whether or not the radio is actually transmitting. It's basically a hardwired feature and not an actually power measuring meter.

From The Importance of Being Earnest: It seems like whether one is a rag chewer on an amateur repeater, or on a GMRS repeater, or a rag chewer here in online forums, we're talking about the fools clever people, of course, which makes us all clever fools.

This!

I picked up a VGC VR-N7500 50 watt mobile a few years ago just for grins for use as a base station. No display, no mic and everything runs via a app on a Android device and Bluetooth. What is kinda cool (and why I bought the radio) was that you could allow others on the internet with permission and app installed access to the radio, kinda like Zellow. So I setup a spare tablet connected on internet and the radio, installed the app on my phone and was able to access my favorite GMRS repeater from anywhere and it was cheap - like $150 or so, it's hard to find ANY 50 watt mobile for that price. I could have setup multiple users, but I don't own the repeater I had the radio programmed to. IT WASN'T MY REPEATER to do so. I don't think a repeater owner would be very happy to find out his repeater is now a "networked repeater" without his knowledge. I just thought it was cool to be able to use for myself. Used it for a week or so and it worked great. The radio now sits on the shelf unused, I just hated the interface and never really used the radio remotely.

Welcome. As a recent member I invite you to follow me down the rabbit hole. But fear not there are signposts and helpful denizens to both add clarity and confusion. Just avoid that darned cat.

Or from Talley Communications or Arc Antenna and order a Laird C27 NMO antenna. You'll have better performance with a Laird.

The Phantom Midland antenna mounted on the OPs Jeep will work fine on GMRS freqs especially in the City on the trail with other Jeeps. As a temporary install while I was waiting for my Larsen Glassmount Antenna to be shipped, I use this location in my 23 Wrangler Rubi 2 Dr. and I was surprised that I was able to hit several repeaters miles away. I have no clue why the picture won't orintate as the picture is in my gallery is orientated.

Well, then I don't think the 905 does that announce on channel change. I can check one of mine when I get home, but that won't be for another week. I almost always turn all beeping and noises off so I don't remember off-hand what it's supposed to do or not do in the voice announce mode.

Laird (T E Connectivity) has a 450-470 Meg # TRA4500N non-Groundplane Phantom NMO mount antenna. I use this antenna on my Fiberglass body racecar with excellent results. The antenna also comes in Black, but you have to buy multiple quantities. You can buy the White antenna as a single unit.

@WSGN731Welcome to the zoo! Before you ask, the best radio to install in your Jeep is the one that fits your requirements best. That, and there are as many recommendations for antennas as there are antennas,

Like Steve said, Antenna Farm, or Arcadian.com, Pulse/Larsen, any of these should have NMO mounts for the Larsen NMO-27, which is a far better antenna than your Tram/Browning.

Never had a problem like that ever in my life. That sucks. Yea I’d try a dedicated antenna store

How about trying a company dedicated to antennas? https://theantennafarm.com

LOL, I prefer to think of it as dry humor with some sarcasm added in to keep people from taking themselves to serious.

@WSHA485 Yes the cable you have should work fine since it has the FTDI chip in it.

Thank you. I have those settings for English and I can hear other announcements but nothing when I change the channels.

Thank you. I bought this USB cable. Is this safe to use? BTECH PC03 FTDI Universal Plug & Play USB Programming Cable, Baofeng, Kenwood Radios - Compatible with UV-5R, BF-F8HP, GMRS-V2, UV-82HP & More - Easy Setup, No Driver Needed

Especially since RT Systems does NOT even have a program for the KG-905G.

This is exactly why i got into GMRS and not ham. We offroad, hike and camp. I dont want to be in the California desert and hear someone in Nevada calling out trails, talking to their point man or tail. Its a local system for local use.

I do. If I want to converse with strangers, that's what the amateur bands are for. Sent from my SM-S911U1 using Tapatalk

I use the DB20-G and love it ease, I can take it with me either in my work van or my wife's Tahoe, just plug it in the cig lighter, pop up the mag mount and go and color screen it sweet. Its a great radio for the price and performance.

Yeah, “Little Nancy” can be overstimulating for some. Not judging.

I love this bar.

Or a car stereo installed properly...

Car Stereo shops still exist? I thought those went out with the Apple ][e

When I was creating my Modified CPS for the UV-17 Pro GPS and related radio models (and later the official BF-F8HP Pro CPS), one of the features is a "Voice Pack Editor" originally written by Sander van der Wel and enhanced by me. It allows changing the various spoken prompts in the radio, but doesn't touch the various other sound effects (although it could). Letting someone change the roger beep would probably make people's heads explode. For example, if someone changed it to the Road Runner cartoon's "Meep! Meep!".

Nice detailed review. Thanks for the antenna tests. I got 2 of these a few days ago and have been going through them pretty thoroughly. I am getting about 7.5w on H, 4.5w on M, and 1.4w on L on the GMRS freqs. I did test on the 2m call freq and got 9w, but I don't use this radio for 2m. I bought the minimal set that only has the one short antenna. I have no way to test the antenna other than comparing it to the GMRS tuned antennas that I currently have for other radios. So, with my current GMRS antennas, I can easily open and talk on the closest repeater to my house with the AR-5RM, which I can not do on my other 4 and 5 watt radios with the same antennas. I also can not even open that repeater with the AR-5RM using the included short antenna you tested. One little thing that might be a big thing for some. is the placement of the USB-C charging port that is on the battery. Many times these ports end up on the bottom of the battery or radio so you are not able to stand the radio up while charging. The port on the AR-5RM is on the back of the battery and has a little rubber cover. One last thing. This radio has the typical Roger Beep, but it also has a MDC1200 sounding tone just for fun. This is a decent radio for the $30 I paid.