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Well I'm getting setup for the big swap out. Getting the Comet CA712EFC ready for deployment. Wrapped the area where the antenna joins with self fusing tape. And then marine grade heat shrink with the adhesive lining on the inside. Then wrapped the N connector after wrenching it tight with the self fusing tape. And then the heat shrink tubing again. Put silicon where the aluminum tube joins the ground plane area before I put the mounting tube on. Pretty stiff stuff. I guess that's why they call it hard line. And the completed assembly. Should be going up sometime this week.

The VFO button will put your radio into displaying the frequency and the MR button will put your radio back into memory mode showing the names.

And the Titanic was unsinkable.

It's only 25' so not much gain over the M&P Hyperflex 13. So .5db vs .37dB. The whole run is just over 80'. If I did that it would be more. 1.60dB vs 1.18dB but still, nothing Earth shattering. I waterproofed my original setup with two wraps of the self fusing and a outer wrap of electrical tape for the UV protection. No idea how water got in. Other than a crack in the fiberglass or something.

Semantics. Yes, anyone can pay for it and do the work of maintaining it, but a single individual has to be the licensee/operator of record.

Google tried.

Fair enough.

Not sure how flat Texas is but simplex might work pretty well for most. And wide range repeaters cost a lot of money to install and keep running. You could volunteer your money and time and put one up for the masses to use.

If you want the repeater to remain more stealthy, no kerchunk makes it sound like people chatting on simplex..

It’s possible that the club license is grandfathered. Since 2017 no new club GMRS licenses have been issued.

For GMRS? When did the club get its license?

Some of the radios do not have that option but I put the squelch to 1 when I started having this issue. I am in the process of changing to CTCSS. Got access to a couple of the remote radios today so will be able to do more real world testing soon.

You can give your taped connections a coating of this stuff (Scotchkote), but it's kind off permanent so test everything first because your not going to want to try removing it. Also I highly recommend wearing gloves while applying, it will stick to skin... and everything else.

I found the user manual, (attached) looks like that radio is only programable from the front panel and with limited options to program. i.e. selecting CTSS Code etc. User-manual-5349964.pdf

Repeatedly got error message "error opening serial port" when attempting to read my non-Plus model KG-S88G. It had worked many times before and I was using a Wouxun cable. First issue was that Device Manager was telling me COM port was 23 while software only went to 12. Went and changed to COM12 which did not fix it. Steven from BuyTwoWayRadios suggested that sometimes above COM10 is a problem; he suggested COM8. By using COM8 and running software as Administrator (right-click .exe file to open software), it worked. Hoping this will save some non-Plus users some time.

Yup, legally the repeater is operated by the individual who holds the license. I doubt that club ownership matters.

Very thorough! Nice job.

Well, I'm not sure if you know this. But it's a fairly new repeater that's only been out for a year and they actually have been upgrading it. The no tone is an upgrade from the original which had no option for that at all. It also didn't have a squelch which is essential to a no tone system. So most likely the software hasn't been caught up yet. And it's not like they gave you the function and no way to activate it. It's a small annoyance to deal with while they are putting more thought into the machine to give it more features than when you bought it originally. When I got mine there was no squelch, no DCS, no microphone to talk into only program, it didn't have a no tone option and a few other small things. The menu system was still cluttered with another versions options which did nothing in this version and they cleaned that up. So my machine has had nice upgrades while you look at it as a basic machine because that's where they were in the ongoing development of this repeater.

Maybe they don’t need them? Maybe they don’t want them? When I’m hunting or running cattle in Texas I hear more simplex then I’ve ever heard in any state. It’s pretty much none stop. However, ever piece of lease land, hunting club, or ranch ect I’ve been on has there own small repeater that usually covers the acreage very well. So they do have repeaters but i think some of the answer is, they don’t feel the need to chit chat with strangers on the radio. From what I see in general gmrs is used in Texas for what it was designed for.

You can get a microphone with a speaker for the H3. Put the clip right near your ear and you can use the mic too. It also has a VOX headset you can use if you are in need of communication regularly.

There are more repeaters in Texas than mygmrs.com depicts on the map. If you become a member of the Texas GMRS Repeater Club you would have access to a bunch more repeaters throughout the State.

So I have a question. Why haven't you put one up?

Because instead of being a pillar of the community and putting up a repeater, they go online and complain about there not being enough repeaters for them to use.

Just dropping in on this old post to say thanks. I was having a similar/same problem. Hooked her up to chirp and found codes on many channels. Works like a dream now!

Happy Easter, Gil!

Crap, there’s 30 of us? I only brought a dozen doughnuts. Happy Easter everyone! ️

I do a little bit of both of these. I have GMRS 1-22 simplex, some "friends and family" channels, and then repeaters. The repeaters are grouped according to where they are geographically, generally based upon how far they are from my home and if they're on a route I travel quite a bit. 1-22 have no codes engaged, "friends and family" channels have codes to match whatever the person I expect to talk to has entered, then of course the repeaters have input codes I don't usually enter rx codes unless it's in a particularly busy area.

Well..... Sorry You're Not Impressed - This Site Is Outstanding You Are Unfortunately Wrong - There Are Many Daily Posts Containing Great Info & Discussions And It's Too Bad You Don't Have An Adequate Security Subscription In Place To Guard Against Possibly Some Of Your Previously Scrupulous Websites You Have Visited. Don't Throw Blame That You Cannot Confirm. Rich & His Staff Has Done One Hell Of A Job On This Site & It's Offensive That You Post This Type Of BS Be That As It May: Maybe GMRS Radio / Forums - Are Not For You At All.....

Hundreds of thousands of members logged off just before you came on, they will be back. While you are waiting watch this video:

Motorola moved all the current model software over to a new website. For most folks, that's at myview.motorolasolutions.com. Unless you want to go through all the steps to migrate your account over to Myview, only to find that they probably don't have the legacy # RVN4191 CP200 software ( I myself haven't checked lately), you're better off to do a google search and try find it on the web. The benefit there is that you would likely find a version that's been hacked to allow wideband. The last versions of the analog CP200/PR400 R05.18 software were narrowband only, and most GMRS folks want the ability to program 25kHz wideband. Note: the more recent CP200d is a different animal, and uses different software for programming.

Maybe that guy with the so-so You Tube channel can do a video on suggested ways to set up channel configurations in a GMRS radio.

There aren't really any good ones out there.

I have said this before, but will mention it again in case someone new to the forum might find it useful. Whether a frequency agile ham/business radio, or a dedicated GMRS radio with channels 1-30 already programmed from the factory, I follow this pattern. (Note: This frequently can not be done with Midland, Radioddity, Retevis, and other brands where the design engineers figured you don't need any or many channels beyond the basic 1 thru 30. For that reason, I avoid those brands. This works well with Wouxuns and similar channel schemes.) On the installed channels 1 thru 30, or if adding them to a non- GMRS specific radio, still in channels 1 thru 30, I have GMRS Channels 1 thru 22 labeled as "GMRS-01, GMRS-02, GMRS-03, etc, coinciding with the channel number in the radio. Each channel is set up to encode only, a 141.3 CTCSS tone. Each channel also has no tone in its decoder, or is in carrier squelch (CSQ) mode. Since 141.3 is the most commonly found tone used across the USA (aka the "travel tone") having it encoded may improve your chances of being heard at any given location, at least a little. If you are running a GMRS Specific base or mobile radio, you can skip this process on channels 8 thru 14 as it will not transmit on them, anyway. Having the receive decoder turned off will allow you to hear and converse with others who might be around, via simplex, the same as if you never added the tones in your encoder (or transmit). Channels 23 thru 30, I label as RPT 15 thru RPT 22, respectively. If using a non GMRS specific radio, you will need to ensure that you program each channel to receive its 462 MHz frequency same as its simplex counter part, and transmit on 467 MHz with the 141.3 PL also encoded only with Carrier Squelch (CSQ) on receive. For instance: GMRS-15 transmits and receives on 462.550 MHz. RPT-15 will have to receive on 462.550 MHz with no tone on its decoder (or CSQ). RPT-15 must transmit on 467.550 MHz and encode a 141.3 CTCSS tone. It is important to leave the tone off on receive because for whatever reason, (too) many repeater owners out there just did not have the extra thirty seconds it would have taken them, to set their repeater up to encode a CTCSS tone on its output. If you are hitting a repeater and keying it up, if it does not encode a tone on its output and your decoder is turned on, you will not be able to hear the repeater or anyone talking on it. With your decoder off (or in CSQ mode), you will hear anything on the channel that is in range. After Channel 30, feel free to put in whatever repeaters you use or anticipate using and if a repeater encodes a tone on its output, by all means feel free to set your radio's decoder for that repeater's tone. The steps I described on channels 1 thru 30 do not guarantee you will hit a repeater or make a simplex contact everywhere you go, but they will statistically improve your odds of making contact should you need directions, help, or just conversation.

You are 100% correct that they are not only our representatives, but they are also there to serve us.. But It's cute that you think this would actually accomplish anything because they all seem to have forgotten about that part of the job.

As was mentioned a single quarter wave is our best bet. I installed those on many machines over hte years for logging and highway departments. Yes it may get destroyed but they are $10 at most. Unscrew NMO and replace it when needed.

Keep it extremely simple, just use a 1/4 wave magnetic mount and needn't worry.

I agree with @BoxCar, you are going to be hard pressed to find an antenna that will handle that kind of abuse. Something like the Midland ghost or Melowave Shadow might have a better chance of surviving.

I don't think any antenna would survive that kind of abuse. Think about a 1/4 wave stubby like a Laird or similar that's about 6" high. They're relatively inexpensive but work well.

My money is on a tone being stored on the channel.

Make sure they are all on the same frequency Make sure they are all on regular simplex channels, not repeater channels and/or do not have a +/- split Make sure none of the radios are using any CTC/CTCSS/DTC/DPL tones or codes Make sure the radios are at least 50 feet apart from each other when testing

Not all repeaters are listed. Elco1 or LA1 are the name of the repeaters