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The Amazon man just delivered my BTech GMRS 50Pro - ask your questions now/post your concerns! I will be uploading a video about it in the next day or two and looking for feedback/questions, even from "some people". Update: Here is the video:

1. Yes 2. No

A Fixed Station is one that's been repaired. /s

By accident. Apparently there is a 625 repeater that I know about, but he also has a 600 repeater I didn't know about. My repeater operates on 600 with a PL of 100 and apparently his is on 103.5. I can trigger his repeater on occasion when I key up. I noticed when I keyed up the other repeater would activate and it's a much stronger signal than mine. It would block out mine for a second before it released. One day I moved my TX PL and found it was only 1 click up from what I was using. Not sure if my radio PL is wobbly or the selectivity of his repeater is lax. Either way I've decided to change my PL to stop the interference.

I would add make sure what you think you’re testing is what you think it is before putting that meter on it also. I got called out for a blown fuse on 4160 three phase. Each leg supplied a group of transformers and the electricians (not our company) thought the high side was 480… they opened up the back, one guy put the probes on while the other held the 600 volt rated meter. They both lived but they both went to the burn ward. Be safe and pass on stories where things can go wrong so the newbies may learn and hopefully avoid bad mistakes.

I have been assured by "some people" that this is a lie, this never happens, and it is impossible - and if you spread these vicious lies you are a racist or a nazi, or "too dumb to pass the test"..

I'm still using the Fluke 73 III that I bought 25 years ago. It does most everything I need it to do. I have a new Klein clamp meter for amperage reading when needed

Fixed stations don't connect to mobile stations.

Staffords is P25 Phase II. Its very simple to do what he did. Ton of videos and forum directions on how to do what he did and folks helped him. Just like here.

Tony Whitt ain't got's much 'Whitt's' Name fits him, and he comes up in a search for Phoenix Shipyard

Negative Nancy AKA Mr 200 Miles just can't resist can he.

Don’t.

Got the voltage regulator on today it's back to normal voltage, now I can get radio back in tomorrow if it doesn't rain. Thanks again, WSEK634

Dimmy antennas are used to contact stations 200 miles away.

I've found out the hard way in my younger days that if you skimp and buy inexpensive tools you pay for it in the end. If you're doing mobile GMRS installs or troubleshooting, and the gear and accessories are "Imported" it is inadvisable to use a domestically manufactured meter, even the legendary Fluke. To solve this dilemma I've been finding myself in more often than not is to purchase an "Imported" Fluke meter to get around this problem. Now when I'm in this situation again, I won't feel like I'm mixing matter with anti-matter. I love this meter!! Ain't she pretty? Now off to measure the current draw of my DB20.

Interesting that it was demonstrably affected by temperature. At very specific temps. At 26ºF the problem would go away. As the temp approached and exceeded 32ºF the problem would return. Certainly sounds like a water problem to me. Cables were professionally made, doesn't make them infallible of course. All connections were tight and secure. All connections were triple sealed. 2 wraps of self fusing tape and electrical tape on top. It's not like this is my first foray into electronics, electrical or radio. Until I do some RF testing on both the coax and antenna I can't say what exactly happened. All I know is it was broke. I replaced the two components it could possibly be, and now it ain't broke lol.

Don't get me started on those pen testers. I always tell the new guys to NEVER rely on them. If you insist on using one you better check using your meter. 277v and 480v is so unforgiving.

Yeah they can be finicky, I trust them to tell me something is hot, I don’t trust them to tell me it’s not. Klein has certainly made some money off of me over the years too

I’d put my money on the latter. But at least exercise is supposed to be good for you.

I agree that good tools are a joy to use. Like radios it seems I can never have enough. As for Flukes I have the Fluke 16 and Fluke T5 1000. Before I retired I used to have the 87, the 376 FC with the flexible clamp (that was a nice meter) and a 771 milliamp clamp on (usefull for 4-20 controls). All good meters.

Ah, the classic 87, it never goes out of style nor will it ever be discontinued. Don't remind me about clamp meters. My dumb ass left my old favorite Fluke ampprobe where I was working and didn't remember I forgot it till the next day. Needless to say somebody got an early Christmas gift. I bought a new one, it gets hooked to my belt. I ain't making that mistake twice.

Some sad hams hate on other amateur license holders especially the old curmudgeons that had to write essay answers on their tests and had to pass the CW code portion too. They feel that since they had to walk up hill in 2 feet of snow both ways to school that everyone else should have to do the same.

All I had to do is make mention of having a GMRS license on 2 meters. The attitude that came off of the Hams just about dissolved my speaker. Needless to say, I quit talking on ham. I hop on Ham on a rare occasion to check into a net or something but my days of having conversations is probably over. I got this same attitude over making mention of an experience I had on CB radio. Just say the name of another radio service and the most vile hatred oozes out of some Hams.

I have the 117 and really like it. Of course I wanted the 87 but I couldn’t justify the price difference.

There's a ham club in Bushnell. Have you contacted them to find out if any of their members could be bribed with a six-pack to help you out? Maybe they have some GMRS fans in their ranks who'd help in exchange for use of your repeater (or adult beverages). Crash their lunch or breakfast meeting, or send their contacts an email. https://k4hog.org/

My RT97L arrived today, and I did some initial testing. Setup was a breeze using the software downloaded from the Retevis website. There is no software included, but the download was no big deal. There aren't a whole lot of things to set or change, so it's hard to goof it up too much. I didn't have a GMRS-specific antenna to test it with because my truck is loaned out, so I tried it with a few dual-band antennas. The Comet 2x4 had an SWR of 2.04, a couple of others had ~1.69, and once again, the much-maligned Nagoya UT-72 came out on top with an SWR of 1.23. I'll be interested to see what I get with an antenna that's tuned for GMRS. Power output was good -- 21-24 watts with all the antennas except the Nagoya. For some reason, I consistently got a reading of 26-27 watts with the UT-72. I can't explain why a different antenna would make a significant difference in power, but that's what I got. All the antennas were tested on the same NMO mag mount except the Nagoya which is an integrated unit. As far as I know, a different antenna and/or coax shouldn't change the power reading at the meter, particularly because the reading is taken before the RF energy even enters the antenna's coax. I wasn't able to test range, but I did confirm that it does indeed perform as a repeater. It doesn't "kerchunk" which surprised me a little. Not that I really care, but it was unusual. I hope to get this thing out to the field sometime soon, but my first impression is that it will be an excellent tool to have available for camping, hiking, or other outdoor activities.

Welcome to the forums!

As long it's brought up in the proper forum, then no you won't, but in the end it's up to the Moderators decision. Many of us use SDS100/200's to listen, as well as SDR's.

Not always. I got a radio from an eBay seller in Canada that was on a trunking system. I used a specially hacked radio programming software to get the info out of the radio without requiring the "system key file" from the trunking site. Some system admin claimed it wasn't possible without the key file. Oops.

Freedom of speech has come a long way.. And still has a ways to go

55 years ago I was voted class clown and sometimes I regress. I could understand wanting to set up a “base station” using a better antenna and higher powered radio in order to get more range. That’s much easier to do than a repeater and would give you the same range. What do you hope to achieve by having a repeater in your apartment? Are you planning to provide the repeater for others to use?

He was actually new twice here. He quit once, had his name purged, and then slunk back in. That’s why there are all those idiotic posts attributed to “Guest” in the non-guest forums.

I have lived in apartments before. They were always small enough that I could reach from one end of the apartment to the other without a repeater. I could even reach from inside the apartment to the dumpster outside when my wife took the trash out.

Our 70cm antenna is at 900 feet and we get about a 35-40 mile radius of coverage. Our GMRS antenna is at 400 feet and we get 30-35 mile radio of coverage. And both bands have same dead spots depending on the terrain and trees. Our 2m antenna is also at 900 feet and we get a 80-85 mile radius with it. I mention it to show the difference between VHF and UHF. The 2m and 70cm repeaters actually use the same set of antennas and go into a diplexer.

The Calif High Desert offers a lot of locations with good elevation and wide open valleys. One repeater here siting on a 4500 foot mountain top (El Paso) can talk Palmdale - Lone Pine about 160 miles (Repeater sitting about center point). I've heard people talking on this repeater on HT's standing at Whitney Portals on the same path. I think dry weather has a lot of benefit to talk distance as well.

Anybody can come up with scenarios where any use could be helpful. The issue is, is GMRS as specified in the regs, the right service for your usage scenario. If not, and you want FCC to make a change, then propose that. Just going rogue because it suits your purpose makes you a radio outlaw. Part of the the issue is just the precise meaning of what "illegal" means in this context. We should refer to violation rather than illegal since it is about regulations. But I think it is generally understood that illegal in the radio context means violating FCC regs. Linking over RF is not explicitly prohibited in the wording of the regs. But it is at least discouraged in the rule clarification where it explains any linking is bad. As far as I have ever heard or read, starting with ham, mixing radio services is prohibited by regulation. There are no other frequencies that I know of that can legally (haha) carry GMRS conversations. If you know of some, can you list the frequency and/or the service? Sounds a lot like "our country, love it or leave it". Leaving if you don't like how it is used would be fine IF EVERYONE WAS FOLLOWING THE RULES. Leaving because some people want to break the rules is just running away rather than fighting.

He is incapable of actually being helpful. He prefers to make himself look like a rhee-tard every chance he gets. This is the recommended fix:

It's not that people don't seem to understand, it's simply 'they don't give a rat's A$$.. They seem to think there will be no consquences so they do what they do. Maybe they listen to 'some people' reinforcing their thoughts. Whatever it is,, Linking is gong to be around for a long time.. What i think is funny though, when someone sets up a new repeater in area these linking guys operate, hogging all the bandwidth and the new guy has no choice but to use one of the frequencies the linker is using and it pisses the linker operator off.. Thats when you offer the Linker a sand box. Ok. Carry On,,,,,

OK, today was the big day. I got my buddy to bring over the bucket truck. I had already made up the antenna with the cable as you all know. 1st thing to do was get the existing antenna down. So up to the lightning arrestor and cut off the water protection. Used a set of channel locks to undo the N connector. Didn't see anything that would be a water issue in there. So up the mast I went in the bucket clipping off the tie wraps as I gained altitude. Got to the antenna and loosened the nuts on the U bolt and removed the antenna. Back down to the ground. 2nd thing was to put up the guy wire system. I used a triple clamp designed for 1 1/2" mast and attached 1/8" stainless steel cable using loop thimbles and aluminum double barrel sleeves. Crimped them up using 2 sleeves. One tight against the thimble and one about 1 1/2" away where the sleeve hid the end of the cable to make it prick proof. Had 50' of cable on each of the 3 legs which I knew was more than enough. I also knew it wouldn't be too short. Up in the bucket again and mounted it about 2' from the top of the mast and opened up the looped cable and let it hang down. Back to the ground again. 3rd thing was bring up the antenna. All the way to the top this time and mounted the antenna using the U bolts that came with it. And slowly went down to unfurl the cable. Forgot to bring the tie wraps up, crap. Back down to fetch them and back up and tied the coax off about every 10" with two tie wraps at each spacing. Then to the bottom to attach into the lightning arrestor. Put the heat shrink tubing on, ya.. didn't forget LOL. And used the self fusing tape to seal the joint. Slipped the tubing over it and hit it with the heat gun at 700ºF. Back down again. 4th.. Went into the house to pull the trigger. Hit my repeater and it came back with a good signal. Hit the Holyoke repeater which I could barely do lately and I got a response from a friend that I was Lima Charley (loud and clear) which I haven't been in 6 months. SWR on my repeater frequency was 1.01. Switched to Channel 22 and the SWR was 1.00, fantastic. 5th I got the 5/16" stainless steel turnbuckles and crimping equipment and tied off one side to take the slight lean out of the antenna that I've had ever since a wind gust bent my chimney mount a bit. I put 2 more straps on and lengthened the mast 8' and tied it into the chimney with a wood working clamp which stabilized it quite a bit. The guy wire straightened out the slight lean. Had to install a screw eye that I needed the bucket to do (or a ladder, but why I had the bucket truck here) I pulled out one of the long nails holding up my gutter and put a 3/8"x8" eye hook with a PVC ferrule and it hit good. Very secure, I was worried it's be a rotted pc under the aluminum siding. But I hit a roof rafter end. Tied that off with the guy wire and crimped everything up. Time was up for the bucket truck and he went on his merry way. I gave him a pair of the TD-H3s for the help and a bit more. 6th .. One more guy wire to tie off and I just moved my truck into position and stood on my tool box and secured the guy wire and turnbuckle. Pretty much completed the job. Took about 3 hours, 2 1/2 with the bucket truck. Still have to clean up all the little tie wrap clippings. That'll be a job for tomorrow. Have to paint the blocks I put in to secure the eye hooks sometime soon.

Seen this picture before. It is bird crap on the windshield.

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.

I don’t see how it could.

I tell you.. it better not leak.

There is a setting for the kerchunk.. "STE" i think? I would double check for you but both of mine are boxed back up and ready to be given away to lucky viewers.

For both the Wounxun KG-XS20G Plus and KG-935G Plus factory programming software provides the ability to password the MODE key and password the RESET "ALL" function. I didn't find any reference to this password functionality in my hardcopy manual or the latest PDF version so I played around with it see how it works. Here's what I found: Both passwords must be 6 digits. Password digits can be any number between 0-9 with a password of all zeros a special case. Entering 3 to 5 digits will cause the factory software to left justify the entered digits and pad the remainder with zeros. A password of all zeros disables the feature. All zeros is the factory default. Changing modes on the radio with "Mode Switch Password" enabled: 1) Press the MODE button 2) Enter the 6 digit password 3) Press the MENU button Do a RESET / ALL with "Reset Password" enabled: 1) Press the Menu button and using the up / down buttons select RESET function: 2) Press the Menu button again and using the up / down buttons select the reset type "ALL" 3) Press the Menu button again and enter the 6 digit password. 4) Press the MENU button. Quirks: Attempting to write a password of less than 3 digits to the radio will result in an programming software error. Saving to file a config with only 1-2 character passwords entered and then reading that file back results in the 6 digits passwords being left justified and padded with zeros.

Thanks, that was good information. Even the 18" Abbree didn't give up anything to the Nagoya 771. There aren't many other 42" or 47" HT antennas to compare them to, but they showed a major boost over the 15" Nagoya. He did note that if left folded, the antenna would eventually develop a memory and become floppy. The whole point is to have something I can leave folded in a box or bag to whip (See what I did there? ) out when I want it. I don't know if that's a deal-breaker; I'll have to consider it. If being "a little floppy" doesn't significantly impair its signal, I probably won't care. In the military (long, long ago) the "tape measure" whips we had on the PRC-77s flopped around like spaghetti but they seemed to work okay.

OMG.. THAT is a great idea!

The AR-5RM is a mean black radio that no one needs for hunting or self-defense. The founding fathers could not foresee this dangerous radio being developed when they spoke of the right to bear AR-5RMs. You may be a law-abiding citizen with outstanding morals, but these items should be controlled so only criminals can have one. Crap, I was wearing the wrong hat when I read and posted. (Takes off NRA hat and puts on radio nerd hat). I like my AR-5RM. I just got one (well two) and I have been sitting around learning how to program it with Chirp and listening to local amateur repeaters. Sitting for my tech licenses on the 9th. Can't wait to hit the transmit button. My only complaint would be that Boofwang needs to change the color of the menu letters. It is fine to read indoors, but not outside in sunlight. They need white letters.

We have seen that the Google, Bing, Ask and other search engine spybots are camped out here reading new posts. Just a word to the wise... use your discretion in posting personal or sensative information that could possibly compromise your personal safety, security, lead to identity theft, or give non-licensed individuals a way to access your radio systems.