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Yes, good test equipment will last a very long time. Still using an old Fluke 87 (no series III or white backlight here). Leaking LCD crystal around its display.....and believe it or not, a metrology tech put the main knob on in the wrong position, had to correct that myself. (My personal fluke ended up in the work pool as it looks like many others.....has happened with a Motorola XPR7550e radio as well). Black gasket broke, so electrical tape seals the gap in places.....but still accurate and great for use in dark corners of electrical cabinets or floor board of cars. Some co-workers bought the cheaper Kelin Tools multimeters, only to find they lacked a backlight. The old expensive Fluke 87 continues to do the job (suspect mine is 30 years old or so). By once, cry once. Get good gear.

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:

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

Being within a couple feet of another should have no effect on the finals. I bet that something with the programming resulted in inhibited transmit.

A Midland will fit your bill just fine.. No Bells and whistles, ho hype, just radio. They just work. You better get you a Midland

I really like the h3 as well. It’s a Fantastic “beater” ht and one of of mine has been a beast taking all kinds of drops and falls and still working great. Loud speake and significantly Better RX than baofengs and easy menu editing.

I thought it was one that's been neutered

Fortunately my work never involved more than 220. A lot was DC control power and 120 that was relay controlled to the equipment. But an old electrician gave me some advice early on. Have two sets of tools. One for electrical and the other for everything else. Keep them in separate tool bags and never mix them. I always bought the best tools I could afford. Retired now I still keep my electrical tools segregated from my others. Old habits die hard if you follow them, you will too.

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.

LMR600 is more expensive ($2.69/ft) than 1/2" Heliax ($1.99/ft) and has greater loss. It has the advantage of being more flexible. (antenna farm prices) https://theantennafarm.com/images/specs/34/lmr-600-coax-cables-datasheet.pdf https://theantennafarm.com/images/specs/36/ldf4-50a-product-specifications.pdf The fittings for both run about the same although the LMR has a wider variation.

I never messed with voltage above 480 three phase and I did not want to mess with higher voltages. KV is nothing to mess with. I won't get near a high power AM/FM radio station tower either. I also would refuse to use any type of welder outside in the rain for the same reasons. I had a 1st Lieutenant that wanted one my soldiers to stand inside a M113 engine bay and well the engine mount in the rain. The 1st Lt tried pulling rank but he forgot that the lead maintenance soldier was always in charge while working on vehicles. I politely and tactfully told hime that he was an ID10T and my soldiers would not weld in the rain.

My KGXS20 will set off my neighbors motion detector light on a certain repeater channel. My H3 can activate my headlamp, my Fein Vacuum with the tool activation. It has turned on my stove when I am very close to it, but you need to push the 2nd button to make it turn on. RF energy can do strange things to unshielded equipment. I've never had my set off a GFCI though.

Wow... Sorry to hear that. Electricity definitely jumps. Good on the two that said no. Working High voltage wasn't my favorite thing to do but when I did we always had a tailgate meeting to go over the task step by step and I always asked if anything seemed wrong or missing, I wanted input. If two people are saying no it sure would be cause to reevaluate the situation. Always more impotant to go home at the end of the day.

I thought you hated Midland..

I just logged in without any issues.

Looks like a nice option for my vehicle. I have limited space, so a remote mount unit like this would work well for me.

Love mine too. I'm up to buying 14 of them. Had 2 bad ones that were replaced without issue. I have 6 of them that I can use and the rest given away to family and friends.

They have had some spotty quality control, unfortunately. I really like mine, I have 4 of them. All tested good. But there are some that seem to just show up broken. A programming error where you couldn't transmit would get you the "YOU CAN'T DO THAT DUMMY" beep when you key up. If it's not doing that, and it's just outputting 0W, then yeah, they're probably NFG.

I think Steve nailed it.. Programing error. Factory reset try again.

I guess the gps would be something I’d be interested in hearing about also. I believe this would be the first we have seen this in a GMRS mobile. Does it rely on the phone app for this or does it operate on its own?

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.

It will only hurt for a little bit - until you either trip the breaker or pass out from the pain. I've zapped myself with everything from 12 V DC to 480 V AC three phase. 120 is the worse since it wants to hold onto you. Generally (but not always) 220V and above will throw you off. I got hit with 480V three phase when testing a contact. The relay went bad and it was getting the full 480 across it. I had my left hand on the metal cabinet when it hit me. It instantly threw my hand off the door. One of the worse shocks I got was when working on a 36 V DC golf cart. I got zapped by the full 36 volts from 6 high amp 6 volt batteries. I was testing the big resistor that controls the speed and accidentally got my left forearm across all three terminals on the motor. I had to grab my left arm with my right hand to pull my arm off the motor. I won't go cheap when it comes to tool needed for electrical work. All of my screw drivers and some pliers are all rated for up to 600 volts. And I definitely won't use those pen testers.

It seems to have some promising features. I guess I'd be interested in how well the programming app works, how you like the Bluetooth and it's multitude of options and do you find it to be an improvement in quality from it's BTech mobile predecessors? Looking forward to your video and thoughts.

I should have my RT97L in about a week.

Some of us pack heat and lie about vacations we never take.

Wow,, that thing is made with Platinum

Can you imagine the reaction if you go on a Ham Radio Forum and brag about getting your GMRS License!?!

That is for sure. I am all about home made as much as possible. Attached are a couple of pictures of my 10 meter antenna on a 30' pole. Made from two 102" SS whips cut 2" inches shorter and attached to a Procomm DP4MFPL dipole mount. I have been able to talk to guys in Italy and Germany, all with 20 watts out. This is a great hobby.....

I have a 35 year old Fluke 27 that has never let me down. I had a supervisor that wanted some measurements taken inside of a 72 KV switchyard. The two operators on duty refused to perform the task and reminded the supervisor (who had been an operator and went through the high voltage training) that measuring tapes were not allowed inside of a live switchyard. He got mad and went in the switchyard to get the measurements anyway. He lived but will never fully recover from what it did to his body. That was in a very specific professional setting, but the lessons apply to anyone working with any voltages.