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My wife is heading up to NYs to babysit our 2 grandsons while my boy does his bowling tournament thing. I came home for lunch to see her off. After she got settled into the car I took off and by the time I got to the shop she's calling me on the radio. She doesn't have a radio in her car so she was in the house. Turns out she couldn't find her phone and radioed me to call it so she could hear where it was. I did, she found it LOL. And that's why a radio is better than a phone, in this case LOL.

My kid likes running around outside with an FRS radio and talking to me, which is fun for both of us. He also likes kerchunking and hitting the call/alarm button until I take the radio away, which is only fun for one of us. But we all start somewhere.

DPL 023 is not a CTCSS tone. CTCSS is an analog tone in hertz and DPL is a digital code. The lowest standard CTCSS freq (Continuous Tone-Coded Squelch System) is 67.0 Hertz (cycles). DPL (Digital Private Line) or DCS (Digital Coded Squelch) lowest code is 023 and the highest code is 754. DCS/DPL may be either normal (D023N) or inverted (D023I) They both function the same in protecting or keeping the receiver squelched until the tone or coded is present on the frequency/channel carrier. When the tone or code is interrupted by unkeying, the tone/code will cease thus the receiver will squelched and prevent other carriers without a tone or the incorrect code from opening up the receiver. Essentially it is a Nuisance Eliminator. Motorola trade name "Private Line" is misunderstood by many because no frequency is Private unless it is encrypted. Other radio manufacturers use a different name for their CTCSS/DCS or no name at all.

Me: I set our radios to channel 9 and locked the controls. Just use the side button, you don't need to touch anything else. KId: Okay, thanks dad! [fifteen minutes later] Kid: I pushed a bunch of buttons and now I can't talk to you. Me: Well, you unlocked the controls, set the radio to channel 3, set a PL tone, turned the volume all the way down, and... turned the roger beep back on. Little man loves his roger beep. They're FRS radios with a .5W TX max - we did a test and I can't pick them up outside the neighborhood. He did turn it to CH 15 (462.550) once and freaked out when it picked up local repeater traffic. That was fun. Couple of older guys talking about lunch and sports.

They must all be using voice modifiers on the repeaters around here

I kept my land line phone for a while since my youngest son was always misplacing his cell phone. He would use the land line to find his cell phone.

Another quirk to the oddities here.. Now days its hard to tell if you are getting hit with a malware attempt to steel passwords. I remember a bunch of people at work a year ago getting similar notices from Microsoft. Turned out that was an attempt to steel peoples usernames and passwords. I actually went to my profile here and changed my password that route and the notice went away

Yep, mine to. But lots of sites run quick. But that does answer the question about if there is a delay. Yes, transmit stays on for predetermined time. I guess my brain was off when I was thinking about that. Not the first time, and I"m sure not the last.

Maybe the word oscillation is whats got me. Oscillation is usually internal to the repeater due to a failure. Or if the separation and isolation are not good, you can end up with a transmit loop if the input and output tone are the same. You won't have any oscillation. If you have a short tail, the repeater transmit may cut in and out as the receiver cuts in and out. I usually set mine to 2.5 seconds. You will hear the remote station drop out and come back in, but the transmit stays open for 2.5 seconds after the last drop.

Here is a simple to understand description of IP ratings: https://www.iec.ch/ip-ratings The first numeral refers to the protection against solid objects and is rated on a scale from 0 (no protection) to 6 (no ingress of dust). The second numeral rates the enclosure’s protection against liquids and uses a scale from 0 (no protection) to 9 (high-pressure hot water from different angles).

Looks like the duplexer is on the way and should get here late Wed if things go well.

Set his radio to channel 8-14.

I always thought it was for impressing the chicks!

i love the radio when RV'ing the highways with friends.. Defiantly would be lost without it

We have 4 or 5 that semi regularly use the repeater. My wife isn't one of them but on rare occasions she'll chime into a conversation. She has no problem contacting me though our repeater though. I still think she thinks it's our private frequency. I know it's not.

You know how women like to talk.....

Yeah, back in the day of the old 3-watt analog "mobile phone" the wife would get into her car and call me to say she's on her way home from work. After a while I asked her why don't you call me from the phone on your desk before you leave? I told her that I love her, but you're costing me $0.25-cents each time you call from that damn phone. I'm glad the novelty wore off after a few weeks or I would be in the poor house.

It's not a USB-C/12v power supply, though - it's a standard 5V/2A USB-A brick. My Anker desktop chargers are also 5V, though they support PD on the USB-C ports (which your article mentions does go above 5v but it has to be negotiated by the device and I'm pretty sure these H3 batteries aren't PD compatible). The Anker chargers work fine on other 5V USB devices, including some 18650/14500 batteries that charge via USB (through a USB-A to XH2.54 or similar connector). I'm guessing the charging circuitry is embedded in the USB-A plug housing. Side note: I do have a 12v USB power supply that came with my Thermoworks Billows fan for my smoker and that thing scares me. Other than the 12v warning on it, it looks identical to any other USB charger. It doesn't get separated from the fan or the controller. (Edit: I actually just checked and the Thermoworks 12v power supply has a USB-A socket. Which seems even sketchier. Good thing it has that grey-on-black 12V warning on it.) Yeah, it's gotta be the internal battery circuitry malfunctioning when the batteries are 100% charged. Unfortunately, there's no way to crack open one of these H3 batteries and poke at internal connections without destroying the shell, so I think my experiments end once I discharge/recharge this new battery.

It looks like it depends on what state you live in. Most online vendors do collect Missouri sales tax but so far Giga Parts has not done so.

I guess this means I didn't win it. Well, poop.

Alright, finished charging sometime after 2am, so here's the album. Battery read 8.57v both on the little single port charger and the Anker charger after being fully charged. Maybe they fixed them? I'm going to run this battery down to ~50% to replicate the condition of my first battery and then we'll charge it again to confirm. Edit: Put the old battery on the charger out of the box: 12v again. It's gotta be something with the internal charging circuit on the battery.

I got it

It stands for "Oh, Shit! Over!"

Given the present situation, I doubt that the US State Department would ever authorize any such gesture of aid to any country that is hostile to the United States or it's allies.

I think both radios need to be the same brand or use the same compander tech AND compander has to be enabled on all radios wishing to benefit from the tech. Otherwise, it sounds worse instead of better. It's been awhile since I read about it and I don't know anyone personally who uses it due to the compatibility issues.

I may not sound like a knowledgeable person, but I do my best to keep up. I recently purchased a BTECH UV-PRO, which is a Part 90 equivalent to the GMRS PRO. My first thoughts so far, the radio feels good in my hands. As far as programming it, well it's different than most Amateur Radio HTs and Mobiles. Of course, with Amateur Radio Equipment doesn't really have a Part 97 type acceptance or certification, but that's a different topic. Back to programming, the UV-PRO is similar to the GMRS PRO, which I find as easy as changing the trash liner in one's trash can. The APRS function can be a little bit tricky, but that may just for me. I was able turn on and off APRS, but I still need learn more about to use the full capabilities of the radio. I have to give BTECT an A for an excellent radio that is budget friendly and can be easy to program in a pinch when necessary

Every occupation and hobby has some people who look down on others. There’s no denying that. But if you feel that anyone who has had to pass an exam to get a license looks down at you, the problem might not be entirely them. I’ve been taught a lot over the years by licensed plumbers and electricians who have been very helpful. Not one of them gave me the feeling that they looked down on me.

Does anyone have experience with how they compare to their one-watt 900MHz HTs? How do they compare in thirty-floor buildings, shopping malls, cruise ships with many decks, and absolute range across the Grand Canyon or rooftop to rooftop? What about fancy operational bells and whistles?

I saw a lot of discussion on challenges loading airband channels and I thought I'd mention that there's some pre-programmed related frequencies in CHIRP. Go to File > Open Stock Config > US Aviation Frequencies.csv. Not sure if that helps anyone but thought I'd mention. They also have GMRS/FRS, Marine, etc. under there.

@SteveShannon Ah, beans. That's what I figured but I wanted to make sure I wasn't missing something simple. Thanks for your help! @Socalgmrs Interesting, I'll have to read up on that. What's not accurate about the SWR on a handheld and would they typically read high or low on an HT? I got the meter just make sure I didn't have anything Obviously Wrong (like low/no wattage or abnormally high SWR) even if it wasn't particularly accurate. Regarding the repeater, I'm about 25 miles out from it. Listening with a second radio, the repeater acts like like someone kerchunked it (I think that's the term). I'm not sure I have clear line of sight to the tower so I figured there's just too many obstructions for a 5W handheld to deal with. A little disappointing but I'm not too concerned. Gives me an excuse to build a base station sometime down the road.

They definitely are not legal for GMRS. Every time I try to use mine on GMRS frequencies the FCC helicopter lands nearby to write me a ticket.

NaNa NoNo has spoken.

Even though they don't call it GMRS in Iran this is the perfect situation to offer cheap disposable GMRS radios to the rescue workers to facilitate efficient communications.