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To stay legal I only use my Marine radios when I'm in the bathtub...

And the AR means Assault Radio And 5RM means Really Manly times 5

Whenever UV appears as part of a model name it usually means that a radio can operate on UHF and VHF.

…Um no, that’s not an antenna and it certainly isn’t removable. IP67??? At least.

They'll have to pry my radio from my cold, wet, soapy hands.

So... this is a touchy subject. The radio waves are not reserved. You have every right to transmit on that frequency and with whatever tone or code you want. If that person's repeater does its job and re-transmits your signal... it's perfectly legal. If the owner doesn't like it, they can change tones, channels, or turn it off when they aren't using it. Then there is the community aspect, where it really doesn't do any good to cause a commotion on the air. Also, some people are mean enough to go looking for you or other people they don't want using their system and cause problems in your real life... which I personally don't want to experience that. Even if they break a law and end up in jail... who wants that mess in their life? Then... my favorite... I have heard people pull that crap before and it's not even their repeater. And unless you know the owner, its hard to know who's who. Bottom line, I would either find the real owner, find another repeater, or if its important enough, put up your own repeater (which gets expensive to do it right).

Are you guys going to reiterate all of the points made in the original thread @marcspaz started?

I would add (because yes, your own repeater gets expensive in a big hurry!), see what kind of range you have simplex. I realize the whole reason this site exists is a directory of repeaters, and quite a good one too! But, don't be afraid once you get the license to see what kind of range you can get out of your radios first, including with a relatively inexpensive antenna setup at home (cheap mag mount on a cookie sheet/pie plate is a good way to get started). As I've noted on a few other threads, while I DO use our local repeater extensively (we're blessed to have an awesome local repeater owner), I also deliberately use simplex where I can, just to avoid using up repeater time, and to take things the whole county doesn't necessarily need clogging up airtime down to a little less range. All that to say, with just 5W and a good antenna (height is might, even 10 ft higher makes a world of difference!), I can cover easily a third of the local repeater footprint, and that on channels 1-7, where I'm not hogging a repeater pair nor a 50W channel neither! Just because this bears saying in you case, please, sincerely, (and I don't believe you have) don't let this obvious bad apple spoil your perspective of repeater owners and radio operators. Are there "Sad HAM" types out there? Yes...just like the Karens across our whole society. I have met many a cantankerous radio user (GMRS and Ham both), but I also have met some delightful folks that have been a wealth of knowledge, camaraderie, and wisdom over the years, and I count many of them close friends today. Steer clear of the rotten ones, as @marcspaz has insightfully put, because there can be real world consequences. But I can promise from experience, not every repeater owner, GMRS operator, HAM operator, or any other service licensee are as bad as all this. Welcome to this wonderful world (and hobby) of radio!

The Midland MXTA26 is a must have... The Comet is a good antenna as well. Out of the Box and no messing with tuning, the Midland wins.

now that's 'dope'

Pretty much any waterway is acceptable for marine use. Many lakes have local CG Auxilaries on the lake to monitor CH16 as well as assist USCG with incidents.

The name of the UV-5R makes more sense, now...

Not even an engineer and I concur with the need to understand as much as possible. Today I learned that photovoltaic cells are just heavily doped diodes operating in reverse.

Ah. That option is also in my bag of tricks. However, resorting to 10-32 and calling for help are not mutually exclusive. TBH, a GMRS or ham radio would be pretty much my last choice for communication in the event of a real emergency. That said, I do keep in mind that it is an option and it's part of my contingency plan.

If you want to drive my car you need my permission. If you want to use my repeater you need my permission. They are my assets. For the record, I would leave a repeater wide open for everyone to use -- but not everyone has that perspective about private assets.

I'll second this. I have a Midland stubby on my Jeep and it works wonders. Mounted on a lip mount on the back of the hood, right in the middle. Easily walks to a repeater some 40 miles away. As to a home antenna, I like the Ed Fong GMRS tuned J-Pole. Less than $70 all in after a trip to Lowe's for the PVC and it does a fine job. Mounted to my back deck only about 20' off the ground.

The Midland MXTA26 is one of the most popular GMRS only mobile antennas. And the Comet CA-712EFC is very popular when it comes to GMRS only base antennas. The CA-712EFC is tall at 10 ft long. So if height is a concern then the Comet CA-GMRS is another good choice for a base antenna. The CA-GMRS is 42 inches long. Another choice for a short mobile antenna is the Tram 1174. Though it will have to be cut/tuned for GMRS. You will want to use an antenna analyzer for best results in tuning it. Others will recommend different brands of antennas that work well for GMRS. The Midland MXTA26 and Comet CA-712EFC are by far the most popular though. The Comet 2x4SR is hard to beat when it comes to multi band mobile antennas. Though it is a bit tall for those with height restrictions as it is 38 inches long. I run a Tram 1174 on my Ford Escape as I park it in the garage. I run the Comet 2x4SR on my F150 since height is not an issue.

Answering the OP’s actual question is was very helpful and @TerriKennedy and @WRUU653 did that in the first two replies. Marc’s thread is a completely different topic.

The records stuck, the records stuck, the records stuck

Nope, sorry can't use it. It's already used in Holyoke, Mass. Listen to that frequency for a couple days and see how active it is. If it's fairly dead then it's probably a good candidate for use in your area.

If he wants the repeater to be private, why does he publish enough information for operators to use it?

don't forget the rubber ducky.

Ill definitely check those out. I did just place an order for two GMRS antennas, they are fairly cheap so I will just give them a try for now. I do have the 702-G and its pretty good for what I have experienced out in the mountains for the most part. Thank you for recommending the Diamond SG7900!! I have one in my list for possibilities. I'll have to order one asap. Thanks again!

Marine is also designated for inland lakes, albeit not necessarily monitored in Wyoming etc. You'd be surprised where it IS monitored by Coast guard though: Chattanooga isn't exactly known as being "marine," but they do have their Rescue 21 system deployed there, and even in such far flung places as Oklahoma, West Virginia, inland Oregon and Washington, Nebraska, and more... (see below) https://www.navcen.uscg.gov/rescue-21-distress-system-coverage

Yeah, there are definitely peak times, but quiet most of the day. My problem with noise/interference was with the whole Manassas/Centerville area. There is an insane amount of RF noise from all of the businesses through that area. Most of the time, I would have a 9 s-unit copy on my friends while I'm in Woodbridge, and as they would drive north on 28, I would still have a perfect copy on them, but their radios would get desensed to the point where they couldn't here me at all, until they got north of Dulles. It sucked. And it's still like that for people without amps.

I remember having read a lot about that a few years ago, and I thought, "Huh! Well, that's interesting" but until now I hadn't remembered it.

The go to channel for a mayday is not anything on GMRS. If you have a real emergency you should be using 911, an sos device like an inreach, or if you're capable a radio that has ability to transmit on an emergency frequency.

Personally, I’m a strong supporter of the democratization of technology. We already live in a world where so many everyday tools and services are locked behind subscriptions, access fees, or having to jump through unnecessary hoops. GMRS was supposed to be different, it's a shared public resource with only a small handful of channels available to everyone. If we were talking about amateur radio, where there’s an abundance of spectrum to spread out on, my thoughts would be different... but in GMRS, where the community relies on just eight primary channels, adding gatekeeping, restrictions, or paywalls around essential shared infrastructure feels counterproductive and, frankly, contrary to the spirit of the service. Mr. @marcspaz started a wonderful thread change my mind I dont need permission to use your repeater thats worth a read. TL;DR - Many radios will be able to scan for the repeater codes if there is traffic on those frequencies, and supply the TX/RX codes to you for use. Be polite, respectful and follow the rules of transmission and go for it.

No - see other answer. Four is a new record though!

If it's listed here, and has a working "Request access" button, you can click on it and fill out the form. Response speed varies from "a few hours" to "never" - it's pot luck. If it is listed as "disabled by owner", then they either really don't want any more access requests or it got disabled by accident (happened to me once, no idea why). Worst case, you could always send a card to the owner's listed address (in the FCC call sign lookup) and see what happens.

As my esteemed colleague Mr Shannon (H.E.R.D.) has already pointed out, a slightly fluctuating SWR is normal and an SWR of 2.1 is perfectly fine. Stop fussing and trying to over-complicate everything and just enjoy your radio.

The Midland MXTA26 is very popular here for GMRS off-road use. Ready to go without trimming. I run one on my 4x4 farm truck, and it takes a beating in the woods. Nevertheless, that antenna continues to get compliments on the quality signal/sound. Note: I don't even have it roof-mounted for the best possible ground plane. Mine is on an SS homemade bracket on the side of the rear window protector/headache rack. It just works. Best Regards!

This is good information. Most of my radios lock the top channel knob when you hit lock but my KG-S88G is as you have described here and does not by default. I didn’t realize this flexibility was in the settings at first and like @Paul357 I found it frustrating. Once I figured out by setting it to Key+ENC I can set it to a channel, lock it and hand it to someone. It’s my go to radio to hand off. Small, waterproof, one channel on the screen and when locked down it’s idiot proof. It’s slightly less simple than the KG-805G but I like that if I hand to someone and they drop it in the mud or water I don’t care.

A lot of people recommended the Comet 712EFC to me as a base antenna and it has worked really well. I currently don't use any GMRS-specific mobile antennas, but I tried several in the past. The Nagoya HD-G is junk. I ran a Nagoya 702-G mag mount for a while and it was satisfactory. Range was acceptable -- not great -- but it had a very good signal both ways. I have a Diamond SG7900 on the rear driver-side bed rail of my truck and it outperforms any GMRS antenna I've tried. Conventional wisdom holds that an antenna tuned specifically for the band you want to operate on will give the best results, but there are a lot of exceptions to that rule. The Comet 2x4SR, for example has given me very good performance on GMRS. It does need a good ground plane, though.

It shouldn't. Doing so increases complexity and the risk that someone may not hear someone calling for help.

I Don't Need Permission to Use Your Repeater - Change My Mind This isn't an attack on anyone... just meant to stimulate conversation. I am 100% open to hearing dissenting opinions. Lets chat. So, this happened to a friend of mine recently. He used a repeater that the owner did not expressly say he was approved to use. The repeater owner/manager sought him out off the air, told him that he isn't authorized and to not use it again. Here are some facts, that are not open for debate... In some states, a person is not criminally trespassing on realty unless a person has been notified by the realty owner either verbally, with signs, etc., followed by a complaint filed with the courts, a judge agrees with the realty owner and issues a court order for that person to stay off the property, AND THEN that person returns to the property. There is no other private trespass beyond unauthorized access to private real property. Also, the FCC has already published an opinion that they will not modify the rules requiring operators to gain permission to use another licensee's repeater. Literally every license holder has equal right to use every frequency, every tone, every code, etc. If your repeater receives my signal and re-transmits my signal, that is not my problem. As the repeater owner and licensee, by FCC rule, YOU are responsible for what is transmitted by your radio. It is up to you to manage things accordingly, including intentional or unintentional transmitting of another radio's signal. Here is the opinion... if I need a judge to agree with me that someone shouldn't be on my property and issue a court order to keep them out of my house, and the FCC said they aren't requiring permission, why should I ask for permission to use a repeater? Maybe as a courtesy? Why else? I mean, as a repeater owner, part of me thinks it would be nice to be able to have some teeth behind efforts to stop a troublemaker from using my repeater. Another part of me thinks, I sure as heck don't want to try to track and manage potentially hundreds or even thousands of operators on my repeater. I am way too busy for that. Not to mention I am not spending thousands and thousands of dollars to have the systems sit there and not be used. That would be such as waste. If the FCC says I don't need permission and it's up to the owner to use technology to manage access, and state laws have set precedent on what trespass is through State Code and Tort Law (which is limited to real property), then I don't need permission to use your repeater... change my mind!

Something that’s not obvious sometimes is that leaving the tones (CTCSS, PL) or codes (DTCSS, DTCS, DPL, etc) out on the receiver side will allow you to hear everything. Depending on your radio that can be done simply by leaving the RX Tone empty or by setting the Tone Mode column to “Tone” rather than “TSQL”. And of course as you’ve already determined, different manufacturers call things different names. Second, GMRS repeaters only receive on one of the eight main 467 MHz channels. GMRS radios which attempt to talk to those frequencies sometimes number those channels 23-30, or sometimes they call them something else like RP15, RP16 … RP22. If you’re not transmitting on a repeater channel the repeater will never hear you. How far away from the repeater are you? What’s the terrain like? Be sure you keep the antenna on your radio vertical when transmitting; sometimes I’ve seen people hold the radio horizontally in their hands. That can cost you some range.

I'm going to second the Radioddity GM-30. Just lock it on the channel you prefer, and hand them out.

Hand mic, 30 watts, lanyard, single channel... The antenna is a little funny looking though. Merry Christmas!!

It looks like you’re conflating some things. DPL and DTCS are two names for the same thing. CTCSS is the same as PL. Once you use them a few times it will make sense to you. Feel free to ask questions.

I have a couple Wouxun KG805g radios and they're about as simple as you can get. If you're looking for a basic GMRS radio they get my vote. https://www.amazon.com/Wouxun-KG-805G-Professional-GMRS-Radio/dp/B0885SQ2BV/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1CIQH1T2T02JV&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.9Hp9boAmGnTkxo9Lwv6u3qMPpPNEcOu0NGceqqY7sYLGjHj071QN20LucGBJIEps.BUP3zxSHtN37mrD2gyvTH14qiqgLTGaVbrH_YrCJ5x4&dib_tag=se&keywords=KG-805g&qid=1764618938&sprefix=kg-805g%2Cspecialty-aps%2C279&sr=8-1-catcorr&srs=8215278011

Depends how you set the menu. [27: LOCK-M] Lock Mode Function: Select which keys are disabled when the radio is locked. Options: KEY/KEY+PTT/KEY+ENC/ALL KEY: Locks the front keypad and [PF1] and [PF2] side keys. KEY+PTT: Locks the front keypad, [PF1] and [PF2] side keys, and [PTT]. KEY+ENC: Locks the front keypad, [PF1] and [PF2] side keys, and channel knob. ALL: Locks the front keypad, [PF1] and [PF2] side keys, [PTT], and channel knob KEY is where mine's set (at least, with the 905. I have no direct experience w/ the 805 but I imagine it's similar), so that the only things that work are the Volume, Channel knob, and PTT.

Another poster started a similar thread for KG-1000G and I thought it was such a great idea, I figured I'd start one for KG-935G. Some of this may apply to the KG-XS20G (manuals look very similar) or to other KGs. Here's one I'll start with (and it has much to do with the software): Scan Groups Preface: The KG-935G has 999 memory slots. Scanning channels is fairly slow. Priority Channel scan is a great idea, but implemented globally (vs within a scan-group). If you visit different areas frequently, its best to scan only the stuff near you. If you have less than 100 channels of interest in any given area (I have 25 at most in any geographic area), this may help you. Aside from where I live, I regularly visit 2 areas, and less frequently visit 2 others. Using the (less than great) Wouxun software: First: Renumber all scan groups to Group1=100-199, Group2=200-299, etc etc (I made Group10=001-099). This makes it such that any channel's first digit is the same as the scan group number. (out of the box, group 2 runs from 100, to 199. Not so intuitive later on...) Second, create a fake "Channel" at 100, 200, 300, 400, etc. Set it to no transmit, Scan Add = OFF, and give it a name for your areas of interest. For example, I have: 100="<HOME>" [settings: Rx 137.1, TX off, TX Power low, Mode narrow] 200="<DFW>" (Dallas) 300="<ETex>" (east Texas) 400= "<Hou>" (Houston) 800="<HotList" (stuff I might like to hear anywhere) several others. I left channels 1-99 factory stock. Finally, separate all of your regional channels under the appropriate bank. For example, I have Tyler GMRS repeater in 311, DallasFire at 255. The Northwest Houston GMRS repeater in 401. You could further subdivide these by band, service, interest (e.g. 200=DFWGMRS, 400=HouGMRS, 500 Hou-HAM, 600-HOUfire) so you only scan GMRS for your area, or all the HAMs in an area, or only Fire/Police in another. After doing that, it is a simple matter to use the radio's menu keyboard to set the scan group to match wherever you find yourself. And here's the true magic: Because you renumbered the groups, and stored a fake "label" channel at x00... if you ever forget, you can just key in "200", "400", etc, to see the channel group label ("<DFW>" & "<Hou>" in my case). Press UP Arrow to quickly find the channel you want, or set the scan group to #2 and you're scanning all the channels you saved for that "region" (Dallas on my radio). Now it's your turn: Have any tips/tricks for KG-935G (or very closely related) radios? Post them here!