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28/35 just now. Passed. Keep. On. Grinding. If anybody's curious, here's a freebie. "QRV" means "I am ready to receive." Who knew?

I appreciate the encouragement, gents. Now that I've seen 100% of the test pool questions, I've just got to brute force my way through the ones I don't know. I passed my technician test with 72% competency on hamstudy. I'm up to 56% on general. It's finally clicking.

Took my first General practice test tonight. 25/35 Soooooo close.

Too bad, you’ll get no sympathy from me. But I’m glad you’re getting more and more into it and I hope someday you’ll appreciate how much more Amateur Radio can be besides simply chatting to others.

What they usually mean is “voice inversion”. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voice_inversion

I have a AT-779UV and really do like it... Only thing I did have to with it it is widen the microphone hole in the handset and adjust the mic gain. the way it came the modulation was pretty low. and yes you can configure it to cover GMRS frequencies if you want.

https://docs.fcc.gov/public/attachments/FCC-10-106A1.pdf Here’s what the FCC says about scrambling on GMRS: 20. Recently, several GMRS and FRS radios have been certified with an optional voice “scrambling” feature that purports to add a level of privacy to communications within a particular group of users.35 We believe that voice-obscuring techniques, which go beyond the ubiquitous, standardized tone squelch, are inappropriate for these services. Specifically, we believe that these voice-obscuring techniques could thwart the channel sharing protocols in these services and the ability to communicate during an emergency. To ensure there is no future confusion on this matter, we propose to clarify our rules to specifically prohibit voice obscuring or scrambling in the GMRS, FRS, and CB Radio Service, and to provide that any such equipment with those features will be prohibited from receiving a grant of equipment certification for operation under Part 95 of our rules. We seek comment on this proposal and whether other Part 95 Services should prohibit voice “scrambling. ” We invite commenters to address whether there are alternatives that may allow voice altering features while still addressing the concerns identified above. We also seek comment on how to phase-out the marketing and sales of existing equipment. Should we impose a specific cut-off date or dates? Should the same date apply to the manufacture, import, and sales of devices? Should we allow existing inventory on shelves to be sold or should it be removed? What are the trade-offs of the various approaches?

HamStudy.org is a good resource. You have 3 ways to study/practice and if you sign up for an account you can keep track of your progress.

I have the Alinco DJ-MD5 which is basically the 778 inside. Like the 778 it’s certified for Part 90, for commercial frequencies. It is very easily configured to be used on frequencies that include GMRS.

If your hearing it across all channels at the same time, I'd would think not a GMRS frequency unless it's somebody sitting within a few hundred feet of you overloading the receive on your radio. My guess would be a commercial user very close by on a nearby frequency or your radio is picking up some harmonic of another frequency. If it was a GMRS frequency and strong enough to splatter across all the channels at the same time, you should pick it up S-10 (full signal strength) on the channel they are operating on.

HA!! I always liked this one. This is what your vehicle might look like when you stop worrying about the paint, and scratches, and holes... Seriously: Good luck with your mag mount. I too struggled for a solution so as to not damage my vehicle.

I was at an event and heard them calling for exams...FREE. Got me. I have been reading and half studying and figured what the hell...WAALAA! KR4FHF/AG. I have been beating my G90 up since, 20m, 40m, 80m

The first YouTube channel I watch when I get up to see what's going on with the Sun and Space Weather.

Ok, I really have no business doing a review. I'm too new to all of this. but....... I picked one up and noticed a couple of nice additions to the 5RM series and searched and found nothing on this unit yet here. So..... Radio itself functions identically to the 5RM as far as I can tell. What is added is two programable side keys with useful options. Added Zones which I find pretty sweet. Easy and quick to switch between zones to actively work with on radio. Each zone will hold up to 64 channels. Sweet for scanning a single band or group of channels. A new menu system that is sectioned making getting to each setting much faster and easier. GPS receiver is pretty nice. Nailed my home address from within the house. Provides standard notation of Direction/degrees/minutes/seconds which is easy to cross reference with Google maps or Garmin devices. Oh and a color screen. Got a speaker mic with the unit that produces pretty decent audio in both directions. Uses the same battery as the 5RM which was a plus for me as I had purchased extra batteries. No flashlight..... What will people do?!!!!! Is it really any good? No idea. Ask me in five years.

This is my review of the TIDRADIO TD-15: The M15 is my second PoC device (the first one was a Choyong WT2) and I have to say I love it. Why? I got a set of 2 radios for 100 bucks, which is a steal considering what that radio can do for you. Simply put, as long as you are within range of a cell tower with LTE4G you should be good (there could be some exceptions in some countries). You can talk pretty much any distance on the planet, and you will hear a very clear voice from the other side, even if it is on the other side of the globe. This device is a PoC - push-to-talk over cellular meaning that, just like your cellphone, the radio only connects to the local tower, after that you are on the Internet (this is a form of Voice over IP or VOIP). This device is simplex only, meaning that you cannot interrupt the other person, you need to let them finish first least you "step on" on them. Folks used to radios will easily adapt. PoC, however, also requires to change walkie-talkie/radio habits. Since each time your device must open a line, so to speak, to the other person, you should always wait for the the device to show "this device is speaking" (hey, their English is probably better than your Chinese ) and when you listen to the other side, you must wait until the other person finishes. Most of the time, I would say, you need to press the PTT (push to talk) button on the side, wait about 5 seconds, then speak, then stop, wait 10 seconds or more, and then your interlocutor will reply. This is all very simple and easy, but you must be aware of this. Most PoC manufacturers only allow you to speak to other people with the same device or, at least, brand (this is what Choyong's WT2 does). TIDRADIO did something better - they allow you to create your own group (people you want to speak to) using the Android app Odmaster, which is not the best of the best, but it is solid. You sign up your 2 devices via a QR code, then you create a group, then add your 2 devices to the group which will result in 3 group members: the two devices + one on your smartphone and Odmaster. This is very very neat! The battery life is fantastic, the battery being a huge (but small in size!) 3000mAh capacity which means you can use the device for days. You can recharge the battery by USB-C. One fantastic feature of these amazing devices is that you can update the firmware "over the air" (OTA). Just to to settings, check the version and if you get a message saying a new version is here, just press "yes" and it will update. Very very easy. So who could use those? First, an important caveat - this "radio" is a type of radio, but not a real radio. If the cell towers are down, you are out of luck, you will NEVER contact anybody with that. Not even in the same room with 2 M15s. So there is that. Having said this, Cell towers are very resilient and radios can only reach that far. As for repeaters, they will be overwhelmed in a disaster situation (they can only relay ONE signal at a time). So think that this is a great emergency device. Next, if you don't want to think about range. As I said, if you have cell towers, the range is basically unlimited. Also, if you want to always be able to reach your kids, but don't want them to have a real smartphone, the M15 is the way to go. If you want to reach a lot of contacts at the same time (say on a multi-car trip, or a construction site, or fishing boats) - this is the ideal way to do so as you can make "group calls". Is this device perfect? Alas no. One strange thing is that there is "GPS" printed pretty much where you would expect a GPS/GNSS chip to be. There is none. Apparently, TIDRADIO gave up on the concept. The radio has no official IP rating (that I could locate). Some stores and users claim it has an IP67 rating. I would prefer no ambiguity here. The radio is small, but rather thick. A flatter form would be nicer I think. One weird thing: while TIDRADIO claims that you can put two SIM cards in the device, the first 2 I got had all the signs for two SIM cars, but only one slot to place one it. My next two had two slots. Weird and mildly irritating. One last comment: I yearn for the day when PoC devices will be truly able to speak to each other. Alas, there is no way to connect my Choyong WT2 and my TIDRADIO-TDM15s. I hope that in the future somebody will develop this capability. PoC seems to be an eminently practical and needed technology, and it is only in its infancy, it will only get better in the future. As of right now, I think that TIDRADIO PoC devices (they have MANY!) are the way to go. Bottom line: HIGHLY recommended!

For what I have seen firsthand, it's not really "scrambling" anything. It's just adjusting the frequency you transmit on by a nominal amount. Kind of like when you're not dead on in HF and the pitch of the voice is weird until you zero beat it. You set the amount of Hz deviation on both radios to the same. You sound weird and artifact-y to each other and mis-pitched and weird to others not using the "scramble" feature. But nothing's really scrambled. At least that's how it works on the Quansheng UvK6.

have not read all of this thread but do want to point out. we recently had interference from a licensed station bleeding into gmrs frequencies. a very experienced radio operator kindly contacted them and let them know. I do not know the details or conversation but it sounded like they had a defective repeater causing this and soon after shut it down. am posting because only got a few posts into this reccomending not to contact owner. I think if done well that should be the first move to correct interference. i am not saying direct contact but most cases you can e-mail etc. this may be more effective than FCC in some cases. if by chance i caused interference this would be my preference and would be much more motivated to help my community vs the government request. IDK

So don’t study the math part and take the test to see if you needed it. im pretty sure that if you do well enough on all the other part you can pass even with very poor math skills.

I have this radio in the Ar-5rRM version, which is an extremely reliable and capable radio. Some will argue that it has less then desirable Spurious emissions, whatever!!!!! I think for the cost, Baofeng has been stepping it lately and i hope it continues. My daily Handheld that i use most often is a Wouxun KG Q10g, and it is all because i subscribe to notarubicon and i seem to not be able to walk away and not make another purchase i probably don't need. latest edition is a Baofeng DM32-DMR, Once again Baofeng is stepping up their game a bit here.

I chime in with them occasionally, but I do most of my social radio usage on ham repeaters.

I can certainly envision more than one use case for a POC "radio", but I kind of take exception to the way they're marketed as SHTF radios. I wonder how many purchasers don't understand that when cell towers go down, their "radio" won't work?

I run an MXT 575, works every time, built like a tank.

If I understand the rules correctly, scrambling isn't allowed either, but so many inexpensive radios can do it now that it was inevitable some people would start using it. Unless you're using it to plan a heist, probably nobody will care enough to try to crack it. If I heard it, I'd likely assume they didn't want me to know their grandmother's cornbread recipe.

I haven't either, but there's at least one repeater in my area that has a fair amount of just "gabbing" and they usually don't mind if someone else chimes in. I mean, it's worth a try.

Keep swimming! You got this!

There is usually no confusion if it's a DMR signal. Due to the TDMA nature the RF pulses. One active slot for 27.5 milliseconds, the inactive slot nothing for 27.5 milliseconds. There is a dead period between slots of 1.5 milliseconds reserved for transmitter power amp ramp up and down time, slot syn on repeaters etc. See attached page out of DMR spec's for slot timing. Part_1_-_DMR_Air_Interface__AI__protocol_-_ETSI_TS_102_361-1_V2.-job_17.pdf

Thanks, Good to know!! I am not familiar with and had not looked at Alinco, but will do so.....

你好 Very good review - may have to look into these!

GMRS is basically a family/friend service. Here in the desert i hear a lot of traffic between desert off road dwellers, hikers on the Pacific Crest Trail, vehicle traffic on hwy 395 and sometimes landscapers doing their job. I seldom hear anyone hollering out for a contact. Sometimes i hear someone asking for a radio check or a drunk boyfriend telling his girlfriend to pick up some more beer. I think the best way to develop contacts on GMRS is encourage your friends to get a GMRS Radio and chat away. That's my fest advice for making contacts on GMRS.

The Retevis RT95 is the same radio. Yes, it can be unlocked so you can do all the VHF/UHF frequencies including MURS and GMRS along with 2M, 1.25M and 70cm. I just wish it'd do 6M but you can't have everything I guess.

I will try this, thank you.

I reread this and realized I missed the part about one being on Mingus. Thank you this sounds about what is happening. I plan on contacting the owner of the repeaters and asking his opinion.

462.5375 MHz is an allocated Business Radio Service freq and being used in a digital trunk system with 100 watt stations on Pinal and Mingus. The AZ GMRS 550 station on White Tanks already operates narrowband. If the other 550 stations operate narrowband and the mobiles and portables set their channels for narrowband, more than likely you wouldn't have any adjacent channel interference from the 462.5375 freq. In addition to narrowband emissions, if people would use a real radio with a real receiver and not a cheap POS Pandaland Radio with a receiver on a chip, more than likely you wouldn't have that problem.

The first part before the beeps is exactly what I hear and it is constantly broadcast.

Go out in the blind and ask for a radio check and after the response, strike up a conversation like, is my antenna too short or other radio related subject.

I would respond to a radio check.....(if I hear you), and talk to you if you want -- why not?

Drilling a hole casues the least damage to a vehicle. In the end a proper install will outlast the vehicle, look cleaner and perform better. I see a mag mount as a short term solution. Like when I use my parents camper I drop a mag mount on the door so i can talk to thecar behind me. Thats about it.

SOmeone may answer. If I hear you I most likely wont. I use GMRS for specifically keeping track of family. On a off road event I would answer as thats the tool for the job. I use ham if I want social meda presence.

Just transmit and ask for a radio check as there's no better way to break the ice. Someone will answer and you are off and running.

I appreciate the info. I'll check that website out but I am afraid that my OCD would never allow me to run something that looked like that. It's tidy and neat, but I'd obsess over the wire spacing and want to shrink wrap it and it would just be a magnet for my neurosis. Plus, I'm trying to keep the amount of connections to minimum which is why I think I'm just going to go the ferrite bead route.

Pretty soon you'll have 3 antennas up on the house and 15 HTs on a shelf along with the mobile unit hooked up to a power supply....

Hello everyone. I am Mike from Brentwood. Just got my GMRS license 2 weeks ago and own 2 Baofeng DM-32UV radios. I was excited to talk tonight with @WSDV406 on the Brentwood 600 repeater since that was my first time on a repeater and I was not sure if I set my radios up correctly. I plan to be on the Brentwood 600 repeater. Looking forward to meeting more of you.

I had a MXT575 in my Jeep, both are gone now but damn I loved that Midland.. Easy and simple and they just worked.. Wife and I are thinking of getting another Jeep, if we do, first thing I will do is get another MXT575..

POTA is fun. I activated a park this morning on 20m I got 30 contacts in about 30-35 minutes Sorry no photos as I didn't want to break the camera on my phone I used a Xiegu G90 20 watt radio along with a REZ antennas Recon 40 with 24 8.5 ft long ground radials. I uses a 30ft ABR Industries ABR-240 coax with 5 ferrite beads as a choke at the antenna. I only worked the US and Canada this morning but it was fun. Today was a little faster paced that I normally like.

At the antenna store. It was an option.

so the car wash finally ate my nagoya magnet roof mount and mtxa25. which is wild since its been through several hundred washes. pretty sure an over agressive top roller got it and *yoink* go bye bye so its time to finally do a permeant mount . looking for a thru the roof option and i see two basic solutions https://www.amazon.com/Vehicle-Antenna-Installation-Extension-Kenwood/dp/B077P26SY3/ through mount with attached cable or something like this https://www.amazon.com/Anina-Connector-Assembly-Adapter-Mounting/dp/B0DFLMTLD4/ nmo->SO239 and just use a good quality pl259 cable with like a 90 degree adapter on it? i will be drilling the roof of both my silverado crew cab and a 2013 sonic hatchback and burying the cable under the headliner. am i missing a better option? any experience doing a mount like this - good, bad or indifferent? i do have steel offroad bumpers and could mount there on my truck, but i'd rather go thru the roof to get the antenna height, especially for around town when i dont have my MTXA26 whip on the roof and i'm running the little stubby. just trying to avoid losing *another* $50 antenna and $35 antenna mount, while not having to dismount it off the roof every time i wanna get a carwash also- i do have a fiberglass topper on the bed of the silverado, wouldnt be against mounting on there, but that would mean i'd need a ground plane of some type. i dont want to do a mount with the 3 ground plane stubs coming off it, and know that something as simple as a peice of metal (like even using a baking pan with a magnet mount for outdoor/non vehicle usage) can work as a functional gorund plane. would it be possible to mount said ground plane inside the fiberglass topper and have it functinal? or would it need to be external to be useful? Just making sure i'm not overlooking an easy option that allows me to skip drilling a hole in the cab of my truck if need be. TIA for all your feedback!

I run regular NMO mounts on my mini-van and they hold up perfectly fine. One thing to note however is that with some car washes, the sensors that control the rollers may see your antenna regardless of whether or not it is hard mounted or mag mount and will lift that roller right up over the vehicle as if something is blocking it. I run 2 1/4wave VHF antennas (about 18-19in) and the roller wont even wash the top or back of the vehicle because of it. Other than that, they definitely can take a beating. I have had 49" antennas with no spring on my vehicle before (NMO mounted) and would whack certain trees at a job I worked and they would still be intact and working fine.

Just the absolute best, regardless of money? Someone will probably say get a Motorola. Best quality/performance/price ratio? some would say the TD-H8. For more money, great quality but is a mainline locked up 5 watter? Wouxun KGQ10G. Best is going to be subjective based on what your parameters are..

Wanted to note: Windows 10 does work, you just need to open the application with "Run as administrator"

In the past few weeks, members and staff alike have researched the controversy regarding type acceptance or certification of radio equipment. We have found absolutely NO evidence that the agency is issuing citations to licensed GMRS operators for using Part 90 equipment in Part 95 service. We have anectdotal evidence that agency inspectors randomly allow Part 90 equipment in Part 95 service as long as all Part 95 technical standards are met. Therefore, it is the decision of the staff at MyGMRS Forum to once again allow posting of "Equipment Reviews" regarding ALL types of equipment whether Part 90, Part 95 or Part 97. We feel that it is the responsibility of each member to screen the information that is provided by others and to make an educated decision on whether or not to use any equipment of any kind in your own personal setting. Reviews of Part 97 equipment are acceptable due to the number of Amateur Operators here, however, we do not wish to see any reference to Amateur Radio Part 97 equipment being 'suggested' that it works on GMRS frequencies. Thank you all for your patience in this matter and thank you for your understanding. The forum is once again open for "Equipment Reviews" and similar postings under these guidelines listed above. The MyGMRS Staff