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By the grace of mine own self-worth and sarcasm and by the bounteous authority vested in me, THE QUEEN OF ALL THAT IS GMRS, I doth hereby decree, with much pomp and stupidity, that one @SteveShannon, a stout fellow of questionable repute but unquestionable GMRS knowledge, be forthwith and forevermore dubbed a member of the Most Esteemed Order of the HERD (which, perchance, standeth for “Higher End Radio Dork,) Let it be known across the static-ee airwaves of the peasantry to the lofty frequencies of the saddest of H.A.M.s that Sir StevenShannon, clad in naught but his wits and an FCCs permission slip, hath stumbled bravely and fortuitously into the fray of tomfoolery and emerged victorious—or at least not entirely trampled. With this proclamation, he is granted the sacred right to put the title "HERD" after his name, to wield a UV-5R on GMRS channels, and to confuse all who inquire as to what a “HERD” truly be. So sayeth I, THE QUEEN OF ALL THAT IS GMRS on this fifth day of March, in the year of our Lord XENU two thousand and five-and-twenty. Let the roger-beeps blare, and may the Sad H.A.M.s tremble in his presence ! So it is written, so shall it be done. Arise good Sir @SteveShannon, member of the HERD!

I thought that might happen so my sig only refers to the Medium End Radio Dork Experimeter (MERDE) level.

Well, I got up and running with my new antenna, a $40 “uayosek”(whopping 2.5db) off Amazon and 25 ft of DXEng RG8X connected the BF UV5G Plus. At 16’ in the air with my handheld, it got 4.84 watts on high @1.04 swr. Worked well enough I bumped it down to medium and got 3.42w, and 1.62w at low. I was able to hit the big repeater on Sunday full quiet at high, and a little scratchy on medium. Having listened to suggestions made, and the Euro being about even with the dollar, I ordered 25 feet of MP Ultraflex 7 Sahara, which arrived today. Preliminary test shows 7.94w, 4.95w, and 2.61w, a significant improvement. SWR appears a tiny bit higher, but it is coiled and only tested on the antenna down so that will probably change. Price wasn’t too crazy for the Ultraflex, about $65 assembled and shipped. It definitely fits the bill though, lighter than LMR400, only .28 thick, the BNC connectors they put on it look like they were straight up machined out of bar stock, and its db loss is only a touch higher(.1 or .2 db) than LMR400UF. I am gonna try to get it all put up tomorrow night for the local net, but so far it looks like it will work well.

Well, After studying my butt off for several weeks, I took the test Saturday for General class and passed (35 out of 35). I do have to say thanks to the guy who gave me the link to hamexam.org where you can do flash cards of the questions, it really helped!!! Now on to new bands... maybe I will try out 17 meters or 20 meters in the coming weeks.

I got sick of all my radios and batteries falling over every time someone sneezed nearby, so I did some light CAD work and 3D printing this afternoon. I think I might re-do this one to have antenna storage on board as well...

Actually those are all just your feelings. The rules do not prohibit using GMRS to chat about weather or antennas or kids first report card, but if you’ve determined that you must have sole access to radio frequencies for the many emergencies that you purport to swoop in and handle you’ve made a terrible choice in GMRS. One would think that the first emergency might have taught you that.

You would need to reset it to GMRS mode before you can transmit on GMRS. (in HAM mode if you enter GMRS frequencies/channels it will not allow transmit on GMRS. To reset a TID Radio H3 to GMRS mode, 1. turn the radio off, then hold down both the Top PTT button and the star button while turning the radio on 2. this will bring up a menu where you can select "GMRS" mode 3. and confirm the change by pressing the blue "yes" button, causing the radio to reboot in GMRS mode The radio will reset to GMRS mode, and it should have all GMRS channels already programed in it ready to use. you don't need to update firmware... just follow above procedure. One other thing to figure out. if you bought the HAM version, thenn the antennas you got may not be ideal for GMRS. but that is ok, the stock antennas are not the best anyway. Order a GMRS specific antenna like a Nagoya 771G, or a 701G... or there are many other good GMRS specifically tuned antennas. Even the Tidradio 771G is very good. (but the 771s are longer than the stock anteannas.

I normally don't respond to posts or spend a bunch of time on forums. I found this interesting with lots of differing opinions and some good points. My thoughts on radio and its use are shaped by a carrier in public safety, emergency management, and my personal use of Marine VHF, GMRS and HAM, within licensure guidelines. The FCC states "95.1703 Definitions, GMRS. General Mobile Radio Service (GMRS). A mobile two-way voice communication service, with limited data applications, for facilitating activities of individual licensees and their family members, including, but not limited to, voluntary provision of assistance to the public during emergencies and natural disasters." As mentioned, I have both GMRS and HAM licenses. I also own a local GMRS repeater that has a large footprint, and am involved in HAM repeater systems that are part of the SKYWARN network. No, GMRS was never meant to be HAM. But all things evolve over time, it will not become HAM (nothing will become HAM, it is literally an experimental license that allows HAMs to do many, many things), but its use has and will evolve (grandfathered licenses for example) just like CB radio did. In my opinion, GMRS has some distinct advantages over HAM. The biggest being that once license covers a family. Repeater linking is not allowed in GMRS, so that keeps comms more local. A big benefit to GMRS and GMRS repeaters in particular, is the ability to provide alternate and emergency comms for families and friends. Most of the people who want access to my repeater specify they want it for emergency use to communicate with family and friends. Something a lot of people don't realize about cell phone service. Cell providers, and really all of telecom, are not required to provide long term emergency power for their sites or nodes. Most only have battery backup that doesn't last very long. My area gets hit with some severe weather once a year that causes widespread outages due to power and telecom lines being down. The first thing that happens is the cell towers get loaded up and bandwidth drops. If you have a cell provider that is not a big company that owns its own network, you are the first to get dropped from the network / site. Most people also don't realize that most "landline" phones are now VIOP. When the node goes down because its batteries are dead, so is you phone and internet (assuming you have power). As soon as the cell site without a generator looses it battery backup, its off the air and your cell is out. This can last for days. In contrast, the "big" repeater sites, both HAM and GMRS, are on UPS and gen power. My GMRS repeater can run a minimum of 24 hours with moderate use before I need to plug it into the generator. All the HAM sites I'm familiar with are the same way and are usually on commercial towers with gen backup. In order to use radio for emergency comms, you need to be familiar with radio and be fluent in its use. You need to know your radios work, you need to know the repeaters you programmed a year ago are on the air, and you need to know where you can use them from and who you can communicate with on them. You also need to have a plan for using radio to communicate when cells and landlines are down. Radio checks, general conversation, and rag chewing on repeaters helps ensure this.

I always use GMRS properly. I Never, never never put the antenna in my mouth when I push the transmit button.

I think if burglars showed up for my radio equipment (or computers), my housemate would hand the stuff over and check twice to make sure the burglars didn't miss anything.

Nothing prohibits it. Some people dislike the idea of GMRS turning into a sort of "Ham Lite" service, but if nobody is breaking the rules so who really cares?

Nobody in Arches National Park is listening for a call sign so they can call back to a criminal they have on speed-dial in Atlanta to burglarize your home so they can split the ill-gotten gains. Nobody hearing your call-sign in Atlanta is going to assume that your entire family is out of the home just because you use the radio to talk to someone five miles away while driving home from work. These licenses are family-oriented. If you're concerned about the address being public, switch your record over to a PO box. But again, this is not a very useful attack vector. On any given day the FCC website probably doesn't even load. Anyway, your choice. But call signs being linked to mailing addresses has been the standard since the early days of ham licensing.

Before I begin: I've endeavored to obtain both a GMRS license, and an Amateur Extra radio license. WSCL244/KF0QNM. I have learned much since then, but there's always more to learn. - Installation - This was difficult, but only due to the fact that my type of vehicle (Ford Fusion 2017) is extremely difficult to get through the firewall. Since also installing an HF Radio (Yaesu FT-891), getting a power cord routed through the door jam from the battery was much easier, at the risk of interference, which fortunately was minimal. The center of my console fit the KG1000G+ perfectly. The antenna system I chose was the Midland MXTA26 6dBi whip antenna, and the Midland MXTA12 mag mount. These work perfectly with the KG1000G+, and the radio is quite happy with it. The mag mount is on the center of the roof of my vehicle, with the cables guided around the edge of the rear windshield with mild adhesive, going through the rear side of my trunk lid. The weather stripping is slightly depressed from the cable, but it has not caused an issue, nor has water traveled into the trunk. In retrospect, there is most likely a better way to route the antenna cable, but this would involve physically drilling holes into my car, which I want to avoid. Signal quality is 80% good. Rare moments of static, which is unavoidable because of my route to work and where I live. As the great Notarubicon would say: Your FARS may vary. I can communicate to repeaters pretty far. I was able to reach Lakeville from Brooklyn Park, MN, which is 40+ miles. I am wired directly to my car's battery. You can build a battery box for use inside the vehicle if you so desire. My KG1000G+ operates just fine between 11.8v to 15.1v. - Ease of Use - This radio does require a bit of a learning curve, but is nowhere near as advanced as a ham radio. Programming from the handset is possible, but is quite slow. Easiest way to program the radio is by connecting the radio to a computer. I recommend using a laptop if you're mobile. You can listen to 2 meter frequencies on the KG1000G+ as well. It does this quite well if you like to monitor certain frequencies. You, cannot, however, transmit on ham bands. There are no ways to "unlock" this radio to do that, either. That is possibly for the best. The buttons on the handset are solid, and the handset itself is decent. I'm currently hanging the handset with a vent mount. It's easy to switch from GMRS, NOAA, and the 2m/70cm bands. You can listen to FM radio on this thing, too, I believe... but why? It's best to treat this radio as a "set it and forget it" like a Ronco product. Know what you want to do and who to talk to, and all is good. I do have a scan function set on this radio with one of the programmable buttons on top. Useful if I ever want to eavesdrop on a conversation. Don't actually join in on someone else's conversation unless you can provide useful information, though. It's kind of the same principle of interrupting people when they're talking in person. I have used my KG1000G+ with my job, however. They use FRS radios, which are compatible with GMRS, and I can communicate to them just fine. - Complaints - Periodically, there will be buzzing on random channels. Worried that this was a problem with the radio, some people have told me that it might be because some people are using digital signals on GMRS, it's interpreted as garbage. The KG1000G+ is an analog-only radio. This has been the only issue. - Compliments - This radio has impressive range, both on send and receive. 50 watts is the maximum power allowed on GMRS, and it works quite well. I've met some people on the GMRS system and do talk to them every now and then. GMRS is touted as a tool, however, a bit of ragchew every now and then isn't too bad. I try to keep transmissions under 15 seconds. The fans do kick in after a while. This radio works well in very cold environment as well as hot ones, but if the temperature is too high, such as a car sitting in the hot sun, the radio may refuse to transmit. This isn't an issue, but rather, a feature to protect the radio. The KG1000G+ is very sensitive, and it's interesting to hear the conversations that my scanner will pick up on. It works well communicating long distances, works with my job, my handheld radios, and the Midland GMRS radio I have attached to my desk at home. - Tips - Get an external speaker. I got an Icom speaker for $20 on Amazon. It is MUCH louder than the speaker built into the radio. Oftentimes I'm having to hold the handset to my ear to hear better. Just get a single speaker for the channel you want to listen to the most. I don't think it's needed to have both speaker ports occupied, unless you really want to. - Final Thoughts - This was a pricey GMRS radio, and I know that cheaper ones exist, but honestly the Wouxun KG1000G+ has been solid and reliable, even if the installation was a pain. I recommend it as both a mobile and as a base station radio. One feature I've not used is operating it as a repeater (requires a second radio). I am not in the most ideal situation as far as radios go since I live in an apartment, so my "shack" is my car. Final Verdict: 7/10 + Good receive/transmit quality, + Handset and radio are solidly built, - Installation was difficult, but that's because of my vehicle type, - Doesn't like digital noise.

Bullshit. We’ve had to correct your fallacious claims many times. This is only true in certain rare situations, like from the hill overlooking a massive desert between you and Vegas. Most people just won’t get that kind of distance before their signal is blocked by the earth’s curvature and terrain. Why lie? Does it make you feel better about yourself?

Yes.. that's how it works.. I found this random video on youtube that explains it very well. The guy is kind of a jerk, and I heard he only says what his sponsors tell him to say, but the info you want is in there:

Spent a little time last night making a better solution looking for a problem

Well, If you knew anything about Midland you would know they have been in the radio business for 50 years. For decades they were a go to LMR radio for law enforcement, wildland and DNR applications. I still know agencies with Midland LMR gear in use. They also have had GMRS radios long before anyone you list on this site. My first Midland was a xstal radio and we had to wait over 2 months for the channel we got licensed to arrive. They were also the first FRS radio to the market when the FCC approved them. Yes part is marketing and they are the ONLY vendor I have ever seen at an offroad show or any event in that industry. Handheld CH. KISS. My parents are in their 70's. They want to pick up a MIC with no buttons and talk. The midland mobiles do that fine for them. For my Jeeps I have the MTX-275 (actually had another arrive yesterday..and wife wanted the Jeep one so it was $10 more than the standard). The HHCH is perfect for a vehicle such as the Jeep. We use one repeater that is mine so dont care about having 50 repeaters in the radio. The wife can jump in and it turns on and if someone say go to ch 4 she turns to CH4. Lastly 90% of the folks we wheel with run Midland as does JJUSA. For that fact its the same and anyone can jump in my rig or hers and know how to use the raidos. What many forgot on this site is we are a very very small user group that gets on a forum. Tons of folks out there use GMRS and have no interest in forums, repeaters, or being ham lite. They just use radios. I have farms all around me that use Midland gear and every tractor, combine, truck has one in it. If I want to play ham radio or outher service I just switch over the my APX8500.

So now you’re also an expert on propagation of UHF in Connecticut? What is your need to act like such a complete douche?

I used to come here for information, now I come here for entertainment.

I understand your point, but in order for that to happen, a number of things would have to occur simultaneously. 1) Someone would have to hear your call. 2) They'd have to know they could look up your address from the call sign. 3) They'd have to know a criminal near where you live -- because by definition, if you're away from home, the miscreant is somewhere near you, not near your house. 4) They'd have to go to the effort of contacting their buddy and telling him to burglarize your house, which they'd have little incentive to do because criminals don't burglarize a house and send part of the ill-gotten gains to a friend 100 miles away. The odds of all that happening simultaneously are so astronomically small that I don't even consider it. I just periodically check the security cameras on my phone and go on enjoying my vacation.

I couldn’t remember this myself so I had to look it up but English on the identification is required. 95.1751 GMRS station identification. (b) The call sign must be transmitted using voice in the English language or international Morse code telegraphy using an audible tone. You can use a P.O. Box as stated. With GMRS if someone can hear that you are no where near home than they are also not likely anywhere near said home. While you do bring up a valid concern here are some ideas. Use an alarm system, camera security, house sitter, big dog, a pleasantly noisy neighbor, Burmese tiger traps (affiliate link below). Pun intended

People have used a P.O. Box when they registered for their license. So, if somebody looked it up on the FCC database they still wouldn't have a clue where your house is located.

A community is best served by a reliable repeater that covers the community - hearing conversations from across the country on a linked system does not benefit the local community who are wanting/needing to communicate with folks in their local area. Let Ham Radio be Ham Radio, and let GMRS be GMRS.

I think the FCC said it best… In addition to violating Commission rules, linking repeaters is not in the public interest. Because GMRS spectrum is limited and used on a shared “commons” basis, the service only works well on a localized basis when users can hear each other and cooperate in the sharing of channels. Linking repeaters not only increases the potential for interference, but also uses up a limited spectrum resource over much larger areas than intended, limiting localized availability of the repeater channels. GMRS and the Family Radio Service (FRS), which share many of the GMRS channels, are intended for individuals such as family members and friends, scouting troops, emergency response groups, and hobbyists to communicate with each other over short distances, directly or through a repeater station. Linking repeaters, via the internet or other networks, undermines the purpose and usefulness of the GMRS and FRS.

…hold on now let me double bag that for you, did you get everything?

@Sonicgott, thanks for the well written and complete review. Also, if you’re new to the site, @Socalgmrs has a social problem that none of us understand. Apparently the only way he can feel self worth is to denigrate others and his most frequent targets are new members. The best way to deal with it is to simply place him on your ignore list until he bails out of this site like he did before. It should be a sticky somewhere for new members.

I think it is hilarious how "some people" so are completely incapable of grasping the simple fact that just because they dont like something, nobody else on the planet possibly could like it. As @marcspaz noted, many people are more than willing to pay for a simple, easy to use, no frills/no bells&whistles, "americanISH" product. Just because it is not the right choice for you does not mean it's not the right choice for someone else.

Either that or he needs to go see his doctor again to get his medication doses adjusted. He's like a little kid - you never know what he is going to say.

I used to feel that way but I gradually realized that it’s not up to me. It is a hobby for many. Just like Citizen Band many people use GMRS as a way to chat with people who they might not know.

Well, if you are afraid the eff sea sea is going to come pounding on your door because you have a non compliant radio that you are operating properly then by all means go ahead. Myself I'm not worrying about it at all. Not sure if their IDs are different between the radios. The one on the left is the GMRS version and the one on the right is the Ham version. They don't differentiate between the two.

I read about the rash of robberies happening to GMRS users, so I started using FRS instead. /s

So you imagine a scenario like this? : Dirtbag "I got my gmrs radio on, let's do us some listenin!" You: Okay honey, lets stop at the next rest area, WABC123 Dirtbag "That's it, we have his address, let's drive 300 miles and hope his house is empty and unsecure" Yeah, I think you're worrying about the wrong stuff. Much more likely to have a neighbor kid break in when he sees you driving away all loaded up on what's normally a day off.

I'ma have to agree.. The OP is a great example of "some people" over-thinking what should be very simple and carefree.

This has always worked for me.

This is a totally unsound scenario with zero re world issues. I’m going to bet that no one’s home has ever been broken into because they used a call sign on a radio. It amazes me what some people have the time to think About. I can’t imagine being this paranoid.

Why not? These aren’t nuclear secrets.

I live in a port town. For my entire life I have driven past a marine electronics store. Not needing "marine" electronics (radar, sonar, gps and its predecessor LORAN, and of course radios). I never had a need to visit. But as it turns out the store carries all sorts of GMTS, FRS and HAM equipment. And not just for boats. i called yesterday and found out that not only do they have probably everything you find all your needs met in one place. Plus and more importantly, they are more than to share decades of knowledge and experience. Heading down tomorrow with a list of needfuls and more importantly a list of questions.

Most radios can be programmed with a "busy channel lockout" which will prevent you from transmitting when the frequency is busy. Usually, they can be set to lockout only when it's in use by someone with your tone or by anyone on the frequency, even if they don't share your tone. So far, I've never been in an environment where I felt the need to use BCL, but it certainly could happen.

No, but telling everyone you found a $100 bill under the driver's seat should motivate the minimum wage employees to do a better job of cleaning out the interior of the cars as an extra service.

I'm going out on a limb here, but I'm guessing that searching for the PL so you can notify the workers at Tidal Wave Car Wash that the vacuum is out of order (when in reality it probably isn't) is not proper use of GMRS...

All the rest of us thought it was very deep and meaningful.

I have big clumsy hands making it easy for me to accidently key the mic when grabbing for it. To address this in the past I have modified mics with stiffer or additional PTT button springs, but with Wouxun KG-XS20G+ design I can't make that solution work. Luckily, I think I found an alternative. First of all here's the stock KG-XS20G+s MIC's PTT pull weight which comes in at about 11oz. This first thing is to get a gromet of dimensions D=7/16", I.D. = 0.336", O.D. = 19/32" T = 0.049. (Available in a Harbor Freight gromet assortment box) Next, use a razor knife to CAREFULLY cut off one side of the gromet. The cut needs to be as clean, flat and flush with the gromet half's side as possible. Discard the other half. Now, remove the four screws holding the two halfs of the mic body together and carefully separate the them taking care not to stress the mic's speaker wires. Remove the PTT assembly and place the gromet half as shown in this pic. Note the flat side of the gromet half is facing the PTT button. Re-install the PTT assembly taking care to keep the gromet half in place. Lastly reassemble the mic and secure it with it's 4 screws. With the modification my mic's PTT pull weight now measures 1 lb. 10 oz. CONCERNS - The addition of the gromet is putting additional lateral stress of the PTT button. Over time there is at least a possibility it may bend the button assembly back making PTT unreliable. The additional stress could also cold work the button's solder connections to the PCB. With these concerns in mind, I tested the modified mic by pushing the PTT button firmly 100 times with no ill effect. I also banged the mic as hard as I dare from different angles, but I was unable to displace the gromet half.

Update: I did not succeed

Out all the threads you quoted, one guy "may have" had a bad mic, but no resolution was shared. The rest of them were end-user problems. I would hardly call that an abundance of evidence that Midland products are unreliable. Especially compared to their reported revenue of over $19 million a year from their consumer markets. That's a lot of radios sold compared to a few threads from people who don't understand narrow band vs wide band, don't know how to use a computer, or no one will talk to them.

There are no FRS exclusive channels that allow you to operate a GMRS radio without identifying. Every FRS channel is a GMRS channel. Technically, if you want to operate without identifying, you must use an FRS certified radio. Whenever you are using a GMRS radio you are required by regulations to follow the GMRS regulations, which require identifying.

Use it if you want. It’s your radio and there are no rules prohibiting it. It makes no difference. I don’t understand why anyone is bothered by it, but they should get over it. Edited to add: some repeater owners don’t want Roger beeps on their repeaters. Follow their wishes when using their repeater.

You only need the TX tone. The RX tone is optional, and as you can already see, will cause you confusion - so you should ignore it for now. After you level-up to "expert mode", then you can worry about the RX tone.

Like some of you I usually quote a post or a portion of a post so the context of my comment is clear. On occasion I have written a comment, thought better about it and backspaced to the beginning of my comment to start again. Sometimes I backspaced one too many characters and I end up inside of the quote block. If you add your comment there it’s not easy to know what you quoted and what you commented; both appear within the quote block. At first I couldn’t figure out how to get out of it. It’s not always possible to click below it. But then I discovered that if I just go to the very end of any text or spaces in the quote block and hit a couple of returns, the forum software would move my cursor out of the quote block and underneath it, right where I wanted. You probably already knew this, but just in case you didn’t, I thought I’d mention it.

Unfortunately call sign has to be given in English. But you could use Morse code as an alternative to English phone identification.