Chimborazo

Good form is to use monitor function for a second or two, and/or look at the activity LED that most HTs have. LMR (Part 90) radios have Busy Channel Lockout feature, which is also can be used. Stomping on somebody's conversation is a bad form, indeed.

Your heart is definitely in the right place!  Alex (Axorlov) explained it well. 

After 5 months on the waiting list, I received notice my KG-UV9GX has shipped.  My order # was in the 130xxx range.  I also ordered the Smiley Slim Line Whip.  Received my Ed Fong DBJ-UHF antenna kit last week.
 
I completed a CERT program via our county sheriff's office a couple of months ago.  Now studying for my HAM Extra class exam.  Major snowstorm will impact us middle of the week.

WA7HPK

Depends on who offers it.  Our County Sheriff (Minnesota's Ramsey County) runs a first rate program.  We met weekly for 3 hrs per session and took 10 weeks to complete.  I just finished 2 terms on our city council so was well-acquainted with our law enforcement/fire services/county emergency services.  As a retired federal employee I've taken previous courses via FEMA.  I've also done some ARES coursework.

They made no pretense of us ever getting 'called up' to handle a large area disaster (the pros will do that) but we could be called to handle things like crowd control and/or media coordination.  But I did get a nifty backpack w/reflective vest, a green hardhat, flashlight and a multi-tool to close gas mains and break through tempered glass (vehicle rescue).

Worth it.

Good to know...I was under the impression that with tones set on ham simplex you wouldn't know if the frequency was clear before transmitting so it's considered bad form. I suppose it would be the same with GMRS, but that nobody really cares. I say this with my deep expertise and experience; I've been a ham for 2 weeks and a licensed GMRS user for 3 months, so everyone should listen to me.

Good to know...I was under the impression that with tones set on ham simplex you wouldn't know if the frequency was clear before transmitting so it's considered bad form. I suppose it would be the same with GMRS, but that nobody really cares. I say this with my deep expertise and experience; I've been a ham for 2 weeks and a licensed GMRS user for 3 months, so everyone should listen to me.

Depending on your location there may be repeaters and other locations quiet as a mouse...

Hello all, just got my Wouxon kg 1000 In the mail. Working on setting it in my truck. Hope to be on the air soon

Yes, it is a really nice and well packaged radio. As you noted in your other post, the Band button will wake up the screen. But Menu option #1 AB:s can be setup to Always On.

Unfortunately, the volume doesn't wake it up. It's not a big deal though, I just hit the band button twice and then I don't interrupt anything. It'd would be nice though if volume woke it up.
I really don't get the preset tones, but overall, I'm really happy with it so far and I'm really looking forward to getting my GX soon. It was ordered December 1st so hopefully only a month or so to go. Definitely no regrets!

Unfortunately, the volume doesn't wake it up. It's not a big deal though, I just hit the band button twice and then I don't interrupt anything. It'd would be nice though if volume woke it up.
I really don't get the preset tones, but overall, I'm really happy with it so far and I'm really looking forward to getting my GX soon. It was ordered December 1st so hopefully only a month or so to go. Definitely no regrets!

I have one of these on order from BSR. Looking forward to it after a lot of research. Was wanting a radio with true dual receive and scan. Anyone else have one and care to comment on your experience, things to look out for, things to get, etc. Have you enjoyed it? I was considering the KG-UV9D Mate but the dark screens and black shell won me over.
The description of the KG-UV9PX states that it adds several improvements over the previous UV9P, UV9D Mate & UV9D (Plus): 3 New Dark Color Screen Modes, New Priority Channel Quick-Jump Feature, Extended 1.25m “220 HAM Band” RX Range, Scan Advance, Bright Flashlight & Stiff Knobs.
I guess because the radio is so new, there is not a lot of articles online about it and such. My review here.

The preset tones would be a real annoying thing.
Turn off the display off timer if that’s a setting, but set it for lower brightness and/or pick up a spare battery. I have a radio that turns its display off also and it annoys me also, but I haven’t decided what to do about it.  I turn the volume up/down to get the display.

I know this is probably an easy question to search for, but I can't find any that answer this specifically. I just got my GMRS license and am trying to see if I can hit any repeaters near me (in CT). I don't have a ton of hope because CT is full of hills and mountains, although I do see a few on the map that seem to cover really large ranges.  I am trying to connect to one near me after I input the Rx and Tx CTCS codes. When I hold the PTT button, it shows full signal strength on the radio, but I am unable to hear any noise/morse code, etc back from the repeater (or anyone talking on it).  Does that mean that I am not hitting the receiver? What does the full signal strength in the radio show in this sense? 

Some fine oscilloscopes in Health and Fitness category. Well, in a big picture, maybe it is a correct classification.

I do not have either of those radios so no experience with the RT Systems software for them, but I *do* have their software for pretty much every radio I own (including a Wouxun KG-UV7D), and I highly recommend their programming software.
The answer to the second question is easy ... yes, you can buy one package that includes the cable and just buy the software (which can be downloaded) for the second.  I think they make about seven or eight cables but they are used for multiple different radios each, so once you have that particular cable you don't have to buy it again.  The USB-K4Y cable is used to program any radio with the typical K-type connector.

No, UHF (GMRS frequencies) do not 'skip' like HF (CB frequencies) does.
What you can experience occasionally is tropospheric ducting where a warm air mass gets in overtop a code air mass and creates a tunnel for VHF and UHF frequencies to travel in far beyond normal line of site.  This is NOT a common occurence however and shouldn't be relied upon for consistent communications the way it is with HF communications.  HF 'skip' is caused by the RF reflecting off the Ionosphere and back down to the ground where it's then reflected back up again, over and over until the path loss of the signal becomes too great for a receiver to hear it.  
With ducting, the greatest path distance that can exist only extend slightly past the area covered by the air mass inversion since frequencies above 50 Mhz typically do NOT reflect off either the ground or the ionosphere. 
VHF and UHF frequencies also do not have any 'ground wave' propagation like the lower HF and VHF frequencies do.  Ground wave is a phenomenon where the RF wave 'hugs' the ground and carries long distances  past normal line of site (past the curvature of the earth) by staying on the ground.  This only works below 5 Mhz or so in frequency.
There are several web sites and books including the ARRL Amateur Radio Handbook that discuss the propagation of different RF frequencies at length and might be a good source for a better and more detailed explanation than a half away guy posting at 4 in the morning while half awake.
 

But doing a damned fine job of it! 

Nope, you got it right. Some radios have a male center pin SMA connector (mostly the less expensive ones) and some have the a female connector on the radio. You must get the antenna that mates with the radio. 

I tried two different GMRS 9R's and both of them had reception problems. Transmitting was fine but when it came to receiving signals, they were deaf as a stump. I've never owned a UV-9G so I don't know if they have this problem or not. If you must have a radio with the IP67 rating, you might want to bite the bullet and buy a Wouxun KG-S88G.