WRVY822

I don't have the wattmeter or a dummy load thing. Should I invest in something like that? The radio behaves like it's transmitting on channels that I have set to "off" on Duplex. The screen turns orange, the red light comes on, and stays on well after I have released the PTT button.

kerstuff, does the "red light issue" prevent the radio from being able to successfully transmit on Ham frequencies/repeaters if a Ham license was acquired?

Hello WRWB509, I am also very new to gmrs and radios in general. I have found the Notarubicon youtube videos to be helpful and I have also been watching videos from David Canterbury on radios and antennas.

So I am still trying to figure out what has changed on my new uv-5r since I did the gmrs unlock. I re-downloaded to chirp and set all the Ham frequencies to "off" on the Duplex column. I enabled transmitting in the other settings and then uploaded back to the radio. First, I tried transmitting on a gmrs channel and confirmed that it works (which is great). Then, I switched to a Ham frequency and when I pressed and released the PTT button, the screen lights orange for several seconds and the red indicator light comes on. (not good) And in fact the red indicator light stayed on longer than the orange light on the screen. If I understand how the radio works, the orange screen light and red indicator light should have turned off immediately after I released the PTT button. But they stay on for about 7 to 10 seconds with the red light staying on longer. This doesn't seem normal. Has anyone else experienced anything like this?

Actually, my first radio purchase was 2 Btech GMRS Pros. I just bought the UV-5R to play around with monitoring Ham radio and to see what all the hype is about.

Yes, I actually watched that video before I found the gmrs unlock video from the same guy. My picture shows that I was using the channel by channel method of preventing accidental transmitting on Ham frequencies. The screenshot shows that I have those Ham frequencies Duplex set to off. But when I check on the radio, I can still transmit on those Ham repeaters (not good). Currently I am using the "global" method that he talks about in that video, but that means all transmitting is turned off. I would prefer to be able to transmit on frs and gmrs while also blocking transmitting on Ham frequencies. Unfortunately, I can't figure it out. I do appreciate your attempt to help.

I attached a screenshot of what my settings look like on chirp. I don't see how to differentiate between channel mode and frequency mode in chirp.

So I have "off" selected in the duplex column (using chirp) on those channels that are loaded with Ham repeaters. Before I did the gmrs unlock, it worked like it was supposed to preventing me from transmitting. Something changed after the unlock. I re-checked those duplex settings and they are still set to off. But when I have a Ham repeater channel selected, I can transmit. Are you saying I need to change a setting on the radio related to frequency and channel mode?

I just recently got a UV-5R and did the "hold three buttons and turn on" to unlock gmrs transmitting functionality. Before doing this I had already used Chirp to program the uv-5r and I set all the Ham frequencies/repeaters to off (the Duplex column) so I wouldn't accidentally transmit. The gmrs unlock must have canceled out those settings, because I realized I could transmit on a Ham repeater. I went to Chirp to re-download the radio and checked those duplex settings again. After uploading again to the radio, I could still transmit on Ham freq (which I don't want to). And I noticed that the red light indicator would stay on well after releasing the PTT button. The only fix or work-around I have found so far was to go back to Chirp and just disable transmitting in the settings on all channels and frequencies, but this is not a long term solution I want. I hope I explained that well. Does anyone have any ideas?

On the monitoring radio do I put the correct frequency (that I got from the repeater) in Rx Freq, Tx Freq, or both? And on the transmitting radio, do I put the correct frequency in Rx Freq, Tx Freq, or both? And the tone goes in Tx CTCSS/DCS correct? (or do I also put it in the Rx CTCSS/DCS?) Also does my bandwidth setting matter? The default is 25KHz.

Would you mind describing the process of using two radios to do a repeater check?

When trying a repeater check, is there anyway to tell that you connected without a person at the repeater answering you? Is it best to ask the owner of the repeater what are the best days and times to do a repeater check?

I have tried driving around, but my radio has been scanning all channels and it often gets stuck on a channel (not a repeater channel) with static. I have rarely heard anyone talking. Should I set the radio to scan only the repeater channels? I'm not sure if there is a way to do that easily on my radio (Btech GMRS Pro) other than going into the settings on each channel and setting the "Allow for scan" to off. Also, I'm not confident I understand how to listen for repeaters and whether I have all the settings on my radio correct for accomplishing that.

Thank you for the help. I have yet to find a repeater yet to listen to, so when I selected Tone Scanning from the radio menu, it did nothing. Now I understand why it did nothing, because I wasn't receiving anything from a repeater. I'm wondering what my next step should be if I find out there are no repeaters within 30 miles of my location. Should I get an upgraded antenna for the radio? Or should I get an antenna to put on my house that I can plug into this radio? Or should I go ahead and get a mobile radio with more power?

My radio doesn't have a squelch knob, but I can adjust the settings from 1 to 10 on the radio or using the mobile app. I haven't been able to find any other scan settings. Although there is something in the radio menu called "Tone Scanning" but I have no idea what that does.

Can anyone provide some instruction on scanning? I know how to turn on the scanning on my radio (Btech GMRS Pro), and I can toggle "allow to scan" on or off for each of the channels. While scanning, I notice that the radio will stop on a channel and all I hear is static. Is the radio still scanning for a better signal on other channels or has it stopped? If I am getting nothing from the channel it's stopped on, should I toggle the "allow for scan" on that channel to off? Or should I just be scanning the repeater channels only? My goal is to find a repeater in my area that will extend my range so I can reach my other radio that I will give to family that will be about 10 miles away. So far I have alot of nothing.

I have spent a few hours scanning from my house with the stock antenna. I have channels 1-7, and the 8 repeater channels set to scan. I probably should drive around a little while scanning to see if I can pick up anything close by.

Steve, I was thinking just upgrading the antenna for my HT. I don't have a base station radio or anything. Could I mount an antenna that I would then attach to my HT when I want more range?

MichaelLAX, thank you for that suggestion. I sure hope there is something. Otherwise, I just purchased an expensive pair of walkie talkies with about a 1 or 2 mile range.

Each channel has these settings below. When you say have receive tones set to off are you talking about Rx CTCSS/DCS? Rx Freq Tx Freq Rx CTCSS/DCS Tx CTCSS/DCS Tx Power Bandwidth Disable TX (toggle on or off) Mute Talk Around Allow scan Pre/De-emphasis

I'm new to GMRS and have two of these radios. I have been trying to scan for repeaters in my area with nothing so far. Are there any settings on the radio that I need to adjust to improve my scanning efforts?

Any recommendations for an upgraded antenna? Will a different antenna really make much of a difference?

The map tool on here looks great and it works good for me. I just don't see much in my area (Corpus Christi). Looks like the closest repeater is over 30 miles away from me. I sent a message to a local Amateur Radio club in my area. Hopefully they know of some repeaters that may not be listed on this map.

Steve, Thanks for the clarification. I still haven't figured out how to do some of that on the radio. This is my first rodeo with GMRS.

MichaelLAX, I have two Btech GMRS Pros. What do you mean by "scanning" the 8 output channels? Does that mean just listening to one for a little while and then switching channels? I have listened some, but I haven't heard anything yet. Does anyone have my radio that could help me with some of the settings? I'm hoping my area is not a dead zone for GMRS