nokones

All three manufacturers have both remote and dash mount units. Obviously, the remote mounts have remote control heads. Do the cheap Chinese radios have, zone/bank programming of channels, monitor feature that will disable/enable receiver decoder, repeater talk around/direct, multiple scan lists, home channel selection, and MDC1200 PT-T ID features.

What feature is that? GMRS is not a radio feature. The non-inferior radios have the capability to communicate on GMRS freqs very well.

Non-inferior radios, such as, Kenwood and/or Motorola, has a ton of more features, than the cheap inferior Chinese radios. Also, the proprietary programming software is a lot easier to use as compared to Chirp. A matter of fact very few of the cheap Chinese radios have their own programming software The non-inferior radios are better supported with accessories and are serviceable and reliable for decades. As in cheap Chinese junk chips, the cheap inferior Chinese radios will just crumble away in very short period of time and can't be depended on when the need arises. As for the bashing, I believe the cheap Chinese radios earned that reputation on their own merit. Do you see anyone bashing the Kenwood, Motorola, or Harris radios?

Well then save up so you can get the bag of the quality whole chips instead a bag full of cheap little itty bitty chip crumbs. You save more in the long run.

If radios are like Potato Chips, you wouldn't want to eat cheap Chinese junk food, so buy a quality radio and enjoy the taste of a real radio.

In case that anyone was wondering what would be the draw with both receivers receiving traffic, add an additional hundredth of an amp for a total draw of .45 amp when both receivers are receiving. FYI - the factory inline buss fuse is 15 amps. So, it is obviously that the manufacturer never intended for this radio ever see a 20 amp draw and if that was the case you'll be replacing a gazillion fuses every time you key up.

I'm kinda curious how would a repeater extend the range between the trailer base station and the hiker?

I hear they may have some unusual habits. Also, I've been told I was too stupid to pass the test. Well, they are right, I am too stupid to pass the test. I owned that because I admitted I flunked the test twice. I just cannot not remember the correct answers to the electrical math and ohms questions on the test. I guess that would make me a bad operator if I had a license and didn't know my ohms. As for being stupid, the only ohms that I am aware that I need to know in this hobby is 50 ohms for acquiring the proper cable, connectors, and antenna, and speaker. Of course, that is all I know for being stupid.

I believe there will be other HAM radio equipment suppliers in the same boat in the very near future. The HAM radio hobby could be in jeopardy of not gaining new hobbyist if they don't make some serious changes in the near future acquiring new people. This will cause suppliers and equipment providers to focus in other areas of interests and follow the path of where people are spending their money, such as GMRS. The HAM hobby should have started yesteryear with those changes but they are too set in their ways and not willing to make the necessary changes to recruit new hobbyist. The times are changing and the way it was is not working today. Until the Hobby eliminates the meaningless test for the technician license, or make a new entry level license class for an Operator restricted to the 2 Meter, 33 & 70 CMs bands, the recruitment of new hobbyist will not be enough to grow and support the hobby again and it's very likely the HAM hobby, suppliers, and equipment providers will no longer exist. It's the HAMs choice, make the changes or let the hobby die. It would be best for the HAM hobby to make the changes for the good of the hobby and let the sad HAMs continue to be sad.

And require them to operate with narrowband beams.

You will not see anywhere near twenty amps unless you are keying two Wouxun KG1000G Pluses simultaneously. In my previous post I kinda Oops on the power draw whereas I said 9 amps. However, I was close but .87 amp shy of being accurate. So, I decided to do some testing just for giggles this afternoon with a Wouxun KG1000G Plus. I don't use the radio so it just sits on a shelf and this test gave me an opportunity to fire it up, then I'll put it back on the shelf. At a voltage level of 14.1 DC, the radio in the idle mode, you will see .41 amp draw. In the receive mode you will see .44 amp draw. In the transmit mode at 50.5 watts into a dummy load you will see 9.87 amps draw, and the little itty-bitty fan was twirling around. There you have it. Pick your fuse poison. In my opinion you should do fine with a 15 amp fuse.

You shouldn't see more than 9 amps peak when keying either radio. A 15 amp fuse should be very adequate and appropriate.

The appropriate sized Ring Terminals and connect to the battery terminal and a grounding point for the ground wire. It appears that your radio draws very little power. I would say 7.5 amp or 10 amp fuse. Check your owners manual and see if there is a switched ignition circuit power point for auxiliary devices and if there is one verify the maximum load. If there is no auxiliary circuit power point do not splice into an existing circuit. The electrical systems for modern cars are not like the old days and could be part of a network and they are not engineered for any additional loading.

I'm paying $24.95/Month for the Garmin InReach service for my Garmin Overlander Nav System because I wanted the 40 email/texting limit. They have three monthly plans, $11.95, $24.95, and $49.95. The $11.95 plan limits you to 10 emails/texting and the $49.95 plan has unlimited email/texting and two-minute tracking. The first two plans have 10-Minute tracking. All three plans have unlimited S.O.S.

The USB-C port is for charging external devices such as a Cell Phone, etc.

Last year, I bought a KG-UV3X PRO for my RDF cache of equipment and it was factory locked down so it can't be programmed for GMRS freqs. The manual referenced that the radio can be unlocked but you had to consult with the dealer to unlock it. The dealer did not have a clue what I was talking about and I couldn't find anyone else that knew anything about this radio. After playing with the radio for a few minutes and trying different things pushing the buttons on the radio and with the software the radio somehow unlocked and I don't know what I did to unlock it. I guess I had to use the ol' PFM know-how in order to make it happen whatever that was.

Some Phantom antennae are no ground plane antennae and some require a ground plane. The non-ground plane antenna is still available and in stock at Talley Communications as Lscott pointed out with a link I have been using that antenna for the last 20 years on composite bodied vehicles and have had great success with them.

Although, I have a Jeep but the same concept can be used on a Bronco. I installed a glass-mount antenna and it works better than expected.

Check with frank.scaglione@azgmrs.org and ask him what he did on his Bronco. I believe he has a setup for both GMRS and HAM (2M and 70cm).

Never mind. I just checked and the Odmaster App does not support the H3 radio.

Have you tried the App with the Bluetooth link for programming?

With the exception of the trails near the Mexican border between Yuma and Tucson and well south of Interstate 8, most of our trails in Arizona have GMRS repeater coverage with the addition of Mingus Mtn. recently. Towers 575 is essentially restricted these days but Towers 600 fills in in place of Towers 575. We're pretty fortunate and several of the repeaters are linked for wide area coverage.

Me three. My Inreach is a feature of my Garmin Overlander Nav System with S.O.S. at the touch of a button. The email portion of the Inreach obviously works slick.

For about $300 a better quality 870 channel radio (Motorola XTS2500) with a ton more features that Chinese junk don't have can be had with a lot less headaches in programming and use. That Radio can be had with the programming cable and the CPS and the radio also comes with belt clip, speaker mic, charger, and battery. This about $300 radio package will last a lot longer and be supported than a chinese junk radio.

Just don't use a cheap Chinese junk duplexer. Use a quality duplexer like EMR Corp. Celwave, Sinclair, Motorola, and Telewave.