JoCoBrian

Aliens? Secret something?   Beats me just had to chime in.  

Martin Jue is 80 years old...and wants to spend what he has left of his life, enjoying his family.  
I'd prefer to see some outfit, like Vibroplex, buy the company and keep it going somehow.  I was amazed they still did manufacturing in Mississippi....figured it was all outsourced. 
Best of luck to them....in 30 + years I have spent thousands with MFJ. 

As it's been said, and will be said again.....if you must buy junk, buy cheap junk. 

Ham radio and GMRS is the same as far as Morse Code goes....not required for either one. 
 

Ham radio and GMRS is the same as far as Morse Code goes....not required for either one. 
 

I just got my GMRS License.  My goal eventually is to work my way into Ham, but I have a lot to learn.  Thought GMRS would be a good way to get in to this as I am literally just starting out. My immediate goal is to get my immediate family (3, 6, and 10 miles away, flat suburban enviornment) set up to communicate in case cell service is down.  I have started with a couple of Bao Feng BGM-15Pro handhelds to see what service I can get from them.   There are no nearby repeaters.   Is this even doable? Should I start by going for 50W base/mobile set ups to have any reasonable prospect of success.?  Thanks. 

Nobody can answer that with any accuracy more than "maybe".. The only way to know is to try it.
If you can't reach them, then next step before base setups would be by connecting both radios to mobile-antennas on a cookie-sheet and put them in a high-up window.. This will greatly extend the fars.

Here's what it looks like on my GM-30 with no programming....fresh from the factory if you will...

Here's what it looks like on my GM-30 with no programming....fresh from the factory if you will...

Here's what it looks like on my GM-30 with no programming....fresh from the factory if you will...

One of them needs to change frequencies. Are the other seven repeater pairs occupied?

Try an earphone to see if that works. If it does it might be the switch in the earphone jack. 

I never hear the health net reports on UHF/VHF.  Seems the Tapeworm Net and the Sweaty Piles Net are usually on 75m (HF CB Radio). 

I never hear the health net reports on UHF/VHF.  Seems the Tapeworm Net and the Sweaty Piles Net are usually on 75m (HF CB Radio). 

I have a $18 WiFi electric switch connected to my repeater so I can shut it down from my phone from anywhere (with internet connection).

I was thinking that is was a GMRS repeater since there is enough space between 70cm frequencies and GMRS channels.
 
As far as conversations, I hear all kinds of topics on 2m, 70cm and GMRS. If I don't want to listen, I turn the dial to a different channel/frequency.

Sounds like WRHW499, a GMRS call from Michigan.

Where I live, there is basically 0 GMRS traffic. When I'm out and about in the back 40 I usually carry a radio so my wife can get me when she wants as there is sparse cell coverage here as well. Usually set to channel 16. There are no "listed" GMRS repeaters anywhere close to being in range. There used to be one, but it's long gone.
I havn't had a radio on in a few weeks, so it started sometime in the last two weeks, but yesterday when I turned mine on,  I'm hearing a linked HAM repeater on GMRS 16, the channel I usually use.  I scanned the usual HAM bands I know operate around here and it's none of them. Different people as well. They're jabbering away on it again this morning.
I've no way to identify this repeater aside from trying to record the morse beeps when someone hits it. Or I need a Marconi operator from the 1915 to identify them for me. The people talking on it are from hundreds of miles away in different directions, so I know it's some linked network. I have a few of their call signs , all HAM, but I think rather pointless to contact them.
Either it's bleeding over or someone misconfigured a repeater somewhere, or someone purposely linked HAM to a GMRS channel? I don't think that would be kosher.
I guess I need to set a radio to scan all HAM bands to see at least what HAM frequency it's coming in as, if any?
Any suggestions how to identify this channel 16 bleeder?
And why is it that every HAM operator seems to only talk about HAM equipment, radios, antennas, setups...that's all they ever talk about!

As it's been said, and will be said again.....if you must buy junk, buy cheap junk. 

I have that antenna. There is nothing high-capacity about it.   IDK why he is worried about hydration, DE is so flat the water won't roll off of it. 

My wife and I have HT's and one license we both use, and we're legal. 

No. In fact the wording of the requirements allows an individual to operate “stations.”

From what I have seen, the GMRS License covers the immediate family. 

I have seen nothing to suggest they have to be in the same household, town, or even the same state.  Does anyone have any firm information to confirm or correct this understanding?

Go in and look at your settings in the software and see if it shows anything for the password and try to change/remove it... If you dont see anything, try 00000 .. if that doesn't work, contact the seller as they have a way to reset it (then let us know what that way is).

We bought GM-30's in February last year.  Very happy with them.  I live about 20 miles south of the Indy 600 repeater and we can't hit it reliably with them....even with the better RD-232 antenna.  But that's OK, we're out on the edge of the repeater and lot of stuff between us and the repeater site.  I fish a lot in the summertime, at a pond that is about a mile from home.  I can talk with my wife and she can talk to me on the GM-30's with no problems.  When she takes her daily walk around the block, she is about 2.2 miles away and we can still converse with little difficulty.  These are the only GMRS radios we use currently.  I do have a TK-880 Kenwood that I hope to set up as a base radio and I hope to get an antenna up 20-30 feet....should have no probs hitting Indy 600 then.  67 days until Spring...