WRWJ387

I just received my order of the above equipment and will be installing in my truck this weekend. looking forward to being able to reach out and talk to other operators in the area. I also just ordered a surecom SW-102 SWR meter, as to ensure that have a good match between the radio and antenna. It was a spendy shopping spree. But worth it as far as I am concerned.  anyway, you all have a good one..
WRWJ387
Scott M.
USN  A01 (Ret). 
 

I just received my order of the above equipment and will be installing in my truck this weekend. looking forward to being able to reach out and talk to other operators in the area. I also just ordered a surecom SW-102 SWR meter, as to ensure that have a good match between the radio and antenna. It was a spendy shopping spree. But worth it as far as I am concerned.  anyway, you all have a good one..
WRWJ387
Scott M.
USN  A01 (Ret). 
 

Not sure why Grindr keeps getting recommended so often on this site. Oh well. Happy Friday.

I heard Grindr was the preferred choice for “some people”

Yeah, I have other folks in in the field equpied with radios. I was able to talk to some bikers that had gotten lost in the mountains, using my Baofeng UV-9G. We got them out ok, I have been wanting to get  a mobile for the truck, and this set up is what I decided on, and I spent some time reading reviews also. We shall see.  Have a good one. thank you for the reply. 
 

Congrats!  I use that same antenna on my Jeep.
But, are you sure there are "other operators" in your area? GMRS is generally a BYOB (Bring Your Own Buddy) service, and is not really intended primarily for reaching-out to other operators. For finding strangers to talk with ham radio or the Grindr app are probably better choices.

I just received my order of the above equipment and will be installing in my truck this weekend. looking forward to being able to reach out and talk to other operators in the area. I also just ordered a surecom SW-102 SWR meter, as to ensure that have a good match between the radio and antenna. It was a spendy shopping spree. But worth it as far as I am concerned.  anyway, you all have a good one..
WRWJ387
Scott M.
USN  A01 (Ret). 
 

For UHF/VHF (GMRS) I just use the Surecom SW-102 off of Amazon. Gives you SWR, power, and shows the transmitted frequency.

For cutting off the shelf whips and the like it works great.

I also have a variant of the Nano VNA. It it more finicky to use, but does work and gives you tons of information. I use that when making HF antennas. Not necessary IMO for GMRS stuff.

The surecom is easy to use right out of the box. And for the price I think it's worth it. Are there better? Sure, but you'll pay more than you probably paid for your radio... just my 2 cents from my experience.

Awesome..,that what I was kind of figuring, but, before i did anything, i wanted some expert advice. Thankyou much. 
WRWJ387
Scott M. 

Awesome..,that what I was kind of figuring, but, before i did anything, i wanted some expert advice. Thankyou much. 
WRWJ387
Scott M. 

There are several mobile GMRS radios.  Any of them will work with the UV-9G radios.  You just have to tune to the same channel.  If you set a CTCSS tone on one you have to do it on the other.
 

Always give 4 seconds between conversations to let the repeater drop out .......Importation to keep it clean and if warned back off and listen ....As a repeater owner that applies to most .

Welcome to the myGMRS forum SAM. Sorry it took so long to reply, but with the Holiday and all. Ok when you set up a new radio, you will use it's manual to get intouch with it's basic workings first. Some radios allow direct programing, others only allow for USB programing, most everything else is str8 forward from there. let's say you set up RX  on 462.600mhz, in your radio menu you will find an option that allows you to set the repeater offset. +,- or none. under this menu option you will select +5,000mhz this will put your TX or transmit on 467.600,. there are other options in the menu system of your radio that allow you to set other varibles  as well, one most critical to repeater usage is the PL tone, or CTCSS and to some degree DCS. in the this case of CTCSS let's say the repeater has an input tone of 167.9 you would need to set your TX CTCSS to 167.9 to activate the repeater. If you chose to lock out other simplex chatter on 462.600, you would also set your RX CTCSS to 167.9 this will filter out most others conversations. But is not to be confused with a private conversation., many bubble pak radios boast the CTCSS and DCS as privacy codes and they are not. With regard to chosing a radio, There are many options, Cheap Chinese Radios (CCR's) are not Part95 certified, although they will work on GMRS, They are not techincally compliant. Some CCR's also get hot quickly and degrade in transmit quality when hot. also to remain compliant as well as courtsey to the repeater owner, you should always announce your call sign and refrains from interupting an already on going conversation. I sugest turning off noise makers like beep tone and the like. is not nessary and get's old fast. If a conversation with your family member can be made via simplex, keep it on simplex, save the repeater usage for those that need it. There is much more to learn and you will in time, but this should be enough to get you started. If you have any further questions, do not hesitate, we are here to help.   Jim...

By definition an open repeater is one that doesn't require permission, so no.  Welcome to GMRS!!!

ok thank you for the info. With that cleared up, i will go and search for repeaters near me. thank you again, and thank you for the welcome. 
Scott M. 
USN A01(Ret).