WRXB215

OffRoaderX gave some good advice. Based on what you wrote, I would start with videos that explain tone squelch and digital code squelch... as well as how to use a repeater. 

Youtube is probably a good place to start, but here are some basics:
Channels 1-22 are listening & talking channels. There are no globally accepted channels like CB Ch9 or CB Ch19 on GMRS To communicate with others, you tell your buddy/family member, etc to put their radio on the same channel as you, get within range, push the button, then talk. If you are looking to talk with strangers as a hobby, you bought the wrong radio.
To make things more confusing, GMRS repeaters share Channels 15-22, so if someone is talking on a repeater you will hear them on channels 15-22, but (generally/normally) they will only be able to hear you if you configure your radio to use that same repeater.
Again, Youtube is a great place to learn everything, but when you have a specific question, this place isnt too bad.

That is not a solution, nor an answer to my question.
Quick update for anyone following along: I've got most of the different manufacturer's software to run and after finding an installing the Si CP-210X ARM(64) driver for my (red Wouxun) cable(s) I am able to read and write all radios EXCEPT for my Motorola XTS2500, XTS5000, & XTL5000 - they need an FTDI ARM(64) driver that I have not yet been able to find/get working.

You will be able to listen to the repeaters but if you want to transmit on the repeaters you will have to return them and buy repeater-capable GMRS walkie-talkies, which is  just about any GMRS walki-talkie that is not made by Midland.

Mine works just like the non-GMRS UV-5R, except with slightly less guilt when I use it on GMRS frequencies.
It is 100% the same radio with just different programming.

If it is bubble pack radios, you are hearing them on the output. There is unfortunately nothing you can do because the bubble pack radios use the same tones (PL and DCS) that GMRS users can use. What you are experiencing is what they call in Ham Radio, The Barn Door Effect. Hams get it on repeaters during times of tropospheric ducting where other distant stations, many times repeaters on the same frequency you are listening on but with a different tone will come into the radio. Because they are running a different tone, it takes the receive of either your radio or the repeater to open up and, like a barn door, allow all signals to come in regardless of their tone. I had a similar thing happen with a kid in my neighborhood that was using an FRS radio and he would come across the radio and interfere with my wife and I. I finally set a PL tone but the kid got the bright idea to play his musical keyboard over the radio. The tones he hit with many of the keys tricked the radio into thinking that the correct PL tones were being used and it would intermittently open our radios with this annoying tone and his voice singing. So, we switched to DCS tones and that helped, but when we got done talking, like a barn door, the receive opened back up and let him through. But at least we could set out radios down and not worry about his keyboard opening up our receive. But when it comes to your repeater, it isn't the repeater getting hammered, its your radio, and depending on what your terrain is like, they might be close to you, or possibly a good distance from you (up to 20 miles).

How does that work?  If the input of the repeater is 467.xxx and the output frequency is 462.xxx, how does a GMRS radio with the right tone “allow the audio from the bubble wraps on the output frequency to also get in?”

@WRXH357 don't confuse "simplex" with "split tones." Simplex just means that Tx and Rx are on the same frequency. Repeaters use a 5 MHz offset. Split tones means you use a different tone for Tx and Rx.

Me too. Also, it encourages me to be a more courteous driver because unfortunately a simple internet search will lead anyone to my humble abode. I really need to get a PO box...

Looks like I see another up and coming Kenwood fan like me.🙂
TK-780(H)_880(H).pdf

I just acquired a refurbished TK880K a couple months ago in a Club raffle.  At first, I thought that I would give it away to a Club newbie in need of a mobile radio since I already have several non-CCR mobile radios, except for one unfortunately, that I shouldn't have bought in the first place. I never been a Kenwood fan or had a use for one but, I quickly grown to like the radio once I got into the programming of the radio and learned its radio capabilities, and fit the radio into my radio use choices and inventory/cache.
They do make great GMRS radios and the radio features include zone programming, talkaround, a true monitor/PL Defeat that just doesn't blow squelch like a CCR, Home channel, and soft key programming. I like the size of the radio and it allows me to temporarily use the radio in one of my cars that really can't accommodate a permanent mobile radio installation.
The radio is really not too shabby. For a quality and inexpensive radio for a person that doesn't have very much disposable income and want to play with radios, and learn how to program their own radio(s), this radio is for you.

I had a very early unit and the antenna came right off. Since then I have seen reports ranging from people just needing to give it a rough-twist to get it off to not even being able to get it off with a crowbar and a hammer.
For BTech to get certification for the radio the antenna must be non-removable (because it transmits data).. Once word got out that they were easily removable it looks like BTech upp'd their glue-game.

I have heard rumors that they will be available for sale beginning the last week of July, and on the same day the worlds most popular and most widely-loved GMRS YouTuber will be releasing a video about all 4 of the new antennas.
But, you know, those are just rumors...

Based on where you are, the frequency you are hearing and your post on the Northwest Houston 725 repeater page where you say you hear them on channel 22. I would say you are hearing that repeater on simplex. They won’t hear you. You need to join their repeater network if you want to converse. You will need to program their tones on channel 30 in your radio which already has the needed +5 offset. Repeater channels/frequencies have an input of 467 and receive on 462. So this repeater is tx 467.725 and rx 462.725. You hear them but you are not on their input frequency and don’t have tones set to access the repeater. You can join their network here. It’s a membership linked network. If you haven’t already I would recommend you download Chirp for programming your radio. It’s easier and you’ll be able to see and understand what is going on more when you see things in this format. Good luck. 

It happens in a lot of places.  Recently, on another site, I was reading about a guy in Georgia who was paying $150/month for a primo GMRS repeater site so he could communicate with his family.  He had the misfortune to be located where all eight pairs were clogged with repeaters that were part of a linked, mega wompus, system.  He noted that for large chunks of the day, all eight pairs carried the same people, having the same conversations, about the same thing.  IMHO, this goes against the original intent of Class A/GMRS and is just wrong.  In my area, two repeaters are linked to a four repeater system.  For the most part, it isn't too bad except for Sunday evenings when they are tied up with an inane regional or national net, or the occasional needy sounding guy mumbling on and on in broken English in the next state.  Then you add another guy piping in drivel from all over the country with the possibility of adding "nodes" to clog up other 50W simplex/repeater channels and soon you have a big, unnecessary, cacaphony, tying up those few pairs for people wanting to utilize them for local comms.  It just isn't necessary.
If you are the only networked repeater in your area then Kudos for putting up a stand-alone for local comms.  
 
I don't believe I mentioned simulcasted repeaters but it did cross my mind.  I am fully aware of how expensive they are and how tight tolerances have to be, therefore I did not mention it.  It just gets aggravating that most people I hear talking about putting up a repeater seem heck bent on either linking to other repeaters in their area or linking to a network, apparently just to keep noise going across the frequency, and not caring that they hinder people trying to use GMRS for its original intended use of local area communication.

Midland updated the firmware of the MXT400 a few years ago to give it GMRS wideband capability. Prior to that, all of their MXT mobiles were NFM-only ("we expect most of the users will be talking with people using NFM FRS radios" [essential concept given out, not an exact quote]). The MXT115 is NFM-only, still, as I recall -- though it has allowed separate Tx/Rx tones "on the repeater channels" for a time.
Tone scan is something rather new -- remember that originally a GMRS license listed only two frequency (pairs for repeaters) and those were the ONLY frequencies with repeater capability one could use; and a radio shop was required to go into the radio and install crystals or set DIP switches to lock the frequencies in place (technically, one could use the -- at the time FCC specified -- emergency frequency FOR EMERGENCIES; but since many radios only came with A/B select switches it used to be recommended that one of the two frequencies on the license be the emergency frequency, and that then became a general use frequency on the license).
Given the two frequency limit, the odds were good that one knew the tones for the repeaters of interest -- most all GMRS repeaters were operated by businesses or government entities (this was when such could get a license for such, not the current "individual" mandate) and one pretty much had to ask the repeater owner for access. These repeaters often had multiple sets of tones configured, so different groups of users would not be heard by other groups -- of course, one still had monitor before talking to ensure they weren't going to step on a different group.

I have some radios without NOAA, but I just added the channels.  Easy enough.  I do like the weather alert feature on the radios that include it though.

RX 462.600 - DCS 023
TX 467.600 - DCS 023
Now Google has it and there is no getting that toothpaste back into the tube.
 

If one wants to think about it a bit differently 11M CB is a license free simple HF service. That goes with the license free MURS and FRS services too. For someone who doesn't want to deal with tests and licenses but wants to sample the RF waters the above is about the easiest and cheapest way to get a taste of the radio hobby and the differences between the bands. Part 95 services has HF, VHF and UHF bands to buy radios for and have fun. CB 11M radio has it's place. 

I love this subject.  Mostly because I like both for different reasons and because of the responses I get to what I am about to type... Hopefully I don't catch too much grief for writing an unsolicited novel.  LOL
 
Bottom line is, on a peer to peer level, if a CB (HF) radio is properly installed and has a proper antenna and antenna installation, CB radio (HF radio as a technology) absolutely destroys GMRS in overall performance.
CB provides great line of site coverage; the same coverage as GMRS, but also provides ground wave propagation, sky wave propagation and weaker signal receive capability.  Combined, those propagation methods make CB a much better platform.  I dare say far superior segment of the Personal Radio Service, due to having coverage inside of potentially 1,200 to 2,400 mile radius, depending on the propagation models used and atmospheric conditions available at any given moment. 
A GMRS radio, in a standalone configuration like CB radio, will never be able to compete with CB.  Sure, there are very limited conditions that occur throughout the year and solar cycles that allow GMRS radios to cover anywhere from 300 to 600 miles, but they are extremely rare and can't be counted on for day to day use.  Reality is, 99.999% of the time, you are bound to RF Line of Sight.  Depending on where you are, that can be less than 1 mile or as much as 150+ miles.  It just depends on your elevation and the elevation of the other station.
Now... that opinion is supported solely on the precedent that the CB radio and antenna are of proper quality and installed correctly.  The biggest problem that has led many to believe the CB is not good, is the overwhelming amount of trash radios and short antennas on the market, combined with almost never having the system properly installed.  Enter GMRS.
Again, just my opinion... people getting frustrated with supposed poor performance of CB, pushed a large segment of the 'license by rule' users to look for another option.  With GMRS being on the bottom-end of UHF, the antenna installation is significantly less temperamental, making it so you almost have to try to do a bad install.  Combine that with the point that the market has some quality radios that can be purchased easily and for a reasonable price, plus FM sounds more pleasant to listen too, and now people start flocking to FRS and GMRS.  For more advanced users, GMRS wins over FRS due to the higher power available, the mobile and base station capability (removing dependencies on AA and AAA batteries and improved range) and the fact that we have networked repeaters available in many locations, and now the masses move to GMRS.
In my opinion, is GMRS 'better' than CB?  No, but it sure is a lot of fun and provides a much easier platform that fills the need to a larger group of non-technically skilled people, making it better choice than CB for many.  And that is an important distinction.

@WRXE944 that is not how Property Rights in the US work.  The repeater owners have zero obligation to anyone (beyond FCC rules and state/federal laws, of course).  My house is on a public street.  It doesn't mean everyone who has the privilege of accessing that street has any business being in my house and I certainly don't have an obligation to make it known that my house is private, not public or they can just come right in.  By law, it is assumed private and you can't come in.  Those personal Property Rights don't change depending on the property. 
You have the exact same 'privilege' to use the frequencies as anyone else.  Unless you ask the owner of the radio (which is what a repeater is) if you can use their radio, you can't just assume the privilege of using that person's radio is yours.  It is their Right to grant or deny access to their personal property.
The problem with you sharing your opinion is, while you don't care if you open yourself to criminal trespass charges and FCC fines, not everyone feels the same way.  You are giving out bad advice.

Come on man... you make it sound like if I knock on the door of your house for 20 minutes and you don't answer, I can't just walk in, assuming it's okay because you didn't say "don't come in".

I don't know why some people just think the regulations don't apply to them. Even unlocking the radio to operate outside its certified parameters violates the regulation.

Not approved for use in BOTH services. The Type Certification would be for GMRS with an additional statement it meets Part 15 requirements which is needed for Amateur use. Putting the radio onto Amateur frequencies negates the GMRS certification as stated in the regs.

Thanks Randy, great video.