sjl777

I have the same radio. I just reviewed the manual and in VFO mode you have to use the up and down arrows to manually scan frequencies. In MR mode the radio will scan whatever is in memory and only those channels that you tell the radio to have on your scan list. If you use CHIRP you can select which channels are skipped with the drop down field by adding S for skip. This is a limitation to the radio. As good as the radio is it is not one of the higher end options.

From my limited experience along with web and YouTube searches, the DTMF codes allow a user to access devices using the radio. This can include repeaters, garage doors, and anything else where your radio might be used as a remote with a particular configured device. I have not use for this function and dont want to make my radios open to receiving unwanted codes. The Kill/Stun function is an anti-theft function. Government agencies have this built into their public safety equipment. Depending on how much one spends for a mobile or HT, I can understand how you may want to brick the device if it was stolen. Getting it back would be another issue. I think if you change the default code in CHIRP or CPS software it should limit someone from using a factory code to mess with your radio.

The Btech GMRS 20V2 mobile will tell you when the radio has been killed. I had it happen to me several times. If your radio is setup to receive DTMF codes and you have not changed the default factory code, someone can send your radio the kill or stun code and lock up your radio. I recoved from the kill setting using CHIRP and reloading the initial factory setting image. I also reset all on the radio after it was restored. You adjust the DTMF settings in CHIRP. I suspect that there may be a bug in CHIRP for my radio and DTMF. I changed the factory code at a minimum and have not had an issue. CHIRP give the 20V2 the option to disable all TX and RX of DTMF codes with a check box. This may be the cause of my killed radio. It seems when I have the boxes checked i increase the odds of the radio being killed. Uncheck those boxes, no issue. I have not tried it out since the latest series of CHIRP updates. I dont use the BTech CPS so I do not know if there are other options or better ones.

As you save more channel and repeaters with various settings in your radio you may discover that the GMRS version of the radio limits the total number of channels/memories that you can transmit on. Channels 1 through 30 are your GMRS simplex and repeater defaults. 31 to 52 are the programmable channels. 53 and up are receive only. The only place in the manual where this is mentioned is on page 4 of the hard copy manual which lists all the features. The PDF online version does not list this limitation. When you reset the radio to Unlock mode, all these restrictions go away.

If you unlock the GMRS version and set the power to High you will transmit on 10W. I just tried it out and the radio shows it was transmitting at 10W. The ohter GMRS quirk is the fact that you do not have all 199 channel/memory locations available as transmit and receive. If you look in your GMRS version manual, you see that you get 22 programmable TX/RX channels and 158 RX only channels. Any channel starting with 53 and higher will not transmit. You will get the warning beep from the radio when you key the PTT. When you change the radio to HAM or Unlocked the limits go away. I asked Tidradio why the GMRS is limited on the total number of TX capable channels and they did not give me an answer other than GMRS radio are limited on which frequencies they can use. Firmware updates will not ulock the RX only channels in the GMRS radio. Unlocking the radio fully will. The only downside i see with the radio unlocked is that you can transmit on the NOAA channels. You cannot make any channel RX only via ODMaster, CHIRP, or the radio menu. I suggested this should be a future firmware option and that the RX only memory location should be unlocked in the GMRS version of the radio.