WRYS709

Yeah, I have to agree: seems to turn DMR into GMRS and not in the broader spirit of Ham Radio. But to each, their own...

When all else fails, I generally "sniff" out the access tone, and go on the repeater and ask for permission.

You operate completely differently than I do but generally I don’t dismiss features that I don’t use that are important to others Put another way, I point out the limited Digital ID memory of the DM-32 for those whom the feature is important.

You can’t miss a feature you don’t have. I use the screen’s showing of the caller’s Callsign all the time on my HT when I am not sitting at a desk with a pen and paper. One of the great benefits of digital!

Reminds me of the Cotre C001D DMR HTs that were briefly available from Amazon for $17 and actually worked!

When Macs switched to Intel, I sucked my licensed copy of Windows XP out of SoftWindows and with its proper serial number, installed it into Bootcamp and Parallels to this day on my remaining Intel Macs.

Are there any “legitimate” domestic (US) uses for this radio?

I always appreciate your detailed reporting and if you come across one such report on testing, please post it. In the meantime, if my 1/2 wave 2 meter HT antenna does not get me satisfactory results, but switching to my more bulky 5/8 telescoping antenna does, I will accept the positive results as proof enough for me!

As I have mentioned previously, I have used Parallels in my Mac to run Windows as far back as Windows XP for programming my non-Chirp radios. It is not well known that you don’t actually have to activate Windows for it to operate properly. To rephrase without double negatives, Windows operates properly without having to pay for it (authorize it).

We are talking HT antennas here and the human body holding the HT acts as the ground plane. In my anecdotal experience, I have always had better performance using my 5/8 2 meter telescoping antenna on my HTs, including my DSB Quansheng UV-K5(8), than either a 1/2 wave or rubber duck. Especially for those times a little extra “umph” gets me into a repeater or successfully complete a simplex QSO

Based on your comment, I took a look at this “5/8 rubber duck” on the Smiley website. It seems a contradiction in terms: an antenna is either cut to 5/8ths length or is electronically made into a “rubber duck” with coils; but it seems to me it can’t be both! A true 5/8 should out perform a 1/2 wave or rubber dick.

Back to the original topic: according to comments on the Facetime Baofeng Owners Group, the DM-32 is limited to 50,000 Digital IDs, hence making it impossible to download the complete Digital ID library into memory. That plus it’s inability to use OpenGD77 firmware (or separately emulate its benefits) severely hampers the usefulness of the DM-32. I suspect that Baofeng does not want this model at its lower price point, to cannibalize sales of their more expensive models. To the OP: enjoy VHF/UHF and when you can get into HF, 10 meter band openings while we can enjoy the current sunspot cycle, but keep an open mind on the 24/7/365 availability of QSOs with DMR, of which low cost models with OpenGD77 continue to exist.

Although they are hard to find today and require a bit more strength to hold steady, the 2 meter 5/8ths telescoping antennas offer me quite a bit of “more fars” when I operate HT portable.

WoW! Ok: I will keep all of that in mind the next time you create a thread about a new radio and make all sorts of dubious claims about it!

That's why Heinz' makes 57 varieties! I have a friend who is a ham radio enthusiast and an international diplomat. Once time when he went to Europe to consult for a foreign government, he brought his DMR HT with him and we were able to consistently have 100% clear communications during his time there. Could I do that with HF; of course not! It all depends upon whose ox is being gored...