WQWI871

Cheap, really really cheap. Some radios such as the UV-5R are affordable, but, it adds up when purchasing multiple. Also, I feel that the 16 channels are more basic to avoid accidental mess ups and good for comms. Something the price of Baofeng BF-888s. But, the cheapest 16 channel dual bands I seem to find are about $70. The power and other features are not important for It's intended usage. Just cheap 16 channel. Anyone know of any or where I could check? I've tried eBay, Amazon and a couple online radio shops.

The oldest I have is a couple Uniden GMR-325's and a Cobra 19 Plus with an unknown mag-mount antenna. Anyone know? http://i66.tinypic.com/2qi7pt1.jpg http://i67.tinypic.com/2mgtttv.jpg http://i63.tinypic.com/atr15.jpg Edit: Sorry, the images weren't initially rotated like that.

I use GMRS with helmets (and the few times I'm simply not using the helmet) I've never used a wireless or bluetooth setup, however, except with mobile phones.

It was pretty quick. It's just I don't have good experience with my local USPS. I've had parcels that have been opened and nothing inside and sometimes I get those pink notes sating "Sorry we missed you" while truth is, I would be actually watching the carrier and they never get out of the vehicle to attempt a door delivery. USPS sometimes holds/delays and reroutes parcels, too. I've had parcels from Texas, to Florida, to South Carolina, and back to Florida again. Though one thing I don't like about UPS, they always deliver my parcels late. Today I got some hardware, UPS delivered at 8:30pm. Last time it was 10:00pm, I heard the driver outside getting the parcel "I'm hear!" as if he knew I was expecting LOL. But yeah, Priority was fine.

I tested out the crossband today. I got more distance out than I expected, though, not quite where I need it to be to be more useful. I could hear the other peer whom was closer to it, but, they couldn't hear me past a certain point. Silly me for letting them use my higher power handheld, though. I think that was unnecessary and perhaps I were better to use it. Still exciting. I'll ponder what I could do just for a little more range, I almost made it to the desired area. Edit: Buytwowayradios does advertise FM Radio as one of the features. I really don't see anything, though.

Oh, interesting. I never looked into those old FRS only radios. I did look through the new regulations, but, mostly CB as I was too lazy to read that much. I wonder if some manufactures will put out some new handhelds to work with those new regulations. Thanks.

Okay, I see. Anyone know why those channels are shared?

I'm referring to the input and output power settings of the repeater. Also, perhaps you've checked PastorGary's recent friendly notification in the Private Discussion? I'm not one to generally point that out, especially when it comes to others, but, I've been feeling a little uncomfortable.

I was on a local repeater earlier. I transmitted and it just hung their for a while. I didn't realize it until I transmitted again. Eh, hope I didn't annoy them. All was fine after I restarted it a couple times (and tested on simplex before I tried on the repeater again) they could hear me fine, but, it just kept transmitting. That was the first and only time so far it happened.

Does the transmit side power matter or just the receive? If the transmit is VHF for example, which another radio transmits and the receive is UHF which another radio receives on, is it necessary to have the power higher on both tx and rx on the crossband repeater or just one side?

Last week I actually had a Walmart employee (he seems to monitor/greet customers on the way in and retrieves shopping carts outside) and he seen my handheld on my belt. He said politely, "You know, you don't actually need a license?" he uses a Baofeng B6 for the job site and was looking for an upgrade, mostly because the other employee's take his battery's / charger (they're compatible) I've seen other employee's inside using some Motorola's. I didn't question him what frequencies he or his team uses (although I think I recall hearing employee's on FRS/GMRS 5 one day) He seemed nice, so, I just went along with it and stayed friendly. That is kind of a downer about that announcement, though. You technically don't for FRS, but, I feel that answer wasn't as clear. I don't like promoting those radio's and people get the idea that they can use any channel. Reminds me of three kids that kept swapping channels earlier for hours. They even got on the REACT team, as I was monitoring that as well. On an understanding note, though, I can't fault it much. I feel that It's nice to have a couple unlicensed services. My grandmother for example is ill and elderly and simply has no interest in radio's or studying and paying big for a license. FRS is great for that purpose (close range, of course) and with my GMRS license, I can authorize her for GMRS use. Perhaps if the licensed and unlicensed services were split into separate radios, it could limit the unlicensed from using licensed services. And clearly printing on the outer packaging to highlight that rather than slipping it into some fine print in the back of the manual. Edit: Dang, they're actually still playing around. I keep hearing them mumble and using those call buttons that produces a ring.

By the way, there was / is something underneath the display on arrival. It resembles glue, tape or adhesive. I didn't want to go through an exchange if the radio seems fine. Should I remove the face and wipe it off or leave it be? Also, sorry for asking here, it just didn't seem technical enough to deserve It's own topic.

Anyone know if the 9800 or 7800 has an Ani / PTT ID or a roger beep to enable for the cross band? It does have the slight not so often noise, but, I was looking for something more adequate. The manual didn't specify much about the cross band. Edit: Okay, seems the TYT software offers settings that Chirp doesn't, including Ani and PTT ID. For some reason when I read from the radio, though, my computer gets that blue screen and restarts. I was able to read for once, though.

I thought channels 1-7 only required a GMRS license if being used above the legal FRS power limit considering those channels are FRS/GMRS shared and a lot of "bubble pack" radios have low/high power to select on those channels to comply?

So, after playing around with the 9800, it can receive on CB AM, tested with my CB. Oddly, though, the 9800 was also able to be received on my CB. My CB picks it up slightly scrambled, but, clear enough. I wasn't expecting that, just thought I'd key up anyways. On Low. It seems fine so far. I can't figure how to use single receive. I like to keep NOAA on one band and just use the other, I rarely need dual receive. But, when I enable single receive, the non main band which is usually NOAA, still receives. And, it locks me from swapping back to that band until I toggle single receive off again. At the moment, I just keep the volume on that band down, no big deal. I keep the backlight off, considering there's no display timer. Although there's four programmable keypad mic buttons, I can't seem to find a way to program the menu or a "select/enter", although I can use the keypad for navigating the menu. I'm not use to mounting the mic off of radios, but, didn't want to drill holes in the radio, yet. So, I mounted next to it. No complaints, just sharing my findings and feelings. Hmm I thought the 9800 had FM broadcast support?

Funny thing, I still got it within two days with USPS. Although I understand they're not too far out the states.

Nice job on that one.

I kind of dislike that they're free shipping method is USPS. Most merchants use FedEx or UPS as the free shipping method, especially for such items and prices. And I mean just the standard UPS Ground or FedEx Ground. From what I see, they don't offer UPS Ground or FedEx Ground (standard) just the UPS 3-Day or FedEx 3-Day at the minimum, which is $14.99. I also dislike that they don't offer the ability to create a profile to submit support tickets, view order history, update contact details and such as a lot of shops, do. It sucks that all I'd basically get is an order number and have to email / chat or call for anything. Though I was happy to see quick email responses. At least It's Priority with insurance.

Sorry again. Sometimes I don't know when I should correct someone or not, because I hate starting something. I just like to see everyone's views, though. In any way, though. I still think your comment was valuable. There many people that are new to radios and frequencies in general despite what bands and services and may think that one service is what they want, but, find that another service may benefit them more. Although I enjoy amateur and there's many more options and freedom for amateurs such as range and repeaters, I kind of feel that although I do hobby, hobby is only secondary for me while communication is primary. And because I can't have another peer under my callsign, GMRS or FRS is kind of more valuable for me. But, that also limits me in many ways. So, I kind of juggle between the two using amateur personally and GMRS or FRS for close comms. Any further, I'm stick with mobile phones or nothing due to no GMRS repeaters. I provide all the radio communication in the family, so, no one is interested or have the will to study and do amateur exams.

I don't mean for this to come across as a jerk trying to be smart, so, please forgive me if It's blunt. I just wanted to point out that this is technically the amateur section. I "think" when Logan mentioned there is no part 95 approved radio that he is aware of from Baofeng, he was referring to amateur, considering the original poster referenced a UV-5R in the amateur section and that they are new to ham. With that said, he is technically correct in that sense, but, perhaps lack of terminology by generally speaking. You're correct that Baofeng does make a part 95 approved radio, though, that's simply a GMRS radio (yet, still capable of receiving amateur frequencies) as you mentioned. But, I suppose It's still nice to mention it incase it could help the original poster and anyone else when deciding on a radio.

That's great. While I do learn to program manually without software if needed, I feel chirp is much quicker and easier. And, I prefer the interface of chirp than some stock software.

So here's my decision. I went with the TYT TH-9800. The $20 difference between that and the 7800 doesn't feel worth the compromise. And, even if I don't transmit on 6M or 10M much, the 9800 is more suitable as a scanner than the 7800 with It's wider receive. However, there seems to be far more complaints about the longevity of the 9800 and other issues than the 7800. So, if I notice anything off, I'm exchanging for the 7800. If I notice anything off about 7800, I'm either going with the Yaesu 8900, Kenwood V71, or, a Baofeng. I only plan on using low power mostly and it won't be powered on very long. But, even though value is important to me, I can't have a radio that craps out with light use within a year. The new "Plus" version of the 9800, seems to be upgraded, though. I'd rather take the chance and hope I get a good one to last a bit than to pay about $340 initially, excluding a few Baofeng's that are about $150 or less depending on the model. I could be wrong, but, from what I see, the Baofeng 50x3 has a non attachable face. That's a big turn off for me.

Happy early birthday, by the way.

Thank you, G. I understand a shade of crossbanding NOAA (not just alerts) can be considered broadcasting, however, I didn't feel that users crossbanding someone else's repeaters', especially traffic net, was any different. Which does seem to happen. I was asking because I have a few UHF handhelds that would be great weather radios. Unfortunately, NOAA is VHF. I could've really used multiple weather radios last year during hurricane Mathew for my family instead of sharing a radio or updating them. Of course I could simply purchase other radios, but, again, I was just asking.

In addition to what was specified earlier, that goes for the GMRS repeaters. Not the amateur repeaters. You can listen in on amateur repeaters, but, no amateur license means no amateur transmit. I think the last portion of your comment was kind of unclear if you were asking about using both, or, asking about just GMRS and casually mentioning amateur.