WRYZ926

I will give one word of caution about the Yaesu FTDX10 and FT710. NEVER plug in or unplug the USB cable while the radio and computer are both on. You take a big risk of blowing the USB port by plugging the USB in or unplugging it with everything powered on. And Yaesu will only fix it once under warranty and only for the original purchaser. Otherwise it is a $900 repair since they have to replace the entire main board. Several of us have had the USB ports go out on the FTDX10 and FTDX101. And the Yaesu tech said they will only repair the rail once under warranty for the original purchaser. If the USB pops a second time and/or you are not the original purchaser then the repair will cost you $900. The tech even suggested using an external sound card. SO Yaesu knows about the issue but won't fix it. The USB port is out on my FTDX10 so I ended up getting the Yaesu SCU-17 external sound card for digital modes. I have since gotten myself an Icom IC-7300 which is much easier to use and the controls are more ergonomic. That is a common complaint about quite a few of the different Yaesu radios. This is especially true about the menu system on pretty much all of them.

Normally one would put a second vertical antenna up that is a 1/4 wave length away from the main radiating antenna to get some gain and directional characteristics. A 1/4 wave for GMRS is only 6 inches. So that chances of that happening are definitely less with the antennas spaced at 1 1/2 feet apart. Yes there is still a chance of making the GMRS a bit more directional but not like if the CB antenna was only 6 inches away from the GMRS antenna.

You normally want the antennas to be at least a 1/4 wave length apart which is not going to happen with the CB antenna as you would need 8 1/2 feet. My brother runs a Comet 2x4SR multi band VHF/UHF antenna on the top of his truck cab with a Tarheel HF antenna mounted to the left front corner of the truck bed. Has has at least 3 foot of separation between the antennas and he has no issues. You might find that the CB antenna does act as a reflector for the GMRS antenna being 1 1/2 foot away which can cause the GMRS antenna to be more directional. The only way to know for sure is to try it out. You should not have any interaction when it comes to transmitting since we are talking about 11m vs UHF.

I've never messed with a B-Tech mobile so can't comment. But I have had a Midland MXT500 and still have two Wouxun KG-1000G radios. The Midland would only put out a max of 38 watts on high while both KG-1000G's put out between 48 and 50 watts on high. And yes if you read the fine print in any radio specs, most will say up to a certain watt. Most of the time you will only see the maximum when the radio is connected directly to a SWR meter, you are using good low loss coax and your antenna SWR is 1.0:1 or you are using a dummy load. Higher SWR and lossy coax will cut down on the power output.

I think you will be happy with the TH-7800. I've only had mine since October 2023 but both have worked just fine.

The TH-7800 in my vehicle has done well over the last 15 months being exposed to sub zero temps to 100+ temps inside the vehicle. The only negative I have is the mic is hot and there is no way to adjust the mic gain. I just make sure to hold the mic at an angel which helps. Watch R&L electronics for when they have the TH-7800 on sale. That being said, the Icom IC-2730 is worth the upgrade as far as the radio itself goes. I use mine in the shack so I didn't need the mounting bracket. I do agree with you that Icom is bad about gouging for the mounting hardware and accessories though. I don't even use the mounting brackets for the main units on my radios in the vehicle, They sit under the seat and the remote heads are mounted to a Lido seat bolt mount.

That is the same reason I bought the TYT TH-7800. And the first one worked well enough that I bought a second one for the vehicle. The one in the shack has since been replaced by an Icom IC-2730 but that TH-7800 is now used for Winlink. And the TH-7800 is still going strong.

That has to do with the tint that is built into factory windows. Some tint has enough metal in them to mess with reception. I have even seen people have problems with the glass mount antennas like what nokones posted. Granted not everyone has had reception issues with these type of antennas but some have. It depends on the tint used and how much metal is in it.

That is one of the issues I have read about the TH-9800. I'm thinking it has something to do with it being quad band since you don't hear about the TH-7800 having that issue. Wouxun makes their KG-UV980P quad band. I can't comment on its quality since I have never used one. That being said, the Wouxun KG-1000G is based off of the 980P with a different firmware and it is a good radio. Now if you don't mind using a dual band radio then the TYT TH-7800 works pretty well. The only complaint I have about it is that there is no mic gain settings and the mic is hot. But that goes with most CCR mobile radios, none of them have adjustable mic gain. You have to remember to hold the mic at a certain distance and at an angle.

Yes you can program extra channels on the MXT500. I forget if the MXT labels the repeater channels as Ch 23- Ch 30 or RPT 15 - RPT 22. Say you have two repeaters in your area that use the repeater channel 19 which is 467.650 (RX on 462.650). You can set the tones for the first repeater on the pre programmed RPT 19 ( channel 27) with the correct tones. Then add a custom channel in any memory slot above RPT 22/Ch 30 using the same TX/RX frequencies (467.650/462.650) and then put the tones for the second repeater in. Doing that will keep you from having one channel where you have to constantly try to change the tomes to use the different repeaters. I have two repeaters in my area that use the RPT15/Ch 23. I programmed the first repeater in the channel memory slot 31 and the second in channel memory slot 32. I also set my radios to display names instead of channel numbers which helps keep different repeater on the same channels separated and easy to find.

I'm another one that wished I would have taken the general test on the same day after passing the technician test. I started studying for the Extra but got distracted by too many squirrels to chase - digital modes, Winlink, AllStar, CW, etc.......

Myself and others have quite a few of the Wouxun UV and KG series radios. And none of us have had any issues with tones not working as they should. And NO I am not sponsored by Wouxun, Buy Two Way Radios or anyone else. I am going to give you honest answers when asked to the best of my ability. Again I have not heard anyone having issues with the CTSS Tones on any of their UV or KG series Wouxun radios.

The clicking is not normal. I'm curious to see what is causing it.

The TH-7800 and TH-9800 use the same password unlock to open them up. Though you must use the official TYT programming software to do so. I went with the TH-7800 dual band since there is no 6m or 10m FM repeaters near me and the fact that a 6m and/or 10m antenna would be way to big to drive around with all of the time. I have one TH-7800 in the vehicle and the other is setup in a go box for Winlink. I have not noticed any clicking noises like @Wayfarer has with my TH-7800's so maybe it is something with the TH-9800's.

The Comet 2x4SR is an excellent multi band mobile antenna. Since you said that you can get into that repeater with an HT then yes going to 20/25 watt radio will improve things. Stepping up to a 40/50 watt radio will definitely improve things. I have a repeater that is about 50-55 miles away that I can get into with a 20 watt radio but the other people hear a lot of static on my transmission. Everyone can hear me clearly when I use a 50 watt radio. Basically you have to quadruple the power output to notice any big difference. I am still going to suggest going with the Comet CA-GMRS for a few reasons. One is that it is light enough at only 2 pounds. Second, it has a wind load of 135 mph. And you can also get rid of the pizza pan that will definitely act as a sail in high winds. The CA-GMRS is lists at 5.5 dBi which is 3.4 dBd. The 2x4SR is listed at 6.2 dBi ( 4.1 dBd). Plus you would still have to use a metal pan for your ground plane which is a wind sail. I can't tell in your photo if your roof is fairly flat or has a ridge. Getting your antenna up some more and going with a mobile radio will improve performance for you.

You now have so many more squirrels to chase, especially once you get your General.

I never cared for pine and cedar trees since they harbor ticks but I have come to despise them when it comes to UHF. They really do a number on blocking 70cm and GMRS. We have lots of rolling hills around here and it is common for the farmers to let the red cedar trees grow along the side of the roads.

CB channel 9 can be useless now days when you have people running high power amps on that channel. I hear it all of the time. There is one guy from Puerto Rico that is always blasting away on channel 9, he sounds lie he is sitting next to me.

I am the same way, I put the blame on the bad actor. Unfortunately it only takes sone bad apple to ruin the bushell.

Ft Irwin has been expanded quite a bit since I left in 1996. Either way, that was a good haul to hear people in Death Valley.

You hit the valleys just right to pick up people in Death Valley from Barstow. And I agree you would not have been much help to them being 85 miles away. We had problems getting through from north post of Ft Irwin to main base without the use of repeaters due to the Granite Mountains. For those that don't know. Ft Irwin is 45 miles north of Barstow. And that is only to main base and not including the north part where all of the live fire ranges are. The Northeast corner of Ft Irwin butts up to the southwest corner of Death Valley National Park. Range will be limited in the Mohave due to the terrain while you can definitely get farther range in the Sonoran since it is more flat (in spots).

I just received an email from RT Systems, They are working on making Mac compatible versions for the Wouxun radios. She stated that they are working on it and have to ready to go for testing. Unfortunately she did not say which radios. I'm glad that they are working on Mac versions of their software for the Wouxun radios.

Yes the 935H can be unlocked. The same unlock method works for the Q10H and 935H. For those with the GMRS only versions, those cannot be unlocked, Yes I have tried. I can't answer about the batteries other than the 935H will use the same batteries as the 935G. I don't have a UV-9 series radio to test. The batteries and chargers are different between the 935G/H and the Q10G/H that they are not interchangeable.

Try taking any adaptors you might have out of the loop too. I had a 90 degree SO239 to PL259 along with a straight PL259 to PL259 adaptor go bad on me which caused the SWR to go up. I was using those two adaptors to connect my lightening arrestor to the bulkhead. I removed the 90 degree adaptor all together and replaced the male to male adaptor with a 12" coax jumper and my SWR went back down.

I personally would use the free Wouxun software from Buy Two Way Radios as long as you have a Windows computer or a way to run Windows programs on Linux or Mac. The reason I say this is the fact that there is always a chance that one could brick their radios by choosing the wrong one in CHIRP. I'm not saying that one will brick their radio by choosing the 935G in CHIRP. Just a word of caution,