Tiercel

They just updated the ship date to 11/10/23 so here we go. I will wait a week to see if it just gets updated again.

The Wouxun 1000 PLus was projected to start shipping today from BuyTwowayRadios. i hope I am not waiting for weeks.

Great question. That thought never occurred to me. I am pretty sure I can only add receive-only frequencies, but I will check it out in the morning. I will try to enter it in place of one of the low-power channels. If that does not work, I will try to enter it as an add-on at the end of the channels.

I was ready to return my UV-9G HTs with the dead channel 15, and it occurred to me to ask Radioditty if they would let me keep them as extras and refund half the purchase price. They agreed, so I am keeping them. I will only have $22 a piece in them. To me they are more than worth that even with channel 15 inoperable. Now I want to order 2 more, but I would like to assure the new ones have a working channel 15.

Thanks Sshannon! I ordered the Wouxun KG-1000G Plus and a programming cable. I will also order 30A a power supply which should give me room to expand if needed.

I am strongly considering this radio with the hope that I will be able to find a practical mount solution. It is a little pricy, but it is my birthday, so I will likely go for it. Is it practical to move this unit in and out of a vehicle, or is it a little more of a chore than you would want to do on any kind of a regular basis?

I would like to see a dozen or so mobile setups because my Avalon has no obvious place to mount a full mobile mount that I can envision. I was very close to buying what I thought was the perfect setup: a Midland MXT575 50-watt mobile with all the controls on the mic. Then I realized it could only monitor 1 station at a time and could not scan programmable receive-only frequencies. I don't need fancy, but it was a little too basic. I might still be forced to go that route. I have seen a couple of others that look like the face is detachable, and the main unit can be mounted out of the way. I think that would be workable even if, at worst, I used a cupholder mount. I think I can find room for a detachable face plate. Does anyone have suggestions on 40 or 50-watt mobile units with all controls on the mic or with a detachable face. Do you have recommendations or ideas on how you found room to mount a mobile in today's cars? I think my Tacoma might have room for a standard mobile in a front open-cubby of the console. I would like to be able to remove my mobile fairly easy to use as a base at times.

Yep, but all other things being equal, I would much rather rather buy from Japan than China.

But, but.....my masculinity would be threatened if my mobile did not have at least 40 watts. I watched a review of the Midland MXT575 by NotaRubicon, and while I am still leaning toward it, I am not happy that it does not monitor two channels at a time, and you cannot enter frequencies for receive-only scanning. Its functions are very basic. My Baofeng HT had more options. I am going to look again to figure out options to mount a more typical mobile unit.

I can get that Midland MXT575 thru Zorro.com for $360. That includes tax and shipping I think I am probably going to do it unless someone has a reasonably fast response on why I should not. If I could find a NON-China manufactured mobile with everything on the mic I would probably buy that instead. I hate sending money to China

My gut feeling is that if I want a mobile, especially one, I hope I can easily also use as a base when I want, I want a full 50 watts. I did see a video of a guy installing a Midland Micro Mobile. I just looked it up and it only has 15 watts. Everything was on the mic, and he showed mounting options in the console, under the seat, under the dash, and opted for in the glove box. That radio was VERY small, however. I am going to look at some mobile radio model options.

I am in withdrawal because I have to do an exchange on my UV-9G's (channel 15 issue). While I am waiting on replacements, I think I might go ahead and buy a GMRS Mobile. I will hold off on Ham equipment until I have a better idea of what I want. With today's center consoles, how are mobiles typically mounted? I don't see an easy under-dash option in my car or pickup. I am going to go see what I can find on Youtube.

Thanks for the tip about the known channel 15 issues. I am returning them to the supplier "Radioddity". They were very helpful and prompt. They said they would check out channel 15 on the replacements before they ship them.

I am now having withdrawl because I am returning my Baofeng UV-9Gs. I contacted Radioddity (the seller on Amazon) and they were very prompt at helping me return them. They volunteered that they would check the channel 15 problem in the warehouse before they shipped the replacements.

I did learn one thing from this post. You know a lot more than I do. I remind everyone that I have had a GMRS radio for a week. I have not even completed the study for my Ham test. If your answers wouldn't make any sense to the random guy on the street, then they won't make sense to me.

Well, The good news is that my response from Baofeng was shockingly quick. I estimate less than 20 minutes. The bad news is that they do not consider it their problem unless you bought your transceiver directly from them.

I have had two UV-9Gs for over a week and have been very happy with them, but I just discovered they cannot communicate with each other on channel 15. They were bought through Amazon from Radioddity. I am trying to contact both the supplier and Baofeng. If I don't make progress within a few days, I will return them. I will keep you posted if I get any resolution to the issue. As others have said, Amazon returns are a piece of cake, especially if you live near a return center. It takes less than 60 seconds once you walk to the counter. And only about another minute on the Amazon site before you go to the return center. No rewrapping or return authorization printing. Just walk in, throw the box or item on the counter, and let them take a pic or your return text msg from Amazon. Fortunately, I have a return center less than 2 miles away, and I pass it frequently.

I am NOT certain it worked before I set up the repeater. I only assumed it worked because, as far as I have noticed, several of the other channels all work. Also, I knew to set up the repeater in one of the 8 repeater channels so I don't think that is a factor.. I was assuming there was some subtle little thing I accidentally toggled that was not obvious to me.

First, it is important that you understand that I know less than you, but I will offer some info on one point. I have only had a GMRS license for a couple of weeks. I found a repeater on RepeaterBook, and there was a menu option that said request access even though that repeater said "open" access. I did not hear back, and as I thought it over, I figured it was open to the public and started using it. I was only on it a few minutes at 5:30 AM, talking to my adult son, testing the limits of the setup as he drove to work. The owner of the repeater jumped on and asked if he could join the conversation. I ended up talking to him for an hour. He said he never saw my request because it is an open repeater, and he is glad to see it being used. This makes me wonder if the "Request Access" is a standard option OR if it is sometimes put there in error as a default or in the beginning when the repeater is first set up. I think if it is a private family repeater, it is easy just to make it closed access. If it says "Open," I would take it at its word. If anyone complains, just inform them their repeater is improperly designated and move on. I see that as their problem, not yours. It worked out great for me because that repeater gets me over an impenetrable ridge that is 1 mile to my south and gives me county-wide coverage. In addition, I made a great contact.

Thanks SShannon, I responded to your message. I appreciate the offer. WRUI365 - I don't totally understand what I am looking at but it was interesting to change the time and extent of the tails to see the movement of what must be GPS tracking.

accidental double post

I went into my HT (UV-9G) on CHIRP. All I did was enter a repeater and then rename channel 17 and channel 15. I saved the file and then cloned the saved file to my other HT (UV-9G). Now, there is no evidence that either HT transmits when on channel 15. I reloaded CHIRP to look at the file. I thought maybe I inadvertently entered a privacy code but other than the frequency, it looks just like channel 17, which I also renamed. Channel 17 works fine but channel 15 appears dead. Any ideas on what I did? Thanks

Thanks again for the effort to educate me. I wish I could meet a ham and talk in person. This club only meets every other month, so my first possible meeting will be late Nov, about the time I take the test. I guess I can just be patient to get any ham equipment. I never thought about the option to boost your signal from a mobile with your own onboard repeater. I don't consider a 4-foot antenna huge. I have been looking at dipole antennas for HF I have a professional background (although dated) in computers and networking. I cannot even visualize using a ham transceiver for emails, video, file transfer, GPS??? I really need to find a ham so I can have a voice conversation. I am going to program every ham repeater within range into my HT.

Thanks for all the replies. I got from the responses that everyone thinks it is a "both" and not a "this-or-that" matter. I understand: Don't take this wrong. I am not knocking Ham. I am just not seeing an answer for the advantages of a Ham HT or mobile over a GMRS HT and mobile. 1. The difference in licensing since I have a GMRS license and am well into studying for my Ham license. 2. I also understand the far greater number of repeaters with Ham. In PA, the difference is between 60 vs 750, but I do have both near where I live. Most of the other stuff was Greek to me. It sounds like it would take several Ham HTs just to cover the VHF and UHF bands. Also, I don't think I get the value of "more frequencies to explore if they are all relatively short distances, high-frequency bands residing fairly close to GMRS frequencies and behaving in much the same way. I get the added attraction of the HF section, which acts like an entirely different animal. I would not consider it much of a benefit if GMRS suddenly had twice as many channels that all do the same thing as the other channels in that band, so maybe I am missing something. From the outside looking in, it seems that amateur radio's two biggest attractions, other than CW code, are: 1. Long distant connections with exotic places over HF 2. Clear VHF and UHF communications without needing a large antenna, much like GMRS. It seems the number of frequencies in those bands is not too relevant unless they all tend to be busy. It is my understanding that they are not very busy. Am I missing something? If all your friends moved to GMRS, would you be satisfied with GMRS, and if not, specifically, why not? In response to WRXB215, I will likely NEVER buy a Ham base. I will get a Ham HT and a mobile that I will probably use as a base and mobile. It seems to me that there is no real power difference between Ham and GMRS in HTs (4-8 watts and Mobile units (50 watts). So, power is not a consideration. I am also totally lost on digital. What makes it appealing? Is it mostly voice communication or control over lans/wans?

I am interested in your input. I have completed my technical course and am about halfway thru my General course. I test in late NOV. Until I take my test, I am playing with some decent GMRS HTs, including a mobile antenna and mic. They have been fun, and my wife and son can use them for routine communication and in case of real emergencies such as grid failure. Since it seems that no one mobile transceiver will cover both HF and UHF it has me wondering what band of Ham unit I would get. It seems to me that long-range HF is the fun stuff of Ham radio. I am having trouble seeing what Ham UHF, has over GMRS. Oviously GMRS has the advantage of talking with my family on outings, emergencies, and just routinely. It seems to have similar range in HTs and mobile units.