GreggInFL

Same with foliage. One would think that flat Florida would be perfect for radio, but trying to push 5W on a stock antenna through the woods means 1/2 - 2 miles, max.

Good points all, but as I examine any chirp file on hand I only see "Tone", with no distinction between in and out (chuckle). He has a point; I don't have an answer. (Note: Not the latest version of Chirp on my end.)

I have these radios and use this software. You want channel 28, which is repeater 6 (RPT-6). Set the input tone to 141.3 and you are good to go. As Steve mentioned, the manufacturer has apparently locked the channel frequencies to maintain certification, but you can select the tones. The OP (Crash1) can do similar, with whatever channel/freq/tone combination corresponds to the repeater he wants to hit.

Nice.

GMRS is the sweet spot for many who want to get into radio. I've been surrounded by radio most of my life. Dad and I were both in comms in the military. I have family, friends and neighbors with mega ham licenses and have always enjoyed watching them work the airwaves. I'm a PE with a masters degree, so the tech is not intimidating. Folks who don't know assume I have an amateur license, which I don't. FRS works but is very limited while amateur is fantastic but requires jumping through hoops. GMRS is a good compromise.

That's no big deal. Hell, he replied to one of my posts with something like, "Jeeezus, WTF are you thinking?" Now that's funny.

Thanks everyone. Time for Plan B. BTW, I have the ubiquitous UV-5R and a couple of GM-15Pros.

Probably 100' total.

Did the antenna make much difference compared to stock?

Oh, burner phones are on the buy list. We cruised Rome - Athens - Istanbul last year and the marine VHF came in handy. Had this amusing conversation with a crew member: Me: What frequencies are used in this port? Him: We don't use frequencies, we use channels.

(Couldn't find an existing thread...) Considering travel to Japan, Taiwan, mainland China, S. Korea, Australia and New Zealand. Should I bring a radio?

Thanks Steve. Makes sense. I'm guessing I shouldn't use the 30 year-old coax which is conveniently attached to my now-unused DirecTV dish, right?

I've been told that HTs lose a large percentage of power pushing through the cable of an external antenna such as a j-pole. I get that conceptually, but does the better antenna make up for the power loss? (<-- New to this.)

Where did you find the name field? I just checked the software and ran dry.

Anyone not using a Farzometer 2000 is a loser.