WRYC373

I am not currently but it depends what software are you looking to use on your pi? pi's typically use a debian based distro so most packages can be rebuilt for a debian distro.

There is tuning required of this antenna so if someone isnt comfortable with that i would just caveat that but there are few pretuned base station antennas. Its a very very good antenna however.

I have brought this up before not in a "dont do it way" but more in a let us set expectations way. I have in no way intended for it to be a discouragement at all from trying equipment or talking to random people I have done both of these things. You are free to do whatever you want to do with GMRS, (as long as you follow the rules). I just dont want to see people disappointed when no one replies to their call to talk.

Just a reminder that GMRS is a bring your own party radio service. It is not really meant for talking to random people over the radio; although you can use it for that purpose. If that is what you really want out of a radio service ham may be better for that use case.

I went ahead and got the Tram 1486 I like that it is tunable for GMRS and wont beat the bank . It was awesome to hear about everyone's setups!

Short answer its to allow full compatibility with frs. Those channels were originally FRS only pre 2017. Yes if operating a gmrs radio you need to by rule announce the same as any other channel. Those channels if you look at frequencies are close to repeater inputs and the reason why power is low is to prevent any interference on the repeater inputs.

I have a 3-legged 1/4 ground plane i built for my house but I am wondering if anyone uses anything else for home usage? Like a 1/2 wave dipole or similar that they have built/bought? Looking for something relatively durable. I can make these 1/4 waves for pretty cheap but I want something a little stronger I am thinking of doing a J-Pole next out of copper piping but I am worried it will be hard to make as the elements are so short.

We were using the AR-771 antenna it came with not the Rubber Ducky we were very impressed as it means we can talk house to house across the county.

The GM-15 Pro which is the same as the GM30 is an awesome cheap HT and here is why almost everyone in my GMRS group uses them. 1. Repeater Capable and programmable on the radio. 2. Easy to use and the Baofeng lady explains things in the menu so they make more sense. 3. Sounds good, the speaker is not the best speaker ive heard but its better than many of the other sub 30$ HTs. 4. Basic Power Meter on receive. 5. Good range and the amazon pack includes a ABREE AR-771 type whip and again the pack is less than 30$. 6. Can listen to FM Radio and 2M/70CM Ham band 7. UV-5R programing cable works on it (again more below). 8. USB C Charging and good battery life 9. Convenient Wrist Strap and okay belt clip. 10. Light up buttons (GM15 Pro only?) 11. Easy to remove antenna and good spacing to fit pretty much any aftermarket antenna or adapter. 12. Pretty good manual 13. Sync allowing you to see channel names and freq on the display at the same time 14. Dual monitor is available if you like that. 15. NOAA weather channel scanning automatically Things I do not like 1. Biggest issue for me is that its not Dust/Water Resistant. 2. Saving per channel CTCSS/DCS sucks on the radio (but not completely impossible with help of Baofeng lady's guidance) 3. Belt Clip is weak and attaches to battery. 4. Battery has 3 pin charging on the battery but no base charger included or sold (why? Yes it has USB C but base chargers are nice. Maybe another base fits but idk which one.) 5. Not CHIRP Compatible and seemingly no plans to be so from Chirp 6. GM-30 Program needed to program it as Baofeng never released their version of the programming software. (My Cable required me to find some drivers as well for it to work on windows 10 and 11 tried both and then settings in device manager needed to be changed to compatibility modes). 7. Its a typical SOC GMRS Radio (but who cares at less than 30$). So for using it around town and at the farm it works well. It is is cheap and we have talked 30miles+ house to house on these with really good clarity. If you want to mud wrestle with a radio this is not it. If you drop things in your toilet this is not for you. If you talk mostly simplex and like to carry your radio around and want something better than a midland bubble pack or a basic baofeng this is a good option with lots of options on the radio. Overall Id give it a B+ for a GMRS Radio there are things I wish it had (at least a little dust resistance) but most of them have solutions.

I enjoy that we are quote replying to ourselves to call other people names and to reassure ourselves. I t

Um that's odd, i would do a factory reset to be sure and check all of your connections. if its still not working id return it.

From a GM15Pro inside a house to a 25W mobile with a 1/2wave antenna we got over 36 miles. Its a pretty compromised lip antenna mounted behind my trunk too. This was however from hill to valley across multiple cities. The more impressive to me was the 20mile conversation flat over a few small towns and a large lake. This means my whole family can now talk to each other simplex, very cool GMRS definitely fufilled our needs. Its making me want to drill mount my new car and maybe get a better antenna maybe a 5/8 over 5/8. And we are building antennas now at each house as well. Anyone have any other cool GMRS sucesses?

They wont Ham is propelled by Open Source mentality but GMRS because you have to buy certified radios is propelled by manufacturer R&D its just the way it is. They need to recoup their costs.

Motorola Made some really nice repeater models for GMRS issue is theyre pricey and most are no longer in production. The RT97 repeater in a box is a great value just make sure you get the GMRS version. They make a few variants.