TNFrank

Got my UV9D Plus today. Menus in CHIRP are a bit different for setting frequencies than in the YouTube video that I watched. I did manage to get GMRS/FRS programmed into the radio and it works. Just need to see if I can find a video that shows this radio's setting list in CHIRP Legacy to compare with what I've got it set at. Any pics that anyone can post would be helpful of their settings. Thanks.

The 9Gx isn't listed on Amazon. I ordered the 9D Plus, it'll be here tomorrow so I'll see if I can expand the frequency to TX GMRS and I can program some airband and 800MHz for RX only. Thanks for the replies.

Thanks for the fast response. I think the main difference with the MATE is the power output. If the MATE was offered in some other color than orange I might spend the extra $10 and get it but the standard Plus should work ok for my needs.

Seems like all the radios with airband that I'm finding for sale are HAM radios. One that's caught my eye is the KG-UV9D Plus. From a video I watched it seems easy enough to expand the frequency into the GMRD bands using chirp. Legality aside, in a SHTF situation is this "fix" just this easy as it seems?

Are they in stock or are they drop shipped from another source? Reason I ask is because the KG-935G is in stock here but at buytwowsyradios.com it's out of stock.

If you run something like MX Linux it's actually a fairly easy operating system to use. Much more user friendly than it was 12+ years ago when I started with it. Installation is easy, updates get all installed packager(except flatpaks or snaps) and there's a boat load of free software to use. I use Kdenlive to edit my YouTube videos and Libre Office for my document needs. When updates hit if you don't want to do them you don't have to unlike windoze which practically forces you to do them. To say I like using Linux would be an understatement.

I've tried to install Chirp Next several times with no luck from the original tar.gz download and from a converted .deb file using Alien and it never worked. The flatpak, being self contained was fairly easy to install. It's a 20220111 file and I don't think it's being updated anymore. It would be nice if Chirp would make a flatpak out of their Next version. I'm probably just going to have to stick with the radios that are available in my Legacy Flatpak install.

Because my version of CHIRP(Legacy/Flatpak) only has the KG-935G listed. If they're going to be different then I'll just buy the KG-935G(NOT the Plus) and be done with it.

Thanks, I just might email them to see if the Plus uses the same CHIRP settings.

From what Randy said in his comparison video the main difference is mostly the display along with a few additional features. If I find that the Plus won't work I'll just get the standard G. Either way it should work well enough for my needs.

Used the credit from the Radtel RT-470x to order another V2. The one I have seems like a pretty solid unit and my plans were to have 2 for my "working" radios. I actually picked up a fast food place about a mile and a half away on 462.390MHz yesterday. I think for a basic GMRS radio the V2 is good choice. Still need to figure out which "high end" radio I'm going to get. Maybe a Wouxun 935G since it's supported in my CHIRP Legacy flatpak I have installed. Might even go with the 935G Plus if I knew it would work with the standard 935G program.

Well, it's going back. Even though it's "technically" CHIRP compatible it's not listed in the version of CHIRP that I'm running and it's WAY too complicated to program by hand. I'll find something else with airbands that'll work with my version of CHIRP.

Just for grins I went ahead and ordered the Radtel RT-470X. I figure for $36 bucks it'd be worth getting to mess around with and to use as a truck radio. Plus it covers so many different bands that it'll let me see if I'm actually interested in a multi-band radio or if I should just get a really good dual or tri band radio. I hope to do some reviews for my YouTube channel on both it and the BTech V2 if I can stop procrastinating.

That reminds me of a saying we have in the South. "Some folks could break a crowbar in a sandbox." I've watched a lot of Randy's vids on YouTube and Wouxun seems to be a pretty solid radio for the most part. At least I'm convinced enough that my "Good" radio will be a Wouxun. P.S. I'm also 62. LOL

LOL, Randy actually did a YouTube video on how most radios are made in China. If you go with something made in Japan you'll pay a lot more. I'm 99% going to go with Wouxun because they have a good Rep for being a good radio.

Ahh, well, that kills the deal for me. I'll just stick with Wouxun then. Thanks

Way too much to read through, couldn't make heads or tails of it. Seems like the should call it the "Lack of Privacy Act", LOL. Thanks for the link though.

Legality aside, the Radtel RT 470 looks to have all the bands as the Wouxun KG-UV9G Pro and at 1/3 the price. I fully understand that it's SOC and not SuperHet so selectivity would probably not be as good BUT for an inexpensive "do it all" radio I think it might be good enough. Does anyone have one or know of anyone who does? If it turns out folks have had decent luck with them it might be a cheaper alternative for me and I could get 2 and still have money left over for some decent antennas.

We live in a subdivision so we already have to walk over to our group of mailboxes the way it is, not going to pay for a P.O.Box that'd be miles away. I just don't think the FCC should put the street address. I'm fine with city and state. I just don't see why they feel the need to make the street address public.

My wife and I have used FR24 to watch the flights of our kids and grandkids fly in. We've actually followed the radar to the point where we can go outside and see the plane fly by.

Why does the FCC allow people to see name and address with the call sign look up? It seems to me it's a violation of personal privacy. I know a governor got in trouble for releasing the names and addresses of CCW holders so how can the FCC get away with it. They could at the very least block your home address and just show name and maybe city and state but the home address shouldn't be posted. What do y'all think? How can we make them change this?

I have the local DPS channels programed into my radio to monitor and I also have an app called FlightRadar24 on my phone and sometimes I can catch a Police Helio on FR24 and hear the radio traffic on my radio. It's pretty cool to "see" the helicopter AND hear what there doing. If you get bored give it a try sometime.

I've played around with SDR using a RTL2832U dongle that I got from the Hak5 shop years ago and Gqrx on my Linux Box. I think my main drawback is not having a very good antenna. Other than that they are a lot of fun to play around with. In fact, pulling out the SDR and trying to listen to stuff got me thinking about Amateur Radio which lead to GMRS a couple weeks ago and here I am now, LOL.

For a short antenna do these work as well as something like the Nagoya 771G or similar or do you get a bit more range with the longer antennas? Thanks in advance for any info.

I had a Baofeng UV-5R8W and used the standard UV-5R to access the radio. It wasn't perfect(no low, med. high for TX) but it was close enough to work to get channels programed. Now before I buy a radio I check to see if my version of CHIRP supports it or if there's something close. My plans are to get a Wouxun KG-UV9G Pro or UV9GX and from what I've read any of the UV9 radios should work and CHIRP has a UV9D Pro that I plan on using to access my radio. I look for updates every couple of days(easy to do in a Debian Linux based system, just drop a terminal and type "flatpak update" and hit enter) and it'll look for any new updates. If you have an older laptop or desktop sitting around collecting dust or running an older non-supported version of Windoze look up how to make a Live USB and do a Linux install then use that as your CHIRP computer for your radios. JMHO, YMMV.