[Radioddity DB20G]

On 1/12/2025 at 10:18 PM, WRYS709 said:

Not one reported DB20-G/AT-779UV cigarette lighter plug melting to the date of this post...

I don't really see how it would melt anything,.. Drawing a RATED current through a receptacle. And with it, it makes an actual 18-19 watts.

People are mad at this radio only because they paid 3x for something else and don't even get 1.5x the results.

 

[Coax cable]

I use even cheaper ones that are very good. Amazon sells one called "KMR-400". Super good quality and connectors. $49 for 50ft. Pretty good for an LMR-400 facsimile.

[best starter gmrs base/mobile radios]

There's hams here that are used to the normal answer, "it's complicated".

It actually isn't. For a first mobile/base GMRS radio, the correct answer is the Radioddity DB-20G.

 

[I don’t think Midland radios are very good.]

By the way, I'm not a schill for any specific brand. I use a 40 watt Retevis RA87 at the house connected to a GP-9 outside, Radioddity DB-20G's in the family cars and we use VGC N-76's as HTs on ski trips and such..

(BTW, look into the VGC N76 as a GMRS HT, bluetooth to phone and the family or group is just texting eachother reliably) Yes, brief data bursts of text messaging is legal on GMRS. If you have a wife and kids who are uninterested in radio and just prefer to text with their phones, this is the one.

[I don’t think Midland radios are very good.]

If you're going to spend Midland money on a GMRS radio, tell me what the argument is for not going with Wouxun instead?

This "ease of use" argument is just nonsense. ALLLLLL type-certed GMRS radios come with the baked in channels. At least with these certain models, one can choose to button press reset to get out of the GMRS jail. But,.. you never have to if you don't want, and they're RIGHT there with ease of use with Midland.

And, you can say "I've never heard a complaint from Midland users",.. Yeah well that's because they're just casual people. You put a radio in their vehicle for them, told them "it was a good one" and they pressed the button, talked, and didn't think about much else. And I don't knock that btw... I'm PERFECTLY fine that most GMRS users are appliance users. So are my wife and kids.. It's actually the intended vibe of GMRS.

[I don’t think Midland radios are very good.]

7 minutes ago, WRYS709 said:

So the author of "I don't think Midland radios are any good" agrees with me!

I will take "YES" as an answer!

My personal opinion is that Midland GMRS radios are pure butt. Midland made turd CB radios sold in Walmart for decades before finding relevance as a GMRS radio maker. I'm not sure when the hell Midland became the Yaesu of GMRS. It's all marketing.

You're much better off getting GMRS radios made by companies like Radioddity, Retevis, and companies like that for the same prices, and I'll challenge anyone to tell me that you don't get a better quality product for the same money spent.

 

[I don’t think Midland radios are very good.]

On 2/22/2025 at 1:47 PM, WRYS709 said:

This request falls right into my personal experience:

I purchased the Anytone AT-779UV ($99.95) and LGR Mag-Mount ($19.95) from Let's Get Ready Radios based here in Los Angeles, with fast free shipping in the USA: Out of the box easy use in GMRS, 18 watts, Repeater Channels, Microphone controls, cigarette lighter plug for easy installation and removal, NOAA channels pre-programmed.

It is also known as the Radioddity DB20-G for more money from Amazon and others.

These radios have been heavily supported here on myGMRS with only a few scattered criticisms.  I purchased a 2nd one to use in my home!

 

I have no affiliation with LGR other than that of a satisfied customer!

The DB-20G is absolutely what I would recommend to anyone as the quintessential quality/price ratio radio. They're just,.. good radios. $99, 20 watts (real watts), plug and play. But also unlockable if you want to get out of GMRS jail and have more repeater channels and more custom channel settings.

If anyone asks me "hi, new to GMRS, what radio,.. etc.." Just get a DB-20G. They're radios that radio good for $100. End of conversation.

[The VGC VR-N76 is a fantastic GMRS radio!]

13 hours ago, Socalgmrs said:

Wow loads of extras to not work when you need them to.   And all for $100+?   Man can’t wait to get one and use it every day for a week untill it stops working.   It’s super fantastic gimmick 

What are you talking about?..

[VGC N76 on GMRS?]

On 2/2/2025 at 5:24 PM, WRYS709 said:

No matter which radio you use to communicate on the 30 GMRS channels, FCC approved or not, you are still restricted to talking to other GMRS'ers! 

This is a confusing statement lol. If I'm talking on the 30 GMRS channels, wh... Well, anyway..

[The VGC VR-N76 is a fantastic GMRS radio!]

For anyone who may have been wondering, yes this radio is usable at GMRS frequencies. Full app control, including transmitting and receiving of audio (android only), and even text messaging from the app which makes it just as simple as texting on your phone normally.. You can actually link the radio with your phone, set the radio, and just walk around with your phone.

It's also just an overall very high quality radio.

[GMRS security risk.]

You and your wife don't need to be yelling your call sign back and forth to eachother. In fact, the frequent yelling of callsigns on GMRS is a learned dork habit of all of the ham radio people who've moved in on GMRS.

[New to GMRS and can here people but cannot reach them.]

25 minutes ago, SteveShannon said:

I think people want to use it like ham radio. I’ve seen lots of that on this forum, people wondering why they are not finding people to talk with. But at least in my experience, those are not hams coming to GMRS; they’re people who want to use GMRS like they imagine ham radio to be. 
But ham radio isn’t very often like that on VHF and UHF, except for some new people. People call CQ on HF, looking for further and further contacts. Most seasoned hams I know use VHF and UHF like GMRS, to communicate while doing something else. And for Nets of course. 

Yes I agree with that. And where have they gotten this idea?

[Solar stuff...]

1 hour ago, gortex2 said:

I think solar is great for those that can use it, my issue is it getting crammed down my thoat. 

For use case our SAR Team has a 40' shipping contianer. This is divided into a 20' storage unit and a 20' classroom. Being we are volunteer and not funded a monthly electic bill isn't the best. We installed a 100 watt panel and some batteries. This year we got a grant to replace the 30 year old batteries. Doesn't cost us anything and is more than enough for a class, or to stop and grab gear at night. 

I also have a shed on my property. NO AC power in it and only way is overhead due to concreate. I put a 20 watt solar panel, a 3ah battery and a LED strip light. On a motion detector. Perfect to go in grab a wrench or other tool and leave. It wont last 8 hours but fills a need. 

On the other hand I could not run my house or want to. I wont be alive by the time I make my money back. 

 

Well,.. the whole "money back" thing is if you're foolish enough to get the second mortgage to let a company do a pro roof install. I'm not trying to replace my mains power with off-grid solar that runs the house entirely. I'm more of the mind of having some field deployable solar kit that can get set out in the yard to be a supplement, or bare bones sustenance level capability in the event it would come to it. 

 

But I'll tell you what, I've dug into this stuff enough just as a personal interest that I probably COULD extrapolate what I already know how to do and accomplish a setup robust enough to power a small home entirely.. I wouldn't need to spend 100k to do it either...

[New to GMRS and can here people but cannot reach them.]

The problem is that I believe that a lot of people genuinely believe that the principal mission of GMRS is to get on and socialize with the traffic that they hear. They probably legitimately don't know better because there IS this pervasive thing happening on the band. It's clear to see just by the way people discuss it on THIS forum..

Here's a litmus test... Did you buy 1 GMRS radio, or did you buy 2 or more?... If you bought only 1, you're probably a perpetrator.. lol

 

[New to GMRS and can here people but cannot reach them.]

9 minutes ago, SteveShannon said:

We disagree then. People should feel free to ask about the radio that someone else is using. And I really don’t think that radio nerds moved in on GMRS to the extent you imply. Certainly some people do use both. I do. I started with GMRS and became a ham, not the other way around. GMRS made me want to learn more about radio. To say that asking about the technology while using it is not allowed is completely impractical. People will be curious. Just like any other aspect of life. There are those who want to absorb information and those who just want to use it. Both are perfectly acceptable. 

 It's illogical to say that you doubt what I'm telling you my experiences are. I'm pretty sure that we do not live in the same places. Do you suppose it's possible that what you experience in your location could vary from what I experience in my location? It is in fact what is prevalent here. And it isn't just that it's inappropriate to ask about equipment, It's inappropriate to make the unwelcome contact to begin with. When someone hears chatter on the GMRS, maybe listen to it. If it sounds like a couple of people just exchanging mundane information between eachother, use your non-autistic brain to recognize that it's not a CQ call...

This only sounds alarming and insulting if you frame all-things-radio with a Ham radio mind. And therein lies the issue.. Hi, not ham radio...

 

 

 

[New to GMRS and can here people but cannot reach them.]

51 minutes ago, SteveShannon said:

I could understand people being curious about that, especially if the conversation was about how strong or weak the signal was, but they shouldn’t have made her feel uncomfortable. 

Nah, not on the GMRS. The problem is that the radio nerds moved into GMRS as a novelty, not appreciating that is was for the casual appliance user. It became so prevalent they started to make themselves at home here. When they hear traffic, they get on to let us know they're monitoring .

Moral of the story,... I want the wives and kids to be able to grab a radio that we set up, key up, and call eachother. Callsign is label maker printed on each mic, but frankly, do we need to even be about that? If my son raises me on the radio for some minutia communication, and rando Dave jumps in to ask for a callsign ID, am I wrong for feeling like that guy can kind of F off? We've got our call and IMO that's between us and the FCC..

I AM a radio nerd. I'd equate myself to a highly informed and motivated Tech class (despite not being one). But I understand and appreciate that the fam (and fams in the plural sense at large) aren't going to be. And we should be ABLE to set the radios up within our circles and do the GMRS thing without the ham types getting mixed into our practical comms type situations..

 

[New to GMRS and can here people but cannot reach them.]

6 minutes ago, SteveShannon said:

I’m sorry that happened to your wife. It shouldn’t have. Not on GMRS and not on any of the ham bands. 
As long as people are not intentionally violating regulations in a way that interferes with others, we should be welcoming and supportive. 

She didn't know about what kind of antenna she had and how much gain it had...

[New to GMRS and can here people but cannot reach them.]

5 hours ago, amaff said:

Ain't that the truth. Unless it's someone with an emergency trying to reach out, if some rando comes on the frequency we're on when we're out doing something using the radios for comms, we're switching to another channel lol
Momma always told me not to talk to strangers

Tho most of the time, we wouldn't even hear them. WHen it's just us, we usually have tones set so we're not hearing extraneous chat

The whole reason why I'm even on this crusade is because of some goof getting on the radio and making my shy wife uncomfortable while we were trying to use GMRS correctly... Since then I've just been willing to let let people know where 70cm's is...

[Solar stuff...]

Has anyone else here found solar power to be a pretty fun "hobby"?... Am I a weirdo?...

There's just something sort of gratifying from harvesting some completely free electricity. Even if it's just on 100 watts worth of panels into a power bank. It's fun knowing that you can harvest and store a functional amount of electricity completely non-reliant on any sort of subscriber infrastructure. Can keep some phones, handheld radios, a laptop, flashlights, and the bare essentials charged if the power were to not be available.

I used to be a generator nerd lol. I still have my big 9500 watt generator, but all that those do is convert a stored energy source into another... Gotta have gas, and you're essentially just using jugs of gas as batteries, and the conversion method is a loud mechanical nightmare. So what's better than just harvesting LIGHT and storing that as electricity? The sun will always be around, and if not, we've got bigger problems anyway..

 

[New to GMRS and can here people but cannot reach them.]

• Are you sure that the people on that repeater WANT to hear you?

 

Not all traffic on the GMRS is an invitation for a "chime in".

[So who here uses GMRS properly?]

1 minute ago, GrouserPad said:

I use it to talk to my kids and family when I'm out and about town. Keeps things fun and the kids like it. They holler at me on the home base  all the time and ask when im coming home, what im doing and if ill pick them up some ice-cream. Is this the proper use of GMRS? Because thats what I'm using it for. I could use a phone but whats the fun in that? 

It’s absolutely the correct use. It’s not a coincidence that GMRS is Family Radio Service adjacent, and that a license is good “for a family”.

[So who here uses GMRS properly?]

Not meant to be a divisive or abrasive topic. It's laid out pretty clearly what the spirit of GMRS is. Not 70cm lite.. Less for "rag chews" and "making contacts" and more for having radios in the family cars to home. Or a group or family on a ski trip, event, or off roading keeping track of eachother... Repeaters meant to be more local to get up over a hill... Not for yelling "WHISKEY SIERRA ALFA TANGO 423 Monitoring!". For people with some other stated goal and using radio as an aid, and not just "being on the radio".

Functional use..

 

 

[Linking is over,.. But,..]

This is the entirety of what I can do radio stuff with… 

The good news is that it allows for short coax runs (I run them outside through the dryer vent cutout in the wall) and my mast pole setup is right there..

[Linking is over,.. But,..]

10 hours ago, SteveShannon said:

WebSDR might provide some of what you’re interested in if I understand you correctly.  Unfortunately, in the United States I don’t see any VHF and UHF SDRs, but apparently they’re big in Russia .  You might want to set up your own SDR using ka9q and an rtlSDR and a computer:  http://www.sdrutah.org/info/using_ka9q_radio_with_the_rtlsdr.html

I'd do something like that if I had a bit better of a space circumstance. My radio desk situation is relegated to the downstairs laundry room lol. When the real estate/mortgage rate situation improves we'll definitely be getting a bigger house and maybe I can have a proper room office and have the ability of set up auxilary computers and stuff like that to host online SDRs.

[Linking is over,.. But,..]

On 2/3/2025 at 5:24 AM, gortex2 said:

In the end your looking for a scanner feed. You are certainly able to set one up on your own. Takes a scanner, PC and internet. I have multiple scanner feed for SAR stuff but dont have any GMRS stuff on them.

 

No, having my own local outgoing scanner feed isn't going to do me any good.

Are there such things as controllable scanner feeds? I've only ever heard one ones that are parked on set frequencies and just stream police, fire, or whatever.. I'd love to find a kiwisdr style thing for VHF/UHF, if such a thing exists I'd be very interested..