WRDJ205

I believe it means they found one of your posts or comments and then signed up for the site.  Because your post or comment may have been instrumental in motivating them to join you have been notified.  It’s sort of a pat on the back.  It’s much better than discovering that someone read something you wrote and blocked the site. 🤓
Good job helping the site grow!

Much better job of explaining than I could do last night. 

If your radio has programmable DIY channels you should be able to have them both programmed. 

John Fogerty approved…?

It’s surprising how often I need an adapter of some kind.  Mobile antenna or power meter to HT comes to mind.  

There are several good quality connectors such as Amphenol, M&P, and DX Engineering. The best are literally silver plated, but unless you string together several of them in a row the advantage probably won’t make a lot of difference. 
But there are some shitty connectors out there also and one of them could cause issues. 
I choose to buy connectors and adapters from companies I have faith in like DX Engineering unless it’s for the junk box.

 

If your radio has programmable DIY channels you should be able to have them both programmed. 

Yup but I would hate to spend $120 for a low loss cable only to lose it all at a cheap connector.  Thinking more along the lines of $5 vs $2 type of comparison.  
 
edit: Clarification $2 vs $20 comparison 

They all work decently. Even the Rtlsdr off of Amazon, usually to $20-40.

It is usually what I buy for friends (usually with a minimum with rabbit ears. Then tell them to look at the different consoles (software) to find what they like. Each console has a different feel and some are way more technical.

Don't get caught up in to many of the recommendations. Nor the the technical like lna's, bias tees and long wires off the jump.

It has a lot to learn. But first get your hands on a cheaper unit like an rtlsdr. I had a generic one (silver one) and it looks like Amazon is full of the Nolecs now adays.

Sent from my SM-S901U using Tapatalk

Yes they come around every 20years or so. The last cat4 was actually in 2019 so not that long ago.   It’s either going to be no big deal or the world is going to end.   Either way save the baufangs!!!

1) So, transmitting on one simplex channel, and receiving on another. 2x the opportunity for interfering with other users, or being interfered with. I would think that using the standard repeater channels is more reliable.
2) Midland, as an example, has a crossreference guide in its instruction manuals that identifies which tone number matches which actual tone. I have found that the Midland PL tone numbers are at least largely compatible with the PL tone numbers for my old Motorola FRS radio. Other manufacturers may vary, and hopefully would publish their crossreference. And of course some manufacturers don't use numbers, but instead just let you pick from actual tone frequencies.
3) I have an old Motorola FRS that has a scramble mode that is compatible with other Motorolas with the same feature, from the same era. But I don't think that scrambling on FRS or GMRS are allowed under current FCC rules, so there aren't any radios being manufactured today that are FRS or GMRS compliant that offer scrambling. The feature has mostly disappeared. The bandwidth for FRS is something like 12khz, and 20khz for GMRS except for channels 8-14 which remain 12khz. I don't think the old scrambling modes would shift outside of the narrowband range, but one would have to test to be sure. And since it's pretty rare to find an old unit that had that feature, it's rather moot.
4) The FCC seems only to approve a radio for GMRS if it can only transmit on GMRS frequencies. Some can be unlocked, or switched to other modes, though. But the unlocking is mostly an undocumented "feature". Ham radios aren't approved for GMRS, and GMRS radios can only transmit on GMRS. On the other hand, nobody's looking over your shoulder as long as you're observing the rules of the road for the service you're transmitting in. In other words, it's pretty much impossible to know that you're using a UV-5r ham radio to transmit on GMRS, and unless you're creating a scene, nobody's going to care.
5) GMRS radios can receive whatever frequencies the manufacturer wants to allow it to receive. But they must only be configurable for transmission on GMRS frequencies.
6) No way of knowing how many. Probably lots. Get your GMRS license, program whatever radio you want to correctly transmit on GMRS (correct bandwidth, correct center frequency, correct power level, etc.) and use it for that purpose. You'll possibly be in violation but undetectably so. If you're being a good GMRS citizen in every other way, you'll already be a step ahead of the kiddies playing with blister pack GMRS radios.

First time I used this one someone mentioned that it sounded like I was under glass.  I started trying to talk a little louder and it seems to have corrected the issue.  

As someone said, welcome to the rabbit hole…there are so many options it can be a little bit overwhelming.  I would suggest starting with some handhelds (let us know what you have coming) and maybe buy a mag base antenna.  This would let you see what your “farz” might be and then build on that.  
 
There are many great options for mobile units (that can also be used as a base unit).   I would walk into it and figure out what would work best for your situation.  
 
Good luck and believe me when I say that there are lots of good people ready and willing to help.  

Trying to teach my son, we used Unit 1 and Unit 2.   Think next time I’ll go with base and mobile.  It really doesn’t matter as many people have said.  

We get ham points. Every hundred points allow us to describe our medical condition for five minutes. 

That’s actually a very good path, starting with a UV5R and learning the basics. As you learn you will be able to make more informed decisions about what you want going forward. 
I commend you for using ham radio studying as a way to learn more about the science and terminology of radio. I used HamStudy to do that and found it very helpful because it allows a person to follow any topic as far as possible. 

I should add, we have good coverage with no repeater with both the Midlands and the Baofengs.  
 
We’re in a pretty heavily wooded area with rolling hills.  

I should add, we have good coverage with no repeater with both the Midlands and the Baofengs.  
 
We’re in a pretty heavily wooded area with rolling hills.  

I hear that you want to buy once, but at 20 acres you should be able to get coverage across the entire property with a pretty simple set up.  We started with a couple of the Midland upper tier bubble pack GMRS radios on a larger property.  
 
We’re still just using some Baoefeng GM-15PRO and getting excellent results.  
 

This…
I have to say that I’m pretty happy with the ability to have the whole family able to access the airwaves. 

Here is the set up.  I was able to TX and RX once I was closer to the repeater.  I haven't yet tried swapping antennas.  The UV-5R antenna does say, "AR-771 VHF/UHF" where the GM-5RH says "AR-771 GMRS".  

You are still limited to the GMRS frequencies for TX.  You can add a different tone to get into a repeater.  If you have more than one repeater (in say a different location) you could put that into the DIY section (above channel 31).  

You are still limited to the GMRS frequencies for TX.  You can add a different tone to get into a repeater.  If you have more than one repeater (in say a different location) you could put that into the DIY section (above channel 31).  

This…
I have to say that I’m pretty happy with the ability to have the whole family able to access the airwaves. 

This…
I have to say that I’m pretty happy with the ability to have the whole family able to access the airwaves.