WRVG829

I went with the BTech GMRS 20-V2. It works fine. People with open air vehicles like Jeeps and side by sides don't like 'em because the audio isn't strong enough to overcome all the noise. Inside a normal passenger vehicle like my RAM, it's no problem. Yes, adjusting the volume is funky. I don't care. I adjusted it once and it's fine. I was not disappointed.

I could just reprogram the ham radio I already have (QYT KT-8900) for GMRS frequencies and call it a day. I would prefer an integrated unit that has the controls and display in the microphone as I have really no need for amateur radio in the vehicle and I'm trying to cut down on my radio's footprint in the interior. If all of the microphone-integrated sets are junk then I'll reconsider. The form factor of the RA-86 is perfect, the sound reports I've gotten are good, it's just that receive is terrible. If there's some filtering I can do on the antenna side maybe it's worth it.

This should probably be a new top-level post instead of a comment on a different post. That said, in a word, no, the CTCSS codes are NOT preloaded, as they differ (or can differ) for every repeater. You will have to search the repeater on the main page of mygmrs.com and get the codes there.

GMRS is for what people will use it for, nothing more, nothing less. I have a "practical communications" use -- comms for our CERT team. I also use the radio to talk to the guys on the local repeater system because I'm interested in learning new stuff about the hobby. Although I've been licensed for a couple of years, I just really started using GMRS a few months ago. I now have *four* GMRS radios in addition to my ham radio equipment. So I'm a "radio hobbyist" too. The Queen seems to get pissy when the hobbyist set wants to lecture, and I don't blame him, uh her, uh it, uh Randy. Telling someone what they can or can't do, what they should or should not do, or being a "rules lawyer" is rarely appreciated by anyone in any walk of life, including radios. Don't be that person, and I'll bet you can be virtually anything else and be accepted in the hobby. Even the Queen, although there can only be one.

In my opinion, it depends on whether or not lives are on the line. If you're a professional first responder, your HT costs $2500 and up, is practically bulletproof/can go for a swim, etc., has a meshed network of repeaters set up for its use in your jurisdiction, has excellent factory support, programming support, and can be depended on when lives are at risk. They're not perfect, but really quite good. For a civilian, you don't need that sort of reliability nor expense. You can pay less than $30 for a radio that works under most conditions. Just don't count on it to survive getting wet, and you will be lucky to be able to communicate with someone who can help if you're having an emergency. The communication will be of very limited range and any repeaters you use will maybe be linked and certainly won't be meshed. Or you can pay $200 and up for a superhet receiver that is modestly more capable than the cheapie HT. The range will still be limited. It will be more waterproof, perhaps have a better battery and improved sound quality, and be somewhat more reliable than the cheap radio. If you have the cash to spend and are willing to possibly damage a $200 HT while rock climbing, this might be the way to go for you. But you still won't want to rely on it as the first responders do. If you're routinely putting your life on the line, you need the multi-kilobuck radio. Again, JMHO. I am certain lives have been saved through the use of the world's cheapest Baofeng, but I wouldn't want to count on one to do so.

I think the amateur radio operators have taken over GMRS here locally. They've driven the change to linking repeaters and "random" contacts on repeaters. There's nothing wrong with that, but it probably has changed the character of the service overall. It's like 2M/70cm repeaters were 10 years ago when I first got my Technician class license. In fact, had GMRS repeaters been as popular when I studied for the Technician license as they are now, I maybe would never have done so. But I found a hobby and now have my General class license, so I'm glad I did. As far as the Technician class license not being difficult to get: yeah, if you have a technical background like many of us hams do or don't mind studying some seriously abstract concepts. I went through the experience of trying to get my local rescue group licensed for amateur radio. Maybe 25% were capable of doing it without much help just with self-study. Another 25% were able to get the license with a lot of hand holding. The remaining 50% couldn't do it, period. They didn't have a technical background, had no knowledge of how RF and electricity work, and no interest in doing something that other services allow you to do without an exam. If you're in that latter group, GMRS is the most reasonable choice. I got 100% of mostly those same people equipped with a GMRS license and radio within a month. YMMV.

I purchased a Retevis RA-86 recently and have come to the conclusion that the receive side of the radio is defective. Strong signals that will come through just fine on a handheld are broken up and sometimes completely wiped out by static on the RA-86, both in simplex and repeater mode. I've upgraded the antenna that came with the unit with a Nagoya UT-72G with no change in reception. I've also added a ferrite choke to the power cable; no observable change. I've run a QYT KT-8900 in this vehicle for years without reception issues with a different (2M/70CM combo) antenna; I don't think the source of the noise is the vehicle's electrical system. So here's what I want to know: is the RA-86 just an inherently poor quality radio? Is the BTECH GMRS-20V2 any better with regard to RX/TX? Because of the layout of the dash in my truck and my desire to keep the radio movable from one vehicle to another, I'm favoring the 'one hander' style radios with all of the controls and channel display in the microphone. I need to be able to use this on both simplex and repeaters. Is the Midland MXT-275 of better quality? I've heard such negative things about Midland radios from the Queen, I'm not sure I want to even try one. Anyone got a clear view on the relative merits of these?

That worked! Thank you to both of you who had the answer!

Hi, I've got some UV-5G Plus radios to program. I already know how to use CHIRP and have successfully programmed a bunch of good old UV-5R radios. My issue is that my family is near the Canadian border zone. We're not allowed to transmit on 462.6500, 467.6500, 462.7000 and 467.7000. (I understand that as a practical matter with a 5W walkie talkie the feds aren't going to chase me down, but I have folks in my family concerned about the law.) For my UV-5R radios, it's trivial to disable transmitting on a programmed channel. But for the UV-5G Plus, I can't seem to do it in CHIRP, or the program downloaded from Baofeng. The pre-set channels that come on the radio for those frequencies do not allow me to remove the transmit frequency in CHIRP. Now for the NOAA weather channels I added, disabling transmission was easy. It works just like it does for the UV-5R. Anyone have any tips? Thanks!