Lscott

You should see some of my other finds. Figuring out where a used radio comes from is part of the fun collecting them. I usually do a read of the radio before reprogramming them for my use. I got one analog radio that apparently was used by the maintenance department at a nuclear power plant out east. That took a while to track down based on some memory tag names, a few lucky guesses and matching frequencies in the radio to what I found on the FCC's database for a particular license holder. Sometimes reading the radio the internal messages make it easy like the below. Usually it takes a lot more effort to figure it out.

Not always. I got a radio from an eBay seller in Canada that was on a trunking system. I used a specially hacked radio programming software to get the info out of the radio without requiring the "system key file" from the trunking site. Some system admin claimed it wasn't possible without the key file. Oops.

Ah, you too. My employee number at work is 666. Don’t know if that’s lucky or not.

My buddy had one of these. He found on-line a code plug hack to get the radio to run on VHF. That did work EXCEPT the harmonics was through the roof on VHF! I heard him fine at work here from our other building. Then for grins I tuned to the third harmonic on the 70cm band. He sounded even louder! Oops. Likely a result of the deviation being 3 times what it was on VHF. He quit using the radio, at least not with the code plug hack for VHF.

Isn't that called a "smart phone" with an Internet connection?

Maybe not any more. https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/03/designating-english-as-the-official-language-of-the-united-states/

No.

When I was going to engineering school I worked on the loading dock for a major retail store chain. They would periodically get credit for items that were either defective or had been recalled by the vendor. In a few cases they didn't want the items back, BUT the main caveat the items had to be PHYSICALLY destroyed. The store loss prevention guys would stand watch as the stuff was thrown in to the trash compactor and crushed just to make sure.

That's the whole point of trashing it by the customer. Every time a hand touches the item it costs money. Don't forget part of the "profit" on the other items goes into the cost of the item that got sent out, likely under warranty.

Do you know the per hour burden rate is for each employee that item has to pass through before it lands on a service tech's bench? I'll give you a clue, it's way more than the simple hourly rate and benefits for each employee. For our company that could be around $100 or more per hour. Things like supplies, office space, furniture etc. gets lumped in that rate, at least for us. For people you have the receiving clerk's time. Next is the person in aftermarket that that has to generate the RMA paperwork, and track the progress of the repair order and then arrange shipment back to the customer. The shipping clerk's time. Shipping and insurance costs. Then the bench tech's time, from my experience sending in radios for minor work that gets billed at $125 per hour etc. The costs add up. For some items it's just not worth sending the stuff back. I've gotten a few digital mode bum radios on eBay I've paid $150 to $200 for. The seller refunded the cost just told me to keep the defective radio. I was told it wasn't worth the cost to them for the return. I did send those in to a repair depot. In the end I ended up spending about the same amount of money between the repair and shipping costs. Basically broke even.

Yeah, spoofing DMR ID's isn't that common, true. I miss programmed one of my NX-1300's setup for DMR. I got called out on that error when making a contact while out of town last summer. Oops. I guess if that's what you find important then the feature is of value to you. Me, not so much. Just a difference of opinion.

I got close. I paid $35 for the original version of the radio with antenna, battery pack and charger base in like new condition last spring at a Ham swap.

I would be careful about that. Go to the link below and look at the section for 220 band. http://anytonetechzone.byethost7.com/878techmods.htm

While that's a cool feature I'm not so sure its that big of a deal. The database is only as good as the info that goes into it. If it's garbage the data you see on the screen is useless. I'll wager there are plenty of entries with out of date addresses etc. Of course there is nothing that prevents someone from deliberately spoofing a DMR ID, so in that case what is the utility of displaying the extra info anyway? It would be wrong, just like the phone numbers you see with caller-ID when scammers are bugging you. I have radios for NXDN and P25. None of those have a database loaded. You do have the option of showing the talkgroup number and the sending station's ID, but that's it.

Or a known design defect they don't want to spend time or money on to fix it permanently.

I have my eye on one of these. It's on my bucket list of toys to buy at some point. Of course it's made in China. Most of the lower cost test gear is made there nowadays anyway. I always wanted one and the SSA3032X Plus looks good. https://siglentna.com/spectrum-analyzers/ssa3000x-plus/

People forget it costs money to standup a repeater, plus the on-going costs for rent and equipment maintenance. A very lucky few manage to find free tower space due to some involvement with their work where they have access to a tower and can install equipment with permission. I forget where I was reading the thread, but there was one where a guy was discussing the idea of purchasing some property and building a tower for the sole purpose of renting out space once built. No different than constructing an apartment building and renting out units.

I agree. I think they are a far better value for the money. They have a bullet proof front end. That's were it really counts. People focus way too much on transmit power. The reality is if you can't hear the other station it doesn't matter how much power you transmit with. I have a cheap TH-8600. Its built like a tank, BUT the front end has poor selectivity. https://forums.mygmrs.com/gallery/image/414-th-8600-on-mountjpg/?context=new I pick up garbage like a high power transmitter used by a fire department 20 miles away on one of the GMRS/FRS channels like it belongs there. I've even picked it up slightly on the VHF side! I get one of my Kenwoods out, I hear nothing on the same frequency. That's what a good front end does.

Looks like the Anytone radio, but with a slight change in the location of the buttons to the left of the display. I wouldn't be socked to find the firmware is from Anytone with a few tweaks. https://www.bridgecomsystems.com/products/anytone-at-d578uviii-plus-tri-band-amateur-dmr-mobile-radio

Not exactly a "budget" radio but this one you're unlikely to out grow. Plus it won't have some of the frustrating programming limitations various GMRS specific radios exhibit. If at some point one wanted to move into Ham Radio the 400MHz to 470MHz band split is perfect. With a cheap feature license key the radio can be enabled to do either NXDN or DMR digital voice. The only down side is the radio is NOT part 95 certified, Part 90 yes. So far the FCC doesn't seem to mind the Part 90 radios so long as they are carefully programmed to conform to the rules. Maybe as some point they will just throw in the towel and officially allow the practice, enough people are already doing it. The radio shares the same programming software as the NX-1300 HT's, and I believe you can exchange code plugs between them. https://forums.mygmrs.com/gallery/image/290-nx-1300duk5/?context=new The software can be found on the Internet so the cost with getting the license key for it isn't an issue. The attached catalog pages are from 2024 so the price may have gone up a bit. I have an older NX820 that is very usable for GMRS and Ham Radio, and likely can be found for a reasonable price on some of the well known auction sites. You just wouldn't be using the digital part for GMRS however. https://forums.mygmrs.com/gallery/image/250-nx-820ghjpg/?context=new I looked at the price for a Midland MXT575, at it was cheaper, but considering the difference in quality and features the Kenwoods would be a smarter choice. Kenwood NX-1800.pdf

Kenwood with their latest software licensing scheme for the NX1K, NX3K and NX5K radios is looking more like Motorola.

You get a feel for that when dealing with the public at times. I had one of the counter help guys at the local gym I frequent ask "what kind of CB antenna" I had on my Jeep at the time. https://forums.mygmrs.com/gallery/image/259-ca-2x4mb-jeepjpg/?context=new Duh?!

And you get $1000 toilet seats, $700 hammers ... I had a buddy that worked at some government contractor once. He told me they had desks full of Masters and PhD's that did nothing else but write up pages and pages of specifications for crap the government buys. Then of course it has to be "tested" to ensure it meets those specifications. Maybe if DOGE fired those spec writers, and had realistic spec's for the important stuff, we could save a lot more money.

It does to the bean counters, that is until it fails and you need one desperately. I've seen this happen with customers of our company and spare parts. Recommend they buy spares when they purchased the equipment, but NO when the bean counters saw the price tag. The customer didn't have a critical circuit board in their spares and couldn't wait to have one sent next day AM delivery by FedEx a few years later when there was a problem. So what did they do? The paid for a private Jet to take JUST ONE one circuit board on a 500 mile ride. The Jet was at the local regional airport close to our office. Believe it or not they did this twice! I was sitting on the plane in the seat next to the the circuit board was occupying the second time to install and test it out in the machine. Sad.