Lscott

If he is going to use DMR he needs a Ham license. No DMR permitted on GMRS.

Alfred E Newman. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_E._Neuman

One thing with solar panel is even ONE cell in the series string is blocked, bird poop - tree leaves etc. for example, it kills the output from the whole string. All the panels I’ve ever seen are single series string of cells. Also at low temperatures the battery capacity is noticeably reduced. You should take that into account when sizing the battery. Also you’ll likely get about half the rated capacity before the battery voltage drops too low for reliable operation too.

The repeater doesn’t need to ID if it isn’t actively being used, agreed.

I asked a Ham Radio buddy about these. He has heard of them and what he heard wasn’t good and the one he got was garbage. I was warned not to waste my money buying one. These are seen for sale under different names on the Internet.

Interesting point. However if the station(s) using the repeater forgot or deliberately don’t include the owners ID said owner will have some explaining to do with the FCC if they come asking questions. If the ID is automated the owner doesn’t have to constantly monitor it to ensure people are including the owners ID. Just makes life simpler for the repeater owner that way.

Your last point above is VERY important and a source of confusion with repeater owners. If a repeater is used by anyone not using, operating under, the repeater owners license the repeater MUST self ID using the owners call sign.

I’m primarily a Kenwood guy, nothing wrong with Motorola- Icom etc., just my personal preference. A lot of my older Kenwood radios are both Part 90 and 95A certified. Part 95A was the GMRS section before the FCC revised the rules a few years ago. Any radio with the older Part 95A certification are still legal to use on GMRS as far as I know. A buddy at work was using a UV-5R for GMRS. I recommended a Kenwood TK-3170, which has Part 95A certification. He got a good deal on a used one with antenna, battery pack, charger base and speaker microphone on eBay. Once he started using it he quit using the UV-5R. He liked how much better the Kenwood radio performed. You want the “Type 1” radio. https://pdfs.kenwoodproducts.com/9/TK-2170&3170Brochure.pdf

If you like it, OK. We can start a whole new thread on the topic. I don’t think it’s worth the effort. I’m sure enough users can manufacture plenty of scenarios to show the benefits and short comings of each. In any case you’re stuck with what the radio is designed with, just have to learn how best to use it.

I’ll agree I wasn’t clear about the difference. They both can accomplish the same end, just differently. I wouldn’t say one is inferior to the other.

True. One just has to understand the difference in how the radio functions. With reverse, Ham radios, one station can monitor the repeater input to see if they can hear the other station. Then request the other station to switch to a simplex frequency. For LMR radios both have to switch to talk around. If the both can hear each other well then switching to a simplex frequency, if possible, or continue to use the repeater frequency in talk around mode.

If you like digital voice modes most of it is on UHF anyway. Fortunately there are a lot of used UHF Part 90/95 radios available for reasonable prices. I’ve been trying to find some good deals on them. Currently l’m looking for a Kenwood TK-5220 analog FM/digital P25 VHF HT for a really good price. I scored a good deal on the matching TK-5320 UHF model a while ago. https://pdfs.kenwoodproducts.com/18/TK-5220&5320Brochure.pdf

I saw a mention of a Harris XG-100P. Looks like a nice multi-band HT. Used ones I saw on eBay are going for around $1200 more or less. A bit out of my price range. For info the brochure can be found here. https://www.northeastcommunications.com/harris/downloads/xg-100p-datasheet.pdf

The rules say you’re not to use the repeater main input frequencies, 467.xxx, except to communicate through a repeater. Switching to talk-around mode you’re using the repeater output frequency in simplex mode which is allowed. If you can hear the other station using talk-around you likely shouldn’t be tying up the repeater and move to a strictly simplex only channel freeing up the machine, repeater channel, for someone who really needs it.

I’ve given up on SLA batteries. Switched over to using LFP, lithium iron phosphate, types. A good source is at the link below. https://www.bioennopower.com For solar charging in the field you need LFP specific charge controllers. I have several of the GV-5’s from this company. https://sunforgellc.com/genasun/

That’s what the “talk-around” or “reverse” function is used for on radios. You check to see if you can hear the other station on the repeater input. If you can there isn’t any point in using the repeater since the communications can be conducted using simplex.

I typically carry around a Kenwood TK-3170. It’s certified for Part 90 and 95A. It’s convenient because it’s possible to use the radio down to 440MHz or lower for Ham and GMRS. Between 440MHz and 450MHz covers the repeater section of the Ham 70cm band, only need one radio for both services. For every two way radio I own, used or new, I keep a computer folder of PDF documents for user guides, service manuals, manufacturers brochures and FCC grant (certification) letters that I can find. I also keep the same on my smart phone too. Many of the older Kenwood commercial radios have Part 95 certification. I’ve also have a folder with brochures of various radios that I see mentioned just for reference. When a poster mentions they use a particular make and model radio it’s far easier to just look at the brochure to see what features it has instead of asking a bunch of questions. Most of the commercial radios you can find the brochures without much effort, might have to dig around a bit to find some of them. The brochures many times have the FCC ID for the radio so you can look up the certification info.

I’m going to have to try it out on the XPR-6550’s. I see people claim brand “X” antenna works better than brand “Y” because they can get in to a distance repeater. That’s sort of hard to really qualify without measured data.

Well search for GMRS travel channels too. I happen to use DuckDuckGo as my search engine, and sometimes “Startpage.com”, so if you use something else your results likely will be different. The main point is people just propose something without doing any research first to see if the topic is covered elsewhere. I’ve spent hours looking for info at times going through hundreds of search engines hits. This topic comes up from time to time on this forum with same tired old answers given. What this site needs is a well maintained FAQ section where issues like this are easily accessible to everyone.

Yeah, I read my license and saw the notes about the restriction. However what about all those 2 watt FRS radios, no license required, and almost nobody ever reads the instructions either.

Did you specifically search for GMRS travel channel?

I wish people would do some basic research first about travel tones for open repeaters and the semi official channel 20 for travel. A simple Google search lists a bunch of references on this topic. If people just used what has been the norm for years instead of trying to change it maybe we would have more people using it.

I just got two myself, the dual band GMRS/MURS and the Ham 2M/70cm band, from the Fort Wayne swap last month. I haven't tested them yet using my antenna analyzer. It's on my list when I take time off from work over the holidays.

I've tried testing a handful of HT antennas. They are hard to test. Hold it a bit different and the results change all over the place. Get one that tests crappy then move it around or change the test fixture a bit and bang, it now looks better than the one you thought was the best one in the batch. I've had some that look bad using a ground plane and much better without. Then there are those other ones that do the exact opposite. Go figure. A fair test would duplicate the exact installation conditions in a test fixture as it would see installed on a radio. That's almost impossible to do unless you want to rip out the guts out of a junk radio to add in a cable wired to the socket and run to the analyzer. Then you have to get a calibrated hand and arm to hold it and hope you can replicate the setup from one test to the next. I would like to see how the manufactures do this.

There are several variations of the model. https://qrzcq.com/pub/RADIO_MANUALS/MOTOROLA/MOTOROLA--HT-1000-Specs.pdf