LeeBo

Pick up an inexpensive 50-watt radio from Amazon. This will "get your feet wet" without breaking the bank. You also need to decide on location. If you don't have room for the entire unit, consider a unit with a removable face plate. As an SUV driver, I went with a lip mount that I mounted on the top of the rear hatch and a good antenna (I went with Comet). Run a 14-gage wiring harness from the battery to the radio with inline fuses. I have my radio mounted under the driver's seat and the faceplate on the console between the seats where I can see it very easily. Comet antenna on a Diamond lip mount on the top of the hatch offset from the shark fin antenna. Then in a year or so of use and deciding what I want in my next radio, I can easily upgrade since my wiring harness, face plate mount and antenna are already there.

I have the H3, H8 and AR-5M. I like the feel of the H8 and the air band on the H3, and that they are both Bluetooth to OD Master. The AR-5RM is slightly larger than the H8 and has air band (and police / fire) like the H3. No Bluetooth connection by itself but does work with OD Master and the B/T adapter. Works great with Chirp also. It's safe to say I'll probably stop using the Tid radios.

Shot in the dark, but what you're probably hearing are those using Midland-type family radios that don't require a license. To answer the "why did you get a license" question, because once you are granted access to a repeater with the access tones, all those "chats" go away. On one of my GMRS radios with the "standard" channels programmed, I hear all the 'lil chillins chatting. Program in the repeaters with access tones and they all go away.

Who said anything about transmitting? The OP asked “is there a gmrs mobile radio that has air frequencies to listen to?”. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

The TID Radio H3 and the Baofeng AR-5RM both have airband frequencies. But as previously stated, both scan really slow unless all you’re scanning is a few airband frequencies. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Nothing comes to mind atm.

I bought a Diamond lip mount and a Comet antenna for my car and the cable was long enough to route up to my 10w ht. Works just fine. I do have a 50w mobile unit but I'm waiting for the weather to cool off before running power cables. But for now the 10w ht with antenna does the job.

Excellent point, thanks for the explanation. I guess not all repeaters are “created equal” which would explain why I can hit that one so far away but can’t get a decent signal on one only a few miles down the road from the same radio (either 10w ht or 50w mobile). But for now I think this AR-5RM is going to be my daily ht. It just feels good in my hand and has performed well so far. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Great review, thanks. I got mine yesterday and the only thing I did was add one of my Nagoya 771 antennas and was hitting a repeater 30-ish miles away while on my front porch in the middle of a neighborhood full of oak trees. I couldn't do that with any of my previous Baofeng or Tid Radio units.

I just received my AR-5RM yesterday. I can confirm it works on HAM and GMRS frequencies. It also received air / police bands and works with Chirp. What I can't believe is that this a 10W radio. The reason I say that is because all I did was add a Nagoya 771 antenna to it and I was hitting a repeater some 25-ish miles away (I was told my transmissions were crystal clear) but with a couple other 10W radios with the same antenna I couldn't hit the broad side of a barn. I was sitting on my front porch in a neighborhood surrounded by oak trees.

Excellent point. I do have some adapters but this radio rarely comes out of the car. Probably wouldn’t hurt to add one anyway. That way I could try using other HT’s just to see how they work. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Depends on how "occasional" you plan to use it in the car. From the other thread, you see the image I posted of the H8 clipped to an old WeatherTech Cup Phone holder. While it's not too much of a pain to put in and out of the car, it is nice to have two identical units, one for home and one for the car. They are programmed 80% identical as there are repeaters I hit in the car that I'll never hit at home. Having one unit to do both isn't the end of the world, but for the price point, I bought two just for that reason.

Unfortunately, I don't have anything else to compare it to, but it does sound really good.

Speaking from experience, life takes over. I'm not saying that's the issue, but the one in my area I asked access for took over a week to reply. Not a big deal.

Well, it ain't pretty, but I'm hitting repeaters 30-ish miles away. Tid Radio H8 and Comet CA-2X4SR antenna with Diamond mount.

Excellent. I keep debating on buying an actual car radio, but for now, the handheld w/hand mic works just fine.

While I haven’t used the H3 in my car, I have used the H8 with a Comet antenna and I’m hitting repeaters 30-ish miles away. Great little radio. My H3 usually stays on my bag or on my person. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Yes, all my forums in one app. And you can turn all notifications off. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

New to the site and forums and just wanted to say thanks for allowing Tapatalk access. I use TT for several other forums and it was great to find out it also works here. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Technician license was pretty easy. Just go to the ARRL site (http://arrlexamreview.appspot.com/), register and start learning and taking practice exams. I just got mine 7/11/24 and can’t believe I drug my feet as long as I did. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I knew I'd probably never have a home base station because of power lines and trees all throughout my neighborhood. So I'll probably be sticking to handheld / mobile units with "portable" antennas that I can set up at remote locations. Plus the cost of the license was only $35 and no test, so why not?

I probably should have done that also. I nailed my tech exam and was asked if I wanted to try for general. I declined.