LeeBo

I haven't met anyone in person in the couple of months I've had my license due to all the meet-and-greet events that local clubs schedule conflict with plans I've already had made. I'll make it there one day.

I found it. It wasn't under "manage subscriptions", and now that I'm looking for it again I can't find it. Getting old sucks!

Well, it probably also helps offset the cost of running this site, which I use daily. Plus, the forums which are accessible via Tapa Talk, which ain't cheap.

I'd be more than happy to start my collection if you wanted to give them all new homes. (Just trying to keep up the assumed humor)

Only if soap bones were purple.

Which is a lot of the "I can hear repeater X but can't transmit to it" posts.

No subscriptions available???

Simpsonville here.

Howdy, neighbor. Well, Greenville here. But close enough.

Those are not the towers I'm looking for.

That thought did cross my mind. I'll be back there in November at which time I'm taking a road trip to confirm.

Obviously. Said mountain hates me. I probably should have added that I can hit the repeaters on said mountain from Chimney Rock and Bat Cave (no line of sight but I assume signal is bouncing off the mountainsides). Just not from the western part of Lake Lure. I'll ask my aunt if she'll let me install a tower. She'll say no but I'll ask anyway.

Said mountain hates me. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I don't even attempt to figure out physics or logic. For example, Lake Lure NC. I can walk out on the deck, look to my left, and there's Bearwallow Mountain with all its repeaters. I literally have line of sight. Can't hit them even with a 50watt mobile and a 6' antenna. However, I can hit a repeater on the other side of the mountain with a 10watt HT with Nagoya 771 antenna. Maybe I need to cut back on the bourbon. LOL

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