Ian

Inquiring minds want to know: Do these have Bluetooth? Can the 2025 version? That would enable running ATAK without crazy expensive mesh radios -- these would punch WAY above their weight class!

Hey, it chooches.

This sounds like a project!

I'll bet you that there's a BTech GMRS Pro involved.

There are two ways to link 20 repeaters to the 'net. One of them is infuriating, one of them could be mistaken for Echolink or Allstar. This second method is forensically identical to proper use of GMRS. Unless you know the station's unoccupied for another reason, there would be no reason to suspect that somebody's taking a liberal interpretation of the rules, because this operation is only as harmful as permitted operation -- idk, like, there might be competition for a favorite channel or something?

Hypothetically, but the internal duplexer has a 10 MHz split centered on 442 MHz. You'd have to connect an external "flatpack" duplexer, but at that point… Yeah, you've kitbashed together a cheap effective duplexer for around $300. It should outperform the RT97L, frankly -- at least if you use the right kind of duplexer, but they're increasingly cheap and ubiquitous.

This is smack in the middle of the "magic band", which is especially suitable for meteor-bounce communication and other really weird shit. We'll do fun propagation science to it, even if we need to buy a GMRS license to do it. That sounds just about fucking ideal for linking repeater sites over the air. How much digital data can we squish into the CTCSS frequencies? Something like AllStar without internet interconnections should be rules-compliant.

I also feel like MURS and FRS ought to be merged, since their rules are so close to identical. This would mean removable antennas on FRS radios, which… should be mostly a nothingburger with a few "duckheads" running amplifiers to create high-powered jamming equipment but… you can already do that today, it doesn't happen, so we shouldn't be forced onto fixed antennas because stupid people want us to not have nice things. Seriously, it's a non-thing. Time to drop it.

That radio is currently the GOAT but it’s a ham radio, so be aware that it’s freebanding, and if you’re going to do that, you’re not allowed to make a pest of yourself or you might actually get in the shit — only break one rule at a time! BTech has a beastly 50 watt unit which uses the same software as the Vero, and a GMRS Pro, which is probably still more radio than you need, but Vero software is super easy compared to the alternative menu and manual stuff!

https://www.cobra.com/products/performa-radio-programming-cable One of what I thought was its advantages just vanished; it requires a special programming cable and not just any old USB-C will do.

This is a great take, actually. First: Yeah, that's why I decided that I was barking up the wrong tree when I programmed 128 channels into my RT76P. Only one repeater ever gets any action anyway, so… At that point I may as well just get a crystal-controlled set with a reed and a single channel, like old ancient Regency commercial gear. (Actually scratch the reed; that repeater has switched to DCSS as of the beginning of this year. I guess I could still use a reed to generate the tone and a MOSFET or solid-state relay to switch the signal …)

Been fucking around with the codeplug editor for weeks, and ordered a pair last night. They arrive tomorrow before noon, if you trust Amazon's predictions. I look forward to offering my thoughts once I have the hardware in hand! :D Right now I have Orlando 700, GMRS 19, and Skycom 725 as my only three channels in group one, with Skycom disabled. (Easier to reenable it than recreate it from scratch) Group two is the somewhat-busier tourist frequencies and repeaters, and group three is interoperability. Ideally I'd have kept group 2 for that, since it comes programmed to match the industry consensus "extra channels" up to channel sixty or something for interop, but that's now "watching rockets and rocking a surfboard" zone. I also have a codeplug for home and beach, each one substantially less pared down than 03-SIMPLICITY_ITSEL (character limit) which I think is going to be my default codeplug unless I have a reason to expect to need to talk to NPCs. I'm much more likely to have trouble handing a radio to non-technical family members; ask me how much I know. And ask me how much the repair bill has been so far! Oh yeah, and guess what percent of it's been paid as promised.

Six years down the line, and there's good repeater coverage in central Florida. As suspected, a 50w mobile with a bluetooth hand-mic has scratched one itch, and having repeater coverage at home has eliminated the desire to roll my own, even now that the RT97L makes operating a genuinely nice repeater technically trivial and generally affordable. Wouldn't have thought of this, but someone reacted to it recently.

I intend on operating these as two-channel radios, having explored the programming software (it's browser-based) already. "The one repeater that I can reach" and "a simplex channel". I recommend looking at the programming software before deciding to blow these off. For all the complaints about these being too simple, if I'm close to my computer I can swap codeplugs at will, and these are to compliment radio-dork radios, not replace them. Actually, they appear to be identical across the Trailblazer lineup, save for color, and removable as well.

The Cobra Trailblazer lineup is out, and soon-to-be-on-Amazon, and the Trailblazer 500 looks really exciting to me. A UI that can be pared down to just the couple of repeaters you care about / can reach, and it's based on their older business-focused FRS radios so accessories are already available, plus they sell the older PX650 upon which this is based at Wal-Mart, so I expect this to be the first repeater-capable handie you can buy at Wally World in a while…