Logan5

yes, just bought a pair, opened carefully expecting to end up returning them. I just didn't expect to be returning them so soon. Yes they are repeater compatible, and amazingly easy to set up. did not test if they actually float or not, but I bet they do. However the range is not even half of a Cheap Chinese radio (CCR) in 1 watt mode. and the savings is relative. I decided to purchase another pair of CCR's instead. Anybody know anything about the TYT TH UVF9, ? I like the pixie tube style display, spec's claim 4 watts and sounds almost the same as the UV5R.

Thanks for the input Joe900, I hope you will keep us updated. I say test the Heck out of them wile you still have the in store return option. I plan to. so far keying up my repeater is only about half the distance of the Baofeng in 1watt mode. so I guess the built in antenna is at fault. another reason I prefer interchangeable antennas. in addition I would not use these in a car or truck as most of the ERP is going to be reflected into your head and body. since the antenna is perm attached, there is no option for a mobile antenna. this could be the radio for a neighborhood watch, however the share charger stand makes it difficult to share with different neighbors, Joe, Let us know if it Floats!

I just purchased this today for $69 for 2 radios, unfortunately it is a uni charger set up, none the less, I sat for all of 3 min's on the first radio and less than a min. on the second radio to set them to the repeater. amazing how easy that was. anyway they are large and lite so they will float, the antenna seems rugged and molded to the case. I can't stress how easy the set up was. I will be giving one of these to the senior who destroys radios and see how it does. Expect updates on on wear and effective range, as far as range is concerned I don't expect them to preform as well as the baofeng but we will see.

well I used a speaker Mic. on an extra radio, set to VOX laying on my WX radio. left it set like this all day. just had a storm, got the NOAA storm alert on my repeater. not too loud and very clear, at the end of announcement the NOAA radio cut out and deactivated the VOX PT and everything returned to normal. This could of course be improved with some special cables and a better WX radio.

I was thinking a simple circuit or wire made that interfaces with a WX radio with S.A.M.E. and maybe even a talking clock, using an HT with VOX function should do most of the work for you? am I way off? , I have everything necessary thinking about trying it. the WX radio I have alarm out only, but I have seen some that have audio out as well. I was at the Swap Shop today and some guy had some older Motorola and Midland GMRS radios , but I could not tell from the documentation if they were Repeater offset compatible.

All hooked up and it's working flawlessly, makes a huge difference when the duplexer is tuned correctly. However I should have chosen a freq. further away from 462.600, when I key up either repeater they cross signals because they are too close, and too close. so I plan to send the Motorola 462.675 to my brother and his Son. as a mobile repeater. I will obtain something super fancy one day when I can afford it.

I am very pleased to announce that my local interference on FTL600 has been resolved, they have shut down their repeater. but I have not scanned FRS and GMRS freq's enough to know for sure they have not camped out on another GMRS channel. I do hear some low power simplex operation by the same group, so it looks as though they are without a repeater for the interim. Then just 5 min's ago a friend of mine proposed that this hotel group is likely mob owned and that I risk my safety messing with them? I was like, "what the heck"? This person also believes that 911 was our own government hoax.

PastorGary, I need to check that link again, i am a bit confused on these rotors, not sure i am with it. also I keep seeing, "Don't paint a telescoping tower" I am planning to paint the bottom section brown, the the top section a floral green. I also want to paint the UVS200 lite blue. so the whole thing blends into the environment. I have inspected the workings of the tower and I can clearly see what parts that should not be painted. the rest looks fair game to me. and i believe if I use a nonmetallic paint on the UVS200 it should be fine as well. Please, any sugestions on this will be greatly appreciated. I am going to go hook up this re-tuned duplexer..

Thanks for that link, JohnE, That will come in handy. I just got in from Local "Ham Shack" with the re-tuned duplexer, he said it was way off. in other words, the E-bay seller changed the freq. on the radios, but not the duplexer. well all it really cost me was time. I couldn't even give the old HAM Beer money. anyway, i am about to hook it up. wish me luck. lol

Good to hear, Bill. I managed to find a local HAM to tune my duplexer, dropped it off last Saturday. he does it free if for a good cause, I am meeting him at the local Radio shop tomorrow to pick it up. he determined our GMRS repeater was a good cause. I am going to keep it "Permission only" to minimize abuse. However anyone that uses this site is welcome to ask permission on the air, if your in ever in the area, as i am usually listening to both repeaters. Also, for Pastor Gary, I have had a request from a local user through myGMRS.com and I have replied to the request both times. I am not sure this person is getting my permission granted reply's to his request. this person is one of the few users that does not post his call sign in his profile. I looked so I could contact him directly, looks like only 5 or 6 users have no call sign posted.

I know right. I ask, and the home owner indicated he did not want it. and me and 2 good neighbors made short work of it. it also has a rotor, that i want to use, but no controller, so I do not even know where to begin with that. JohnE I just looked thru your gallery, amazing view and equipment,. would love a tour when i am in NYC next. regardless I will check in on your repeater, but that won't be till next year. since we bought the house. want to get some renovations out of the way b4 any major travel plans. then I will want to know the GMRS rules for Australia and New Zealand. lol

I also obtained a 48' telescoping and tilt over Radio tower last weekend. got the whole thing even the 250lbs pole from the ground. going to re rig it with SS and electric winches, and install it in Concrete at the new house. for now apx. 23' to ground plane for a month to two anyway.

She claimed that a previous employee had set them up on 462.600 and that he no longer worked for them. She also claimed she did not know what property the repeater was located. I told her that her and her commercial business group needed to be on a Business freq. and she said she understood that. Yes, JohnE I understand it may take them some time to transition but i am patient, but I warned her if there were any other party complaints, that i had no control of that. they have reduced their airtime by 50% as a result. so we are preparing to put FTL600 back on the air next week. However the duplexer won't be back till Saturday. so will be on a Yagi for receive and a whip for TX for a day or two.

Ok, I have a Radio Shack 7 channel SAME radio that i have been using for over 10 years. it has battery back up, external antenna connector. and Alarm out "I have never used" yet is has no audio out. This radio would be perfect if the Alarm is also the NOAA audio. I will hook a speaker up and see what it does. seems like I could set an HT into VOX mode and place the MIC next to the NOAA radio to send Alerts to the Repeater. over the weekend I will be shopping around NOAA radios, and will report what i find.

I would listen for any repeater activity on the 8 GMRS pairs. It is easy to find the PL tone, by changing the tone and then transmit until you find it, listen for a delay or use another radio or scanner to listen for your voice, announce your calls signs and ask for permission. also depending on your area, check the list of repeaters here on www.MYGMRS.com, and ask for permission by e-mail. and yes you will need to program your radio for a +5000mhz offset and discover their PL tone so as to access. if they use an uncommon pair, they will be a little harder to work. You may consider running your own repeater, you can get a used one or a simple one made from 2 radios for a couple hundred bucks. if you don't mind running two separate antennas. if you prefer a single antenna install you will need a duplexer at another 100 bucks.

After i sent an e-mail to the Hotel group this morning: I was just contacted by telephone by a female "General manager" of the hotel group in question, she and her group are ready to make the changes necessary to the repeater to become FCC compliant. I spent about 10 min's with her explaining how I and my group had paid for FCC licenses for the Freq. they are on and she agreed that it needed to be fixed. I told her. i had not filed a compliant with the FCC and would not as long as they made appropriate changes in a timely fashion. I also informed her that my group may not be the only compliant with the FCC and that I had no control of any other party or group. She seemed to understand the magnitude of the situation and I told her to call if she had any further questions, but that I could not offer any technical assistance.

scratch that. I just realized, I was thinking incorrectly

what is your repeater set up again? I would like to be able to mix PL and DPL's as well.

In my local area 2 of the GMRS/Family Radio, repeater pairs are used by a hotel group on the beach. they seem to have a 75 watt + repeater set up on 462.600/467.600 and the channel it buzy all day and night. It is obvious to me they do not have a GMRS lic. and even more unlikely that each user has the $85 lic. required for them to be even marginally compliant. I have made several formal request for them to identify their call signs. and in over a month, they refuse to reply. I need to know what to say to them before I contact my local FCC field office and make a formal compliant. I would prefer to work this out with the interfering party, with out making any FCC compliant. however they refuse to cooperate.

I am also interested in this ability, I do not have anything to offer at this time, but I will be following this thread.

yes, there seems to have been something wrong on my browser end. very sorry, was not intended.

As a General class Ham and licensed GMRS radio operator, I had the choice to make when getting my first radio, I required GMRS repeater pair access so for budget concerns i chose the Baofeng UV5RE dual band so called "cheap Chinese radio" I have used this radio and a 2nd UV5RE with an elderly neighbor who has no phone and is in poor health. to maintain contact and offer assistance when needed. this person has fallen shearing the sma-f to BNC quick connector twice now, has slept on the radio and submerged it in water several times. and all around abused the radio beyond anything i could do to it in normal use. and I must say for less than $50 this instrument is built like a brick S#!t house. the soft rubber keys have faded on the 2nd unit. mine are still like new. I occasionally use a pair of needle nose pliers to tighten the antenna jack on both radios and I expect mine to last years, his not so much. but we will see.