BoxCar

Moto and Kenwood I believe are made in Malasia.

CHIRP is usually easier as you can see everything for that channel, make the needed changes and then save it once.

They inspected and probably seized all his equipment when they gained access to his operating site.

Have you checked with either of your local ham clubs? Like yourself, many are licensed in both services and can provide the contacts necessary to either find a local GMRS group or help start one.

What programming cable? There are lots using a counterfeit chip. It's best to use the Anytone cable.

Our firm coordinated many public agencies to allow cross-band repeaters. The fire service is one of the major users of these for fire ground communications. But again, these were all operating in the same service under Part 90.20.

Most 20 - 25W transmitters require a minimum of 8 amps power.

The FCC rules generally prohibit transmissions from one service to another. This means you can't cross-band from part 97 to any other service such as Part 95 or from one service under the same part. This prohibits CB being crossbanded to GMRS, FRS, or MURS and any combination of the services.

Try snipping a little bit off the end of your antenna and see if that helps. Really though, have you tested to see if your HH isn't being desensed by the repeater?

Welcome aboard the train!

D'Oh

Its been suggested several times

We had a recent presentation at one of the ham clubs I belong to on using a VNA. The presenter stated just for grins he measured some of the coax he had around the shack. He specifically stated he checked two different cables marketed as LMR-400 equivalent. One failed to meet the published specification for LMR-400 and the other was slightly better than published. The cable that passed had the cable manufacturer's name on it while the poorer cable didn't say who manufactured it. The one he had that passed was from The Wireman.

For your installation, you will be better served using quality coax like LMR-400. RG-8 and most variants are best at frequencies below 60 MHz. For a power supply, the Mean Well (also Meanwell) is an excellent unit. A 30A supply in the LMR series will provide all the power and filtering you'll need. For an antenna, the key point is higher is better - and that is elevation, not gain. J-poles are adequate and cheap. The better J-poles are copper tubing, not twin lead like the Ed Fong antennas. There isn't anything wrong with an Ed Fong, it's just there are better ones out there.

Are you using a repeater channel or are you on a simplex channel? Repeater channels usually have a R after the number,

A poor 'rule' is you cover about 15% further than the horizon from the antenna.

Marc, I'm sure you will get several good comments but, I would start with an admonishment that GMRS isn't going to bring the world to their doorstep. Give an overview of the coverage that can be expected with a 5W HH in the different terrains they most likely will be in. Talk briefly about increasing power doesn't always mean more coverage and how power only increases readability within your operating horizon. Ensure people understand line-of-sight coverage and how better and higher antennas function. Talk about the two services, GMRS and FRS sharing the same frequencies and stress the need for courtesy by the operators. Mention GMRS is a "bring your own contacts" service as there is little rag-chewing between operators.

Just on transmit

Do you have a programing cable? If not, order one from Radioddity and then download the programming software. Radioddity has tutorials one programming radios, watch a few. The steps are the key items, noy necessarily the radio used.

Wood screws?

FRS is narrowband while GMRS is wideband. The difference is the amount of the radio channel used. A channel is 25 kHz wide and wideband occupies 20 kHz and narrow 11.3 kHz.

There is no difference. The radios themselves are not licensed, the operator holds the license. If a GMRS radio is talking to another radio, no matter the type, on FRS frequencies then they are FRS units talking on frequencies licensed by rule and do not have to identify. If the channel is GMRS, then they must identify.

If you are on FRS channels, then no.

The Comet 2X4SR covers the bands with some antenna gain for increased coverage. The Signal Stalker by Signal Stuff also covers the bands very well but no antenna gain.

I use my Whiskey number from the 70's - 46W194.