WRTC928

Hmmm... Those are good points. I hadn't thought about the length of the antenna. It's less of an issue on a vehicle, but then it's a lot less convenient because you can't get out of the vehicle and take it with you. The best compromise between portability and power is still GMRS, and even without the antenna issue, FM CB wouldn't be a better option than GMRS due to its power limitations. Eh. It was just a thought exercise.

A few months ago, I bought a CB radio for my truck after decades of being off the air. Since September 2021 (IIRC) CBs can use FM mode, and this one has that capability. To my surprise, it also has the capability to use "privacy" (a misnomer, but whatever) tones. So, it's now a radio that transmits in FM mode on a free, channelized service, in essence just like FRS. Unlike FRS, however, it can operate at 4 watts, is allowed to have external antennas, and has 40 channels instead of 22. There's no technical reason why FRS would be a better choice for family/friends traveling together or camping/whatever. The main impediment to widespread adoption of FM CB for "family" communication, as I see it, is the cost of entry. CB radios can be had fairly cheaply, but not as cheaply as the "bubble pack" FRS radios. Is there any chance that FM CB could eventually take a significant portion of the FRS market? (Full disclosure -- I don't really care, I'm just curious.)

I've had very good results with Nagoya 701s and 771s, both in terms of range and clarity. There are doubtless other good antennas on the market, but these worked for me, so I stuck with them.

That's kinda clever, actually.

That's what I ended up getting. It does work, but the coax connector makes it a very inelegant solution. It definitely looks fragile. I guess I'll bite the bullet and buy some anennas with BNC connectors.

I can't imagine that 1 watt vs. 0.5 watt is going to get anyone's attention. I have my more powerful radios set up to listen only on those frequencies, but I can always change that if I want. I do have a couple of HTs that I measured at 0.7-0.8 watt on low and I leave them set to transmit, although I don't ever recall using them on those frequencies. For me, it's a matter of courtesy. People using FRS radios at 0.5 watt don't want me stepping all over them with 5 watts. I very much doubt you'd get in any trouble with any agency for using 1 watt, and it probably wouldn't be excessively disruptive to people using 0.5 watt. Short answer: do whatever you think is courteous; you are extremely unlikely to get in any actual trouble for it.

It's an intriguing thought. From a technical standpoint, it should work. The issue would be in practical application How big a balloon would it take to lift a practical repeater? Batteries are heavy. How much use can you get out of a repeater before the battery went out? Probably the only way to know is to try it and see.

Actually, I have some Nagoya antennas that work really well. They're the ones I want to use, but they don't come with a BNC connector. There are probably some brands which do come with a BNC connector which will work fine too. I'll probably just buy a few and experiment. It's just that I've had such good results with these antennas that I'd like to keep using them.

They work reasonably well for that -- like any other 2 watt FRS radio. They're good for a mile or so, even inside a car.

The piece I can't find is the one that attaches to the antenna. The antenna is SMA female and I need to convert that to BNC male; i.e., the connector has to have SMA male on one end and BNC male on the other.

I saw that, but I wasn't sure if the coax fitting is compatible with an antenna.

I can find plenty of adapters to convert the male SMA jack on a Baofeng radio to a female BNC connector, but for the life of me, I can't find an adapter to convert the SMA female jack on a Baofeng antenna to a male BNC connector. There are a few which will convert the SMA male jack on other (Retevis, etc.) radios' antennas to a male BNC connector, but I can't find one which will do the same for a Baofeng antenna. I don't want to buy new antennas, but I'd really like to convert my AR-5RM to a BNC antenna connection. I searched Amazon and even a Google search, but no luck. Has anyone found one and can point me in the right direction? (It doesn't help that different sellers name the adapter differently. Some name it according to the type of connection on the two ends of the device, others name it by what it converts from to what it converts to, and others name it according to the jacks on the radio and antenna respectively. It's maddening.)

Therefore, it's not low cost.

I've used it mostly with my Amateur license recently. I don't tell anyone what radio I'm using and they always report a good signal. Not true of everyone, of course, but some Hams can be pretty snooty about "cheap Chinese junk". The way I see it, the purpose of a radio is to enable conversation at a distance, and if it does that, it's "good enough" for most purposes. Sure, I'd like to have a top-tier radio, and maybe someday I will, but for now, the state of my bank account dictates that I must use "cheap Chinese junk". In that category, this radio is probably the best bang for the buck. TBH, this radio is working so well that I probably will keep using it until it quits working, since right now it's performing as well as radios costing 10x as much.

I've said this before, but the AR/UV-5RM is a better radio than you have a right to expect for the price. I was just now talking to someone using a Ham repeater 30 air miles away from me and he said I was loud and clear. I was sitting in my living room using the 5RM and a Nagoya 771 antenna. I routinely participate in Ham nets on a repeater 22 miles away and always get through clearly. My $30 radio is performing just as well as radios people spent a lot more money on. I do admit, however, that QC on inexpensive Chinese radios can be spotty and sometimes you may not get one this good. It's also likely that it won't last as long as a $300 top-tier HT...but it was $30.

Yes, in concept. In reality, a significant number of people will find it a barrier to entry. Some because they don't want their information in a public database, some because they can't/won't navigate the bureaucracy, and some just because. I've been through similar things before. If you are part of a non-profit, you can certainly give it a try, but I'd be surprised if it worked out

At the moment, I'm listening to someone apparently calling Bingo numbers on FRS/GMRS 19. I have no idea why you'd need a radio to do that. I also can't guess where it's coming from because I live in a very residential part of town. Radio waves do strange things; they could be quite some distance away and conditions just happen to be right today.

It is sort of a shame that there's not a low-cost option for volunteer organizations other than CB, FRS, and MURS. Those are okay if you stay pretty close together, but for some, that would defeat the purpose of the organization. Most volunteer organizations are funded out-of-pocket and the cost of a business license is out of reach. It's not feasible to demand that everyone have a GMRS license as a prerequisite for participating in the organization. But for now, this is what we have.

I recently bought the same radio, and I didn't have any trouble programming repeaters. My best guess is that you're entering something incorrectly. As others have said, post a shot of the file and someone can probably help you.

You guys did me right with the recommendation for the Comet SBB-1. I finally got around to putting it through its paces. It was spot-on all the way up and down the 2m and 70cm bands. The highest SWR I got was 1.3:1 with most of them being 1.0:1. It even did well on the GMRS frequencies, which are technically "out of band" for this antenna, but I'm not going to argue with those numbers. It's on a mag mount in the middle of my roof, which is probably a factor, but the Nagoya was too, and its performance was okay, but not impressive.

Very helpful. Thanks!

I thought I posted this before, but it doesn't seem to be showing up, so forgive me if it's a double post. A friend got a pair of Baofeng GM-15 Pro radios for Christmas and he'd like to program them via software. CHIRP doesn't show a profile for the GM-15 Pro, but I know that many times, the profile for another similar radio will work just fine. Is there a profile he can use to program the radio with CHIRP? If so, which one will work?

Changing the subject a bit, what software are you using to program the GM-15 Pro? A friend recently got a pair and they don't seem to be supported by Chirp, but I know sometimes a related radio's profile will work. Are you using Chirp or the proprietary software?

A friend recently got a pair of Baofeng GM-15 Pro radios, which I guess is a recent addition to their line. There's no profile for that radio in CHIRP, but I know that a lot of times, the profile for a related radio will work. Do any of you know if that's the case with the GM-15 Pro? If so, which profile would it be? Thanks!

The number of people who would know a $20 radio from a $2,000 radio on a TV or movie screen is statistically minuscule. Practically equivalent to zero. They went with something that looked right and was cheap.