marcspaz

I'm sorry... where did I say that? I must be missing something. Can you show me where I wrote that?

If you have two radios, you can do some informal testing. Get far enough away that you are 2x5 to 3x5, high power, wide-band, and talk for a little while. 20 minutes or so. Try to keep about 50% duty cycle. As long as no one changes location/position, you will be able to hear frequency shift if its bad. You will start to hear some distortion and the signal strength will weaken. Word clipping is more noticeable than the signal strength. Two of my mobile ham radios shifted permanently and became unusable. The first one after 4 days. The second in less than 4 hours. Both of my handhelds worked great for about a month, and then they would drift after 10-15 minutes, but would recenter after being off for 20-30 minutes.

I have to disagree that BTech is some kind of saving grace. First... I have purchased several BTech / Baofeng radios and all failed within weeks. The extra time and money spent trying to get them to work was ridiculous. Second, Motorola, Midland, and several other companies are selling much better quality radios for literally the same price as the BTechs. Last... and this is just my opinion... if a one-time investment of an $150 vs. $60 is a deal-breaker on a hobby (and again, you don't have to spend $150)... I think you have bigger things to consider in life than which radio you're wanting to buy.

I owned 2 Baofeng ham radios for a combined total of 2 weeks. I wouldn't give one to someone I don't like, because its too cruel. Do yourself a favor and forget they exist. Just my opinion.

The MXTTR is a neat little radio. The bundle is nice, too. I tried out the MXT115 and may buy one to install in my 2016 Challenger. I love the small form factor. The MXTA11 antenna is a great antenna. I go back and forth between a Tram quarter wave and the MXTA11. I use the Tram for short distances, truck to truck, while we are off-road in a group, but I run the MXTA11 when I need to talk longer distance or to use a repeater. It has a great match on the 467 MHz frequencies compared to the 1/4 wave Tram. That portable power supply looks really neat for a stationary unit. Could be a fun and useful tool to have setup at a camp site, etc. Kind of expensive for what you are getting... but has a wow factor as far as appearance goes, which is always a plus. If you are looking for a bit more range in the vehicle in an over the counter solution, the MXT400's are nice, too. I ended up buying three MXT400's to put in my off-road vehicles. There are a few folks here that don't like them for repeater use, but I have had really good luck with them. Using the MXTA11 and 5 watts, truck to truck in a densely wooded and hilly area, I get about 2.5 miles on the regular bases, and upwards of 5.5 miles. When I am at a high elevation (2,500+ ft) use high power (advertised 40, measured 35) I can talk 50+ miles and have full copy with no problems. I would recommend waiting for a short time before buying another new OTC radio. There are a few new radios that are in the process of getting type approval from the FCC that will likely perform a little better than the Midlands with regard to audio and transmit/receive on the upper channels. The Midland radios are all narrow band, but the upper channels are approved for wide band use. I know at least one of the radio's pending approval provide support for wide band use on those upper channels. I'm still fairly new to GMRS myself, so my experience is somewhat limited. There are some folks here who can give you some great advice on other radios that are available on the used market, which require programing, but perform very, very well. Hopefully, one of them can cover those options for you too.

What Midland bundle did you get? Radio and antenna? What models? What do you mean buy "upgrading"? What do you want to upgrade? Get better accessories or antenna? Can you tell us a bit about your primary and secondary use goals?

Glad to hear you are having luck with the Stryker. Environmental conditions will play heavily into how well your radio can receive a weak signal. If you have a received signal that is only 1 S unit, but you have 3 S units of stray noise around you, you will never hear the 1 S unit signal. If you drive out of the high noise area, even if you get further away, the reduction is RF noise will allow you to have a conversation with that station, even at 1 S unit, and be able to have a 100% copy. As far as placement goes, as long as they are spaced in a way that one doesn't fall within a physical harmonic, you should be fine. It's damn near impossible to do on purpose. It's very unlikely that you will do it by mistake. I have noticed that when I key my GMRS while in high power, the noise level on my HF gear goes up. Nothing unreasonable, but when the squelch is open, I can notice it. That's all. When the squelch is closed, there is no impact. I have a 120 watt RMS amp on my 10m radio. Whenever I use the amp, I turn the GMRS gear off. Though, I have never actually experienced any of my HF gear causing issues with my VHF or UHF gear. That sounds like an awesome setup!

CB is making a major comeback around here too. I am just south of DC and the OTR truckers use them for entertainment, assistance with getting around traffic without violating their route permits, etc.

Unless you only need to consistently talk a mile or two, you're wasting your time installing a CB antenna that is not a 114" whip. I have tested every single possible configuration on everything from motorcycles to a new 2019 Cascadia tractor. Even with the most well placed antenna and the best performing equipment, bottom loaded, center loaded and fiberglass wound antennas are all poor performers. The absolute best talking CB antenna that I found (aside from a 114" whip) is a 4' Firestick (5/8 wave) mounted on a 12" solid steel extension acting as part of the antenna (like a top-loaded antenna). That talked 11 miles as the crow flies, on AM, when mounted on the top of a tractor, 8 feet above the ground with 4 watts RMS. Same vehicle and radio with a 114" whip talked 42 miles as the crow flies on AM, using only 2.5 watts RMS. I don't know how far it could on low or high power, because we got tired of driving and gave up. The next two best antennas I tested are the Wilson 5000 and Wilson 1000. The only benefits to using those over the Firestick is you can also use them with a 600 watt PEP amp or 200 watt PEP amp (respectively) on 10 meters... assuming you're also a ham and are trying to keep your antenna count down. EDIT: To help improve your chances of getting good performance on the CB, be sure to buy a very high quality 18 foot transmission line with 259 connectors on both ends, and use a HD stud with a 259 input. The impedance balances out perfectly for a half wave. The half wave cable and the quarter wave ground-plain antenna give you a perfect full wave length from the output of the radio to the tip of the antenna.

Taking the lack of understanding of the rules out of the picture for a second... I think it's being discussed in GMRS groups because of channel sharing with FRS. I also think there is a lot of confusion due to the name "Family Radio Service". The name implies that it is for use by families, not businesses. Lets be honest... most people live by the concept of "when all else fails, read the directions." If purpose and rules are occasionally misinterpreted by the people trying to understand by reading them... you can imagine that people who don't, would be exponentially more confused. Just a thought anyway.

Welcome! Below is a link for the rules for GMRS. It should help a bit. Basically, plain English is fine. 10 codes are okay, but I never hear anyone use them except on CB. Most people just speak casually, as if on the phone. Roger, Mayday, and other radiotelephony on-air protocol and voice procedures are all acceptable. Especially in high signal to noise ratio comms. From what I gather, deceptive or coded comms to hide meaning is not aloud. In general, round robin in group chat, be courteous and most importantly, have fun! https://www.ecfr.gov/cgi-bin/text-idx?SID=97171040479f3204c959e615b906317d&mc=true&node=sp47.5.95.e&rgn=div6

The story in that link is pretty awesome! I love hearing about stuff like that.

I was thinking WiFi for the repeater remote control. Not for internet relay of GMRS. As far as point-to-point radio relay of the two repeaters, I agree... go for it. Unless there is something I am missing in the statutory code, the transmitter output power of a repeater is limited to 50 Watts, but there is no limit to ERP. If you build/buy a +20dbg directional antenna, you're able to get close to 5,000 watts ERP. With enough elevation, you should be able to talk to someone in Texas from Washington, DC.

The furthest I ever got a 800mw WiFi link was 17 miles. You need great, high gain directional antennas, but its inexpensive and supports a but of encryption methods.

2.5 ppm at 462 MHz is only 1155 Hz. That is very, very tight.

Almost all repeaters have a tail delay, meaning that after you stop transmitting, the repeater transmits for a second or so after you un-key. So, say something like "This is WQYV590, testing." When you un-key, listen for the transmit tail.

I would never buy solely into commercial networks. Don't get me wrong... I love my smartphone, but the regular failures and lack of coverage, even when everything on the commercial networks work correctly, are the very reasons "radio" comms are alive and well.

This is exactly my thinking as well. I currently have GMRS, 2m/70cm, and a 10m radio in my Jeep. And an antenna for each radio. I really want to add 6m, too, but 3 radios and antennas are already too much. I am thinking about getting a Yaesu FT-8900R, which is a quad-band. That will get me down to two radios and two antennas... but if we could get a radio like that to run on GMRS too, then I would be down to one radio. Instead of looking like a mobile SETI station, my Jeep would look like a Jeep.

Sorry... double post.

Holy smoke! I just looked up the APX 8000. Used, they are selling for more than the last truck I bought! I'll stick with my W32a. 2 meter and 440 is all I need in my hands.

As I mentioned... radio #1 worked great for 4 days. I went to go to use the local 2 meter repeater from a location that I normally input full-quiet (5x5) and I couldn't key-up the repeater. I switched to the 70cm repeater at the same location and no response. I tried both repeaters with my 5 watt handheld Icom. I got full-quiet replies back on the handheld, but the UV-50x2 didn't hear anything. I had to be within a mile of any station on any covered frequency in order to hear or be heard. Then, while testing, the receiver started some kind of strange "receive strength" osculation, as the static would pulsate up and down in signal strength and volume. I got a replacement radio a few days later... same make and model. Within a few hours, it went from rock star to the exact same problems as the first radio. I check my antenna lines with an analyzer and had a damn near perfect match at 1.1-1.2 to 1 on 2 meter and 1.3-1.4 to 1 on 440. I am using the same power lines, antenna cables, base and antenna with another radio and its working perfectly. That all tells me it was the radio. As an FYI, the TYT is made by the same company... they just slap different labels on the same gear. QYT is also the same company. There is 4 or 5 brands that the parent company does business as.

This is a UV-50x2 with firmware that makes it GMRS compliant. I have owned two UV-50x2 radios for Ham use. The first lasted 4 days. The second lasted an hour or so. I'll never buy another one.

If all you want to do is listen, all you have to do is enter the simplex frequency via the keypad. The repeater outputs are the same frequencies as the simplex frequencies. It should only be more than that if you want to setup the duplex function. That would require going through your manual to learn how to setup the duplex function and the offset.

It looks like I am indeed incorrect. Rick W. seems to have found the proper code to reflect the definitions. Corey provided a good example of what a fixed station could be used for. Links to the Part 95 definitions §95.303 - https://www.ecfr.gov/cgi-bin/text-idx?SID=1cb28060b7f7df22392a5a49bdfb627c&mc=true&node=se47.5.95_1303&rgn=div8 Base station. A station at a fixed location that communicates directly with mobile stations and other base stations. Fixed station. A station at a fixed location that directly communicates with other fixed stations only. §95.1767 - https://www.ecfr.gov/cgi-bin/text-idx?SID=1cb28060b7f7df22392a5a49bdfb627c&mc=true&node=se47.5.95_11767&rgn=div8 (1) The transmitter output power of mobile, repeater and base stations must not exceed 50 Watts. (2) The transmitter output power of fixed stations must not exceed 15 Watts. Since there is no restriction based on hardware type, but rather only in practical application, you can run a 50 watt radio out of your house/apartment/condo/etc., assuming you are talking to any of the other types of units beyond just a fixed station. The following is just my opinion... Call it what you want, GMRS licensing is intended for families to use to make their life easier and more entertaining. I am making this assumption because my license is valid for everyone in my immediate family. This is too much for a family to use as a tool and "know" they are in compliance. The worst part is, I am sure that many of us are professional geeks in IT or RF... and we are struggling to come to a consensus. The best part is, at least no one is arguing and we are working together to figure out the right answers. That says a lot about the group. You guys are awesome...

Thanks Corey. I have been struggling with following some of the code (which you and I have been discussing) and want to be sure I am not giving bad info.