WRCZ387

Call or e-mail Remtronix & ask them to e-mail the software to you
I have a loaner unit to test & they e-mailed me a copy of the software
You'll need an Alinco ERW-15 USB cable, or, the RT Systems USB-29A cable also works, that's what I used, the cable terminates in a 1/8" stereo/two-band plug
I used it today in the car with a 1/4 wave NMO mag mount, it sounds great on receive, it has a clear speaker, I was told the transmit audio is good
I'm going to give it more of a workout this week, both in the mobile & portable with different h-t antennas

Call or e-mail Remtronix & ask them to e-mail the software to you
I have a loaner unit to test & they e-mailed me a copy of the software
You'll need an Alinco ERW-15 USB cable, or, the RT Systems USB-29A cable also works, that's what I used, the cable terminates in a 1/8" stereo/two-band plug
I used it today in the car with a 1/4 wave NMO mag mount, it sounds great on receive, it has a clear speaker, I was told the transmit audio is good
I'm going to give it more of a workout this week, both in the mobile & portable with different h-t antennas

Smiley Antennas [centered at 155 MHz]
https://www.smileyantenna.com/category-s/1514.htm
The Antenna Farm
For mobile
https://theantennafarm.com/shop-by-categories/shop-all/mobile-antennas/108-230-mhz-vhf/457-commercial-vhf-antennas
For h-t
https://theantennafarm.com/shop-by-categories/shop-all/hand-held-antennas/commercial-radio-ht-antennas/671-vhf-hand-held-radio-antennas/672-kenwood-vhf-antennas/13041-laird-connectivity-exh155sfk-detail
73

Just because you can, doesn't mean you should

It's based on the IC-F21 commercial model, so I'd say it is a robust radio, but not to the tune of $150.00
I lucked into a used one a few months ago for $49.00, I replaced the OEM antenna with another one [the original was starting to deteriorate], I need to get a NiMH battery for it, it came with a 600 mAh Ni-Cad
I have a programming cable that fits anther Icom & found the software online, so I reprogrammed it to my preferences, since out-of-the-box, channels 1-8 are repeaters, channels 9-15 are the 462 MHz interstitial, & all channels are set to narrow band, so I tweaked it a bit
Programming it with multiple key/PTT presses? No thank you
If you're an Icom aficionado, & want a Part 95 h-t, I'd say get one, but I wouldn't pay more than $50.00 max depending on it's condition & what accessories it has, just my .02 cents
73

Just because you can, doesn't mean you should

Nope, nope, nope, nope
I enjoy my QSO's on GMRS, I'm good with those
I actually have no interest in conversing with train engineers, boaters, cops, firefighters, etc
Maybe in person, not on the radio
I'd rather spend my $$$ on radio equipment, not FCC &/or civil fines thank you very much

Nope, nope, nope, nope
I enjoy my QSO's on GMRS, I'm good with those
I actually have no interest in conversing with train engineers, boaters, cops, firefighters, etc
Maybe in person, not on the radio
I'd rather spend my $$$ on radio equipment, not FCC &/or civil fines thank you very much

Just because you can, doesn't mean you should

Just because you can, doesn't mean you should

Nope, nope, nope, nope
I enjoy my QSO's on GMRS, I'm good with those
I actually have no interest in conversing with train engineers, boaters, cops, firefighters, etc
Maybe in person, not on the radio
I'd rather spend my $$$ on radio equipment, not FCC &/or civil fines thank you very much

Just curious, like the OP, why did you pick 151.625 originally to program into your radios?
There are various frequency lists posted on the Net for preppers, SHTF, etc, Red Dot & Purple Dot were on the lists
Most of my h-t's have the capacity of storing 128 channels, [1] has 199 channels, [1] has 4000 channels, so when I first got into GMRS a few years ago, I went all out [yes, crazy] on programming for every which way I thought that I would need, or might need
Now, I've read a lot more [thanks to everyone on mygmrs & radioreference], I'm a little more knowledgeable, & I'm more responsible on what I have in my rigs
I do have the NOAA frequencies, & [3] local rail frequencies programmed in, but I make sure that they are on 'NO TRANSMIT' before I unplug the h-t from the pc, let alone before I leave the house
 

Can't believe I am gonna do this again.... especially after saying I wasn't... but here we go.
 
First issue.  WHO'S GONNA MANAGE IT?  Who's gonna assign talk group ID's and radio ID's?
How is it gonna be linked if at all?
Are we gonna allow some form of trunking?  Motorola has Cap Plus trunking,  but those levels of trunking are tier 2 and proprietary.  Meaning your 50 or 100 dollar cheapie radio ain't gonna work.  Motorola radios only.   And no linking with that.  Unless of course you are gonna want to pony up the 2000 bucks for the license for EACH repeater, and the grand for the special router that's required.
No old analog radios can be used.  So all your analog radio's are no longer usable.  Period.  Buy new radios.
The biggest issue, is management.  Someone needs to create a database and keep track of all the assigned radio ID's and talk groups so that nothing overlaps. This is going to be really important with linking two or more repeaters together.
Speaking of which, a maximum of 15 repeaters can be linked together.  To exceed that, you need a D-Bridge to route the talk group traffic.  Who's buying those? 
Ya'll are gonna get me banned off here posting this damn question over and over.  You want DMR, go sit a test and get a ham license. They use it all the time, and they have this worked out.  We (GMRS community) don't.  There are requirements to DMR we don't have currently with analog wide band FM.  The service works fine on analog.  And even the arguments for area's that are using it for 'sorta' public safety like SAR and such.  Go get a damn commercial repeater license and a couple simplex frequencies for your group and put in your own communication system.  Because that's the nonsense that will turn GMRS into HAM radio and ultimately CB.  I have been a ham for 30 years and watched it happen there with people having zero respect for the service get licensed for EMCOMM use for their SAR and CERT groups.  Sure commercial is a bit more expensive, but ONLY ONE license needs to be obtained.  If you set the license up right, and get national frequencies, then ANYONE regardless of the license they might have on another service can use your radios, or you can grant them access to program their radios to be on your licensed frequencies.  It's really not that difficult to see it's a better option.
 

You're welcome
I would start by searching those models right here on myGMRS, check out the opinions+experiences of other users, plus read the user reviews on the radioddity & buytwowayradios web sites
GMRS is getting more popular, word is getting around about it
Some people use it for off-roading, some use it for family comms, some users are going on to chat & make friends, for some users: all of the above
I watched two YouTube videos a couple of years ago about a town in California where the residents are using GMRS for communicating with each other before/during/after wildfires
I think that the usage is going to depend on the area, whether it's ham or GMRS
Just tonight I was discussing ham radio usage with someone who uses both ham & GMRS, in this area [Tampa Bay, FL], the hams seem to be using 2 meter simplex more than the repeaters unless it's a net, the same may be happening in your area, there's more simplex usage vs the repeaters
It's an obvious point, but I'll say it anyway, no matter which radio you choose: antenna-antenna-antenna, it will make you or break you, whether base, mobile, or portable/hand-held
With GMRS being UHF: height is might, get your base antenna as high as possible, & use quality coax so you don't lose too much of your signal between the radio & the antenna, especially if you're going to use h-t's for now, you want as many of your 4-5 watts to get to the antenna
While I'm thinking about it, you may or may not want to replace the stock antennas on your h-t's, you'll have to test your situation out & see what results you get
73

They probably spent so much on weapons & etc that Baofengs are all that they can afford with what they have left

They probably spent so much on weapons & etc that Baofengs are all that they can afford with what they have left

My Alinco DJ-MD5 does
VHF 136-174MHz / UHF 400-480MHz

Personally, I prefer to buy from the radio stores for my equipment, I don't support Amazon or the big box stores
I prefer to support the radio stores, whether they're individual shops [R&L, Chatt Radio, The Antenna Farm] or small chains [HRO], plus I believe that the stores are going to make sure that they sell genuine brands, not knock-offs or counterfeits
I've purchased from Signal Stuff also, he's not a store but an individual [with helpers]
I apologize for hijacking the thread, we now return you to the original topic

Personally, I prefer to buy from the radio stores for my equipment, I don't support Amazon or the big box stores
I prefer to support the radio stores, whether they're individual shops [R&L, Chatt Radio, The Antenna Farm] or small chains [HRO], plus I believe that the stores are going to make sure that they sell genuine brands, not knock-offs or counterfeits
I've purchased from Signal Stuff also, he's not a store but an individual [with helpers]
I apologize for hijacking the thread, we now return you to the original topic

And, IMO, The White Knight
73

I have a limit of 5 characters on one of my h-ts, so I had to get a little creative, I have a half way decent memory for airport id's, so, Clearwater is CLW, Sarasota is SRQ, Tampa is TPA, etc
I personally prefer to alphabetize the id's by location/city/town in ascending order, then if there's more than one repeater in an area, I use the frequency after the ID, so: CLW 550, CLW 600, SRQ 650, TPA 575, TPA 725, etc
On the 5 character h-t, it cuts off the 3rd digit, but that's ok, CLW60, SRQ65, TPA57, or TPA72, I can work with that, the 3rd digit is always going to be 0 or 5
73

I have a limit of 5 characters on one of my h-ts, so I had to get a little creative, I have a half way decent memory for airport id's, so, Clearwater is CLW, Sarasota is SRQ, Tampa is TPA, etc
I personally prefer to alphabetize the id's by location/city/town in ascending order, then if there's more than one repeater in an area, I use the frequency after the ID, so: CLW 550, CLW 600, SRQ 650, TPA 575, TPA 725, etc
On the 5 character h-t, it cuts off the 3rd digit, but that's ok, CLW60, SRQ65, TPA57, or TPA72, I can work with that, the 3rd digit is always going to be 0 or 5
73

I have a limit of 5 characters on one of my h-ts, so I had to get a little creative, I have a half way decent memory for airport id's, so, Clearwater is CLW, Sarasota is SRQ, Tampa is TPA, etc
I personally prefer to alphabetize the id's by location/city/town in ascending order, then if there's more than one repeater in an area, I use the frequency after the ID, so: CLW 550, CLW 600, SRQ 650, TPA 575, TPA 725, etc
On the 5 character h-t, it cuts off the 3rd digit, but that's ok, CLW60, SRQ65, TPA57, or TPA72, I can work with that, the 3rd digit is always going to be 0 or 5
73

Most store ops are on MURS, they used to have Ritron h-t's, now they use Motorola configured exclusively for them
I don't know what radios the drivers use, or if all of them have one, but usually it's so they can back up to the dock & say "management, Wal-Mart driver is at grocery receiving" since the stores are so busy & short-staffed, either no one answers the phone or there's no one in receiving to hear the truck arrive
If it's on the drivers nickel, I doubt that they're going to spring for a MURS mobile, antenna & install
73 to everyone

Between your experience & what I've read about the new IC-T10 h-t [everyone likes it, but thinks that it's overpriced], I'm starting to reconsider my wish that Icom would get back into GMRS equipment
Last month I was lucky enough to pick up a used F21GM for $49.00, I just have to source an aftermarket battery for it, new Icom batteries cost more than I paid for the h-t
I apologize for derailing the MURS topic
73 to all