WRKY933

When making a channel chart there are some repeaters that have numbers such as Repeater 1 thru 7. What differentiates these repeaters. Are certain frequency range blocks assigned to certain repeater numbers? Does a number 3 repeater get a certain frequency range compared to a number 7 repeater? How does that work?

I don't know how to tell if the NAGOYA is genuine or not or where to get one. I bought mine from Amazon and it was junk. It came in a green sleeve just like the ABBREE antenna and it said it was made in Taiwan. And it also had a BTECH logo on it. My antenna did in fact come from BTECH thru Amazon. As for the AR5RM, it is a great little radio. There are a couple of very cool features in the menu options. One is the Scramble mode, menu 45. There are 3 tone scramble options there. Very cool if you want to have secure communications. And then to make it even more secure on top of that there is the frequency hop menu which scrambles the frequencies so if the powers that be want to listen it, it will make it even more difficult. That is menu number 41. Do 41 and 45 together and nobody will be able to decipher you. Well, I'm sure some alphabet agency might be able to but it would take some time. If you keep your transmissions short I'm sure you would be very secure.

Again my unscientific test. The ABBREE 771 UHF/VHF antenna will work on the GMRS frequencies and ironically even marginally better than the ABBREE 771 GMRS antenna. I tested it on simplex and thru a repeater as well. As of recently, the Baofeng AR5RM has been coming with the ABBREE 771 UHF/VHF antenna included as standard equipment. No need to buy an additional GMRS antenna.

When I first started getting into GMRS I was told that I needed a dedicated GMRS antenna for my AR5RM radio BC the stock antennas that came with the radio are sh!t. I know the little rubber ducky antennas leave little to be desired. A knowledgeable person told me that I need a NAGOYA 771G antenna. I already had an ABBREE 771 GMRS antenna. That antenna cost me a whopping $8.00 in monies. The NAGOYA is $22.00 in monies, almost 3 times the price of the ABBREE antenna. I was told that the NAGOYA is a better antenna because it's made in Japan and the ABBREE is a Chinese knockoff. Total rubbish! The NAGOYA is made in Taiwan, not Japan. It has a Japanese name so people assume it's made in Japan. It comes in an identical wrapper as the ABBREE which is made in China. I did a side by side comparison of the 2 antennas Talking to a lady about 20 Fars (miles) away on a GMRS repeater. I was using the NAGOYA 771 G antenna and my signal was weak. She could barely hear me. Her signal wasn't so great either because it was transmitting back from the repeater into my sh!tty NAGOYA 771G antenna. So then I told her to stand by while I switched antennas. I installed the ABBREE 771 GMRS and it was as clear as a bell. It was like talking to someone next door. The elcheapo Chinese made ABBREE antenna was far better than the more expensive Japanese knockoff outsourced to Taiwan NAGOYA 771G antenna. I recently bought another AR5RM radio. This one came with an ABBREE 771 UHF/VHF HAM antenna. So I did another antenna test. I made a contact about 40 miles away on a HAM repeater using the included ABBREE 771 UHF/VHF antenna. I then switched over to the ABBREE 771 GMRS antenna. The person I was talking to said he couldn't tell any difference between the 2 antennas. His transmission back to me was clear as well. Will the ABBREE 771 UHF/VHF work on GMRS? I don't know, I haven't tried it yet but but I suspect that it might. Anyways, that is my unscientific antenna test for whatever it's worth. Jeff WRKY933 / K7JXB

I made a mistake getting the AR5RM. I screwed up and got the AR5RM-PLUS. That radio is locked and can't transmit on FRS/GMRS/MURS frequencies. I just sucked it up and threw it in a box and got an AR5RM that comes unlocked. It's a great little radio and I'm still learning stuff about it. I had to get a GMRS antenna for it. I bought a couple of GMRS antennas for additional Baofengs. I was using a NAGOYA 771-G and the reception was very weak and scratchy. I was talking on a repeater to someone who was about 25 miles away. She could barely hear me and I could barely hear her. So I switched antennas to an ABBREE 771-GMRS and it sounded like we were talking next door to each other. The ABBREE antenna is only $8 bucks on Amazon and the NAGOYA is $22 bucks. That's $22 bucks wasted IMO. That's just my personal unscientific test of GMRS antennas.

The best deal on O-Rings is Harbor Freight. You can get a box of several hundred or so of different sizes for about $7 or $8 bucks. There will be one that will fit the bottom of the antenna. Also equally important is this nifty little trick. The Power/Volume knob is real easy to turn on. It could happen inadvertently while bouncing around in a back pack or go bag and you'll have a dead battery when you need your radio the most. Solution: Pull the Power/Volume knob off. You won't hurt it. It comes straight off. There is a flat index spot for reattaching it. Slip an O-Ring over the collar of the knob and push it back down on the stem so it fits snuggly. It will create a little bit of friction so when you turn the power knob on so it doesn't turn on too easily and preventing your battery to wear down while your radio is in a back pack or go bag.