WSEZ864

I agree that it IS population-driven - why invest in infrastructure to service a handful of people? Even here in relatively densely populated Maryland, we have surprisingly large areas with no cell service. The "Eastern Shore" (the peninsula east of the Chesapeake Bay) is still a lot of farmland and timber plus vast areas of marshland, and there are areas I routinely visit there with little or no cell service. A lot of the marsh is being abandoned and stuff like the roads and telephone lines are just deteriorating, with no plans to improve things or add stuff like cable TV or cell towers. I can still reach ham repeaters from most of these places due to how flat the terrain is. Our western panhandle is mountainous and there are large areas in our two westernmost counties where cell service is unavailable, not counting the local pockets like deep ravines and hollows. Out there, my ham radio has limited service for some of the same reasons cell service doesn't penetrate: no line-of-sight to towers.

An additional consideration is that the simplex channels 15-22 are sharing their frequency with repeater outputs. If you plan to use simplex on any of these channels, check for repeater activity so you don't create interference. I have two active repeaters in range, one uses 17 and the other uses 19, so I avoid these channels when operating simplex.

I bought my TS-590 based on Sherwood's receive sensitivity ratings, but gave up ground on noise suppression technology.

I have had a Yaesu FT-8900 in three trucks over a period of 9 years and it has seen everything from sitting in a field all day in central VA summers (100f+) to western MD winters (<0f) and everything works as it should. We just had single digit nighttime temps for about a week. Display is still crisp, controls are OK.

Not yet, but am about 2 paydays from buying one. They really are great radios. I bought a Kenwood TS-590 (pre-G) when I first got my license and while it has been a very nice radio, I am drawn to the bandscope/SDR style screen of the IC-7300. I have been using an SDRPlay dual channel SDR for receive only and would love to have a radio with similar display function.

@WRUU653, @brasda91, @nokones & @WSFL951: Thank you for your comments and suggestions! I appreciate you taking the time to post and I will look into the other radios mentioned.

Sounds like the new mount is defective, maybe a bad connection at one end or the other. Can you check it with an ohm meter and ensure it is not shorted (check resistance between the center conductor and shield) or open (check continuity from end to end on the center conductor and then on the shield). You might also inspect the NMO mount and make sure it is clean and making good contact.

Thank you Steve. I'm apparently out of 'likes' for the day or you'd have one. My buddy actually knew exactly who I was talking about when I gave him Maurice's name and has already emailed him. We're more or less in the area - my buddy lives up near Baltimore and I'm a little further south.

Excellent, THANK YOU! That's probably good enough to get him by. I'll let him know this. He is also going to contact Maurice at the NFB and get his opinions.

Thank you for checking that, I very much appreciate it! I could set him up initially, with our local repeater tones, etc.. I 'need' a dedicated GMRS HT myself and might get one like his and add the RTSystems software/cable to my end of it and program it for him. Does either radio (Wouxon or Baofeng) voice acknowledge 'scan'? That's the only other function I can think of that he would want constant access to. Thank you guys again!! It would be great to be able to help this guy get going.

Thank you VERY MUCH for checking that. I've passed that info along. Maybe that much is enough, he may have someone who can set the menu items for him and all he'll need is channels, volume and power.

Thank you for your suggestion and comments, sorry I missed them before.

Thank you WSFL951! Amazon is out of stock at the link, but has it under another listing that might be workable. Opinions?: Is the Wouxon worth more than double this cost? I'm thinking I'll just donate this radio, but balk at $80 - $29 is more more platable

Thank you for your help with this Steve, it is very much appreciated! I'll look into the KG-805G.

Thank you for the link WSFL951! I appreciate you taking the time to do that. I searched before posting, but that didn't come up. The info at the link is primarily about amplifiers and commercial radios, but he could get by with an HT accepted for Part 95 operation that he can use. We are fairly close to each other and to several repeaters, so 5 watts +/- should be plenty. If there is a mobile radio that offers audible setting status, etc., that would probably work fine too if it's not too expensive.

I've been helping a blind radio enthusiast with his FCC licensing and he recently got his GMRS license. We are working on getting him through his Technician exam, but it's not going quickly and he would like to use GMRS to talk with local friends while working on his other license. I would need to find a Part 95 certified/accepted transceiver that will work for visually impaired for him to use. He has a Kenwood ham HT that audibly tells him its status and he does well monitoring with it, but cannot legally transmit with it at this time. I realize we could probably find a ham HT to adapt, but I really don't want to put him into non-compliance and I'm not at all interested in debating enforcement/risk. I've been around radio for 50 years and understand the debate, but this is not for my own use. Whatever I suggest to him must be perfectly legal for him to use for GMRS. Does anyone know of a decent Part 95 radio usable by a blind person? Thank you for any suggestions!!

Low SWR is desirable but does not always indicate or guarantee best radiation. Don't get caught up in that trap. A good dummy load has a very low SWR (1:1), but radiation is abysmal.

I see your point of view, but I look at it from another metric beyond radio value: How much of my own time and aggravation does it save? Usual answer: "A lot!" It is SO much easier to program radios using external software than it is to input all of the minutia via a keypad and multi-layer menu. I buy RTSystems stuff for every radio I own that allows software programming and consider it a very worthwhile investment. Not only do I get RTS capability, but the cable facilitates use of CHIRP, VX7 Commander and other aftermarket programming software. For most of my radios each software provides slightly differing ability to make changes. Your comment about having multiple radios IS spot on. I have a few duplicate radios and it's nice to be able to make changes in the computer, save the file and then just dump the changes into the radios at 30 seconds each.

Nice. I made one exactly like this for 2 meters and it too works great. I used doubled up #12 solid wire and it's a little flexible for outside use, but works fine indoors.