gman1971

Holy smokes... an APX8000, a flagship in the Motorolian Empire... and they call me the snob with a handful of XPR7550e hahaha... G.

Please, lets leave politics out of this.

Thank you. I think its kinda obvious, but worth reminding people. G.

@Billtrout Yes, I have tried a few smiley antennas, I didn't like the performance. @Jeepandy Yes, the PMAE4048A, being an SMA antenna, will work on any radio with an SMA connector on it, inlcuding Btech portable radios.

+1 on the ICOM. If you are going ham, then get a ham radio. The purpose of GMRS is not the same as amateur ham operator. CCR = Cheap China Radio. (are cheap, have low performing receivers, tend to have dubious FCC certification, potentially illegal to TX on any band, and they usually put out spurious, or dirty, RF signals out too) I don't understand what MacJack is talking about Motorola radios not being what they used to years back, or the gotcha, maybe he can elaborate a bit more on that?... but the fact, tho, is that they still outperform CCRs by an ample margin. So, I think the ICOM you stated will make a fine first radio. But, if you just need something dirt-cheap to get started in GMRS repeater operation, then know there are much cheaper alternatives to CCRs than the Wouxuns, with identical performance for GMRS repeater operation. My vote goes to the Baofeng BF-888s, at 9 dollars a pop. (or a pair nowadays? ) you can never go wrong with that, the ultimate disposable radio. I have more than a dozen or so of those... G.

I'll bite. So, if you are going to use repeaters to chat with other GMRS licensed operators, then any UHF radio will work. If you want something just to get started then go with a Baofeng BF-888s. It doesn't get any cheaper than 9 dollars, which is, if IIRC, what I paid for one of those last time. Don't expect to break any simplex long range contexts with it... but it will communicate with GMRS repeaters just fine. After playing around with GMRS for a while, then evaluate what you really want, and what the typical usage scenario would be. Is simplex range what you want? or you prefer chatting with other GMRS owners in repeaters? Maybe what you want is Ham radio, and not GMRS, which is a very different license than GMRS. In GMRS there are just 22 channels, so things like VFO, etc... are not needed, you only need to scan 22 channels. Most hams, used to VFO on their radios like to have one, which was probably the thing to have 20 years ago, when everything was FM..., nowadays, however, most, if not all radio communications in UHF are digital modulation (P25, DMR, NDXN, D-Star), which most of these FM radios won't do... so having the ability to scan the entire UHF band won't be of much use when all you'll hear is bleep bleep, thunk thunk thunk thunk (DMR) or a hissing noise like a good old modem (P25, D-star) etc.. So, again, for ham operation a VFO comes in handy since most of the ham stuff is all FM analog. but the rest of the world is moving away from analogue communications. Keep in mind, though, that if its long simplex GMRS range what you seek, you'll need to pay to play. G.

There is no attitude like you state... this is a textual form of communication, which makes anything contrary to your opinion always sound worse than it is. When someone posts about a radio on a public forum, they should expect some criticism... so it sounds like I am the snob now, fine by me. Its a shame we'll never get to meet in person... go get some coffee together and have a good laugh about it, really. Absolutely it is my opinion, is there a problem with me stating my opinion?, repeated times? Others state theirs repeated times as well, the only difference I see is that mine doesn't align with yours.... so? I don't count? I thought exactly like you do now, but opinions always change over time, I am entitled to my opinion, and to change it over time when I realize I made a mistake.... I am learning and my opinion has changed over a decade spent hell bent in trying to achieve reliable simplex range for my family... so... I guess if you don't need simplex range, then that's fine, just buy whatever. Also, to be clear, the "spouting off about radios without ever using them" comment is also your opinion as well. Nothing wrong with it, but you should be aware that I've used several earlier Wouxun radios, with so-called superhets, and that I've spent several grand $$$ in CCRs already, hoping to get "more simplex range" but after comparing them to the LMR stuff, even the "entry level" 50 dollars inexpensive LMR portable gear, these performed better than the 400 Anytone AT-578 mobile, which is a 400 dollar radio!! So, I quickly realized there must've been something I've missed.... so I started picking more used LMR stuff, and simplex range started to improve, reliability improved, radios wouldn't freeze up on my belt, all features actually worked, etc... but the range, the most important thing I wanted, the range I got out of used LMR gear was closer to what my initial expectations where when I started down this road, and especially so in a portable-to-portable on foot situation; just try an XPR7550e to XPR7550e on foot, you'll be hard pressed to find anything else on the market that comes even close to the impressive range you'll get, short of a $$$ APX. G.

Motorola PMAE4048A . Its 3.5 inches and works very well for GMRS. I have one on all my XPR 6550 UHF. Try buying from an OEM dealer, or Motorola Solutions directly, the knock offs are rather abundant, and perform worse, as measured. G.

I would trust Corey's advice on this one over most others. He has setup repeaters with ranges exceeding 30+ mile range, and I listen to his repeater (Madison 700) all day long... so, I think he knows what he is doing. Yes, I would ditch all UHF connectors while at it. G.

If you are new to radio, then I would just start with a Baofeng BF-888s. it doesn't get any cheaper than that, like 9 dollars, so If you don't like radio or GMRS then you can smash the 888s with a hammer. But, if you like it, I would advice not to buy a single more CCR. I would invest on a quality Part 90 radio made by Kenwood, ICOM, Motorola, Harris. G.

@O-B-1 Maybe you should do that, it will be an improvement over these garbage one-chip-wonder turds. What? Risky at best? Your experience doesn't mirror my experience, or how do you explain that over the past few months I've purchased, from eBay, more than two dozens of XPR radios, all used, ranging from XPR6550, 7550e, 5350e, 5550e, 4550, SL7550, etc... you name it.... and not a single one of them was defective? I think that is a pretty good success rate, about 100% success rate, and you tell me risky at best? @PRradio Superhet, superhet, superhet... but it has a superhet... right? it must be good... Superheterodyne is just a technique, and it can be done using tubes, good old transistors, or a single chip. Any superheterodyne receiver without a tuned front end that operates under strong off frequency signals will have intermod, period. The difference between the garbage radios and the quality LMR part 90 radios (like ICOM, Kenwood, Moto) is that the part 90 radios have a tuned front end. Police can't afford to have their radio fade out, desense or have intermod problems when they are in the middle of a critical situation. I guess if you like buying garbage phones b/c they have flashier screens we have nothing further to discuss. I much rather own a phone with more coverage than one that can play Call of Duty but only has coverage when I walk down to the driveway... So, I guess I'll have to keep buying those old and crusty XPR7550e radios... dang, I feel so sad for these cheap radio makers... G.

ah, the mighty 888s.... 9 dollars of pure RF terror.... they can do all frequencies, I've had them TXing on MURS... listen to NOAA... the beauty of a one-chip-wonder with no front end... everything gets through!! G.

Wow, 50 bucks? Considering the Baoturd BF-888s is 9 dollars, it seems like 41 dollars too much... for the same performance, as measured. The RT29 and the entire RT family of radios I've owned all measured exactly the same figures: a whopping -92 dBm effective sensitivity in UHF... and for the microvolt crowd, that is an effective sensitivity of (drumroll) 5.617 uV.... yes, not 0.5617 uV, its 5.617 uV, and for comparison, the XPR6550 has an effective sensitivity of 0.35 uV... so there you have it... Could you please measure the KG805G with an ISO-tee?, I would love to know what the effective sensitivity of that is... G.

Poor selectivity is just one of the many issues with those "CCRs"... but, its their money, so let them have at it. G.

+1 to Kenwood, or Motorola used commercial gear is probably your best bet.

My point is how really valid are those part 95E "blanket approvals"... are those part15 scanners with PTTs? are those really certified Part95? "blanket approval" doesn't inspire much confidence... G.

Emissions? what good are legal (or the lack thereof) emissions if the radio can't hear its way out of a paper bag?... and as for these things being FCC approved, they are the same who allowed Part 15 radios to be operated with a PTT with impunity... so, please, spare me the FCC sermon. I am not the one buying substandard equipment here... I did, and I regret every bit of it... it was a mistake. A superhet doesn't make a radio good by default, I guess you believe it does... so, tell me, how do explain the XPR7550e using a direct sampling receiver? because it does, you know? Desense is not the only problem receivers can have to suck, there are radios that won't desense much (like my EVX-5400 mobiles), but still are unable to produce a usable signals, whereas the XPR5550e still produces voice that isn't garbled, or riddled with RF noise. Read on how the IF frequencies mix with strong off channel signals on a superhet... and then you'll see that even if the receiver doesn't have a desense issue, the radio will be still be unable to produce a usable signal... the only way to fix this is with a tuned front end, which nearly all those CCRs lack, and the ones which have one is "insufficient" at best. "something can be made with better filtering"? Well, news flash: there is already something made like that, dirt cheap too, which have a proper tuned front end. Someone on another thread found an ICOM FS2000 for about that price, the specs on that FS2000 blow away anything garbage CCR made. Kenwood LMR radios are similarly good, too, and are also quite affordable too. Some of older Motorola radios, like the HT1250, etc.... also have pretty impressive receiver specs and can be found for next to nothing. There is the Vertex EVX line, the EVX531 portables can be found for <60 bucks on eBay, superhet and a 5 varactor tuned front end, not a piece of garbage (still gets blitzed in some of the high traffic areas around where I live). Similarly, if you look hard enough you can find EVX-539 portables, with the enhanced display for <90 bucks... on eBay. Heck, another member here got a super deal on an EVX-539 with the enhanced display for like <60... or something inexpensive like that. XPR6550 can also be found for <100 if you look around. There is also the older XTS radios, from Motorola too, which have even more impressive specs than the XPR radios... those can be found for cheap, and for the performance they offer, some models are quad band too... Entry level should not be confused with garbage. An EVX-531 is an entry level radio, an RT76P is a piece of garbage. Enjoy your purchase. G.

Thanks for all this info. G.

With a pretty decent receiver. That radio should not be bothered much by intermod issues... good choice. Unfortunately I don't know much about that radio, but just like JohnE stated, it appears like its a good handheld. G.

Here we go again, the superhet buzzword had to come up... superhets are useless without a proper tuned front end... so, does the radio have any front end filtering? how many tuned varactors are on that radio? G.

MOL Subscription gives you 3 years free of upgrades and CPS upgrades, so you're not stuck with the firmware. Basically what I've been told is that the features on the radio expire, requiring regular activation fees. Plus the CPS is much buggier and slower than the older CPS 16. Yaesu is no more, it used to be Vertex Standard, but they are wholly owned by Motorola now, and the name was retired 2 years back... so, o more Vertex Standard... ICOM and Kenwood make decent radios too, but most new LMR radio makers nowadays have some sort of subscription business model... so you're stuck with it. In the older Motorola CPS once you enable things they remain enabled until you perform a recover on the radio. Talker alias and a few other things on the newer firmware are neat, but TBH, I've never used them. I have all my radios preprogrammed with whatever I need to do, or talk and just leave it at that. IMO I would just get an XPR 7550e with 2.09 from eBay, get the CPS from eBay as well and the cable. The XPR radios sound far better than the Kenwoods, most people I know who operate entire fleets of radios use Motorola gear, not Kenwood, nor ICOM. I detest Motorola business model, but I have to say whatever engineering they put on their radios pretty much sets the bar for LMR.. and if you really have some cash to burn, then I would get an APX7000 multiband portable... nothing else will touch that radio in terms of receiver performance... but for most light duty LMR stuff, APX is absolutely overkill... and its just P25 only so... If you don't need to have DMR, then there is the older Motorola XTS series, they are P25/FM, and these have pretty impressive specs as well. The XTS5000 is also a multiband VHF/UHF/700/800 mhz, with FKP... its a nice radio, just no color display... so if you want to have a fancy screen then perhaps that is not the radio you want. G.

I found it on MOL, thanks! G.

Yep, another one-chip wonder (or not so wonderful)... dubious Part certification on anything... is this another scanner with a PTT? G.

+1 on this. Those radios are pretty decent quality radios, but the software, cable, etc is all a mystery to me. G.

Motorola ties CPS with firmware versions. Once you go up to a version, you cannot go back. CPS 2.0 has some usability concerns, some features that existed in CPS 16 were removed ( I think Bluetooth programming being one of them) The radios seem to dial home as well, there is a host of ransomware type of business model on the new CPS. So, if you go above 2.10 firmware, you don't have a choice but to use CPS 2.0. My entire fleet of 25 XPR radios are on 2.09, no issues to date. G.