wayoverthere

If it works like my FT4X, one option would be to change the "lock" settings to only disable PTT, so you can still change channes at will. then just unlock when you want to switch to a channel you can transmit on. this is the route i go with the FT4X since i don't have any public safety channels programmed, but dial one up on the VFO occasionally when there might be something going on. alternately, what i did with the baofengs and the LMR stuff is set them for duplex, with the intended listen only (public safety/commercial/etc) frequency as the receive frequency, and either GMRS CH 1 (462.5625) or MURS 1 (i forget the frequency offhand) as the transmit frequency. Neither is strictly kosher, but GMRS1 is often a mess of kerchunks and call button tones from the kids with bubble packs (at least here), and I've never heard a peep on MURS. CHIRP is pretty good about letting you just type in the transmit frequency directly, and calculating the offset, but if you're using Yaesu's you may need to calculate it yourself.

First, I'm not a Mac guy, so I don't have firsthand experience there. However, per others' experiences (and Linux/wine experience with other software), it should get along okay with emulator software (not sure what the Mac equivalent of Wine is). Second, what part of the settings are you having problems with? In the software, I tend to program the basic frequency info (Rx, tx) on the main screen, then hit the carets >> over to the right side of the line to do the rest..ctcss/dcs, channel naming, and scan behavior (and disable tx on monitor only stuff). I'll.try to get on the other computer I used for programming later this evening for some screenshots if someone doesn't beat me to it. I honestly havent tried much manual programming, it seems less difficult to just use the software,though I do have a dedicated Windows laptop for radio work ($150 refurbished Dell from woot.com).

Gotcha. Settings are a definite possibility, but any chance of swapping mics with another working unit to test and rule out a fault there? That was what clued me in on the broken wire in mine...swapping between one working and one not, and which part (cord vs mic) the problem followed.

Not sure what Kenwood would call the feature (others more familiar with kenwood likely will), but some/many LMR radios have a feature that may be referred to as "on hook scanning". I ran into this with my vertex stuff, and the fix was to ground the mic holder button to the radio. I also had one mic where the ground wire to the button was broken, but a quick solder and it was back to normal.

I don't see any reason, with the right hardware, that a dual pl setup couldnt be implemented similar to what CARLA has on the ham side. One pl, your audio goes to the whole system, while another pl repeats on that machine only. If you key up the local pl, linked audio is muted until a set period after local activity ends, and the link resumes. http://carlaradio.net/thesystem/pl_ct.php

It's in the product description (first paragraph) for the UV980P now, though I don't remember seeing that part in the past. https://www.buytwowayradios.com/wouxun-kg-uv980p.html Yeah, it's been a couple of few months since I looked, the 1.25m version was listed last time, but I put off grabbing one...not there when I checked today.

I may have missed something, but I thought the version of the uv920p with 2m/1.25m was full power for both, but I can't seem to find anything solid now, and the 1.25m versions is no longer listed when I look today. I know a lot of the other tribands are low on 1.25, which was what had me eyeing the wouxun. I don't remember seeing the 10w on 6/10m wording in the listing for the uv980p though, so entirely possible I missed it previously too.

To be fair, there were legislative reasons the fee for ham licenses stayed zero as long as it did, along with some administrative hoops to get their <stuff> together to justify the fees and get the payment processes in place. It'd probably get more traction to argue the cost of administering gmrs licensing should be adjusted to reflect actual costs than trying to get a structure where the license costs nothing.

Well put, and putting it nicely. It sounds like making more of a mess to me, and there's definitely an overtone of "hams are superior" in that document While I wouldn't mind seeing digital voice come to gmrs, it'd probably be best relegated to a new channel or two (maybe require narrowband there), and for simplicity go with one set standard...there's already a good variety of radios out there with DMR, from cheap to LMR. Along that line, how about explicitly making part 90 gear a-ok too? The one thing I wouldn't mind seeing that's definitely a concession to hams (and I'm not seeing any corresponding downside to gmrs, but let me know if I'm missing something) would be a pass on the 95e certification requirement IF the user holds both a gmrs license and a ham license, i.e. the ability to also use your ham gear for gmrs, subject to the usual power, mode and bandwidth requirements for gmrs. Hey, a guy can dream.

I've said the same in the past as well...not to discourage, but to moderate expectations. Some areas are a lot more social, especially where there are linked systems. Mine is a bit lower activity, a little repeater chatter but other than the machine run by the ham club, not much "outside the group" traffic.

For the main page, either the "Repeaters" or the "Map" links (near the top of the page on desktop, or under the right sidebar, accessed by the 3 lines in the top right, on mobile) lead back to the main site. On that repeater icon, is there one specific you can point to that shows it?

Yes, some companies make antennas that don't require a ground plane; i'm partial to Laird. The main thing is that it covers the 462-467 range with sufficient bandwidth (the one linked covers 450-470mhz) https://theantennafarm.com/index.php?option=com_virtuemart&view=productdetails&virtuemart_product_id=3236

It's the OP, Kdcstks. May have been typing in the wrong field when posting the question

This. I'll note that somewhere around the time of the original post (I forget if it was before or after) the logins between the two parts of the site were unified. One may still need to login to the main page again, as it doesn't carry between the two (afaik), but the login should be the same for main site or forum.

First, I've had nothing good experiences with The Antenna Farm as well, and hope to see them get back on track in the new year. Second, most of the mag mounts I've used have been the mxta12's, and they've worked well for me, both on that 32" 2x5/8 wave Browning, and the 36" long comet 2x4sr. They've hung on fine on the roof of my little truck even close to 90mph, along with dragging a signal stalk across all the ceiling beams in the 7' clearance parking structure at work (5 or 6 floors worth, depending where I found a spot). The only time it actually came off in the year I had it up was once, with a direct hit on the comet on a solid (2"+ diameter) tree branch