wayoverthere

Good deal I never bothered tracking it down for mine, so if I forget the date, if will force narrowband. There was a comment in that other thread that had instructions to force a "admin" or "developer" mode that would allow it, but haven't messed with that either...haven't needed to mess with programming for a bit.

1. The "W/N" column is what you're looking for. If yours is anything like my VX4200's, you'll have a choice of N (12.5khz, narrowband), W4 (20khz), and W5 (25khz). I've used W4 without issue. 2. Double click the indicator for the row you want to edit. or, single click (you can click, then shift click to select multiple rows) and use the space bar to cycle through the options. i do cheat the forced narrowband by setting my system time to something in 2005 (anything before 1/1/13 works, iirc) before starting the software. 3. I've found the "help" to be pretty good for the Vertex software packages i've used (i'm up to 4 or 5 now). I don't know of any specific documents offhand, but i do have some screenshots of my setup (and a few of the other screens) in this post, though i don't know how different the software or options are between the 2200 and the 4200. bonus curiosity question: is the last 2 characters of the model name on the label G6 or G7? If it follows most of the vertex stuff i've seen, G6 is a 400-470mhz range, and G7 is 450-512.

Except the slice of 10m that Techs have access to is specified for SSB phone (not FM), and all the 10/6/2/.70 radios I can think of are FM only. More generally, are you thinking toward upgrading to General in the future? IMO, the jump in difficulty from Tech to General is a lot smaller than from General to Extra (spoken as a General studying toward Extra). If General is in the cards , consider whether it's worth a "buy once, cry once" jump now, play with 10m, and then you're better set for the future. Also, TX aside, you can listen to other bands all you want, even as a Tech (or not even ham licensed)....if that interests you. Minor correction; FCC lumps General and Tech together in the C & D group calls (1x3 and 2x3), with Extra getting access to the 1x2, 2x1, and 2x2 calls. From personal experience, while I was still a Tech, I chose to request a vanity call ahead of the fee implementation, shortening my sequentially assigned 2x3 (KN6) to a 1x3 (K6), but retained the same suffix as assigned. (Tech in 3/2021, did the vanity 7/2021, upgraded to General 6/2023) IIRC, when you level up to General and Extra, there's a box you can mark to request a new sequential call as well. https://www.fcc.gov/wireless/bureau-divisions/mobility-division/amateur-radio-service/amateur-call-sign-systems so...a 1x2, 2x1, or 2x2 is a dead giveaway of a higher class (Advanced or Extra)

I will mention to watch the specs on the power supplies; many of them advertise based on their "peak" current capability, rather than their "continuous" figure; depending how a particular supply is advertising, that may not provide the safety margin one would hope for. some of them also vary on much they differ between "peak" and "contiuous" ratings. 25a continuous should be good to run two at the same time with a small safety margin, 30a continuous, a bit more. case in point, my alinco is sold as a 30a PSU, which is the peak figure; its continuous rating is a bit lower, at 20a. in the real world, it's going to come down to how it's used, though. I've had three 45-50 watt radios running off of the one PSU, since, as you mentioned, in the real world it's unlikely you'll be transmitting on more than one radio at a time. each draws less than 1a on receive, and 10-11 amps on full power transmit. (2x vertex vx4200, 1x Btech gmrs50x1).

I wouldn't doubt either...you should have a good line of sight from the valley floor in both locations.

I've used one of the Park Ridge machines (i forget which) that's a little over 60 miles away from the valley floor without issue, on the little 15 watt AT779uv and a 1/4 wave mag mounted on the truck. They claim an estimated 100 mile range, and in some directions that's absolutely believable as they sit at or above 7000 ft elevation. I've also had no problem getting into one of the 70cm ham repeaters on a 5 watt handheld at 75ish miles across the valley. again, elevation helping out as i was sitting around 4000 ft, and the repeater sits around 3000 on a ridge. terrain in between will be the deciding factor.

Hopefully better than that scene in the original "Naked Gun" when he wanders off to the restroom still wearing the wireless mic....

Commode-ium

given the distortion, and some of the reports elsewhere of cheap intercoms from amazon operating where they shouldn't be, the possibility also comes to mind of it being a harmonic of something operating lower down in the UHF range.

took a little drive yesterday, ~3.5 hours (unplanned detour) on state highways and interstates. other than the mess on Ch 6, and what was probably LSB on Ch 38 (garbled, and my radio doesn't do SSB), there was basically no traffic. even tried calling on Ch 19 a few times, and nada. Didn't bother setting it up again for the trip back today, just left it in my duffel with the antenna on the floor in the back.

I'll have to look at whether mine even still has a model number on it...it's got to be from either the late 90's or very early 2000's, as i remember tucking the mag mount antenna into the roof rack on my VW for trips (before i bought a truck, and road tripped that instead)

i've got a 40 channel radio shack CB in the garage that gets turned on occasionally (with a mag mount antenna stuck on my vw), but it doesn't hear much. also have a newer am/fm Presdent (Bill II, I think) that gets thrown in the truck for road trips. Actually have another trip coming up this weekend (Pacificon-bound), and I'll probably have the little Anytone and the CB on board with a couple of mag mounts on the roof.

Ah, forgot that one, my apologies. Iirc, commercial was forced to narrowband effective January 2013, hence that limitation. Before you start the software, jump into the windows settings and turn off syncing with Internet time. Then set your system date to something before 2013 (i tended to use the current date, but dial the year back to 2005). Start the software, and it should now let you have wideband options.

Thanks for the update ...I saw that one on the map, but since the location didn't match I didn't scroll down to the comments.

Honestly, I haven't kept an ear on things, so I haven't heard in a bit if it was up or down. Was searching the repeater listings today, and wasn't even able to find it listed. last I remember, there was some wording on the listing about attempting to track down someone with knowledge of/access to the repeater, but can't see the listing now to see if that updated.

IIRC, the cycling self-test is expected. Fire up the software, plug the radio into the computer, and go to File > Configure, and pick your COM port. Then, fire up the radio and plug the cable into the radio. In the software, jump over to the Radio menu and pick "Upload" (yes, this is backwards from the cheaper radios and CHIRP)...upload loads from the radio to the computer, download sends from computer to radio. When you hit "upload", the software may ask you to confirm, then the radio should switch from power cycling to displaying "PC Prog" as it reads. If successful, save that basic code plug (as backup or whatever), then save it again with a new name as your working codeplug. I will usually unplug the programming cable from the radio and power it off when i get a successful read, while i work on the code plug. Here is what my programming looks like for the GMRS Simplex channels (the handheld-only channels are excluded). This is my GMRS repeaters Group and for the Common > Key Function menu (for the front panel buttons): one other gee whiz item is the startup message (what the radio displays when it starts up), which is under Common > Power Saving. check the "overwrite" box, and you have a few characters to have it display when it starts up. I dug one of mine out of the shelf to check this stuff hands on and get screenshots. When you're done programming, save your working file, power up the radio and plug the cable back in and let it start cycling, then back up to Radio - Download. The radio should stop cycling and shift to "PC Prog" again and then restart when it's finished. at that point you should be good to unplug the cable from the radio and check out your new programming (connected to an antenna or dummy load, if you want to key up). Mine is a -6 range (400-470mhz, rather than the -7 being 450-512mhz) because I wanted to cover 70cm and GMRS, and it's programmed to display my ham call and "70cm", as i also have the VHF twin to this radio (VX4204) and i ran the pair together on my desk for awhile (the other one is my call and "2m"). Hope this helps; if you're already good, feel free to disregard

Minor quibble: while to my knowledge the more recent wouxun stuff is locked down pretty solid, not so much for the 805g. That said, without a keypad, it isn't the easiest thing to use. My yaesu ft4x is also uncharacteristically easy to unlock/mod compared to most yaesu gear, requiring holding keys at startup similar to many inexpensive radios....I suspect the ft65 is similar as well. On the other hand, my btech GMRS 50x1 is locked down solid, and btech pretty much stonewalled me when I asked them about the possibility of unlocking it

Both of my Anytone came with the cables as well (from amazon). AFAIK, the Anytone software and the Radioddity software are interchangeable between either brand radio. The Retevis software doesn't play nice with my Anytones, but I can program it just fine with the Radioddity software.

Here is where I got mine (unfortunately not free) https://quality2wayradios.com/store/vertex-standard-ce59-software There are some listings floating around the web as well, some cost for access ("vertex radio group" is one), some not.

Pulled up the repeater page for 725SHAWBUTE, and there's a comment there from another user a month or so ago about the repeater being down. Looks like they've had interference issues with a business repeater in the past, and someone causing issues as well, between the comments and the thread below. https://forums.mygmrs.com/topic/7946-soooo-rip-shawbute-i-guess/ Edit: saw him weigh in on the other thread, so maybe @nokones has some more recent info on status of the local repeaters?

Sweet, I'll have to give it a try.

Have they updated chirp for the db20g/anytone at779uv? Last I saw, work on that was stalled. That said, I *think* the setting to change is under the "function setup" in their wonderful software...look for "Up VFO/MR" and "Down VFO/MR" items, if they're available in the GMRS proflle. Mine are both set to MR, and mine consistently start up on the memory channels. That said, mine are unlocked and being used as inexpensive ham radios, and as far as I remember, the unlocked profile opens up more settings not available in the GMRS profile. (And yes, I dug out my programming laptop and the radio I have with my travel stuff to pull a live profile to look at the settings)

For your Phoenix batch, are they offline as in tried using them and no luck? Or not showing up in the listings? The listings here will drop a repeater to "stale" if it hasn't been updated in awhile (1 year, I believe), and you have to turn on the "show stale repeaters" option in the list/map to see they're still there.

This sums it up well; i've talked into a GMRS repeater and a 70cm ham repeater on Joaquin Ridge on the west side of the San Joaqin Valley from a hill on the east side of the valley (75ish miles) with 5 watt HTs. I've also talked into another 70cm repeater on Fremont Peak from a bit further east, around a 115 mile shot over the valley on the 50 watt mobile in my truck. In both cases, i had clear line of sight over the valley, as i was sitting around 4500-5000 ft elevation, and all of those repeaters sit around the 3000ft mark on hills/ridges.

There's really 2 factors to keep in mind when choosing batteries. Overall capacity, and current draw. @WRYZ926 mentioned the first, as this will play into how long you can run portable. It's been a bit since I checked the numbers (and don't have the radios handy to check), but i want to say it was around 4a on high power, which would would buy something around 2.5 hours of transmit time on a 10aH battery. realistically you're likely listening a lot less than transmitting, so the real world use will be longer. Second consideration, generally, is current draw. Less of an issue with these smaller radios, but we have to consider how much draw the battery can handle. the cheaper LiPo batteries i have refer to not drawing more current than their aH rating, which for mine would be a 10a draw on the smaller, and 20a on the larger (mine are Ecoworthy, and the 10aH is roughly the side of a standard red brick). Here is a quick example, and their table claims 5.2aH, and can handle a 15.6a draw, and if one isn't transmitting much should be able to last a couple hours at minimum.