wayoverthere

I'm honestly tempted to try one just for giggles...I have a spare mount, and will have a diplexer free once I shuffle radios, since those all seem to be single band antennas. Since I don't have a source of freebies for testing, if I do give one a try, it'll most likely be a laird.

Yep, the signal stalks are ham antennas. And while I won't say they don't exist, I haven't seen anything similar to that sbb1 that was tuned for GMRS...one upside of a super basic whip is the ability to trim it a little to tune for gmrs

Sbb-1 is one one that's pretty much a rubber duck, and it's been the only one that clears the work garages on a mag mount on the roof...that couple inches difference from the sbb-2 (which is more of a classic whip with a phasing coil in the middle) is just enough to clear. (Previously ran a 1/4 wave signal stalk, that's also 18"...it hit every beam in the parking structure)

Thank you, first refresh took care of it ?

Minor quibble, but is there a reason classifieds shows up twice in the sidebar? ?

Yes, the N and the I specify "normal" or "inverted" version of the digital tone. Usually if the letter is omitted, "normal" is assumed. At worst, if one doesn't work, switch to the other.

I can check again this evening; I think I clicked on it the other day and it was to convert between a handheld format (vx820/920) file and a mobile format (vx4200) file, as that software package does all 3 model lines.

Apologies, I'm being a little salty ? The quality control is kind of expected at the price point a lot of the baofeng stuff rings in at. The handhelds have been decent aside from the battery latch breaking off from a les than 12" drop, and another battery that expanded. They seem to do better with handhelds than mobiles, haven't heard much bad about the 50x3 but maybe more due to few willing to buy it at that price than them lasting well. My 50x1 is losing power, others have had both the 50x1 and 50x2 die with minimal use. Makes me wonder if they're giving btech the rejected products/parts.

Who, lets be real, aren't exactly industry leaders in quality control, or reliability.

it may not be so much that you're doing something wrong as just being excessively locked down; some of the Baofeng and Btech stuff (the gmrs v1 handhelds, the gmrs 50x1 mobile among them) disallowed adding any new TX channels beyond the hard coded 30 (22 simplex, 8 repeater)...had to use what it came with, and anything else was RX only. you may dig back through the documentation (or the listing) to see if this is the case. Btech has started moving away from this with the gmrs v2 handheld which allows adding some new GMRS TX channels, and it appears the upcoming GMRS50V2 will as well.

Have run into this. It won't even load https sites when I've messed with the date.

In general, accessing a repeater via zello is depends on either the repeater itself or a radio within range of the repeater being interconnected to a device/zello channel. There are definitely some repeaters that are connected and allow access.

to add...i found a thread on the topic on radioreference.com that has some suggestions of some 95a certified Kenwoods; one of the posts on page 3 was even kind enough to provide the FCC ids for their list of kenwood (and other) models. https://forums.radioreference.com/threads/part-95-gmrs-radio-list.275040/

Little longer, little thinner, more durable. I have a Nagoya that has a little bend in it from the radio falling over and I didn't notice for a couple days. The signal stick gets folded into a u in my backpack and doesn't seem to care. Also available in colors, and the more recent ones are glow in the dark tip on all of them.

Yep, another longer antenna for handhelds, these are very flexible and durable...I have one that gets shoved in the backpack when I travel.

I want to say I've seen the Kenwood tk8180 and/or 880 in use. Kenwood definitely has a few models that carry dual 90/95a certification...none of them are part of the amateur radio line, though. There's a few members here that are big on Kenwood's and can say better than I ( @Lscottperhaps?)

https://signalstuff.com/products/ It's the same people behind hamstudy.org and examtools

It depends a lot on construction; metal frame, radiant barrier, proximity to ductwork. Wood frame and basic shingles are going to block less than steel frame and/or foil backed radiant barrier insulation. Repeater location (or it's antenna height) will play into it as well. Mine are both indoors, and I can still get into repeaters up to 60 miles out, though they are on 3000 and 4000 foot elevation ridges around the valley.

Anyone else notice the new option in the sidebar? Looks like there's now a "Classifieds" option there, and it's probably a nice thing to have, though I don't think it's been much of an issue yet.

The not being able to add any tx channels is, imo, the biggest con. You get the preprogrammed 30, and that's it, currently. That said, they made changes to allow a few additional tx channels with the Gmrsv2 handheld (which used to be similarly locked down) and i stumbled across grant docs for a gmrs 50v2 in the FCC database, so that may be changing. Mine also didn't hold up well; minimal transmit time in the 2 years I've had it (maybe an hour or two total) and power on high drops almost immediately, from 48 watts and not stabilizing til 25 watts. I've also found no way to unlock it, regardless the "emergency". If I remember right, @marcspazhad a couple acting up on him as well. The decently wide receive across 136-174 and 400-512 is a nice plus, as is the quad watch if you want to use it for scanning duty. The display is also a big jump ahead of the 4 lines of the 25x2 and 50x2 ham radios. It's also chirp programmable. If you can live with the restrictions, it's not a horrible radio to live with. Longevity is kind of a crapshoot though. At this point, it wouldn't be my first choice. I'd either go the anytone/radioddity/retevis triplets if I didn't need a full 50 watts, or save my pennies for the wouxun kg1000g if I did. Edit: found a blip of old thread. Marc has a couple other threads on theb50x1, initial impressions and features. https://forums.mygmrs.com/topic/3528-got-my-new-mxt500-not-impressed/?do=findComment&comment=34743&_rid=2738

Yep, this one is internet based, and when everything is connected, yes, its absolutely possible to talk into a repeater in Florida and have it come out from another on the network in California, dependent on having a repeater linked into the network at both ends. (Unfortunately, last I checked, I'm not in range of any of the repeaters linked to the national network) as far as I know, the map is current status; some nodes (repeaters) only join for nets and similar events, some stay linked most of the time. When they're linked, all RF traffic into the repeater also gets sent to the network, and spit out as RF at all of the other repeaters connected. It's also possible to set up a repeater with different tones to dictate whether RF traffic goes to the network or just gets repeated locally. I know the CARLA network over here (on the ham side) has that, and I think some of the swcrs gmrs repeaters have that feature as well.

I have exactly one radio that has it on, and it's a baofeng. It's helpful if I want to hang the radio from something to listen while I work...hook on the eaves, tree branch, whatever. The rest, nope. I have a few extras floating around too.

Whaaaat? Midland has never rebranded another manufacturer's gear to sell under it's own name....right? ?

Yes, that is a thinf..look no further than https://mygmrs.network/map for a good example. There's also smaller regional networks that some of the members can chime in on; one example that comes to mind is the Southwest Community Radio System (https://swcrs.org/?page_id=1418#Repeater_Location_Map). It all depends on what the repeater owners want to set up. As for your locale, a quick search found a paid club, southwest Ohio gmrs association. https://forums.mygmrs.com/clubs/21-southwest-ohio-gmrs-association/

So...don't think I've seen it mentioned yet (and searched), but I was poking at the FCC OET search tonight, looking for Baofeng-related grants related to post elsewhere, and stumbled onto an approved grant for another "50 watt" BTech, labeled as the GMRS50V2. Checked the FCC ID, and it's definitely different than my 50x1, with an approval date in November 2022. Perhaps they're easing back some of the limitations that were present in the original firmware. Photos look to be a twin to the 50x1, though. Exhibit List All things considered (mine losing power, Marc's similar experiences, and other things I've since acquired), I'm unlikely to buy another, but if the changes are similar to what they did with the GMRS-V2 handheld, it's at least a step in the right direction as a reasonably flexible legal starter radio, with a bit more punch than the anytone/radioddity/retevis triplets, or the little brother Wouxun (how long it lasts, though...who knows?)