wayoverthere

as i understand, all three are based on the uv82/uv82c hardware, so i'd expect them all to be interchangeable. on the LEDs, i wonder if they're trying to copy the commercial stuff with that. my vertex stuff goes from solid red to green flash when it's 90% charged, and then solid green at 100%. my uv5r/bf-f9 cradles do the fast red/green for no battery, but otherwise solid red for charging, or solid green when charged.

If that WAS the repeater....given the repeater is listed as "open" (along with the other info on the repeater page about 'open to all'), it occurs to me to wonder if the "upset fireman" was actually a fireman, someone with authority over the repeater, or just some random yahoo on a power trip. Did the individual identify at all?

If you're willing to go ebay, does this look like your charger? https://www.ebay.com/itm/274907781614 That said, if you want to jump to a new radio it isn't a bad time.

Definitely some in central CA. One network covers a good chunk from Sacramento down to around Bakersfield (N6LYE). Another, the central valley out to the coast, mostly around Monterey/Santa Cruz, with around half the nodes being P25/analog mixed (Salinas Valley Repeater Group). One of the local clubs also (K6ARP/CARP) has a standalone p25/analog machine. SVRG and the K6ARP standalone are UHF, N6LYE is mostly UHF with a couple VHF.

Yeah, I'm not sure where they stand either, other than no repeater access, similar to Midland HTs. I had things like the Talkabouts in mind (branded Motorola, but are they even made by?) with the 'bottom of the line' comment...bubble pack class.

On echolink, there is ability to specify who is allowed to connect; I haven't looked at it in a bit, but I want to say you wlcould blacklist or whitelist regions/countries specifically, even get down to whitelist-only access by call signs. (Haven't gone down that road yet, but planning to, for remote access to the base setup) Being that you have to be a licensed ham to access echolink, it'd pretty much be limited to dual licensed users if you wanted to do a "echolink to repeater" setup, and you'd want to be really careful with who you granted access to. Looking at comparables without actually going into the ham side, zello is probably the closest, and there's a number of repeaters out there with access via app. Simplified, you'd have the repeater connected to a channel, and restrict access to transmit in the channel to licensed users only.

I just have mine as "ask" ?

right? the wording for 95E is a bit clearer, too contrary to what they say their understanding is, the definitions of "interconnected" and "non-interconnected" in that FCC opinion seem to hinge on whether you can receive telephone calls from the publicly switched telephone network or not....which would seem to make even DSL without telephone service meet the "non interconnected" definition (and therefore good to go).

Or just trying to give her a nudge when she lacks the interest to complete the process herself. I know my better half (and kiddo) couldn't be any less interested....as soon as I mention the words "radio" or "antenna", their attention is gone.

Seems plausible to me, based on what I've experienced. Ive managed 75ish miles on uhf with a 5 watt HT and signal stick antenna (likely line of sight over the valley), close to 120 on a 50 watt mobile (and 2x5/8 mobile antenna) to another uhf repeater, and have a gmrs machine 60ish miles from my "base" that I can use on the btech mobile on mid power (though clearer on high) with a 5/8 wave antenna in the top of a closet (definitely not clear LOS). I wonder where they're coming up with that 36 mile figure.

Good looking out. Perhaps the OP was intending to try to register a 2nd and then transfer it?

I've seen posts here and there referencing having more than one FRN, generally related to having lost access to the first...with that in mind I could see it as possible to have two FRNs, and a gmrs license under each On transferring one, the legalese seems more to say you can't transfer one in a way that violates the Communications Act, rather than a blanket prohibition on transfers altogether. Word is that while the FCC website is a trainwreck, the help desk is actually pretty helpful. It might be worth giving them a call to ask if they'll be amenable to updating one of the two to girlfriend's info (whether you have more than one FRN, or need to set her up with one). Also, high probability she'll need to be present to do so. If not, they should at least be able to set yours straight under one license and one FRN.

that's the thing; i'd submit that other than feature limited gear (Midland, and the very bottom of Motorola's product line), the manufacturers basically abandoned the GMRS market. there may be a couple/few grandfathered Motorola and/or Kenwood commercial models out there still sold new, but with model changes/upgrades/replacement, i suspect most/all of those have gone EOL, and they don't seem interested in dual certifying anymore. the market was wide open for whoever was willing to make radios for it, good or bad.

Oversimplified, two big factors: Height- being above everything else will give them great line of sight. Height is might, as they say. Antenna gain (and resulting ERP, or effective radiated power). Repeater antennas generally waste a lot less energy upwards, focusing on out and down. Where your average mobile antenna is 3 db gain (may even be dbi, which equates to more like 1dbd), where some repeater antennas are more like 9dbd.

Strictly IMO... If the tones are posted and requests disabled, unless the description says otherwise, I interpret that as open for free use. If the tones are not posted and requests are disabled, I'll read that as closed/private, unless the description indicates another method for submitting requests. I know of a couple that use an external page to centralize requests, present their terms of use, etc.

The circuit itself should be sufficient, but I recall someone discovering the internals of the 12v plug they used weren't quite up to the task, and we're semi melting internally. I'll try to find it later on when I can get on a computer.

On the laptop (basic Intel i3, 64 bit Win10), I did the both the CPS install and the Drivers install under an administrator account, and tried running the CPS both normally and as admin...got Error 1646 both ways. The other computer is a Intel compute stick, with 32bit Win10; that one loads the CPS, and Windows is seeing the radio (I did the 'uncheck the boxes' in the network settings indicated in Motorola's instructions), but gives me a message to check the cable when I try to read from the 6580. On the radio side, it does give me a message about 'IMPRES accessory connected' but I don't know if that says anything good and bad for the cable (which is from bluemax49ers). Going to try the 6550 later today if I get a chance, and see if I get the same message. Yep, as admin.

Will do, thank you. Working through initial setup teething. got ahold of CPS 16 and it straight refuses to load on the laptop. Tried it on another computer and it loads, but it isn't recognizing the radio. Going to grab the 6550 from the post office tomorrow, and see if that will play nicer.

Is Midland still including it on the mxt115? I know the one I bought in 2020 definitely has it ?

The main menu items for PL (aka CTCSS) tones are T-CTCS and R-CTCS. Hit the menu button to select that item, turn the channel knob to scroll through, and press the menu button again to confirm.

Good to know..will keep in mind for another tinkering project ?

No worries. I don't own that radio (though tempting), so I was going off of the info on buytwowayradios. https://www.buytwowayradios.com/blog/2020/11/wouxun-kg-1000g-mobile-gmrs-radio.html

My 45 and 50 watt rated radios tend to be between 10 and 11 Amps draw on high power. I want to say around 4.5 amps for the 20 watt rated anytone at779uv (twin to the retevis ra-25 @back4more70has). You should be okay on medium on the wouxun, whether you have it set for 10 or 20 watts. One thing to bear in mind looking at watts the outlet can handle, vs radio power output is everything else that needs power between input to the radio, and output to the antenna. 50% is good for a very rough estimate of input vs output when looking at wattage . Alternator noise is a possibility, but not as common an issue at gmrs frequencies. (Both of my at779uv are powered from the 12v sockets in the truck and beater car)

Yeah, my better half loses interest as soon as I utter the words "radio" or "antenna"...was worth a shot, though ?

In a convoy, it should serve you well over reasonable distance; strictly handheld, the vehicle isn't entirely helpful with the signal getting out, but you can set up an external (mag mount) antenna pretty easily. Gmrs is gaining popularity in the off road realm, especially with Midland throwing its marketing behind it at some of the events. Function wise, ham-lite is fairly apt, as it works pretty similar to 70cm ham band; some antennas can cover both. Repeater wise, there are still holes, yes, but the number is growing, including as linked networks. Midwest gmrs is a big one in the region, and might be worth keeping an ear for on your trip. While I believe this site is head and shoulders the best listing, there are others that may have some not listed here. Repeaterbook, while mostly aimed to hams, has been adding gmrs listings for the last year or so, and 'USA gmrs association' has some as well. The license covering family can be a bonus here; there's a lot of family use on gmrs, while still room to experiment with what works, what your coverage is like, etc. Maybe you can get the wife on board with her own 935g, or something simpler like an 805g. ?