wayoverthere

I wasn't able to find Adirondack in zello, but try searching keasbeynj700 (tested searching both just now; keasbey shows up without 'gmrs' at the end) Edit: looks like I've been shoved back to the 'untrusted' group on keasbey, and though I was previously "trusted" on Broadnet, it now requires a password ? There's an Adirondack username in the keysbey channel, dunno if that's it.

DPL is equivalent to DCS; according to the manual, you want menu item TX-DCS, and if 311 isn't one of the options it does support non standard codes...pages 75 and 76 in the manual (linked below) have instructions on that. https://www.buytwowayradios.com/downloads/dl/file/id/1411/product/5287/wouxun_kg_1000g_owners_manual.pdf

It looks like club pages are a premium feature, but I'll second @gortex2 on using the contact form for more clarification on that. https://mygmrs.com/profile/subscriptions

Agreed on the device, and badly worded on my part...they allow you to use your phone to send messages (instead of talking on a radio), but work independent of the cell networks. If I remember right, the mesh talk to each other on 900mhz ism, and there's a pro version that uses vhf &uhf

Yeah, the ism ones are nice for that. I've seen reports that those work well on cruise ships too.

My actual start with gmrs was a trip a few years ago...Intel suggested a good portion of where we'd be travelling was out of cell signal, and I grabbed a set of bubble packs and some gotenna meshntonve able to communicate among us. the better half and the kiddo were all over the gotennas, being cell phone based, and wanted nothing to do with the radios.

About to go down the rabbit hole myself, both in terms of 33cm, and my first Motorola (waiting on a xpr6580, been eyeing Kenwood mobiles too). http://kw902.com/ has a fair bit of info for Kenwood, while batlabs has some on that side of the coin. Seems to be lots of info on the 900mhz xprs.

Fairly sure this is it: https://www.miklor.com/COM/UV_Squelch.php

(3rd try at replying...first 2 on mobile kept dumping half composed posts...) Books...I haven't found much, and little to nothing specific to GMRS...the only physical books i've actually grabbed in the general radio field were the "easy way ham books" (which are more study aids for the tests than full on technical materials) and read through "ham radio for dummies" awhile back from my local library. I don't know how well the classic publishing model works with the pace technology moves. From the online side of things the UV_CTCSS page on the miklor site does a good high level breakdown of some of the basic stuff, I think the manuals for the GMRS-V1 and GMRS-50X1 are actually decently well written to be reasonably understandable, though there is a bit of jargon to work out. The wikipedia entry for Continuous Tone-Coded Squelch System (CTCSS) goes into a good bit of depth on that topic..i imagine some of the other pieces are covered equally well. BuyTwoWayRadios has a decently complete feature guide with descriptions of a lot of things you may run across. While it's aimed at hams, ARRL has a Quick Reference Operating Aids section; Chapters 2 and 7 may have links to a lot of the material you may be looking for, without being completely stuck in the ham realm. Some of the specific equipment may not carry over to GRMS, but most of the radio fundamentals do carry over (GMRS not being much off of the 70cm/440 ham band). If you run across materials or guides (such as on the miklor site) related to the baofeng UV-82, those may be useful as well as that's the radio your V1 is based on. (if you look a little, you'll find similar "twins" for many of the GMRS options on the market)

Miklor.com has a couple of good guides that may help: https://www.miklor.com/COM/Review_GMRS-V1.php https://www.miklor.com/COM/UV_CTCSS.php That said, the v1 is fairly foolproof. The hard coded channels are it for tx, so pick the REPT channel that matches up to the frequency of the repeater you want, go in the menu to 'T-ctcs' or 't-dcs' as appropriate, and pick the tone to match the repeater listing, and hit menu to commit the change. You Can set a RX tone to filter what you hear, but it isn't necessary. The REPT channels also already have the appropriate offset for repeater use already baked in.

I found this article with a quick Google...haven't fully digested it yet (it's deep for reading on the phone), but it looks like it has some information in the ballpark, and makes it look like the idea isn't totally out of the realm of reality. How far apart are the two compass points?

You bet. I forget offhand if it requires unlocking to add that range, and it won't decode anything digital, but if the uv9g is receiving it just fine, it isn't digital. If you DO have to unlock to be able to scan those channels (been a bit since I did that part of the setup), I'll suggest using the option to disable TX on those channels (hit the >> for the individual channel(s) in the software to get into individual channel settings) to prevent any accidental key ups. You can still turn that setting off in the menu if an appropriate situation ever arises.

If your local public safety is with the 136-174 or 400-470 (or 480, I forget the max offhand) range, it CAN scan through them. That said, my at779uv (another of the triplets) doesn't appear to fully dual receive; when I put it into scan, it appears to disable the b side while a side is scanning. It can, however, watch 2 channels at once. I usually have one side on a local repeater, and the other on channel 20.

My experience with Zello has taken a couple routes, the biggest thing you can do to assist them is make sure your call sign is in your profile. As far as the mygmrs group, I want to say they accepted without the need for interaction first, but my callsign was already there. The main reason a group may want to verify you are in the ones linked to a repeater, to make sure youre licensed to be able to transmit. If it's one that wants you to message the admin(s) for approval, they tend to be good about including it in the description

I do actually...will drop you a PM.

It's pretty common for the linked repeaters to be using IP links via raspberry PI hardware/allstarlink software. That said, there are a few individual repeaters or networks that are also linked with Zello. Honestly, I'd second @macjack and just use an app for Zello access, unless you have a group you're planning to use Zello with already. Edit: forgot to add the link, one of the many threads on repeater linking. https://forums.mygmrs.com/topic/295-repeater-linking-discussion/#comment-2493

Good point to mention. I like to compare Rx tones to a filter, where you'll only hear signals with a matching tone. The same goes with repeaters, they have the filter on what they hear, and only hear you if you use the matching tone for the filter.

Yeah, handheld indoors isn't ideal. I can hit some local repeaters on the stock antennas from outside, but indoors is no go on all except one a couple miles away. Maybe try outside with the other radio upstairs. That burst back is a good sign you're likely opening the repeater.

Are you hearing anything back on the uv9g, that would indicate you're getting into the repeater (a static burst, beep, etc)? I don't see anything in the settings you mentioned that stands out as 'off'. If yore getting into the repeater, is the second radio in the same room with you? It's possible that the strong signal (even a few mhz off) is overloading the receiver of the other radio so it doesn't hear the audio coming back from the repeater, though you may hear the repeater key up. If the answer to the first question is no, are you sure the repeater is still active, the tone hasnt changed, and that you're within transmit range?

The 50x1 should have the 30 base channels (22 simplex +8 repeater) programmed already, with the repeater channels already being programmed with the appropriate offsets. Computer programming is good if you want to add some extra receive channels, but not really necessary for basic use. The main 2 steps you need for repeater access is making sure you're on the appropriate repeater channel for the frequency of the repeater, hit the menu key (either on the mic or on the radio), scroll to "t-ctcss" or "t-dcs" as appropriate, hit the menu button, and scroll to the correct tone. Hit menu again to confirm, then hit exit to get out of the menu. That should be all that's needed, assuming the repeater info is accurate, it's online, and within range. Sometimes the range they talk out isn't the same as what they can hear you trying to get in.

progress ? power wise, that's about par for these radios, and it lines up with what myself and others have seen from the same model, or its anytone twin (at779uv).

Yeah, very good sign the meter is off, as a dummy load should basically be at or very close to 1:1 swr. Does it have an option for calibration?

As can the at779uv/db20g (mxt115, as well), but they don't have the remote display that the mxt 275/575 has. I think retevis HAD one in the same form factor (possibly ham only or gmrs) but I don't see it on their site anymore. Replaced by the app programmed one, maybe?

This is probably the best option for a no impact mounting. The no ground plane antennas arent huge, though maybe not as low profile as hoped. Here's a Laird, at 15" https://www.arcantenna.com/products/laird-bb4502n-12-5-inch-uhf-whip-antenna-with-black-nmo-base-450-470-mhz On firewall, it's hard to say without looking (the truck being 90 miles away and all), and I haven't done it with coax, but I've yet to find a firewall I couldn't find a way through for amplifier wiring (similar diameter to rg58 coax) without drilling any holes. Especially with a short piece of something thinner in there, or running the coax in unterminated. I've seen a couple that were terminated with something small like sma to allow easy feed through.

Good find! And yeah, while it differs a little at the ends, it agrees where you're aiming (465). Will be interesting to see what the numbers look like with the dummy load, too.