wayoverthere

not sure what you're referring to with the "FM" part, but RT Systems is a company that makes programming software (and sells matching cables) for a wide variety of radios. Some find their software easier to use than free options or manufacturer software, or appreciate convenience features to import data or configurations from other sources to save time on programming.

think of it like a lock on the squelch opening, rather than just opening for any signal above a certain strength. with tone squelch it only opens when the received signal also carries a matching tone, be it CTCSS (also called a PL tone) or DCS (aka DPL). (side note: this is also why the correct tone is needed to access many repeaters)

That's much more reasonable, I'd have minded less without the '5-7 day shipping part (ordered the g106 package with the de17 interface). It was similarly long for my other order as well (gd73 dmr handheld).

At least for some of the radioddity stuff on amazon, radioddity appears to be the seller as well, even if it may be shipped from Amazon. If you want your radio quicker, Amazon will be hands down faster than ordering from radioddity. That's my one gripe, actually...last order said "us stock, free 5-7 day shipping", in reality, it shipped from China, and didn't even leave their facility for 5 days. Total time to receive was 18 days.

Good times. I have an old 40ch radio shack set up on my workbench in the garage, and continually debate picking up a better one for the truck.

Is this legitimately "many" people complaining? Or is it more akin to the Reagan Airport noise complaints, where 78% of the 8700 complaints one year came from just 2 people in a single household?

All the ports greyed out would seem more like a not detecting the cable/chip correctly, rather than a radio-end issue. Do you know what chip the cable is using, by chance? There's been issues with prolific chip drivers, that using an old version of the driver (miklor.com has one for the baofengs) often fixes it.

Guess I better hurry up and order that 6btv....the buddistick is only rated up to 40m, and I have some complaining to do

I thought to be a real ham, you had to be on 80m complaining about medical ailments, and the invasive procedure of the week.... Guess I'm not quite there yet

I found it a great source as well, for both Tech and General.

Marc, Thank you for the well written template, and your outside efforts. I used yours as a starting point, and added some additional input as well.

RIch posted something to the MyGMRS page on Facebook on the topic, to the effect of the registration server on the site being disabled at the end of the week, but since any connections are not through the site, it'll be at the repeater owners' own risk going forward. As others have mentioned, all the considerations of GMRS use, both simplex and repeater, will still be in play, so no reason for the site to shut down. Just losing one tiny piece (unless things change or a workaround is devised. Here is that link, for those that don't have/want Facebook: https://www.change.org/p/demand-fcc-to-allow-all-network-connections-to-gmrs-repeaters-and-radios 2nd edit: After posting, I see RIch posted this in the MyGMRS.com forum as well.

only diurnal, but with more splatter than the channel 6 'Super Bowl'

you mean i shouldn't key up that 110 watt kenwood into a gain antenna sitting next to the server?

Given that the description mentions it being linked to the GMRS Live network, it's absolutely possible that there's another repeater you're within range of that's also linked to the network, but is using the other frequency you're hearing.

One tidbit I'll add, when searching: frequency ranges. From what I've seen: models ending in -G7 are 450-512mhz range (great for GMRS, and some were dual certified for parts 90/95a). models ending in -G6 are usually 400-470mhz, and good for both GMRS and 70cm ham. models ending in -D0 are VHF, many cover 136-174mhz (so good for 2m ham, and cover MURS frequencies as well); i've seen a few with grants that covered 150-174mhz, so those would be no good for ham. best thing to tell is from the FCC ID on the radio; researching that will tell the certifications it has, along with the frequency range. (I have a handful of Vertex gear too, both mobiles and handhelds...good stuff)

Both of my Anytone AT-779UV, which are twins to the DB20-G came with the cable. Heck, I even program them with Radioddity's version of the software. And yes, I started with one, and liked it enough to buy a second. Both are now on the shelf for the moment, since both vehicles I had them in have left; one is packed up in a travel kit, along with a mag mount NMO base, while the other will either go into the new truck, or into better half's car.

I was hoping late night would make it a little easier to get through (and there seemed to be some gaps to get into), but I think I just piled too many compromises together to be very effective. On the upside, running between midnight and 2am PDT meant lower temps...it was more like high 70's instead of the 107/108 highs we saw Saturday and Sunday...when I went to pick up food Sunday afternoon, the display in the truck read 135F.

In terms of after-action, i'll say there's room for improvement. wasn't going for points, so i was doing some hunt and pounce between 20m and 40m, around 0700-0900 UTC. For some reason I decided to play on high difficulty, and on top of the compromised antenna (end fed wire, sloping from 7ft up to around 20 ft roughly east/west), I was running QRP phone. In retrospect, I should have either taken the effort to set up the interface box and computer for FT8, dragged out the 100 watt radio, or both. I heard club stations as far away as Indiana, Kansas, and Central FL, but nobody could hear me, apparently.

Current plan is operating solo a bit Saturday night to avoid the heat. Recently picked up an Ultimax wire antenna (and the necessary tuner) and looking forward to testing that out. Club wise...I can't find much. One local club is providing support for the Climb to Kaiser race, while the other, I only found references to a field day setup, but nothing public....the closest event listed with ARRL is 2ish hours away

looks like the small signal stalk (as the larger one has a bit more of a "salt shaker" base); just measured mine at 20 3/4" from the base of the plastic to the end of the whip.

IMO, that should be sufficient to test, as that will give you basically the same setup as if it were mounted, minus actually sticking the adhesive. Anecdotally (as it's not the same radio), icom's 2730a actually comes with (or might have been part of an optional mount kit..i forget) magnets that mount to the back of the faceplate to stick it to a metal mounting plate. I even ran that metal mounting plate on top of a magnetic phone holder for awhile, till I got a proper hard mount (panavise). As far as I (and the signal reports) could tell, no ill effects.

I'll go ahead and tag @rdunajewski on this, as he's the one that can take a look at what's up with the listings from FCC making it into the site's database to allow registration. In terms of repeater listings, this site IS one of the best sources, but not the ONLY. While Repeaterbook was mainly focusted on Ham repeaters, there's also a fair number of GMRS repeaters being listed, so you may check there to see if they have any listed in your area till things get sorted on this side.

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).