wayoverthere

The two I know with wide enough ranges are the aforementioned comet 2x4sr (which has worked well for me as well, and is currently on my truck) and the tram 1181 (some have had good results, not so great for me). Both can be a little picky about having a good ground plane.

Kind of a chicken and the egg...less use because of less equipment, but less equipment because of the double whammy of less traffic and NA being the only market for 220. Edit: this gave me the nudge to go ahead and email BTWR about future availability of that UV920p. Maybe if we can show some interest we'll get another run? Edit#2:heard back from BTWR, indicating the 220 version is discontinued the remote head would be a big win. Too bad the uv980 can't trade 10m for 1.25

I'm a little curious what the end result is of the manual programming in the big picture. It looks like the tone is only being applied on the receive side, though maybe the firmware carries it over to transmit by default. It it wasn't an issue of desense, it has me thinking the manual programming only set a transmit tone (between now working and the missing "c"), and the repeater isnt actually using an output tone as listed.

You're on the right track with repeaters, for the most part. With linking declared "not allowed", you and the other station would both need to be in range of the same repeater. Previously, it was allowed to connect repeaters to each other across the internet; if you were in Maine in range of a repeater that was connected to another repeater in PA, you could talk to someone in range of the PA repeater and vice versa. On your tones, you'll want to set the tone mode for that repeater to 'tone' rather than 'tone sql'. That way you send the tone on transmit, but the radio isn't expecting to receive one back (opening the squelch). Think of tones as a filter. Tone squelch only lets through signals with the right tone, be that hearing your buddy across the field, or that other station over the hill via the repeater. If the sender doesn't use the tone the receiving radio is expecting, it doesn't get past the filter. In the same vein, even for the reoeaters that do have an output tone, you can choose to run without a receive tone (known as "carrier squelch). You'll hear all signals on the frequency above whatever threshold your squelch is set to, since you effectively have no filter in place. If there's no other traffic on that frequency, no issue, but it can be nice to sell which signals are simplex traffic and which are from the repeater, since the repeater output frequencies are also simplex channel frequencies. (Sorry that turned out longer than intended, hope it helps.)

If you're using the preprogrammed repeater channels, they *should* already be using the correct offset (worth checking in the software though). The other piece of the puzzle is the transmit tone; many of the cheaper Chinese radios call it t-ctcss or t-dcs, some repeater listings call it PL. (if there's a decimal, it's likely ctcss/PL, if it's straight 3 digits, maybe with an N or I, that's dcs/DPL). Needs to be set to the appropriate tone for the repeater to hear you. The final consideration is range...are you close enough for the repeater to hear you? The limits here will depend on the repeater's antenna, and surrounding terrain.

That's one of the big things that kept me from getting a triband mobile. I have a couple handhelds that do, the wouxun is 5 watts, 2m/1.25m, and the yaesu vx7r does 300mW, iirc (220 was unadvertised for that reason, from what I read...it also has the standard 2m/70cm, and 6m. I kick myself for not grabbing a uv920p (wouxun) when they were available, as there was a 2m/1.25 variant with 50 watts each. But for the amount of activity, it was hard to justify the cost of that or the Alinco, plus an antenna. The less expensive route I went was one of the Btech amps, to kick the power out of the handheld to 30 or so watts.

Noted...I'll add that to my other post. I think if I were going this route, it'd probably be the rugged for the ability to use a no ground antenna.

There is a Nagoya version out there with sma connectors: https://www.ebay.com/itm/124178030161 (not recommended per @Lscott 's experience with this type) Rugged Radios ses one with a nmo base, but will likely need a no ground plane antenna: https://www.ruggedradios.com/products/suction-cup-antenna-mount American radio supply has a couple others too: https://www.americanradiosupply.com/window-glass-mounts/

IT deficiencies in a gov agency? Unpossible!

Generally, it's within a day or two of showing up on ULS that it will hit this site's database to allow registration. Occasionally there will be a bit of bad data in the "feed" coming from FCC that requires admin intervention, which can take a little longer.

I want to say the word I've seen is using the "enterprise" workaround to keep it supporting the current version is good through next summer.

Good to know on the lookup. On the address, thing I notice the first one (that redirected) has a typo in it (mygRmrs dot come)...is that the address you entered that redirected? I have seen a number of pages that play off of misspellings of popular sites that will funnel into those scam/popups/malware type pages, but a little worrying that edge doesn't pick up on that where chrome does.

This will be the key ^^^ If it requires being logged in to use the search, drop your callsign in the thread, OP, and one of us can look for you. Can't remember your callsign either? FCC search to the rescue! https://wireless2.fcc.gov/UlsApp/UlsSearch/searchLicense.jsp

I've had good results with the SBB1 as well, on a mag mount. it was short enough to clear the parking structure at work, mag mounted on the roof of my compact truck; it does work best with some ground plane though. with the new (full size) truck, im using a fender mount which just isn't enough for the SBB1, and it's no longer short enough on the roof,. that fender mount is carrying a Comet 2x4SR, which is the only thing i found in my box of spares that was happy there. i've also had good results with the 1/4 wave Signal Stalk from Signal Stuff. I did not have good results with the 1/2 wave version, and some testing indicates a need for more tuning (which i haven't gotten around to yet)

Filling a niche almost no once else is in? may be good or bad depending if there's a market for mobiles or not. At least it's based on a decent quality radio and looks to be properly certified and legal, unlike the forklift one: https://forklifttrainingsystems.com/product/forklift-roger-radio/

@SteveShannon summed it up pretty well; between cost of parts for the base radios (as @WRUU653 mentions, it's based on the uv-980p, as is the kg1000g) and expected sales, it's not an inexpensive proposition. There's also the factor of spreading out the cost of certification across the expected sales, which doesn't play favorably here. Limitations wise, yeah, it does get a little questionable if it's worth a mobile though...kind of like trying to have a frs mobile...there was one made for a bit but it just wasn't practical nor worth the effort. On a side note, i dug a little more on Google and found one other mobile MURS radio advertised, but the mention made no mention of certification or a FCC id, and appeared to be a rebadged kt8900n(sold as a forklift radio).

Ahem https://www.buytwowayradios.com/wouxun-kg-1000m.html

I've had good dealings with them also, and I'll add they're on eBay (in addition to their site) under the username "erac1"

What a steal!

I'll have to double check the software; with the 805g, the software is the barrier that keeps you in bounds for gmrs. If I remember right, it will let you enter whatever you want for receive frequecies, but transmit was limited to the gmrs simplex and repeater frequencies. Quality wise, it's a definite step up from the average baofeng, and less susceptible to desense/interference in my experience. Also handled a few drops just fine. My only complaint is the battery drain when not in use, common with some other wouxun handhelds as well

Yep, need premium to post classified ads, though not to reply. https://forums.mygmrs.com/topic/5102-new-feature-classifieds/?_rid=2738

(Scratched what I had typed but missed the submit...Marc covered it already)

Spot on... https://forums.mygmrs.com/topic/5102-new-feature-classifieds/?_rid=2738

Expanding on this with an example ..I think of it like you and a friend in a room, 6 ft apart. In the absence of other noise, you can carry on a conversation at a normal speaking volume just fine. Desense is the equivalent of now you have a rock concert speaker stack playing next to you, while you try in futility to hear your friend....you see their lips moving, but can't hear anything they're saying.

Are you testing with the two handhelds in basically the same location? If so, since the repeater is passing the transmitted audio in realtime it's entirely possible that the audio is getting through, but the nearby signal from the transmitting radio is causing the other radio to desense (or "go deaf"), so it doesn't "hear" the audio coming back. Having done a little testing for/with desense, the behavior in practice is pretty much what you described ...receiving radio shows an incoming signal, but no audio. Unless there's some pretty severe barrier (like a hill/mountain) to the signal (or a pretty bad blind spot near the repeater), getting into the repeater from a couple miles away should be doable.