wayoverthere

It's adding tones to channels other than the one selected? That sounds like a firmware glitch. Have you reached out BTech about it? They're supposed to be reasonably good about resolving issues during the warranty period. Not sure if it's related, butI know I saw something in the older error logs for chirp that someone had a bad image that was causing issues loading frequencies to the radio, and loading a clean image resolved it.

dug around in the settings; didn't see anything that stood out as a possibility. There's one item for squelch adjustment, but that looks to be the same one accessible through the radio face (mine is set to 5), and i only have tone squelch (receive filter) set on a few channels, most are carrier squelch only. the ones using TSQL, two are a pair of repeaters on 462.575 with different CTCSS tones, and another is for the local ham club, which is a mixed analog/p25 repeater...running tone squelch on that one filters out the p25 signals, but lets me hear the analog.

No direct experience with that one; being that it's rated for 460-470, you shouldn't be compromising too much for it to cover vhf as well. In general, with the increase in gain comes some decrease in the height of the vertical signal "beam", but as relatively flat as things are out there (iirc) that should be a help, rather than hindrance...it's more about elevation change than city vs country. I've been getting by with a little Midland 5/8 wave whip, but 2 of the 3 repeaters I talk to are at 3,000ish and 5,000ish feet on the mountains above the valley over here.

I'll have to remember this as well....quite the view from that corridor, and not a bad drive/ride either.

Hit the gear icon at the top left of the map, and enable the 'show stale repeaters' option. It looks like there are one or two others in the vicinity of DC with that enabled that may be worth trying. Stale in this context indicates they haven't had an update in over a year (iirc). while they may not still be active, it may also mean things are stable enough they haven't had a need to update anything in that time. Shifting your antenna, if possible, may help as well. More height rarely hurts, and the line of sight nature of UHF can mean an obstacle in the distance may be an issue that a slight shift gets you past. I have one repeater that a shift from one side of the room was the difference between getting in and not.

The squelch, yes. Output power, not so much. High falls off pretty fast from 48 watts, and doesn't level off til 25. I would double check it didn't do something funny with the reset like turn on a random code (some other brands have been doing that lately). If I get a chance I'll poke around for a squelch level adjustment similar to what the uv5r has. I had a similar (nothing unless squelch is off) situation with a lmr radio, a d the issue was a base squelch setting in the base image that was way tight.

I have 18 set off, 19 set to QT, and working fine. I then tried the "and" and "or" settings combined with 18 at "off" and still receiving fine on both settings.

No interference problems with either of mine, even with the antennas on my truck around a foot apart, and both radios fed from those cupholder 12v splitters (with usbs) via the 12v receptacles. That the handhelds aren't affected seems to point a little more toward the loose connection possibility.

Nicely done!

This. If a pole mount is the plan, underneath the bed will be an easy route to either do a bulkhead through the back of the cab, or tuck in at the bottom of the door seal. What type of mount is used may be the decider on where to put a disconnect for when removing the camper.

The fcc search page will let you search by name or FRN (if you can find that). https://wireless2.fcc.gov/UlsApp/UlsSearch/searchLicense.jsp

So...one thing it just hit me that I haven't seen asked or answered: is the plan to be able to use the radio in the truck (possibly in motion, based on the comment about cable slap), or in the camper at rest? If the former, that may limit the usefulness of a mount drilled into the camper roof (which puts the cable inside the camper), unless there's then good access from in the camper to run the cable into the truck. On the slack/slap, if you were dropping down from the roof rack to route in the side door seal or back window, the rack and one of the front jacks could be a place to attach the cable, while leaving some slack tucked inside the vehicle...when parking, just unclip the cable and release the slack and pop the top. I currently have 2 mag mounts on my truck (cable runs on the roof, rather than the side) and only once experienced any slap, and snugging up the slack resolved that.

While this is true for a lot of areas, it's far from all. Mine is one of those that's very limited, but there are a few, while others have a lot more "enthusiast" presence...I think of it as some treat it as "FRS+", while the enthusiasts (and the dual licensed hams) are more a "ham-lite" mentality. Don't let it discourage you from trying, but do go into it with realistic expectations. I'm one that initially started in GMRS and then added ham as well..a lot of the concepts are common between the two, UHF stuff especially.

Good eye! If the outside is metal, it could be enough for a 1/4 wave and mag mount, and bring the cable down to the back window or back door seal. Failing that, fiberglass isnt as much fo an issue as metal in the way, so mounting at the hood line, either lip mount or bracket might be an option, with something longer like the ca2x4sr @Lscott mentioned (and I've had good results with), or I've also had good results with the browning 1713br (which is uhf only 5/8 over 5/8). The comet is ~36", and the browning is ~32"

On replying, you're doing fine ? The only extra I'd mention is that you can highlight a portion of someone's post if you want to quote just that part, or you can click the little + next to the Quote button under posts to quote multiple posts. I can't speak to the CHIRP devs choices on why they display that way, but mine shows the same, even in the empty rows, and it's never been an issue; the columns for the tones don't have an option to leave them blank, CHIRP instead just picks up from the tone settings whether to pay attention to those columns or not. I've found this page to be the clearest reference on the various columns of CHIRP: https://chirp.danplanet.com/projects/chirp/wiki/MemoryEditorColumns On your specific repeater Frequency: put the downlink here; this is where you receive from the repeater (462.625, for your Brunswick repeater) Names: can be whatever you want within the display limit of the radio (it seems to vary) Tone Mode: depends on your preference; you can have it transmit the tone (necessary to open the repeater) with open receive, which is setting "Tone", or, since the repeater also uses an output tone, you can filter what you receive so you only hear signals with that Tone. For the latter, choose "TSQL". Tone and ToneSql are your Transmit and Receive tones; for Brunswick, use 131.8 Duplex: should be hard coded on most GMRS radios; if not, the convention for GMRS is +5.0mhz, and nearly all follow convention; this should be set to + unless you find that ONE that's bucking the trend. Offset: this tells the radio how far from the receive frequency you want it to transmit; again, convention is +5.0, so unless you found the oddball, this will be 5.0 Skip: defines whether the channel is skipped when scanning. Nice for out of area stuff when you aren't travelling. Cross mode: should be Tone, as you're using the same tone in both fields. May use "Cross" when programming a repeater with split tones. I would say start out with the Tone Mode to Tone, and confirm operation first; once you've confirmed you're able to use the repeater, you can then go back into the settings (either via CHIRP or on the radio) and add a receive tone if you choose. Hope this helps clarify.

It seems the new version of the site offers the option not to allow access requests...not sure if that was there in the old version, since I don't have any listed....if not, that's a definite plus in the new version, and the people that have private repeaters listed strictly for coordination may want to update their listings accordingly.

Note that you can't add new transmit channels, anything new you add is receive only...you'll have to use the preloaded "REPTxx" channels, and set the appropriate tone. These will already have the correct offset set for repeater use. Are you getting the kickback/beep/squelch tail from the repeater?

about the same as the 'Skype Phone', yeah. On the license issue, I think the catch would be whats on the other end; if you're talking to another RFinder you'd probably be fine, legally. If the talkgroup has a repeater involved, though (the PAPA Bridge, for example), that could be a problem. The other catch is that you need a license to get a DMR Id to begin with.

That's one cool aspect of the RFinder, though, it isn't using a hotspot, it's the hotspot itself via it's data connections. Expensive piece of kit, no doubt, but a lot of functionality crammed into it (dmr radio+hotspot+analog radio+cellphone+repeater directory), and being combined let's them integrate better than separate pieces often do. That said, I'm sticking with my redundancy of multiple devices for now too.

Glad to help! Yeah, getting ground will be easier on mine, as I don't have any plastic trim in the way. It would also help that my tie down anchors are the single bolt/rubber block type, so I could basically use a piece of flat steel with 2 holes (1 for the nmo, 1 for the bolt). On antennas, I wonder if there's a good 2m/1.25m antenna out there. I remember from HCCFCA's thread, Marcspaz posted a Tram 1/4 wave with a nice wide bandwidth that would cover both 70cm and gmrs...at ~6" it's short enough be unlikely to be a height issue, even on the roof, has minimal surface for a car wash to get ahold of, and leaves space elsewhere for a 2nd....if you wanted to go that route.

To add a little perspective, my truck is a mid 2000's single cab, 2wd Ford Ranger clone. With a mag mount on the roof, the variety of 18" antennas are about an inch too long in the (supposedly) 7 ft clearance garage at work. The CA2x4 Comet is obviously way too much when it's upright, but it clears with room to spare with it folded over; to skip the folding i currently have a Comet SBB1 on the mount. My current setup has ham and GMRS separate with an Icom 2730a for 2m/70cm and an Anytone AT779UV for GMRS, on a separate 1/4 wave antenna, with the radio zip tied to the seat belt anchor since the middle seat doesn't get used. Have another 779UV in the beater car, and since it's lower and the antenna is on the trunk i can run longer whips with no issue. Had the Tram 1181 on for a bit, but went back to a UHF only Browning 1713 (great for 70cm and GMRS).

Imo, I agree with #1 as the least worst option. One alternative, though I don't know how viable...ive thought about the possibility of using a flat bracket held on by the stake hole anchor, but the viability may depend on the type of anchor (I have the eye bolt/rubber block type). Antenna wise, the tram 1181 is rated for 130-170 and 430-470, and tested out no higher than 1.3 in 2m, 70cm, and gmrs, as far as I saw, though I was finding the lower gain not quite enough behind a lower power radio. If you don't mind folding for garages, the comet 2x4sr is another with wide coverage, and I had good results with it; I added the spring kit and ran it on the roof with a mag mount, but it's ~36" long, so an issue for parking garages...might be workable on the fender mount. The tram is a bit shorter (18.9" per Amazon), and wouldn't be a height issue on the fender. All that said, I don't see a way to work 1.25m in, but I just barely added that to my shack (in the form of a handheld) so haven't dug much on or tested any options there yet.

If I'm remembering chirp's settings right, the fact that the main screen shows Tone Mode as none means it will ignore whatever is in the Tone fields.

Minor correction (I know it was a typo): AT-779uv is the gmrs certified Anytone. AT-778uv is a ham radio (slightly bigger, and a few more watts).

Think of tones as a filter. The repeater is filtering for signals with a given tone to activate it. Likewise, a recieve tone is a filter on what you hear. This is useful if there's more than one repeater on the same frequency, or if there happens to be simplex users on the same frequency as the repeater's output....you can filter out the unwanted signals to some extent, though they may still interfere somewhat.