wayoverthere

Are you asking about finding what tones the repeater is using? Or where to find the setting on the radio to program it to use the tone? As far as I understand, the tones are one or the other (CTCSS or DCS), not both...so if the repeater listing shows CTCSS tones and not DCS, you won't need to worry about DCS. Looking at pg 30 of the instructions, it looks like both types are under one menu, you'll select tone type first, then WHICH of that type of tone you need.

Not 100% familiar with how the channels are configured on the uv-9g, but on both my wouxun and Btech, channel 21 is the simplex channel, while "rept21" is in #29, which has the correct offset for repeater usage preprogrammed

As mentioned in a few of the other threads, it's usually a day or two from grant for it to make it from the FCC to the site's database, and you should be good to go. On Retevis, no direct experience; the lack of a display on the RB75's is a plus for battery life (good size battery on those too), but limiting if you want to be able to change PL tones on the fly. I believe there's a few members that have experience with the RT76P for something with a little more flexibility. On the mobile side, look at the RA-25; there's a few members (myself included) running its siblings (the anytone at-779uv & radioddity db20-g) and happy with them.

Agreed...Midland is a fine choice for primarily simplex use, or one repeater per channel, and generally staying in the same area. More than one on the same channel with different tones, or the ability to receive more channels beyond the basic gmrs, Midland gets a little limiting. Likewise, the btech gmrs 50x1 (not mentioned) has more receive options, but no more transmit than what it ships with. Wouxun has the most features and abilities, but priced accordingly. Wouxun also has the remote head (display/controls), which is helpful with flexibility in mounting (put the body under a seat, display up in view). For the flexibility and features it offers, wouxun would likely be my pick of the 3.

Agreed...asking is the best way to know. One other thought (what came to mind for me anyway) is it may be a convention on a certain linked network to help others identify which repeater they're talking into the network on. Do the names they're announcing line up with anything listed in your area on the map? (You may need to hit the gear icon in the top left to "show stale repeaters" to see them if they haven't been updated in the past year)

*Shifty eyes* ?

Good deal. Stuff to keep in the back of my mind for next time I'm out that way.

I wonder if it was the Steve with Rugged Radios I've seen popping up in some of the Facebook gmrs groups.

No lock button, but the buttons do require a determined press. There's enough of a lip around them that accidental button presses aren't too likely.

Is mounting to the roof rack an option? That would at least get you above the issue of the 'greenhouse' shading the signal, and the RF over you instead of through. That said, off the top of my head the closest compatible stuff with enough length to maybe clear the roofline (while also being compatible with gmrs) that I can speak from experience on are the comet ca2x4sr (dual band) and the browning br-1713-b-s (UHF only). The comet is ~36", and the browning is ~32", both not including a mount. The browning had been on both vehicles,l for both games and 70cm, and only recently came off the car in favor of a shorter dual bander. The comet was on the truck, but got swapped for a shorter comet for garage height reasons now that I have to be in the office again some days.

I think "squelch tail" is what you're thinking of.

Makes me wonder how spot on the repeater location is on the map, and how high up the repeater is. If it's on a high enough hill, or mapping off a little bit from it's actual location, you may in reality have LOS. I've been able to hit one near Coalinga on high power with a little 5/8 wave on a bookcase indoors (estimated 60ish miles), and from up in the sierra nevada foothills managed to get into another 70cm repeater in the same area (CARLA#15, 75ish miles from where I was) on a 5 watt HT.

@PartsMandepending which mode you set it to, restrictions are unlikely to be an issue with the retevis/radioddity/anytone triplets. (I have 2 of the anytone version, one opened up for ham use in the beater car, and a second for gmrs alongside an icom in the truck.)

Bob, You may check with Monmouth Amateur Radio Club; they look to be not too far from you, at least meeting wise, and may be able to offer some local help. http://www.arrl.org/Groups/view/middletown-amateur-radio-club/type:club

The mindset varies from area to area, honestly. Some areas are a "frs+" mindset, where people stick strictly to their group, and you won't get an answer from them...you will find that view represented here too. Others have more enthusiast presence (we have this here too) and are more like a "ham-lite", and open to chatting with others. I suspect at least some of this is hams that also added gmrs to get their family on the radio, or people like me who started with gmrs and then added ham. Are you able to program your 905g on the computer? It should be possible to add some ham frequencies to see what activity is out there, 70cm stuff at minimum (I didn't see a frequency range listed, but most likely it'll cover uhf at minimum). Repeater book.com is a good spot to look for ham repeaters in your area, with a variety of ways to search

So..thinking of this as more of a knowledge base/sharing type thing, since it's another Part 95 approved LMR option, and last I looked, pretty reasonably priced on the used market. I'm thinking trying to keep this first post an overall summary as new things come to mind, or info comes up in the thread. Definitely still some things I can learn; I suspect it's possible to program to be able to change tones within a pre-defined table, but haven't dug back into the CPS to look for it. the times i've run into this, I just programmed the same channel more than once with different tones (copy and paste works great, both single or bulk). Programming: it's not listed on their site, but there's listings on ebay for cable+software; i got mine from The Antenna Farm. I've found the help menu in the CPS (all versions of the Vertex CPS, really) to be pretty good at explaining most of the settings, given the market it's aimed at. A couple quirks: Scanning: It's set up for on-hook scan, which means the mic holder needs to be grounded (to the radio, if it's not mounted to anything). Took me awhile to figure this out, but I understand it's common on LMR gear. I have the mic holder on one of the screws holding the radio in the bracket (since they're base radios for me); ran a wire to that screw when the holder was mounted on plastic in the truck. Also had to chase an issue with a mic that would not let the radio scan, turned out to be a broken ground wire inside the mic. Squelch: I'll try to add a screenshot, but there's a "Squelch Offset" setting in one of the menus; in one of my starting from a fresh code plug, that defaulted to like..10 out of 15 without me realizing it, and NOTHING would break squelch, no matter how I set the squelch in the radio's menu (unless it was off)...I moved that down to like 2 or 3, and the menu squelch is generally on 1...working great now. On mics, the NIB 4207 came with the older Yaesu mic (MH-25A8J), as did the 4204, while the 2nd 4207 came with the newer MH-67A8J Vertex Standard mic. I haven't run into any audio difference between the two, though the MH25 definitely has a nicer feel to it, with the weight (which is literally just a weight inside), and the softer throw of the ptt key. The MH67 is more of a click on/off. Both seem to interchange and scan just fine.

Glad to help. And yeah, the way it's set SHOULD (from how chirp describes it) send the same tone (141.3) for tx that it uses for tone squelch. Realistically, a receive tone isnt necessary, whether the repeater uses one or not...think of it as a filter on what signals are allowed in...no tone is no filter, so you hear everything on the channel. I would start with the tone setting, and set your tx tone (141.3), and confirm it's working that way first. If not, either the settings aren't matching the listing, or it's a range issue.

Tsql sets the same time for both tx and rx, based on the tonesql column... Not sure which column you have the tone in with the way that screenshot is cropped (if you have the tx or rx tone input). Alternately, you could set it to "tone" and just use a tx tone, and see if that gets better results.

Afaik, there are no specific "base stations" around, like you'd find in the ham world; mobiles on a psu is the name of the game. Gmrs 50x1 is the Btech @WyoJoemmentions; I have one, but it wouldn't be my first choice. Limitations on tx channels is the biggie, and you're stuck with the hard coded 30 and no more. Mine is also losing power on high, after 2 years ownership (so out of warranty) but minimal tx time. Imo, base use is where the limited flexibility on front panel adjustments of the surplus LMR gear is really a non issue, as you're likely to have easy access to a computer to make updates, and (probably) not changing areas a lot. I currently have vertex standard vx4207 (uhf)/vx4204 (vhf) decks as my ham base setup, and the 4207 is part 95a certified also; when the btech gives up the ghost, I'm going to add an antenna switch to the 4207 and have it cover both. Might continue to use the btech as a scanner only with the dinky antenna that came with my Midland stuff. Also been using an unlocked anytone 779uv for ham stuff in the beater car; whichever version of the software isn't great, but functional (suggest using radioddity's version), and the menu isn't the greatest. Also only rated for 20 watts, but doing the job for me; have a 2nd inbound for gmrs usage in place of a Midland in my truck, if that tells my level of satisfaction with it ? Receiver is nice and sensitive, I was picking up a local repeater at ~30 miles out, probably 3/5 with no antenna attached. Unknown on selectivity though.

The spec sheet does say it'll do split tones. Cross tones (ctcss and dcs),...it doesn't explicitly say. Looking at the owner's manual, it shows the tones being set separately, so it looks like it may be.

Had a picture laying around for this, actually. The mount is the one Midland used to send with one of the bundles, alongside the Laird 450-470 1/4 wave https://imgur.com/a/6bHYPOh

Nice wide tuning too..1/4 wave was my thought also...the Laird 1/4 wave ive used/was thinking of is around the same size, but rated much narrower (450-470mhz).

And in the end, that's all we can do...help understand the features and limitations, so users get the radio that meets their needs...one of those "right tool for the job" kinda things. My 50x1 was a great learning tool, but I wanted more. For some use case, midlands are fine radio, while others, not so much.

Agreed...imo, that side window is the best balance so far for getting it up and out, and still leaving an easy cable routing

At a minimum, I'd want to put the mounting bracket on it so it isn't sitting directly on the fins, or flip it right side up and it'll allow the sound out.