wayoverthere

from poking at it, i suspect those "vfo" slots are related to the last setting of the VFO, but the instructions are...a bit lacking. picked mine up today, and working on programming this evening. first impression is wow, it's small, only a little wider and a little thicker than the mxt115. definitely seeing the 500 memory slots, both programming manually (which was a bit hit and miss) and in software. second note, @MichaelLAX wasn't lying about the sensitivity...had it powered up on the desk with no antenna, and it was picking up stuff from a 70cm ham repeater around 30 miles out. currently have it programmed almost entirely for UHF, with the exception of some receive-only VHF stuff, as that's the antenna i have handy that covers what i want to. on a side note, i grabbed the software from Anytone's website, and ran it through virustotal...got 5 hits for various things. remembering the 'twin' factor, i went and grabbed the db20-g software from radioddity, and scanned that...no hits. installed, and it even reports the model number in the 'about' menu as at-779uv. read and programmed the anytone just fine. i'm keeping my expectations in line with price. mainly i wanted something cheap to throw in the beater car with antennas i already have, that i can also pair it with one of the mag mounts to use in a rental car when travelling. already ordered another antenna, though, as the signal stalk on the truck is just a hair too high for the parking garage at work...found a dual band comet that's a few inches shorter, which should be just enough.

Don't know about the other versions of wouxun's software, but I've used the CPS for the 805g in Linux mint mate via Wine successfully.

I will say that vertex has done a pretty good job of having the help file give some explanation of what the settings do...not always in plain English, but if not, it's in technical terms that will give you a start on reading up what they mean. On the wide vs narrow thing, narrow will get along better with midland's radios that are stuck with narrow only, and other radios will be fine if you also set them to narrow. On being forced by the software, some versions (like the one for the vx handhelds and mobile), I can set my system time to something well before 2013 (when the narrowband directive went into effect), and open the cps and it will let me program wideband no problem. I use dates in the filename since the date in the file properties looks way old due to changing the system time.

Ditto. The only way I was thinking a lip mount was if there was a convenient existing bolt to use.

Will second skipping the btech. Cannot program more tx channels in mine, and it's started losing power on high, at around 2 years old and minimal transmit time (maybe 2-3 hours total tx time spread over that timeframe, it mostly just monitors). Starts at 45 watts, and starts dropping almost immediately, and doesn't stabilize till 25 watts...another member mentioned going through 2 with similar issues. It was a good proposition compared to Midland, but the market had grown noticeable since then. Will second bluemax49ers, he's had all of my vertex handhelds (vx, vx-p, and evx) covered with no issues, though he was out of stock on the cable for the vx4207 mobile, which antenna farm had (along with the appropriate software). Imo, a ham coming over to gmrs to get the family involved will probably be fine grabbing something commercial and not being TOO out of their depth. I'm 100% on board with starting with something simpler for someone new to radio, though. Can speak from experience that the wouxun kg805g is dead simple, to where you could hand it to grandma that's never used a radio and she'd be fine. I'll probably have some thoughts on the anytone 779uv in the future...finally gave in and grabbed one, though I'm in between throwing it in the truck for something gmrs approved with more flexibility than the mxt115, or unlocking it for a cheap ham unit for the beater car/throwing in rentals when traveling. Should be here Saturday.

I know there's a divider under there between engine and passenger compartment..was thinking mounting bracket along the edge, with the antenna just outside, but that doesn't leave a lot of options on cable routing I guess. Pairing something to one of those big suction cup GoPro mounts comes to mind, but I don't know how secure that would be.

I was poking at photos online for ideas...are there any bolts inside the rear hatch that could work to hold an antenna bracket, either on the frame, or on the hatch itself? Thinking a custom version of the semi common premade fender mounts brackets they sell for common pickups, and carrying a no-ground-plane antenna; the one @tweiss linked is a good option, and the antenna farm lists a few 1/2 wave whips for the 450-470 range.

? My apologies...corrected my post above as well. Hard to get a feel from a call sign, but I shouldn't assume. Agreed, the btech isnt the value proposition it used to be. Also agreed on advocating for following the rules, I'll provide the information i can to help people make informed choices...from there, we're all adults and can decide which way we go..I stick with part 95 equipment as well. On the part 90 market, part 90 in itself isn't strictly approved, but there are some out there certified for both (90/95a). It's not as easy as grabbing one of the off the shelf radio, the fcc id is key here to check to be sure. Kenwood and Motorola have a few, though I'm not as familiar with model numbers as some other members. Mine is a Vertex Standard, and it's the one model of theirs I've found that had 95a certification. Fcc id is K6610354640 (link to the grant)

I don't know how dependent it is on a ground plane, as I have it mag mounted in the center of the roof, but I've been happy with my ca-2x4sr (in nmo flavor).

I did a little searching, and didn't find many options for that mount; one dual band option on DXE, though it's tuned a little lower than you want. https://www.dxengineering.com/parts/mfj-1414 Based on that, I'd lean toward dropping a few extra bucks on a nmo adapter for that mount (this one looks like it would fit, and it's only $10) for the much wider variety of options on antennas. Lots of no ground plane required NMO mount options around $50, spring or no spring, small (10") to large (30+ inches). There's still apparently a few of midland's old 5/8 wave whips floating around (sportsman's warehouse) for a good price ($15) too.

i'm rusty on hand programming a baofeng to say offhand what the button to push is, but after you program your receive frequency, you have to hit a button (i believe it's the asterisk), and go through the process again to program the transmit frequency (+5mhz, or 467.550). I don't see a mention of having set that separately. Miklor.com has some good step by step programming guides. https://www.miklor.com/COM/UV_ProgMem.php

It looks like the OP did indeed return hers. Mine is well past the window to return, as I've had it for just shy of 2 years. It was probably the best new off the shelf option at the time I bought, but the market has moved significantly since...maybe they've updated their firmware in light of that. Mine has started dropping power on high, too. It'll start dropping almost immediately after keying up; after some long transmit testing (enough to kick the fan on), I found it stabilizing around 25 watts. I'll roll with it a bit longer, as that's enough to get into a couple near repeaters, but I have an antenna switch waiting so my 70cm base (part 95a certified) can pick up the btech's duties on gmrs.

Nope. So239 is the female side of the standard uhf connector; most mag mounts will come with the male side, aka PL259 (think SOcket and PLug). (Double check the connector listed if you're buying from a source that covers other radio gear as well, as there are a few other possible connectors. However PL259 are pretty common, to mate with the SO239 found on most mobile radios. Edit: On antenna, that's pretty much what the comet ca2xr sr is made for...available for nmo and uhf mounts. Only downside is the length at near 40".

From what I've read, the shorter wavelengths of gmrs pass through the atmosphere rather than bouncing back like the longer wavelengths of cb and similar longer wavelengths. Gmrs can experience some tropospheric ducting similar to 2m frequencies, though usually not to the same extent.

About 6 7/8" inches, including it's little mag mount.

I've yet to see one that wasn't actually a mobile, even some of the stuff sold as a "base station" is just a radio and a power supply integrated into a box. One nice thing with the vertex vs the icom ham radio that moved to the truck (which is physically similar to the kg1000g) is the lack of a fan..most of the bottom of the vertex is heatsink. The fan is a lot less noticeable in the truck.

While I get the usefulness of flexibility for mobile use (and why people will sacrifice other things for it), there's definitely ways to work around it. it's even less of an issue for a base setup, where locations arent changing a lot (causing a need to change tones) and you can have easy access to a computer.

The short explanation is that the current rules (95e) require a radio to be locked out of transmitting any non-certified service (ham). However, there are radios certified under the previous version (95a) that can. Overwhelmingly, these are dual certified (90/95a) commercial/lmr gear. Motorola and Kenwood have a few models between them, and I know of one vertex (vx4207). I believe Kenwood may still have some dual certified stuff in production, though not sure if it's 95a or 95e. In all cases, if you're after dual use, you have to watch your frequency ranges; 450-512 or so are more common, good for gmrs but not for ham, though there is gear out there with lower ranges that cover both too (I have some 400-470 vertex stuff, which they usually append -G6 after the model number, while 450-512 is -G7, with D0 being vhf...my base is a VX-4207-G6).

What kind of clearance do you need? If it will clear, I've had good results with midland's old 5/8 wave 3db whip mxta10, not the current ghost thing. It's a hair shorter than the 5/8 wave 70cm laird that I run for limited clearance situations, and it fits in the 7' clearance garage at work with a couple inches to spare, though my truck is smaller. Climbed up and measured just now and it's 13" from surface to tip, including the mag mount. Surface mounting would bring it down by about 3/4". It's discontinued, though sportsman's warehouse shows having some in stock and relatively inexpensive: https://www.sportsmans.com/hunting-gear-supplies/radios-and-weather-stations/handheld-2-way-radios/midland-micromobile-mxta10-3db-gain-antenna/p/1476042 I will say, though, that it's a relatively stiff whip, so not something you'd want to tap/drag on an obstruction.

Agreed...I went down a rabbit hole a bit ago on a weather resistant dual band yaesu I found on hamestate, had me looking at ngp antennas, but no idea where to put a mount on mine.

This may be what you're after: https://forums.mygmrs.com/topic/2282-john-fogery-cant-help-me-what-the-heck-is-ccr/?do=findComment&comment=20648&_rid=2738

I believe the thinking is the BNC is more geared toward/built for the repetitive on/off cycles compared to the sma connectors...shifting that burden to adapters lets you wear out the adapter rather than a connector on the radio as well. I have some from a big variety pack of adapters; when I was able to run without in the past, I went without, sma-m cable to sma-f radio. Current setup in the backup car, I may run sma-m or sma-f radio, so I put the adapters I have to use, and got the other bnc-f adapter I needed, so either type can plug into the bnc-m on the antenna cable.

The 805g (in 2/2020) was my first repeater capable gmrs handheld as well, falling between the mxt115 (and it's limitations, in 1/2020) and the btech 50x1 (with more capability and other limitations in 3/2020). At that time, I believe the options for mobiles were basically Midland, BTech, or diving into lmr gear; lmr gear was a plunge I wasn't quite ready for, and btech seemed the better option of the two. However, as the field grows, it shows where they kind of cut corners on the programming/firmware side to get a unit on the market when their only off the shelf competition was midland. I do wonder, given the growth of gmrs and the introduction of uv5r based part 95 radios, if they'll find it worth the investment to at least build some more flexibility into the 50x1; the display and menus are serviceable, better than the 50x2, but that programming limitation. Heck, if they could do a certified version of the 50x3, they might have a genuine contender to wouxun/bwtr's kg1000, even if they bumped up the price to around the same.

Nah, that would be the logical first try, and they don't show up. I even tried "barn system gmrs" and they're nowhere in the first page on that either. I think I was originally aware of them from this site, as I'm just on the edge of coverage for one of those planned systems, and do get up to the bay periodically. As a clarification, what I meant with the Google search is that searching "barn gmrs" turns up that fcc filing on the first page, (though that document does have their website address on it). Here is the document: https://wireless2.fcc.gov/UlsEntry/attachments/attachmentView.jsp%3FapplType%3Dsearch%26fileKey%3D1471639256%26attachmentKey%3D18870264%26attachmentInd%3DapplAttach&sa=U&ved=2ahUKEwiTofLsztz1AhXiD0QIHdxLCTEQFnoECAMQAg&usg=AOvVaw2w9K3JCUU5IXYj2RKrBcE-

Probably wasn't a high bar at one point, though I may be a little cynical. Reading what they wrote to FCC on of their filings was interesting, along that line. (I googled "barn gmrs" and it was one of the first page results).