wayoverthere

Your last statement is on the right track, but there's a little more to it. If you're both using simplex channel 20 (usually labeled as 'gmrs20', 462.675), your radios are transmitting on the same frequency as they're receiving. Tones being a sort of filter, if you're both using the same tone, yes, you'll hear each other even in the absence of a repeater. Repeater channel 20 (20r, or rept20) your radios will be transmitting 5mhz higher (467.675) than where they're listening (462.675), where a repeater would be listening (this is referred to as offset, or repeater offset). In this case, since where your friend is listening isnt where you're transmitting, and vice versa, you won't be able to talk to each other without a repeater to retransmit your signals on the frequency you're listening on.

If they're operating under your license, they'd use the same callsign, though you can append identifiers ("alpha", "mobile", etc) of your choice to differentiate between family members. On the 2nd question, no, they don't do vanity callsigns on GMRS; someone actually tried either earlier this year or late last year and FCC rejected it, stating they had no provisions allowing it.

CCRs or big money gear (I believe some of the Motorola APX line covers both, all the way up to the 700/800 public safety range). I did similar...it was a bit more than those g7 split ones, but I stumbled on a seller with some supposedly old stock VHF evx-539's and grabbed one...it's due any day now, depending on FedEx...happens to be the same one I got the vx4207 and the vx-p824 from

The 450-512 (g7) splits are capable of covering FRS/gmrs frequencies as well, if covering 70cm isn't necessary. They seem to be more plentiful, too. 2 of my 3 are g7, the other is g6 (400-470), and those two set me back $120 for the pair, with uprated Motorola batteries and a speaker mic.

Channel 3? ? https://radiofreeq.wordpress.com/2013/06/29/shtf-survivalist-radio-frequency-list/

The repeater's page has a link to the swcrs site, which has a list of their rules and instructions on requesting access (which also gives access to the tones needed). https://swcrs.org/?page_id=46

Good info on Harris, I've seen them in my eBay searches for p25 stuff (other than dmr, that's probably the most common digital mode here in central CA). And I think most (if not all of us) have tried the lower priced stuff and learned through experience why a lot of it is cheaper to buy, be it poor performance, poor durability, or a manufacturer trying to build its name. Other than the lockdown method, I can't really complain about the Btech 50x1 I have, and do have a couple of uv5r variants...not a bad scanner for $25, and one has recently been paired with a mobilinkd tnc3 to try playing with APRS via radio..already poked at it a little strictly from the app/internet side.

My "shack" shares desk space with a work laptop and a personal laptop, a couple LCD monitors, a network switch and mesh access point, a Google speaker, a wireless charging pad, and a few radio chargers that may or may not be plugged in at any given time. The power source for the radios is also a switching power supply, though it's one designed for radios (alinco). The only RFI I've run into is the work issued monitor (few year old Samsung) hits the lower end handhelds (wouxun and Midland) on ch 3 and ch 6. The vertex stuff isn't bothered unless it's literally right next to the screen; the BTech mobile doesn't notice it either , with the antenna sitting roughly 6 ft away.

Yeah, I didn't make it clear enough that that 5 watts on the Btech is pretty much a joke, like it's just there so they can technically claim triband. On the bridgecom, I didn't catch that they no longer list it on their own site, but it jibes with dxe having it as "special order". DMR, not sure what I was missing, but with no success either direction other than the parrot channel, I'm clearly missing something. I'll come back to it when time permits.

Yeah, ive had the very slight temptation for a dmr mobile too, but it wouldn't really fill any needs, and the only thing it has that I don't is dmr...if I do grab one, 95% chance it'll be a vertex. And no point in spending on that until I get set up on/figure out dmr to begin with..made some effort with cheap stuff and no success, so...back burner for a bit, and I'll come back to it. Will probably try on a repeater instead of hotspotwhen I come back to it. I was eyeing the retevis and it's clones for the same reason (I think it's sold under one or two other brand names, but the same radio), but hold off because theres not much here on 220 that isn't linked to something else (a lot more on uhf than vhf here too). Btech has a triband mobile with just 5 watts on 220 and it's near $400, DXE lists a Bridgecom monoband for $240 as a special order item, and The Alinco has been discontinued.

I've been tempted by the anytone, simply for the vast amount of experience out there, but held off so far. Stumbled on a NOS vhf version not too long ago, just waiting on FedEx for that. Current idea is to try dmr with the EVXs, and just find a local repeater instead of the hotspot. On the range testing (really just an excuse to go for a drive), I managed 75ish miles to one repeater from the handheld, with a signal stick antenna, the other was a bust from there. However, I went poking around another spot that's home to a dozen or so towers and who knows how many antennas, from ham to public safety to commercial FM. From up there managed to hit that 2nd repeater at just shy of 120 miles out, basically over the top of the valley. One of the handhelds (yaesu ft4x) may have defended a bit, but still usable. The vertex seemed unaffected, was picking up a p25 repeater 100 or so miles away a mag mount antenna.

The other consideration: everything beyond the hard coded 30 channels is RX only, so offsets aren't going to come into play for those because you can't tx anyway.

Should probably point here: https://forums.mygmrs.com/guidelines/ The other link was from before a pretty big site/forum upgrade, I suspect things have shifted around a bit. They're also in the menu in the top right, under the "browse" submenu, at least on mobile view.

Possibly nothing wrong. While it's possible there's a power disparity in play (many of the gxt1000's being only 2 watts and many "mid tier" radios doing 5 watts), it's more likely they have tones set and just aren't hearing you. While there's definitely some enthusiast presence here (the site), in the real world it's more common for users to have tones set so that they only hear their group (be it friends or family). Since tones are effectively a filter, they don't hear you, but with no tone set (and thus no filter) you'll still hear them.

Glad to help. One nice thing about the nmo mount, for me and my tinkering, is the ability to swap whips on the mount. Most times I run the taller whips, but switch out to shorter stuff (signal stalk or 70cm 1/4 wave for ham, 5/8 wave or 1/4 wave for gmrs) if I have to go in the office or other low clearance location. On the rare occasion I take to a car wash, I just pull the mounts off the roof and toss them in the cab till after.

As an alternative to a post sticking up, what about driving a larger piece of pipe into the ground, so your "mast" can slide down into it rather than over it, while not leaving something sticking up that could be a hazard when it isn't being used. That might be a little easier sell than something sticking up, though then it's how to mark it in a non-hazardous way...flexible flag of some kind?

A quick search finds buytwowayradios has the G version https://www.buytwowayradios.com/nagoya-ut-72g.html (BTWR seems to be one of the few really pushing the gmrs part of the market forward, arguably even moreso than Midland, imo)

Is it the standard ut72 or the ut72g? The standard isn't quite tuned for gmrs, aimed more toward the 70cm ham band, where the 72g is tuned for gmrs. That said, I've seen good and bad reviews for Midland's 6db whip, with most of the bad being related to Amazon purchases. I am running their (now discontinued) 3db whip as base with decent success, along with a double 5/8 wave browning uhf that was good swr across both 70cm and gmrs (1.2 or less), and checks in at a little shy of 3 ft long. For all three, you will need to add a separate nmo mag mount, as they're all nmo bases and (as far as I know) won't fit the Nagoya base.

I'd be cautious. First, those wires look a little thin, perhaps better suited to the 25 watt radios (hard to tell from the one pic, and no specs, though). Second, check what your lighter plug will support in terms of current draw. It's not uncommon to see them fused at 10 or 15 amps;running high power, my 50x1 draws between 10 and 11 amps, which doesn't leave much (or any) room for other draws sharing the circuit with the lighter plug.

I was testing a sma adapter the other day on one of the evx-539's, while listening to the local public safety frequency. I went to swap antennas while they were talking, and realized i could still hear the dispatcher, albeit with a bit of static, with no antenna at all. Tried touching my finger to the center pin in the SMA port and it was crystal clear. Don't know what kind of swr i'd present if i tried to transmit through my finger, though.

I think the statement boiled down to it wasn't their intent to prohibit Part 90 equipment; this falls in line with the current wording in the code related to dual-certified equipment, in that it allows for dual certification (95 & XX) where the other service requires certification. So 95e & 90 dual certification is still possible, though it doesn't seem manufacturers are bothering. Along with Moto & Kenwood, I know the Vertex VX4207 (mobile) carried 95A as well; I have one that was doing dual duty in the truck, though it's since moved back to my desk, and the can be found on the auction site for less than some of the current crop of high power gmrs radios.

Yeah, that's why i included "supposedly" and didn't link any ? I don't always trust ebay, and you don't even have the relatively easy return policies backing you like Amazon (which has its own counterfeit issues. And especially little stuff like that that would be easy to fake, and I don't have a need for that many. when there's not much difference between an authorized dealer and ebay, it's worth a couple extra bucks or so to go to a source more likely to be reputable and selling genuine products.

Quality two way radios has been my source for good antennas for my Vertex stuff...a couple of my came with pretty beat up antennas. one, the little screw on bushing had come loose from the bottom of the antenna (sma-m on the antenna, sma-f on the radio). I've also seen batches of supposedly factory moto antennas on ebay (packs of 10 or more) for not crazy prices too. https://quality2wayradios.com/store/two-way-radio-accessories/antennas-handheld-radios/vertex-standard-antennas My evx seem to get along okay with other antennas if I use an adapter screwed in, and attach the antenna to that, though that kind of defeats some of its water resistance.