wayoverthere

What I've heard, I'd compare to a good analog signal, but "crisper". Haven't tried any simplex p25, just repeaters and a handheld. I also can't say it's been particularly inexpensive.

How's your sound quality on DMR? I'm reserving judgment till I get it up and running on a better radio (and possible via an actual repeater, rather than a hotspot), but sound quality seems not great so far, varying levels of garbled, from minimal to near unintelligible. not sure if it's my cheap radio, the hotspot, or just life on DMR yet. (on a side note, thanks again for the attempts to help...in the end it came down to the talk groups i had were stone dead...trolled the 'last heard' page on brandmeister for active ones, and added those, and boom, working.)

Sorry I wasn't able to get a good data points (and for the slight tangent)...going to poke at the issue a little more, see if it does it at lower power levels, and if the power meter on the display gives any indication (also, sanity check the PSU with an external meter, though i trust it more than the radio). Needless to say, that'll probably be about it for me and Btech. @wqmm866 unfortunately, it's coming up on 2 years old, so out of warranty. it hasn't seen a whole lot of transmit time, no funky SWRs or low voltage (Alinco PSU with ample headroom). haven't seen the power drop on anything else i've tested on that meter (Surecom SW102). The same PSU runs the 2 radios for my ham setup (though they were off while i tested), so between those points and Marc's experience points to the radio. It'll work fine for scanner duty, i guess, with that wide receive it has.

So...the btech isn't holding steady numbers...started at 51 watts on 462.650, and slides downward as I transmit. ? SWR is solid 1:1 into a Midland 5/8 wave whip.

Thanks..I know it'll vary some, just hoping for a rough idea how much to variance to expect. Also finalizing an Amazon order so I should have a dummy load in the not too distant future.

Marc, What did the numbers look like into antenna vs dummy load? I don't have a 50w dummy load currently, but I can get some numbers similar to Michael's off my Btech for another reference point if it will help. I know my vertex (rated for 45 watts) showed 43 at the radio with a 5/8wave whip on the other side of the meter.

I have one as well, and feel your frustration. I did read something that indicated that that level of lockdown equated to an easier approval process for certification.

I'll give them credit for finally including a proper mount (outside of the additional $$ bundles). That response is also an interesting development. Given their current focus on novice users, almost to the expense of features, I'll stay very cautiously optimistic...it IS nice to see they've finally made some progress in features though. Rt97 competitor on the horizon?

It's hard to say without some sense of what distances you're working with, and what the terrain is like. The standard 1/4 wave for 450-470 is 6", and with a drilled through should give you the clearance you need. I'll have to look at how much height the mag mount adds (I want to say 1/2").Alternately, how much height can you get away with from the fender top? (Subtract am inch for mount height, to account for bracket or lip mount) Pattern wise, the 1/4 wave will generally be more omnidirectional,where a taller gain antenna is more of a squashed donut (more gain, more squish). A 5/8 there would be no problem on the fender or bed rail at around 12", but I think the double 5/8 browning I have might be close again at around 36", though it's sprung so a little rub might be okay, vs if it hit close to the base on a roof mount. The comet 2x4sr is even taller, but it also folds...is folding it to park feasible? edit: did some measuring; the browning comes in at 34.5", the comet at 39" upright, and about 6.5" folded (just under 6" at the base, but there's a little spiral in the middle, and it doesn't fold quite 90 degrees), and the midland mag mount is ~3/4". surface mounting a 1/4 wave looks feasible, or the browning on a fender/lip mount if you want the gain...from what i saw, it was under 1.2:1 swr across everything i've used in GMRS and 70cm. the main reason it's not on my truck at the moment is clearance for the work garage (smaller truck, so a ~12" 5/8 wave is just low enough, though i have a 1/4 wave on now).

There's nothing that says you can't approach gmrs with the same mentality....you definitely wouldn't be the only one. Gmrs gives an easier path to license and the "sharing" factor in trade for requiring certified equipment. At the most basic, both are an avenue of communications. That said, there is definitely some that feel you shouldn't (as "it isnt in the stated intent of the service"), and a fair number of users do stick to their groups, which is something to bear in mind...just a matter of having realistic expectations is all.

Is there somewhere in the middle where you could place a repeater or two? If you're all within a 40 mile radius, it MIGHT be feasible to run one repeater if you can get the antenna high enough, or a couple linked. How your group is laid out geographically can definitely affect what is feasible. There is a member with a rt97 set up in Alaska getting 20-30 mile range on handhelds with the repeater placed on a mountainside with solar/battery power. Height is might, as they say.

Those are the two big ones that make the kg1000g stand out, though the remote head is also a bonus. My next step from starting with a Midland mxt115 was to a Btech gmrs50x1; the dual watch (actually quad, if you want) and wide receive are nice, as is being able to program in chirp; however, the one big barrier is that you can't add any new transmit channels...what's there is it. For example, I have 2 repeaters I'm range on 462.575 (ch16) with different codes. For the wouxun, I could save presets for each, and just go to the channel for the one I want to use; on the BTech, i instead have to go into the menu and change tones...not insurmountable, but not convenient either. While the new midlands are a step in the right direction (especially the 575), it seems Midland is still aiming mostly at the simplex user, with an eye toward the off-road crowd, and the repeater capability is more an afterthought than a focus.

Internet links are definitely a thing. While echolink is ham only, there is similar capability in Zello (including an app) that's also a possibility...I've talked on a couple repeaters in Utah and NY that way. Edit: I didn't dig into the FB groups, but NCS has a couple in Modesto and Madera. Anecdotal, but it seems like when there's multiple, it's a little more likely for there to be links. NGUG (behind the sunol repeater) also has one in Oakland that wouldn't surprise me if it's linked.

I wouldn't totally count it out, to be honest, but it'll depend on LOS and elevation, and what terms the owner(s) want for membership. I'm able to use the Central 1 machine (west of Coalinga...have to enable "stale repeaters" to see it) from a bit more than 60 miles out on a basic little 5/8 wave in the top of a closet.

It looks like it's a members only machine, with access requests through the site disabled. A little googling on NCGUG didn't turn up much besides a groups.io group here's so that may be the best bet related to getting access/membership: https://groups.io/g/ncgug

There's another thread in the section for site feedback on this; looks like Rich got whatever the issue was resolved and they should be showing again https://forums.mygmrs.com/topic/3481-new-year-new-mygmrs/#comment-34044

Not a bad price on the icom, though I wouldn't call it a great price unless it's new..they tend to be in the 250-300 range new, depending on sales and rebates. Does definitely fill your crossband need too. On a side note, when I used the crossband at home, I had the tones configured so it only repeated from ht to the set repeate (I had a couple cross and channels set up for various frequencies), but not back to the ht....since I could hear the repeater just fine, just not reach it with the ht from indoors.

Forgot to expand on this a bit...I have a batch of simplex channels programmed in 146 and 147 on 2m, and 446.xxx on 70cm to give me some simplex, calling frequencies included. I think eventually, either this truck or the next, I'll pick up an id-5100 or ftm-400dr, and the icom will come back inside, or try to sneak it into the better half's car

Commercial radios generally aren't the most flexible thing., But you can get around it somewhat with programming. I've shuffled my setups a few times, though the alinco dm30 is the one consistent piece, powering everything. There's a couple of tekpower that are well regarded and slightly cheaper. Radio wise, my current setup is a vx4207 for 70cm (bonus being 90/95cert, so legal for gmrs too), paired with a vx4204 for 2m. The 4204 wasn't exactly inexpensive, but the 4207 can be had on eBay for 135+shipping from used-radios.com (username erac1)...it's a little more on their site. Previously, I had an icom 2730a dual band, which was solid, but the fan noise got to me a little; it's in the truck in place of the vx4207. If 95a certification isnt an issue, I've seen other models (I want to say vx2200) with a power supply for base use for 175 on ebay. However, I'm currently doing straight analog FM on the base, plus dmr and p25 on handhelds. (Also tech, kicking myself for not studying up to do general at the same time). I've been scouring for some affordable p25 mobile, or 1.25/6m options but haven't pulled the trigger on any of those yet. Kind of like some members go for Motorola, my 'fleet' is pretty heavily biased toward Vertex Standard.

Imo, I wouldn't call it a deal breaker. If you're going to be scanning, or want direct channel access it's nice. If you're generally going to be parked on one channel, it's probably not necessary. I've mostly used mine for changing channels, and jumping in and out of scan; also sometimes in vfo for punching in a specific frequency I want to listen to outside gmrs.

The zen was pretty equivalent to the hd-based ipods of the early 2000's minus the need to use itunes, slide bar instead of the circle, and a replaceable battery.

And Creative didn't seem to bother trying to compete with the ipods after the Zen, did they? Didn't Samsung do a Galaxy media player for a minute too?

The short answer is that it's likely not quite short enough. The simplex channels that the 50x1 can access are all in 462.xxx. those repeater channels transmit in 467.xxx, which will want a little shorter antenna than 462, which requires a bit shorter than the ham 70cm band. An analyzer like a nanovna would say for sure, though, where the "sweet spot" is at its current length.

Check the port first; my 805g has a rubber layer inside that's a bit askew, and can prevent full seating of the plug if I'm not careful. If that isn't the issue, reach out to BTWR, and see if they'll be willing to swap out the cable...if the cable or plug are the issue, it isn't going to matter if you use wouxun's software or chirp because the physical line of communication is broken.

definitely more efficient use of the spectrum. maybe it's just my setup, or setups on the other end, but everything i've heard so far on DMR, people sound very...robotic, while p25 has sounded about as natural as analog. if they set a couple of digital only channels, and the manufacturers were able to boil it down to the same level of menu as some of the current bubble packs, i can't see why it would be any worse than it is now....instead of ctcss or dcs, match channel and color code, and go. they already have the programming able to handle the switch between wideband on some channels and narrow on others, out of the box. perhaps i haven't played with DMR enough (especially simplex) to really see the potential issues, though.