wayoverthere

Fair point. Some extra headroom in what the PSU can supply doesn't hurt anything except maybe the wallet ? And yeah, what it needs in terms of current to power up and program, and what it needs to transmit are likely a bit different. I've run the btech off of a little 1amp cig lighter like the one linked earlier for programming, and a pair of 6v lantern batteries in series for a noise test...it only draws 100mah at idle.

No good source of 12v in the RV? For perspective, per the display on my alinco psu, my 50 watt Btech draws between 10 and 11 amps on high, while the 15 watt Midland drew 3.5 amps. If your wouxun is in the same ballpark, that would put it in the 4-5 amp range on high. This pyramid is likely sufficient, though not a lot of headroom. Reasonably priced, and it's a linear regulated (rather than switching) power supply. https://www.amazon.com/Universal-Compact-Bench-Power-Supply/dp/B000A896GG/ (I had an eye toward more than just the btech when I was setting up, so I over-spec'd on power supply, 22amp continuous, 30amp surge Alinco from DXE)

It depends on the hardware the radio is based on. Afaik, even the wouxun kg805g's will receive uhf outside gmrs, the VTech and wouxun kg1000g mobiles receive a lot of both vhf and uhf. Fairly sure the uv5r based radios can receive a lot of vhf &UHF as well. I know my 95a vertex stuff can do it also. (On a side note, i have the transmit side of all the public safety channels saved on the vertex set to low power on 462.5625...better to accidentally key up there where it's already a bubble pack mess anyway than a public safety channel) That said, as @axorlov provided the code for, one would have a hard time arguing the other station isn't in the amateur service if they're talking back to you on 446.000. I'm fully with you on the "why?" though, especially on the MURS scenario, since that's effectively license free.

I wonder if the gmrs repeater owner would be amenable to getting it linked...somewhere...elsewhere in state, neighboring state (depending on location), somewhere that might be likely to have some traffic. nothing begets activity like some activity, but getting it started is the hard part. Bonus if you're near popular off grid outdoor areas that might be crying for coverage, linking might be key to making talking home via network a reality. That aside, if you haven't already, you make poke at some other listings for repeaters that may not be listed here. Imo, this site is the most complete listing, but repeaterbook does have a couple gmrs repeaters listed, along with all the ham stuff. on the ham side, if it's currently barren outside of hf, I'd be looking toward digital modes (fighting with setting up for dmr, myself...)

I can try to get pictures in a day or two, but for my single cab Ranger-clone, I have the mount centered on the roof. For cable routing, I tucked the cable beind the back edge of the outer top door seal at the top corner of the passenger door, following along the outside of the inner seal down to the bottom of the door, then looping up and toward the back to cross the seal, to create a drip loop and discourage water intrusion.

The reality of gmrs is that most areas, it's treated as a utility, in line with the stated intent of the service, and people pretty much sticm to their 'group'. Some areas, as you found, there just isn't much activity, though I'm surprised you aren't at least hearing some activity on the lower channels if you're scanning...kids with the off the shelf ("bubble pack") radios. Some areas do have a bit of hobbyist activity, but they're more exception than norm....I ran into that realization too. It's been a little experimenting with radio, but not a lot of activity, talking to an empty repeater or two. It sounds like you're doing about all you can do to scare up some activity, it's just about incorporating it with activities where you can. For the hobbyist side, though, the reality is that it may be worth looking into ham as well...more hobbyists there ?

I believe the proper term, if you want to get technical, is "counterpoise" ? And free upgrades are a definite win, on top of the fun of experimenting.

Same here. It's in the Notes just after the name of the repeater in the first line, in parentheses, notated as PL. In the little description flag on the map, you do have to scroll down, and if you arent logged into the main site (it should carry over but doesn't always, same login as the forum) it will say "log in to view"..tone is the same for input and output, though I put is the most important to using the repeater (this is your tx tone).

Are you just looking at the list itself? Or did you click into the listing for a specific repeater? Some repeaters do not post the codes, requiring a permission request to receive them, which is done to give the owner/trustee a method of tracking who has been authorized to use the repeater. Other listings may have the tones right there on the listing. It may help to post a link to one of the listings you're having a problem with.

bookmarking these in the same list as Jocko's. will have to make a list of repeaters to try as well.

you're not alone on missing that last MENU press to commit the entry...i've done the same maaaaany times with my uv5r's that mostly get used as scanners ?

i had less luck with the gp1 (2.4 on 462.xxx, and 3.0 on 467.xxx) that is my 2m/70cm. This is why i chose to keep the dual band ham radio at home (doing 2m/70cm together) and run gmrs on a separate midland 5/8 wave, rather than combining 70cm and gmrs (dual cert vertex), with a 2m monoband radio. the vertex went to the truck instead. and this one should work (for the gp3 photo):

Given that it's got some gain in vhf, it will likely help, although not quite as much if it were focused in the range you want (gain helps both transmit and receive). On the other hand, if it were focused lower, the UHF side would likely be focused lower as well, which we don't want....where its tuned is more critical for transmit, and that 460-470 is the range you want for gmrs. Some Dual band antennas for the ham 2m/70cm bands can work well, and others, less so, given they're generally tuned for lower frequencies in both bands.

They do actually list the 1.5 swr limit in the manual (twice in the antenna section), but I agree with this take...I don't think they build in much margin.

given the number of reports of problems i've come across with the 50x1, i'd hazard a guess it's a combination of not so great components already run close to the limit, less than stellar quality control, and a little bit of covering themselves for warranty claims. mine has been solid so far, but i haven't subjected it to any particularly long ragchewing.

Interesting...I got a zip file containing an executable, and a Mac osx folder ? agreed on the comm port/cable...I don't have anything plugged in currently beyond a mouse (and keyboard via Bluetooth)

so when i grabbed it on win10, there's one folder with the windows CPS, and a 'mac osx' folder, which has another version of the CPS that i assume is for Mac OS. the windows version opened up fine (much like the window @MichaelLAX showed above), though i did get an error message about a comm port (perhaps due to running from the zip, the limited account i'm using, or the lack of a plugged in cable). I also tried running the Mac version for the heck of it, and got a message that i needed administrator permission to run a 16 bit application. both times i ran it straight from within the zip file, without receiving a message about not having an exe file, so not sure what the issue could be. i will note that i'm running it on an intel ComputeStick pc (atom CPU, minimal ram, win 10 32 bit), under a general user (not admin) account.

good deal. glad to hear they're amenable to the exchange ?

Or, if you don't already have your ham ticket and were considering it, you're already set with a radio ?

what part of it is giving you problems? their website seems like it's being a little wonky for me, but i was able to get to the download link for the DB25-g software. https://baofeng.s3.amazonaws.com/Radioddity_DB25-G_CPS_V1.01_20210830.zip

I won't say they don't, but I don't know of one. That base does look a little small to hold any decent length antenna though. That said, that silver antenna looks like a uhf mount, and diamond makes a nice mag mount one with rg8x coax (most are just rg58). https://www.dxengineering.com/parts/dmn-spm35 (I have the nmo version of the mount...is rg8x overkill at the lengths used for mobile? Perhaps. I was running a ht through it, so I wanted as little loss as I could get)

Seems to be a common complaint with CPS files, not sure why. I've had no issues with chirp on either Linux or windows, though the windows is a dedicated stick PC I used for programming.

It's primarily something that carries over from the ham origins of the radio. There are repeaters set up to accept commands via DTMF tones, things like changing frequencies or turning off the transmitters. since much of the hardware can carry over to gmrs, this feature may be out there on gmrs repeaters as well. The vestigial part (at least for gmrs) is that on the ham side, DTMF tones can be used to dial numbers on an autopatch equipped repeater to make phone calls....these are explicitly not allowed for gmrs though (interconnections to the telephone network).

Does yours have the old square usb, or the newer usb-c on the body? Older models didn't allow you to program different tones for transmit and receive, or a transmit tone with no receive tone. If you have the older model, when you set that transmit tone, it's also expecting to hear the same tone on receive. The newer usb-c models allow setting separately. If you have the older model, it's possible you're getting in and just not hearing the response. You may try opening the squelch (press the "Mon" button) when you transmit, and see if you hear it that way. They're making progress, but it seems like Midland primarily designs their stuff for simplex and compatibility with their own gear, with repeater usage as an afterthought.

You can take the call sign listed on radio reference, see what fcc uls turns up, then maybe get the frn from the call sign and search on that, see if it turns up any more recent (active) calls. Kind of a rabbit hole when you start digging ?