wayoverthere

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.

On the flip side, with information out there indicating .675 (20) as a road channel....if I wanted to avoid interference from simplex users, I would probably avoid putting my repeater on .675 (20), if possible. If there's no other option, due to the number of repeaters around, well, tones will have to do (other than 141.3, definitely). Personally, I think it wasn't the best idea for FCC to overlap simplex and repeater output channels, and make those the only high power simplex channels, but it is what it is.

If the whip separates from the mag mount, you may be able to reuse the mount if it's a standard connector (such as a uhf/pl259 or nmo).

It depends on the antenna, to be honest. My comet gp1 base antenna, not so good for gmrs (swr around 3:1). The mobile comet 2x4sr is a lot better all the way across 2m, 70cm, and gmrs, 1.15-1.3. I've been curious how the 2x5/8 Browning uhf antenna would look on 2m, it's really good on 70cm and gmrs (1.1 or less), but I haven't checked it for 2m. I should also check the signal stalk for gmrs, though it's good on 2m &70cm (1.2 or less).

Yeah, I have evx's...they've programmed fine with a cable from ebay (bluemax49ers); if I get my hands on a copy of the v1.03, I'll probably give it a shot before laying out for the fif-12. I also have it on my mental list to try hex editing to get a couple of them (g7 split) down to 440mhz.

Discovered mine dead as well. It's gotten a little use since last charge but mostly sitting on the shelf. The 2nd battery that was full charged prior to a trip in August and stored in the box shows 8.0v on the radio, where 8.2 or 8.3 seems to be normal "full charge" voltage. So..little bit of drop for the battery alone, but more when on the the radio.

Don't know a good free source, but vertex radio group lists it as available to members ($35 a year for access to the downloads)...I haven't broken down and paid yet.) https://www.vertexradiogroup.net/vertex-radio-software-downloads/ What radio/CPS are you working with? some will let you get around the narrowbanding by changing the system date to something before 1/1/2013. I know this works for my vx920 and p820 series radios, and the 4200's (I'd have to check which cps numbers those are)

There you go ? sometimes we'll just cover basic upgrades without knowing what you've already covered...if you're already ahead of the suggestions, even better.

I think he just means something other than the one it comes with. Midland's 6db antenna isn't a bad choice, though i've seen a few recent reports of bad ones from amazon, either out of tune or cut, though those may have been returns that were resold. realistically, pretty much any antenna tuned to cover 460-470 mhz, or 450-470mhz (more common), single band or dual band is going to be solid. i ran a browning 5/8 over 5/8 for awhile (tuned for 410-490), and it was pretty much perfect (1.1:1 through the band) on a mag mount on my truck. the beauty of nmo mounts is there's a ton of options for antennas and you can swap at will.

How does this look? https://www.amazon.com/Tamiya-Battery-Device-150mm-Venom/dp/B000HKEVH6

There you go...page 68. What's going on that a factory reset is desirable?

Hi Matt, No knowledge on the configuration side, but I was able to find this in the mygmrs store, which may be what you're after. https://shop.mygmrs.com/collections/repeater-accessories/products/sandisk-32gb-high-endurance-microsd-card-mygmrs-network

In addition to those, the vertex standard vx4207 is 90/95a certified, and I picked one up off of that auction site for $135 from usedradios.com. antenna farm has the software and cable for $45 or so.

Yeah, I was trying to hit it via dmr (on my hotspot), not via RF. Trying to get into a dmr-enabled machine locally is on my future to-do list, as I believe the evx539 I have is dmr-capable...I wouldn't have high hopes of that little 2 watt thing with it's stubby little built in antenna being much use outside of hotspot or monitoring. And glad to pique the curiosity. I have one more day before it's back to the grind myself.

What that is saying is the manufacturer COULD get a radio certified in another service requiring certification and in gmrs (95e). It's not an automatic thing. That said, there are a few models out there, mostly Kenwood and Motorola, that are certified for 90 and 95a (where gmrs was previously listed).

I'm still at an impasse on DMR; didn't have any luck monitoring for what I transmitted on DMR coming through on the system, either (I only tried one of the nodes, though, Orinda; it looks like they've added more since). Kind of put it aside for now, but I'll come back to it again at some point. As for RF access, the Joaquin Ridge/Fresno County (#15) is the only one in range, and it's on the edge of what I can reach with my current setup with the antennas indoors; trying to avoid outdoors due to local restrictions. I may be pick up a dual band yagi in the not too distant future now that I've finished shuffling the radio setups (dual band base went to truck, single band UHF in truck came inside and joined its VHF twin). The other system with an interesting setup is up in the Bay area, WB6ECE with their Simulcast system.

I wonder how much is the technically involved in the dual pl system the CARLA network runs, where one pl only activates that repeater but not the link, while a 2nd activates the link too.

I haven't dug into it, but I seem to remember seeing the option to enable voice announcements in the settings on some of my vertex stuff, so it may be more of a thing on the commercial side. There's definitely some mobile options that carry part 95a certification (the old gmrs rules) in addition to part 90, and they can be set up to be pretty foolproof.

She heard you talking about her! ? I hear her on the Buck Rock machine as well.

If you haven't set up with FCC yet, and security is a concern, registering with a PO box or other private mailbox (such as a ups store or similar) is an option. If you've already provided a home address , it can be changed, but will still appear in the history.

It did give me a stray E when I did it, "WQWA699E", so it seems a little inconsistent on what it picks up...perhaps I just got lucky. On the map, I didn't play with it too much, one factor is that the default map ignores repeaters that haven't been updated in a year. The fix is the toggle at the top to "show outdated repeaters".

No, that's actually a pretty solid assumption. The 15 minute repetition fits with GMRS rules; while it's not required to ID 24/7 when the repeater isn't in use, some repeater owners choose to do so. Up front, I'll admit my morse skill is minimal (I can get SOS, and that's about it). That said, I downloaded the sound file, and uploaded it to a morse decoder (https://morsecode.world/international/decoder/audio-decoder-adaptive.html) which gave me WQWA699 (as @MichaelLAX posted as I'm typing this). Further digging shows the licensee is on the forum (as A911Pro), and has a few repeaters listed; one of those is probably what you're hearing (Seacom 3 or Seacom 4 look likely possibilities, the frequency may help tell which).