wayoverthere

Haven't been to the office (main place I need the clearance) since I got them, but there was a very minor (but noticeable if you really listened) difference in both rx and tx using the near repeater (~30 miles out in the hills) with a Midland 1/4 wave and the mxt115.

This. That said, I'd say if you have access to the menu, check the squelch. If that's on a reasonable level you need to talk to whoever handles the radio tech for your company. I will say my vx4200 was doing something similar, and it was a another "base" squelch level setting in the software that was on like 9/12; the menu setting seems to only have a little bit of range from that base setting. Cut it down to 2 or 3, and now all is good.

If you found the page to handle it electronically, yeah, that's definitely faster. Once they process the payment they should post it pretty quickly. In most cases within a couple business days, and then it usually takes a day or two between it showing up on FCC for the day to filter out and process through in this site's database.

I've noticed the same in the vertex line: probably 2:1 uhf:vhf, both in availability and price difference. There also seems to be few mobile options for p25 outside of motorola.i think Kenwood has a couple models, vertex has one, and there's an icom, but for that last one it seems to be a dealer unlockable feature, few of the capable models I've seen have it enabled, and the pricing to add it after the fact makes Motorola look inexpensive (what I found seems to imply 300-400 for the option board, and 600 for the license to unlock it). Maybe I'm just not as aware what's out there, but it does seem like the digital modes in general skew more toward handhelds than mobiles. That said, in absence of a job requirement, I don't think I'd even buy a radio that was strictly digital with no analog capability.

If it's like what I've dealt with, yes....they split them up geographically, or to track certain fees (from what I'm finding here) but if you have the appropriate notations on your check/money order it should get posted. There's some info related to some lockboxes here, though I don't think this bit specifically relates to gmrs: https://apps.fcc.gov/redlight/help/Understanding159.cfm

one of my VX-4200's came with the MH67; works fine, and i haven't had any low volume issues, even in my semi noisy truck. found a 2 pack on ebay for a semi reasonable price: https://www.ebay.com/itm/123423014109 also found a MH25 listing: https://www.ebay.com/itm/174939795515

while a screenshot might help with confirming, i know other government stuff i've dealt with used "Lockbox" payment processing. Basically it's a bank contracted to process mailed payments for the agency. I suspect they just want to know which processor they should watch for the payment to come through.

I will say the mag mounts (I have a couple of the Midland and a Browning) do look a bit better protected than the hard mounts with the threaded centers. Since I have nothing else to tie the cable to, I just pull the mount off, antenna and all, and toss it in the cab when I run through the car wash. Yes, sounds like you're on the right track. There are a couple different types of screw on, NMO is the one to get, similar to the link below.... though that one appears nicely enclosed under the nmo and might not be bad on a hard mount. Some are more open underneath, intended for attaching through sheet metal with the underside protected. You can absolutely reuse a nmo mount and swap a gmrs aerial out and put your choice of nmo-compatible ham aerial in. https://www.amazon.com/Browning-WSPBR1015-Enclosed-Hole-Mount/dp/B00BLCLUJ6/

I have almost the same one, but with uhf connectors. I've found the readings to pretty much agree with the vna as far as I've seen

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Truthfully but understandably...yes, overthinking a little. ? GMRS and 70cm ham bands are still UHF, and quite similar. There's no reason you couldn't do the mount of your choice, either mag or hard mount, and swap antennas at will. NMO mounts and NMO antennas are plentiful, and almost anything meant for UHF that covers the 450-470 is usable, whether or not it states GMRS. A SWR meter will be a very good thing to have, though more to double check than necessarily tuning. Most mounts, whether hard mount (bracket or drill through) or mag mount will come with cable; you'll find a few options on connectors, along with unterminated, but most radios will be uhf connector (pl-259 is the male side, so-239 is the female side). Not familiar with the swivel mount, so I'd be a tad wary about the antenna bouncing against something when folded, and might lean toward swapping to a shorter antenna off-trail. depending on your trails, having a short antenna available might not be a bad thing anyway (more trees and brush on the trails here). i currently swap antennas on a midland mag mount; it's gone through a variety of antennas, both gmrs and ham. I mostly run a Browning uhf 5/8 over 5/8 wave which trades some gain for more frequency flexibility; it plays nice with both 70cm and GMRS. Since the Browning is a little tall at 33" above the roof of my truck, it gets changed out for one of two (70 cm or GMRS) Laird 1/4 waves as needed for clearance (which are only 6"-ish tall). radio wise, i previously used a mxt115 for GMRS, and various handhelds for ham, but recently put in a mobile that covers both (90/95a certified Vertex).

Good point...that makes a little more sense why there's more than one G6.

Based on the descriptions, it looks like the repeaters are part of a linked network, and those are just a form of numbering the nodes on the network. i also found G-5 Spokane Mountain G-5 the repeaters i think the OP is referring to are: East Wenatchee 700 G-7 East Wenatchee 575 G-2

agreed. not to say the btech is a bad radio if the limitations aren't an issue, but there's a lot of compelling options that have been introduced since that pack all of the features (except, in most cases, power), less of the cons, and for the same or less money, both on the base/mobile and handheld sides of the coin.

Only major complaint I have with the 50x1 (and btechs in general) is their method of locking it down, which gives you the base 30 channels, and anything you add beyond that is Rx only...so no adding extra repeater channels that can tx. If you aren't trying to use more than one repeater on the same channel, with different tones, it's a non issue.

Given the OP'S location, he may be talking about one of the SWCRS repeaters. Hate to keep dragging him into threads, but @JeepCrawler98 is the only one I know of that may have the behind the scenes info to look into the issue and maybe who might have hands on the repeaters involved to get it sorted.

Yes, BTWR shows both the 771g and the 701g available with SMA Male and SMA Female connectors, plus bnc. https://www.buytwowayradios.com/nagoya-na-771g.html?___SID=U

I will caution that, unless they've updated it, the way the btech radios are locked down for gmrs is that you can only transmit on the preprogrammed set of 30 channels (1-22 simplex, 15-22 repeater), and anything you program beyond that is receive only. I was banging my head on the wall trying to figure out why mine wasn't working when I discovered that limitation with my 50x1.

You're on the right track ? I'll say they SHOULD all be on those channels, as that is the normal convention. As far as I know you can set your radio to display frequency or channel; if there's a repeater transmitting on the channel/frequency you're listening to and you have no tones set, you'll hear it. On tones, think of them as a filter on what gets heard. Most repeaters use an input tone, to limit both accidental access and interference; to use the repeater, you'll need to set your radio to use the right tone to get through the filter. I believe the menu item will be "t-ctcs" for ctcss/pl tones (two names for the same thing), and 141.3 Hz is a common one. If the repeater didn't require a tone, yes it'd be as simple as going to the right repeater channel and transmitting, and (assuming it's in range) the repeater would rebroadcast your audio. You can also use tones to only hear certain signals. For example, a couple repeaters I use on Channel 16 use the same input and output tone; they each have a receive channel set in memory with the appropriate tones, and I change the tone settings on Rept16 based on which I'm using at the time (the btech radios only let you transmit on the preset channels; any more beyond that are receive only). Most of the listings on the site include information on what tones are required (for open repeaters) or an option to contact the owner/trustee for permission; they'll generally provide the tones or information on accessing them online when granting permission.

Not quite. Channels 1-22 are referred to as simplex; you transmit and receive on the same frequency (462.725 is ch 22). 23-30 are duplex channels, where the transmit frequency is different than the receive; this is to work with repeaters, which have to retransmit on a different frequency they receive so they can retransmit in realtime. On the duplex channels (23-30), you radio transmits 5 mhz higher than it receives; the receive frequencies are the same as the simplex 15-22. Rept22 is 462.725 receive, but 467.725 transmit, and a repeater on that channel would be listening on 467.725, and retransmit the audio on 462.725 (where you're receiving). Because of how the radios are set up (and locked down), trying to talk direct radio to radio on the repeater channels isn't going to work;it's designed for bouncing the signal via repeater.

That's one nice bonus of the 701...with the flexibility, it's a bit less in the way than even most factory antennas at the same length, though I wouldn't say it's enough to be worth replacing just for that. If you need a replacement anyway, though, like a couple of mine have...

Quite possibly. The other consideration is current needed to transmit, and if your power supply is only putting out 12 volts, it may not be able to provide enough current. For reference, my mxt115 draws around 3.5A at 13.8v, for a rated 15 watts of output, while the btech and vertex draw around 10Amp for ratings of 50 watts and 45 watts, respectively. What are you using for a power supply, and what is it rated?

Probably need the driver for the cable as well (likely either ftdi or prolific). They have some instructions in their help center, and a couple driver downloads (under accessories) https://www.radioddity.com/pages/radioddity-qa-bank

Or covered "family members" operating under one license? the past business licensing (and the existence of grandfathered licenses) is probably part of why there isn't the blanket prohibition on business use in gmrs like there is in amateur, though.

Another thought occurred to me on the logic behind why the users you can authorize are limited in gmrs compared to amateur bands; since gmrs doesn't have the same prohibition on business use, limiting who you can authorize prevents a loophole for a business owner to get a gmrs license and then authorize their employees, rather than actually paying for a proper business license.