mbrun

Hello Kevin. I am using the Midland NMO MagMount with their 6dBi antenna. I have operated that combination for nearly 9 months now. I have left the coax at factory length and operate well with a 5 Watt HT. If you are having a problem storing the extra length feel free to shorten it to suit, but do not shorten it with any expectation that you will somehow experience better receive or transmit performance. The small amount of cable removed will make such an insignificant difference that it would take test equipment to know there was a change. You and others will not be able to tell that you made the change not matter how hard you try. Now, if I were making the cable from scratch, I would make it the exact length needed. No more, not less. Michael WRHS965 KE8PLM

Correct. Repeater input frequencies may not be used for simplex. Some radios may have a feature that allows you to conveniently listen to that frequency so you can determine is someone is within simplex range, but you are not permitted to transmit on that frequency for the purpose of simplex. Michael WRHS965 KE8PLM

Mine was nearly perfect when I received it. Still nearly perfect 9 months later. Checked it again last week to show a friend. Consistently less than 1.2:1 across the entire GMRS band. I have no reason to mess with it. Adjustments of Collinear antennas are not as simple as basic 1/4 and 1/2 wave antennas are to adjust. Michael WRHS965 KE8PLM

That may be a very good thing. Let’s us all be good stewards of the GMRS service by our example so it does not run away from us and turn into trash like CB did in so many places. Michael WRHS965 KE8PLM

As a GMRS licensee they (and you) are required to use them. I live near Cincinnati. Around me, both repeater and simplex users alike seem to use them pretty religiously. There is even a local GMRS father that is teaching his 7 year old son to use GRMRs per the rules. Pretty cool seeing a father take his role seriously. Remember that GMRS shares 22 of 30 frequencies with FRS, and FRS users do not need to have a license and callsign, so one cannot always assume that those not giving there callsign are actual GMRS licensees. They could be simplex FRS users. Now, if you are hearing them truly from the repeater (not just simplex users using the main GMRS frequencies and code that you are), then yes they must have a license and must be using there callsign. Best way to get people to use their callsign is to lead by example. Michael WRHS965 KE8PLM

Hello jk06, Yes, you most certainly do need to enter the CTCSS/DCS codes for repeater access. Unless you bought the radio used you are unlikely to have any CTCSS or DCS codes active in the radio. Make sure you obtain permission to use the repeater(s) from the repeater owner. If the codes are not published already here on myGMRS, you will need obtain the correct codes from the repeater owner. Good luck. Michael WRHS965 KE8PLM

I have one and use it occasionally. It seems to work about the same as the stock antenna on my radio. It basically serves the role as a spare should I damage or misplace my other antennas. Michael WRHS965 KE8PLM

Hello Dennis. The answer depends on what types of impact you are concerned about. Potential things that come to my mind include the following: - Impact on GMRS radiation pattern based on the adjacency of the 11 meter antenna. - Impact on 11 meter radiation pattern based on the adjacency of the GMRS antenna. - Impact on one receiver when the other is transmitting. * The 11 meter antenna is far enough away from the GMRS antenna that the GMRS antenna’s pattern will barely be affected. * The GMRS antenna is close enough to the 11 meter antenna that it may alter the 11 meters performance, depending upon where the antenna (and the mast below it) is located relative to the top of the 11 meter antenna. 2.75 meters (1/4 wave) is the minimum recommend horizontal distance that should exist between this antenna and another other metal monopole to keep effects minimal. * While transmitting on either radio, it is probable that you will experience serious desense on the opposing radio. If the operating power of the 11 meter antenna is high, you could conceivably damage the GMRS receiver, although I do not have any specific power numbers for your. When antennas must be mounted at the same elevation, is best to put as much horizontal separation as possible between them. When in close proximity, it is usually best to give them vertical separation and make them as close to collinear as you can so that the two antennas operate in the pattern null of the other. Experimentation is what will give you the absolute answers you seek. Hope this helps. Michael WRHS965 KE8PLM Edited for spelling.

The gain and coverage pattern of an antenna is equally applicable to transmit and receive. For example. If you add 6dB of gain in one direction for transmit, your receive signal from the exact same direction will also increase by 6dB. Michael WRHS965 KE8PLM

Spread spectrum is not permitted on GMRS. This feature is a crude poor-man’s variant of that. I would venture to guess that the only logical legal conclusion would be that identification rules apply to each frequency of operation, no different than if you manually switch channels and keyed up. Just like it would not be legal to hold two radios, one tuned to channel 1 and one tuned to channel 2 and announce yourself only on channel 1 every 15 minutes but then do your talking on channel 2 but never announce yourself there. Michael WRHS965 KE8PLM

I may reach out to you to talk that through at some point. Michael WRHS965 KE8PLM

Hello Woody. Welcome to GMRS. Yes, UV-5R are repeater cable, but they are not legal for use on GMRS. Legal-to-use radios will be FCC Part 95e certified. BF does have some legal to use 95e models available. There are a also a variety of other legal models now. Some folks on this forum choose to use higher-quality part 90 radios, which the FCC has reportedly turned a blind eye towards. When you do get yourself legal radios to use, please make sure to obtain the permission of the repeater owner to use their personal equipment. It is good and proper etiquette. Again, welcome. Enjoy! Michael WRHS965 KE8PLM

RMA received. Radio heading back for further investigation. More to come at a later date. Michael WRHS965 KE8PLM

Codes are not needed when communicating with radios that are not set to use codes. Most radios are not set to use codes out of the box, it is therefore the user that decides if and when they are used. If you attempting to use a repeater, almost every repeater requires use of codes. In that case, yes you would program them into the radio and need to obtain them from the repeater owner. Hope that helps. Michael WRHS965 KE8PLM

Good even Jack. Thanks for the suggestions. I do believe the radio is configured just fine. Also, for clarity, the only software that has been used with this radio is the factory software. No third party software is involved. Chirp will not be used with such an expensive radio until there is official support for it. Thanks again, Michael WRHS965 KE8PLM

Hello Mikeam. Don’t get me wrong, the radio does receive, just no where near as well as its little siblings costing 1/4 and 1/2 as much respectfully. If I did not have these alternate products from same manufacturer with equivalent receive specs at my finger tips to compare against I might be none the wiser. For now I am being optimistic in hopes that a replacement prevails that proves to work on par with or better than the HTs. Michael WRHS965 KE8PLM

I do not believe you will find any such thing consistently on GMRS. GMRS is not used the same as CB is/was. Unlike CB where everyone with radio range on one another would hear you if you transmitted and they had their squelch sensitive enough, squelch codes (CTC/CTSSS, PL/DPL) codes are often used in GMRS to prevent hearing others unless they are using same code as they are. The codes exists so families and other groups don’t have to hear folks that are not part of their group. Some repeaters do use a PL code of 141.8Hz to provide some level of access consistency when the repeater owner intentionally wants to support GMRS activity for travelers passing through. Here in Cincinnati, the only time I ever hear anything about traffic is when one of our local GMRS regulars is stuck in it. I imagine there is seldom anyone else in a car on the same route that is listening or that cares. I truly have never heard, even once, anyone ask for traffic information on GMRS. It is just not used that way around here. It may be different in other metro areas. Michael WRHS965 KE8PLM

I recently purchased one of these radios for use in my home. It is hooked up to an excellent external antenna at good elevation and with excellent feed-line. With my current system I have verified I can can get into 6 higher-profile repeaters within 50 miles of my home at or near full quieting. From my earliest use of the radio I started to notice something unexpected. I fairly regularly have multiple radios on when I in the mode of ‘just playing radio’. What I observed was that my HTs regularly showed greater S-meter readings than the 1000G when lower level signals were encountered. This was not remotely what I was expecting given one radio is using an external high-gain antenna while the others are indoors using low-gain antennas. Nonetheless I mostly discounted this, at least initially. While I do use repeaters, I like to focus more on what I can do simplex. Recently I set out get a feel for what I could achieve simplex between my new base radio and the HT in the mobile using my external mobile antenna. For this test, both my neighbor and my wife were on our respective base stations. Again, to my surprise, my neighbor was able to hear me at a range about 50-75% further than my wife could on the 1000G. Again, I discounted this difference, chalking it up to his extra 10’ of antenna height. At the opening of my post I reported that I could get into 6 higher-profile repeaters in my area. True, but at first I did not realize that. One night I was confirming my repeater access on each repeater in the city. I would announce my callsign, sometimes indicate where I was at, and that I was just testing. I took note of which repeaters I received a squelch tail back from, noted the S-meter reading, hailed again to confirm, and sometimes asked for a radio check. If I heard no squelch tail from the repeater after multiple attempts I moved on. Later that night, while in a conversation with another GMRSr on a repeater I can work well, I had some folks jump in to say they heard me on two different repeaters quite well earlier (ones that I had not previously gotten a squelch tail back from). Each one told me that they had tried to reach out to me but received not response back from me. I was shocked. Learning this talked and then switched over to those repeaters to try again as a group. Yep, they could hear me great, yet I could not hear them back. I checked my radio settings, all was good. It was late but we decided to try one more thing before we called it a night. I hooked up my KG-805G in place of the 1000G (exact feed-line and antenna). Low and behold the KG-805G got into the repeater fine at just 5 watts (although a bit noisy), but the KG-805G was able to hear the other parties. OK, now I know something is going on. Yesterday I enlisted the help of a seasoned local GMRSr and amateur radio operator so I could perform some receive comparisons between three different radio models I have. For a period of time I had them transmit and talk while I hooked each model of radio to the exact same antenna and feed-line one after another. I took note of whether the squelch opened up, what the S-meter reading was, and what the audio quality was. In the end, the 1000G was the clear looser by a unexpected margin, while the 805G was the hands-down winner. Many times the squelch on the 1000G would not open up at all, and when it did, the S-meter was low and the audio very noisy. Conversely the HT radios always opened up, always produced usable audio and exhibited S-meter readings consistently 2-5 bars higher than the 1000G under the test scenario. These results are not at all expected in light of the fact the radios have published sensitivity ratings that differ by only 2dB. I have started a dialog with BTWR about this issue in hopes their customer service comes through. I would like to think that I received a dud and the issue can be resolved by swapping out the radio. Time will tell. I writing this for the benefit of all of you that have already purchased this radio, or that are considering it. Your signal might very well be reaching a lot farther than you know, merely because your receive is not on par with your transmit. Not usually a good combination. I will report back how custom service handles this situation, if and how the receive issue gets resolved. Michael WRHS965 KE8PLM

Since 22 of the 30 GMRS frequencies are already shared with GMRS, I believe you likely referring to the 467 interstitial channels (channels 8-14) which have a 1/2 watt limit. There is no “technical reason” why it cannot be done, it most certainly can. I do believe there are a some reasons why it is not done. 1) The GMRS radios being made for us are not from-the-ground-up radios. In most cases they are repackaged amateur radios that are already built for higher powers. Some have two, some have three power settings, none that I know of go down to 1/2 watt and below. I think that to do so would lead to higher cost radios with little or no net benefit to consumers. 2) The FCC power limit for channels 8-14 is not 1/2 watt output power. It is actually 1/2 watt ERP which, by definition, means that the power rating must take into account the attached antenna system gain as well. Now, since FCC ERP definition is based on a dipole antenna, any user that uses an an antenna with a gain greater than a simple dipole (which is 2.1dBi) would be immediately in violation of the rules. Thus, if the manufacturers built their mobile radios to be legal, they would likely need to limit output power to somewhere around .07 watts to account for folks like me that use a 9dBi or 11dBi antenna. How many of you would be thrilled to buy a radio with a whopping spec of 1/16th of a watt? Not many I assume. We repeater uses absolutely do not want any more ERP on channels 8-14 than is currently allowed. Any extra power here will most certainly lead to degraded repeater performance, as these frequencies already overlap by 50% with the reserved repeater input frequencies. Add more power and suddenly the kids playing with their toy radios, and mobile radios on these frequencies will lead to you not being able to use the repeater well while in your car. Something to think about. Michael WRHS965 KE8PLM

TDR is a double edge sword. It is great when you need to monitor multiple two frequencies or scan two ranges at the same time. But on an HT it can be bad when you find yourself talking on one side of the radio while audio is being received on the other. The audio from receive side gets picked up by the microphone and retransmitted on the other side, while is simultaneously distracts you, the talking operator. While I really do like having TDR, I find I have to immediately disable now if I am going to use the radio for its intended purpose, two-way radio communications. I have been caught off guard multiple times in the middle a communications when suddenly the speaker starts reproducing audio from another channel. I wish my radios had the option that would enable muting of the second side when the PTT button is pressed. A user preference setting.

On all radios I have with tone scan, it is a radio-only feature, not a software feature or option. On the radio you can select and activate it only while actively receiving a signal. It is not available to activate until then, but then stays active until turned off or the code is found. Michael WRHS965 KE8PLM

Looks like the new KG-905G solves the field selectable power problem. Michael WRHS965 KE8PLM

I was looking up specs on something else and stumbled upon yet another entry into the GMRS HT world. https://www.buytwowayradios.com/wouxun-kg-905g.html Michael WRHS965 KE8PLM

You are making a wise decision on the height. You will be glad you did. Regards, Michael WRHS965 KE8PLM

What to you perceive the problem is? What are you trying to solve? Michael WRHS965 KE8PLM