AdmiralCochrane

Radio is plentiful off Ebay while gun parts and ammo is always out of stock if I were you barrels and scope first...

I love my iCOM's I got a Commercial grade radios F221-s, F621TR to name a few
 
Pros: Build like a tank, cheap, software is free, cable readily available or you can make your own
 
Cons:Some are front panel programmable but mostly are not.

I have my Midland MXT400 set to use the 20kHz bandwidth on the channels on which it is allowed by Part 95E. I also have the local repeaters programmed into the slots meant for the channels reserved for the FRS handhelds.
 
The software and cable (DBR1)  is available.
Cable - https://midlandusa.com/product/dbr1-dual-band-radio-programming-cable/
Software - https://www.dropbox.com/s/eibap1ve5nnl5ju/MXT400_Setup_1.05.exe?dl=0

From my reading, the MXT275 is set to NFM.
Can this be changed?
Sounding like, no.
 
I don't feel like I need a 40W (MXT400) or 50W (GMRS-50x1).
I like the compact and versatile package of the MXT275.
Just got it a last week.
But so far it's in the house with a UT72 mag mount on my metal framed desk on teh second floor.
Hitting my local mwGMRS net repeater about 40 miles away, nice and strong.
Can't wait to test it out in the car. Waiting for the NMO Mag mount with UT75 NMO.
 
 
72

He is saying you can set the bandwidth to the legal Part 95 20kHz from the 12.5 that Midland ships the rig set to using the software. 

I believe the FCC addressed this in:
§95.1761   GMRS transmitter certification.
© ... No GMRS transmitter will be certified for use in the GMRS if it is equipped with the capabilities to operate in services that do not require equipment certification, such as the Amateur Radio Service.
 
Huh... Doesn't seem to get any plainer that that, I guess.... LoL

I have good luck with my Ed Fong antenna and he's really polite when answering questions from new folks--I know, i've asked some of the dumbest ones he's probably heard. I use his pvc encased version. Part of the money he collects goes to the graduate students tuning the antenna for you and they use the cash to help pursue their educational goals....beats the heck out of it disappearing offshore to a big corporation. And berkinet's right, the frequency GMRS is at doesn't lend itself to skipping great distances like the lower ham frequencies and CB when conditions are right. Take a look at the repeater section here, though, and the odds are good you can bounce your signal through a repeater, even through others if they are mutually connected for enviable clarity at awesome distance. I sure hope that doesn't negatively affect your decision to go and stay on the air, though, and wish you best of luck. Please let us (or at least me) know how it's working. 

That will be a very long wait. UHF does not skip, it just keeps on going.

I ordered the KG-805G. So I'll be able to test the receiving quality vs the BTECH GMRS-V1

Bough all my radio and cable needs from them...DX Engineering and HRO-Ham Radio Outlet.

I think this video sums it up right here,

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sq3zEpYgCYo
 
This leads me to wonder though, Why do so many UHF radios come with SO-239 sockets for antenna use rather than BNC or N connectors? It even seems that newer UHF radios still use the SO-239.

Another question I have is weather or not someone should consider having the SO-239 changed out for the N type connectors? Would there be some form of improvement or has some form of compensation been made on the PC board in those radios?

The sole exception to the "no kerchunking rule" does not affect GMRS at all, but does affect all DMR repeaters. Most of the hundreds of Talk Groups are "PTT" only, meaning that to activate them on one's local repeater requires a very brief PTT, pause and listen to make sure no one is already having a contact, then giving your call sign.

Use the practice of, If you key it state our call!
As owner of repeater equipment I am not found of "kerchuncks".
We operators are hyper aware of our systems status, always on the listen for irregularities which may require service action and since the GMRS repeater freqs are not coordinated we want to be good neighbors (avoid overlapping repeater coverage) so we hear kerchuncks and wonder, did someone bring a local repeater on line using the same freq, did I put one on the air and causing interference? Even with tones it could cause interference.
So my perspective is, if you are going to key on a machine please provide your call sign. And in the linking world remember, you may be keying your local machine but it may be keying many others across the country as well.
 
You would not go to random houses and open the door to see if anyone was home would you???
KNOCK!
Rick H...
WQHJ382 / W2RGH

In my view, you are on the right track. Do consider that at the point at which you announce you are listening that there is no one else actually listening, or that someone may be listening but not in a position to talk or does not want to talk right then and there.
 
Whether I am using my amateur radio or GMRS, my radios are frequently on scan when I am not actively engaged in conversation. So consider too that your announcement may have fallen on deaf ears.
 
When the airwaves are quiet, do not hesitate to announce yourself like normal, then ask explicitly if there is anyone else listening. If there is, this could invite a more prompt response. I have had some success with this. In the lower bands bands of amateur radio (10 meter and lower) they use use a repetitive calling phase that includes the use of the letter code CQ which explicitly means you are “looking for a contact”. This is not practiced on VHF or UHF amateur voice frequencies nor on GMRS, but it is effectively the same as ‘Is there anyone out there?”
 
If repeater actively is frequently dead, perhaps you can change things up by arranging certain times of the day with your friends to get on the radio and start making traffic. Others may hear your conversations and take your lead.
 
Personally, I generally allow about 5+ minutes between any subsequent announcements of my callsign and listening. As a listener, when I hear it more frequently than this during periods where I cannot jump in to talk, I find it an annoying. So I do not do things to others that I personally find annoying.
 
Hope this helps.
 
Michael
WRHS965
KE8PLM
 
 
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Found a function on the MXT400 the other day that I didn't see in the manual. You can scan for CTCSS or DCS on a channel if you long hold the CTCSS/DCS button. The codes will start scrolling. If there are active communications on that channel, it will eventually pause on the code. I've use it on the repeater channels to help figure out repeater tones if there's chatter.

Back in the old days when the PL-259 and SO-239 were invented, what we now call VHF was imagined to be UHF!

That 299 thing is a waste of money, as I've been told in numerous occasions by other Commsupport members, who have tried it, and told me precisely to avoid it at all costs. Quoting some of those people here: "its utter garbage" So I would personally stay away from it, and trusting those people has made my radio range grow tens of miles, and I am no longer stuck at <2 miles on 50W mobile anymore.
 
Again, you are better off with an XiR radio that has a Motorola designed FPP.
 
With that said, I honestly think you won't need it, I could be wrong, but in my experience I haven't had a need to have a VFO or any sort of FPP... even before starting carrying LMR gear, I don't recall ever using VFO or FPP on my GD77, MD5 nor TH-F6a....  The handful of times I've used VFO on the TH-F6a was to listen to HF and AM airband, b/c these days everything is all digital, so you need to buy a digital scanner, with multimode capabilities... Also, the scan speed on all CCRs is pathetic at best... and the XPR7550 and the 6550 can only do 16 channel scan lists, so either way, you are screwed..., you'll be better off buying a dedicated digital scanner.
 
IMO, just program all the Itinerants, Moto LMR radio channels, EMS, Fire Dept, Hospitals, Marine, A large set of Ham repeaters, GMRS, etc etc. basically anything that might come in handy, and you're set. Again, If I wanted to just listen to traffic I'll just encourage you to buy a dedicated Scanner, or an HF rig.
 
If plugging 200 channels by hand is not your thing then there are codeplugs already made for the XPR radios that will have a ton of repeaters already programmed in them, just download and flash.
 
G.
 

On the MXT400, you can program all 30 memory channels to the same frequency with 30 different PL's if you wish

There are things called access codes for most repeaters. you will need the input and output code (usually CTCSS or DCS) These need to be entered into the radio as well in order to activate the repeater and talk into it.

The output is the frequency that the repeater transmits on; the same frequency that you listen to. The input frequency is the frequency that the repeater listens on; the same frequency that you transmit on.
 
In the GMRS world, when using repeaters, the repeaters always listen to frequencies in the 467 MHz band, and always transmit on frequencies in the 462 MHz band. Convention has it that there is always 5 MHz difference between the transmit and receive frequencies.
 
Hope this helps.
 
Michael
WRHS965
KE8PLM
 
 
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Well, 75' to 100' is a large difference, remember that crimping heliax is not easy without the right tools... I know this b/c I botched it before... with the tool is a lot easier. 
 
Use a string to find out the exact length, then find the next cable in size.
 
For a 100' run I think its probably better to ask here, pretty certain others can sell you a 100' FSJ4-50B with crimped N connectors on both ends, and even a sweep of such cable.
 
G.

Why? B/c those radios don't suck. If you are looking for excuses to keep buying garbage then you are doing a great job, keep it up. Hearing you is just like hearing myself 6 years ago... wasting my money away... 
 
Radios Part 90 certified have tighter and stricter requirements than Part 95 toys. Yes, part 95 radios are usually overpriced toys.. its like buying an Airsoft replica vs buying the real gun...  which one would you rather have if things go south? Pretty clear answer to me. Using the dubious legal argument to sell P.O.S. radios is just blatantly misleading customers into buying inferior products that won't perform as advertised when you might need them the most.
 
I am using the XPR7550e as an example here, but there are other quality brand LMR radios made by Motorola/Kenwood/ICOM that are also part 95 approved... you just have to look around. I chose the XPR7550e b/c I love how it looks, it has the best audio I've ever heard on any radio and the best range I've ever tested on a portable simplex.
 
To conclude: other people here aren't just exclusively licensed on GMRS, other people here are also hams, or even LMR operators who might hold an Itinerant Business Radio license... where encryption is legal too... 
 
G.
 

... or ANY non-GMRS certified radio for that matter. None, zero, zilch, zip, nada, rien, никто.
 
Nobody should buy or operate any radio they are not comfortable with. Whether it is for technical or regulatory reasons. But, this board is made up of adults who, like you, are, presumably, capable of deciding for themselves what equipment they wish to own, operate, and discuss.

Well there are really two issues here. One is cheap labor. Second is cheap design.
 
You can still move manufacturing back to the US and still produce garbage because the design was cheap. The CCR's are the way they are because of both of the above factors. Cheap labor keeps cost down. A cheap design that takes maximum advantage of highly integrated chips which very often results in a compromise somewhere in performance with a trade off in reduced cost. Now you have a really cheap radio with so-so performance.
 
There is a reason why the higher end radios perform better, cost more, than many CCR's is because more effort was made during the design and testing phase with less corners in performance cut. To design high performance hardware requires very careful evaluation of nearly every component used. For a $25 Baofeng just how much R and D money do you think they are going to spend on such a cheap radio? For the CCR's they use a "datasheet" reference design, tweak it a bit. Then try some "can you hear me now tests" and then it goes to marketing.

Yes, absolutely.
 
I did the same thing when I replaced my 25 foot LMR400 UHF-UHF feedline with FSJ4-50B N-Male N-Male, same length. The heliax I got was factory made. I got mine from eBay as a NIB New Old Stock, I paid 35 bucks for 25 foot with 2 preinstalled trimetal N-male connectors, which are like 29 bucks a pop.
 
To give you quantitative figures: The antenna feedline connector at the base now reads a near perfect 50.03 Ohms impedance, and the return loss is -38dBm... as expected range now is measured in tens of miles, too, as opposed to the LMR400 which had an impedance of 43 Ohm and a -28 dBm return loss, while not bad, range was at best 10 miles.
 
There are people here who can also make these cables. I just wanted a factory cable with the datasheet and sweep chart to ensure I wasn't getting a dud.
 
The keyword on eBay to find a N to N heliax is "PNMNM" if you type that you'll get every cable on eBay that has N-male (NM) to N-male (NM)  There are a ton of listings, just look for FSJ4-50B.
 
G.