MacJack

So if I read Michael attachment correctly, save on the fee. So if you are thinking about getting or renewing your GMRS call sign, wait 30 days... per the attached will be $35. (see paragraph 40 or so). You will save half off the current $70 fee. I got my GMRS call sign in November so I made a $35 donation, that is life, have been enjoying the process to this point.

I forgot to share these links... Mic I used... https://www.buytwowayradios.com/wouxun-smo-002.html Also I got this data cable.... did you order one? https://www.buytwowayradios.com/wouxun-pco-001.html I use CHIRP since I have a mac... https://chirp.danplanet.com/projects/chirp/wiki/Home Hope that helps. Jack

I know Pittsburgh as worked/trained there by my manager some 50 years ago and he hated it and called it the arm pit of Penn. It was nice, to much snow for me as not one shoved and news covered stories of people death from heart attacks. Great on you selection "805G and antenna"...if you need any help with your 805G let me know and will give you this ex-newbie knowledge from my mistakes that I learned from. So did you contact the owner of the repeater for permission to go on his repeater so you can put in the PL code(s) (I will help you as BTWR was closed over Christmas so had to learn on my own.) and if he assign ID # like on my repeater owner here in WNC which is 855 to 857 for the family. In my contact with my local repeater owner, I thanked him for use, told him about myself and vision casting my 12 yo G daughter going to join Space Force. He very friendly and helpful as he has other repeaters and access to several repeater which my same ID can be used all of them. I even sent him $500 donation as that is cheaper then putting up my own repeater. His repeater is on one of the highest mountains and cover two large mountain counties. G daughter and I drove up to the tower one cold day several weeks ago to check it out and offered to help him with sweat if he needs it. G daughter and I go on air daily so she no get to shy. She talks to me but will get there. Now they make a shorter antenna but I found the longer one goes to the windshield based on my mounting 805G. I also purchase the mic/speaker since my 805G is mounted in Jeep passenger side for G daughter to operate. I do not know what is it with SC PO as I'm still waiting for my second antenna and it shows it at SC PO but I guess they do not scan package if they leave. On some of the orders I track, package just showed up... PO not scanning anymore? Have fun. Jack

Welcome to the forum. Not knowing your area, I'm 20-30 miles away from repeater in WNC mountains and reach it with my KG-805G and use Authentic Nagoya NA-771G Handheld GMRS Antenna (15.3 Inch / SMA Female) https://www.buytwowa...ya-na-771g.html which is in stock and just ordered another and awaiting delivery.

Nancy sent me a email to purchase for a $80 credit plus shipping... Anyone else get a discount email from her?

It is fixed now... Thank Rich... Easy fix...

Add me to this observation... I was looking up repeaters and had to log in after each click... Was not like that before, but I can see a good reason for doing that if a robot attack.

Great. I like your dry bag.. I have a mount on my ATV handle bars.

No problem. So 6 or 15 inch? Which one did you get? I have the 15 so where mounted goes above the dash. Plus live in the mountains and my mentor said "it is all in the antenna"

Thanks Michael, I did find the firmware as you suggested below... I was having issue with one of my 805G, thinking it was the new antenna you suggest for Jeep and RV, nor was it Nagoya NA-771G. My clue was it was not remembering the root settings like voice, display name not channel and host of other. I did follow you suggestion on using the exit. Remember I have two 805G and it works correctly. All is good so far, did a radio check on the repeater and works great. Glad it was just a simple reinstall software. Thanks, Jack

Happy to report that BTWR has the Authentic Nagoya NA-771G Handheld GMRS Antenna (15.3 Inch / SMA Female) in stock, I just ordered one and returning my Amazon NA-771 (no G). I did a side by side check and two 805G with the NA-771G worked the best. Yes a double blind study with third radio. https://www.buytwowayradios.com/nagoya-na-771g.html

GuySagi, Well it will be this spring.. Themo going down to 9 degrees tonight so sitting by the fire and studying all kinds of suitcase Repeater, both USA and CCP made. So will let you know.. So saying that I may start a Post for Suitcase Repeater Suggestion...

I know what you mean... I'm a NW Jersey and Germany guy with a lot of snow... Now live in west FL coast and only came to Western NC for Covid, Jeeping and Christmas with family... So this FL family had it's third White Christmas and we been singing that song all week.

Thanks for this info... I only had one experience with Repeater Owner and received his history and use of repeater. I like your Midwestern view of your repeater usage and thank you for sharing in detail.

Merry Christmas to all you guys and your family... We have a white Christmas this year.

Where I came from on my decision making was wanted more then some cheap plastic wrap after getting my license. Took the advise of BTWR the Handheld Wouxun KG805-G and Purchased two and happy as the sound quality is so clear.... I have been looking at the Base Wouxun KG-1000G GMRS (50watt) they had some nice feature... awaiting review from others who know more then me. I also made sure I did not have buyer remorse and said for $160 for two 805G and if I did a base KG-1000G for $319 plus antenna and other accessories $200?, I have learned a lot. (read below as going for repeater) So pick what you like now because in 6 to 8 months they add new features and or products which makes you say O I should have gotten this or that. So I do have issues with the 805G and so go look at all the posts for all the radios and ask yourself can I live with this or that. Because I'm a newbie, I wanted to make my current pick to be a learning tool for me and my 12 yo G daughter to learn and enjoy radios... We are learning a lot about programing plus repeaters and just having fun hearing FRS trash talk and being legit on GMRS. Makes her feel good in seeing the difference. As I said twice, buy something you will not have buyers remorse... because your first radios will be your throw away in a year or so. Now for me that is why I did not get the Wouxun KG-1000G as a base to install in my Jeep, I like the remote head. But now I'm looking at getting a repeater to put in Jeep and/or my RV via sharing the unit. I like the portability of 5 watt handhelds with a 5 watt repeater with good antennas. So looking at Retevis RT97 https://shop.mygmrs.com/collections/featured-products/products/retevis-rt97-gmrs-repeater-5w My GMRS mentor "he knows who he is" says it is all in the antenna and the $200 of accessories was all antennas so since the 805G allows to upgrade different antennas which is a lot better than rubber ducky. Also the 805G are 5 watts and I think Midland X-Talker handhelds are only 2 watts and fixed rubber ducky antennas (do check this as I may be wrong). Midland looks like good pricing... Just pick a budget amount to start with the features you like knowing you can go crazy like me on your next round of radios purchases... How old are your kids, any looking to go deeper into GMRS. I vision cast my G daughter into the Space Force and we did the Huntsville, AL space museum so she see all the communication gear and is ready to go... Go Guardians.. Hope this helps, not techie like my mentor, just some personal meat. Do let us know what and why you purchase what you came up with. Just know it will be the right choice for your needs. Jack Edit after thought: I like that I can program the 805G and I have a Mac and use Chirp software and cable. I can not speak at about the other units. I noticed that Midland and maybe others are China made... I only say this for the Made in USA folks as I'm an X Law Enforcement guy with Motorola radios I like. I have openly stated that I do not like the CCP and have two adapted twin Chinese daughters in their 50's with adult America kids. I have said I not a lover of CCP actions and feel the pain for the people and companies who have to do what they do to live until CCP is history. I also need to add I was educated on Part 95 certified radios from BTWR. I wanted a radio that was certified radios for the future, NOT the hybrids that only a Ham can use. In short a certified radios per Part 95 just for GMRS. So whatever you pick make sure it is Part 95 certified radios.

The post of 31 is your reply... post 30 shows it was removed or moved... That is fine, I will just go to KG-805G post to help others with some pro/cons... In all my years never found a perfect product, life is a trade off. Keep pushing us with your knowledge or we will learn and not be dead in the water.

gman1971, I do not see that this post excludes CCP, it says..... Brand Name radios Pros/Cons thread. (Used/New) Started by gman1971, Oct 24 2020 07:37 PM I do acknowledge your kind words of respect to Micheal and taking the high road is very honoring and I do respect all your post... So where did Michael post go as new to GMRS and owner of two entry level CCP KG-805G wanted to tell others an issue I found in putting in the CTC codes and the use of the CHIRP software not transferring CTC setting. gman1971, keep informing us newbie... glad we found this site and nice guys to get their knowledge you are willing to share...

I think you are spot on in your view of FCC and control of the products. So it not like a computer where you get updates to software and firmware as needed. Thanks, this makes sense.

Yes, I saw and have one without G and dual band. With the G was designed for BTWR for GMRS only. I was told material to make antenna is short supply to Nagonya and not available until Jan 2021.

Nice review of the KG-805G... I learned a lot from your post and I do have two as a newbie to GMRS. BTWR suggested them and later to read they played a part in designing them and getting them through the certification process. No regrets. I did add the Authentic Nagoya NA-771G Handheld GMRS Antenna (15.3 Inch / SMA Female) https://www.buytwowayradios.com/nagoya-na-771g.html which is out of stock... Made a big different to reach repeater as the rubber ducky antenna could not do it. Wait it was one of your post saying it is all in the antenna. So I'm still waiting to install my Midland MicroMobile MXTA12 Antenna Mag Mount and Midland MicroMobile MXTA26 6db Gain Whip Antenna as awaiting shipment of the cable ends you suggested to complete installation in my Jeep Wrangler JLR. Because I have a Mac, I use CHIRP software and can not do some of the things you like.. e.g. select scan channel. So tell me more about firmware... I do not know how to find what release I have and how do you get and update firmware... I checked Wouxon website for firmware info. Guess I must use Wouxon software on a pc. I do like this CCP product, like you will not drop test it yet. I have said in other posts, I have two adopted Chinese twins girls now in their 50's now, who are so thankful to be here in America and have adult children here as well. They have felt the loved of so many of Americans... They where victims in China and like American freedom. They are great girls, my other 4 kids should learn from them. So as it comes to products, I look for value, character of the mfg, and who will service the radio... I'm not pro CCP but people have to do what they have to do in China... NO spy girlfriends either... political joke. In close over 30+ years, I spent 15 years in law enforcement and have used and respect Motorola equipment... and will add them to my select list if I do my own repeater.

Thanks Michael, waiting for spring to come... to test this out.

Thanks Micheal for your comments. Not wanting to have too much equipment for my needs, I have two 805G and use my RV while staying at KOA's campsites. So would it make sense to put a Retevis RT97 Portable GMRS Repeater 5W in my RV with a Midland MXTA-26A with a mag mount NMO base antenna so my two HT KG-805G work with good coverage all things concerning. Still waiting for my MXTA-26A to come in this weekend with your cable suggestion. On a personal note.... Micheal "mbrun" has several post and comments well worth reading for us Newbies. It like drinking from a fire hose... I had to PM him asking for more understanding since I did not want anyone to see how dumb I was... It a proud issue I'm still working on not having a good understanding yet.

Sorry to hear your screen died on you but happy to know BTWR did an RMA so you will be made whole again. How long did you have your KG-805G before it die and any signs before hand. What was duty cycle of use e.g. everyday use for x hours.

JohnE, I looked you up and your post and did not see it... please direct me to that.