jc1240

The world is a better place with Chris in it.

A repeater in/near Mt. Holly Springs, PA is very active. More active than a bunch of ham repeaters around me. I call hit "ham light."

OMG, classic! Thank you for the laugh. Note - I would have taken the original text the same way (band vs 2 devices), but your delivery is fantastic.

I know it's a month later for this thread, but I did a round trip with an Anytone 878 in my carry-on. TSA at both airports didn't care.

Thanks for the used radio suggestions. I had thought of that the other day. Still undecided and I figure if have time with the particular shopping season that's about to start. And good reminder about batteries. I had bought a brand new laptop battery from Amazon some years ago. Yes indeed it was new, factory sealed. But it and the model laptop I had was old. That battery had been sitting on a shelf for years and was actually worse in function than the battery it was replacing. Doh!

Thanks all. I appreciate the input.

Thanks and yes, I'm a big fan of NotaRubicon Productions. Even if any given video is about something with which I have no interest, I still watch for the entertainment value.

I apologize if this is "one of those topics," but I need some help in purchasing some HTs. I'm not asking for THE radio to get, but maybe someone can help me narrow down some to check. For example, Retevis has a nice sale today, but there are so many models from them alone, I just don't know. Here are my criteria, questions and use: Main use (other than toying around) - we drive 2 vehicles to our annual vacation spot (7 hour drive) and I'd like us to use radio instead of cell phone for those quickies where calling would take longer than the conversation itself. One hurdle - I'm torn between GMRS and MURS. I'd probably get more use out of GMRS, so...that might already be the answer, but I can also get that later if I go with MURS. At some point before I die, I'll have both because I'm starting to get that addiction. Main desire - the PAIR of HTs to be about $100 or less (very easy with Retevis's sale should I go that route). I know here are some sweet GMRS radios that for one unit go for $150+; that's too much for this use. They don't have to be Retivis, I just mention them because of the current sale. This is a contender (TIDRadio RD-H5) https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B08Z7MVVBH/ So...what I'm looking for are just some suggestions to check. I started with review videos, but I'm overwhelmed with the number of radio models, I think I'm looking at this and it is that because the trailing letter is different, etc. Do I really care if it has a keypad? I'll probably set them up once and that's that. Are there some to avoid? I saw one review of the RB23 (GMRS) and the person could not get it to use wideband on any channel. Thanks, John

Congratulation Congratulations!

For me, GMRS for family. Ham for fun. GMRS in my area is non-existent outside of 1 or 2 repeaters too far away and are hardly ever used. They are active only when there is an "event" like a blizzard.

There was a time prior when the FCC charged a fee. It was costing more to collect the fee than the fee itself, so they dropped it. FCC Eliminates Amateur Radio Vanity Call Sign Regulatory Fee (arrl.org) Testing fees are strictly collected and used by the VECs. LaurelVEC for example does not charge anything.

For you Baofeng lovers and haters, seems they have a new version for 2021 that is pretty good regarding spurious emissions. It is also Tx locked to the ham bands. From Dave Casler's most recent live stream, here are the emissions of a UV-5R and the new GT-5R, both at 146.520MHz. UV-5R (the hourglasses are due to when I snagged the screenshot while he was moving his mouse): GT-5R: New video just about the radio: https://youtu.be/1JyM8oNtoaE

There is no "request a vanity callsign" link in the ULS for GMRS licenses like there is for amateur radio.

I almost never use mine (GMRS in general, not the license ID). There's no one around except a couple of neighborhood kids where big sis bosses lil' sis around. Which brings me to my question - on the shared frequencies, how does one know if they are using FRS vs GMRS? Maybe there should be a true band split with no shared frequencies.

I'm not sure if this is all-inclusive, but in general you will need to give Chirp the rights to access USB and the disk/directories where you store the code plugs. https://chirp.danplanet.com/projects/chirp/wiki/MacOS_Tips Also, have you used the cable with this radio in the past? Not all are equal and some found on sites like Amazon are fakes. This one is known to work with Baofeng: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00HUB0ONK