ABTOCMEPTb

Obviously an egocentric point of view. Tells a lot about poster's character...When you learn to separate greater good from personal hurts - world will change towards better future.
By the by. I "felt like" commenting on what he "felt like" doing. If you ok with his "felt likes", you should be ok with my "felt likes" as well.
Oh, and tell OP to have fun watching his "resources" collecting dust.

People with power to pull the plug must be people with thick skin. "I am taking my ball and going home" is very immature. At best can be done silently. Leave drama to opposite sex.

Same here. If I figure out they have no license, whether it's GMRS or ham, I ignore them. And like you, I got the GMRS license so my wife and I can keep in contact on repeaters when I'm off exploring outside of cell coverage, since she's not really interested in the ham license. 

Honestly, I don't really have any interest in "carding" whoever I'm talking with to see if they have a license. I also don't get too wound up if they don't use their callsign. I use mine, but that's just me. I see GMRS as just another form of communication and I have no interest in the radio hobby as such. For a while I thought I may get my technician's license, but decided it wouldn't be useful for family use. It's impractical for each family member to have to learn a bunch of radio trivia just to be able talk back and forth. 

I am in Tampa area. One year with GMRS license. There were no working repeaters in our area a year ago. Now we got like 6 of different range.  I can reach one repeater from inside of my house with 935g. About 18 miles away from me. Very pleased that people actually expanding GMRS network.
Not a lot of chatter but most of the time I do repeater check, someone is responding.

I got two and will add another two as soon as two radio kit is back in stock.

I got two and will add another two as soon as two radio kit is back in stock.

Well, there are several groups working on Tampa to Orlando.   Last I heard, it’s almost ready, working out the bugs.  Stay tuned.  

Thank you for the input!
I wish I had an option to have it mounted up high at home. with HOA its a no go. The only permission I got is to place it outside without being obvious that this is antenna.
Yeah, I got two strong repeaters in my immediate area, and have no need to install my own as of now. But my head is always spinning different scenarios if i am on a go due to hurricanes or what not.
Currently I got NMO 150/450/758 Pulse Larsen Tri-Band Antenna mounted on car and it works great. Heck, my kg935g HT is reaching repeater 22 miles away no problem.

Will be cabling up and putting repeater number 3 at the site.  This is Johnstown 625.  This repeater will be connected to the MidWest GMRS wide area radio network at all times.
We do have the Johnstown 675 and 725 on the air as well for local traffic.  If you are in this area and want to experience a wide area connected system, this is your chance.  Please realize this repeater will ALWAYS be connected to the wide area network.  So if you are just wanting to talk across town, please use the 675 repeater for those communications.
 

And in the end, that's all we can do...help understand the features and limitations, so users get the radio that meets their needs...one of those "right tool for the job" kinda things.
My 50x1 was a great learning tool, but I wanted more. For some use case, midlands are fine radio, while others, not so much.

It wasn't so much price as it was features.  

Specifically, the ability to add additional GMRS frequencies/channels into memory, which cannot be done.  I never suggested it was a 'bad radio', just that for the money, there are other radios available that provided more of what one might expect in an over $200 (Chinese) radio (and I exclude the KG-1000).  Indeed, there are many sub $200 radios that offer a lot more capability.

All that said, it seems the radio meets your needs and I am happy for you. 

The 50x1 simply did not meet my needs or expectations for a radio in the $200+ price range.  IMHO, the 50x1, while a perhaps a good performing radio (RF wise), is anything but a good value at $220 given it's lack of flexibility when it comes to memories/programming. 

If there was any benefit to me from purchasing it, it was the learning experience and a lesson in doing your research before buying.
As noted, I returned the radio the next day.

However, as always, to each their own.

 

With all due respect to posters above and with complete understanding of the shortcomings, I have to tell you that for $400 ( which is $30 less than single 1000 unit) I got two 50x1 units. These are working perfectly fine as a base and mobile radios. I can monitor 4 frequencies at the same time. And its powerful enough for what I need.
Working in tandem with a fleet of different HTs, including two 935g units - I am covered 360 degrees. 
After all 1000 is priced at $370 now and 50x1 is $220. I am sure 1000 worth every penny. But is it a great value at $370? I don't think so. 50x1 is a great value at $220.

There is an anomaly when using the weather alert on the KG-935G and the KG-XS20G. When selected 'On' and scanning in area A, the scan will be continuously interrupted while it interrogates the NOAA weather channels for an alert tone. This is very distracting and inefficient. There are two ways to work around this "feature"; (1) Turn off weather alert or (2) Set your scan in area B where it will not be interrupted. The weather scan only occurs in area A.
If you find your scan still being interrupted by the weather frequencies, no matter what you do, then set Scan Mode to 'CO'

Add repeater input frequencies into your scan lists as a way to learn who is talking on repeaters that may be within simplex range of you.


Michael
WRHS965
KE8PLM

Another poster started a similar thread for KG-1000G and I thought it was such a great idea, I figured I'd start one for KG-935G.    Some of this may apply to the KG-XS20G (manuals look very similar) or to other KGs.
Here's one I'll start with (and it has much to do with the software):
Scan Groups
Preface:  The KG-935G has 999 memory slots.  Scanning channels is fairly slow.  Priority Channel scan is a great idea, but implemented globally (vs within a scan-group).   If you visit different areas frequently, its best to scan only the stuff near you.  If you have less than 100 channels of interest in any given area (I have 25 at most in any geographic area), this may help you.   Aside from where I live, I regularly visit 2 areas, and less frequently visit 2 others.
Using the (less than great) Wouxun software:
First:  Renumber all scan groups to Group1=100-199, Group2=200-299, etc etc (I made Group10=001-099).    This makes it such that any channel's first digit is the same as the scan group number.  (out of the box, group 2 runs from 100, to 199.   Not so intuitive later on...)
Second, create a fake "Channel" at 100, 200, 300, 400, etc.   Set it to no transmit, Scan Add = OFF, and give it a name for your areas of interest.   For example, I have:
100="<HOME>"  [settings: Rx 137.1, TX off, TX Power low, Mode narrow] 200="<DFW>"  (Dallas) 300="<ETex>" (east Texas) 400= "<Hou>" (Houston) 800="<HotList" (stuff I might like to hear anywhere) several others.  I left channels 1-99 factory stock. Finally, separate all of your regional channels under the appropriate bank.  For example, I have Tyler GMRS repeater in 311, DallasFire at 255.  The Northwest Houston GMRS repeater in 401.   You could further subdivide these by band, service, interest (e.g. 200=DFWGMRS, 400=HouGMRS, 500 Hou-HAM, 600-HOUfire) so you only scan GMRS for your area, or all the HAMs in an area, or only Fire/Police in another.
After doing that, it is a simple matter to use the radio's menu keyboard to set the scan group to match wherever you find yourself.   And here's the true magic:  Because you renumbered the groups, and stored a fake "label" channel at x00... if you ever forget, you can just key in "200", "400", etc, to see the channel group label ("<DFW>" & "<Hou>" in my case).  Press UP Arrow to quickly find the channel you want, or set the scan group to #2 and you're scanning all the channels you saved for that "region" (Dallas on my radio).
 
Now it's your turn:  Have any tips/tricks for KG-935G (or very closely related) radios? Post them here!

I would do a 2-bay or 4-bay side by side folded dipole in the attic.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/134023808353?epid=1941709490&hash=item1f34710561:g:yowAAOSwIytgUyhQ
G.

FG4500 (and similar) are not good for car because of wind resistance. These kind of antennas are often rated for around 100mph. And when installed on a mast, rarely they see hurricane-level of wind, certainly not every day.
It could be useful, if mounted on collapsible mast 30' or higher, connected to this Retevis repeater, when stationary.

That is not a good idea on a car. It will come undone at speed. Why do you want that antenna on a car?
Just use a regular 1/4 wave Larsen. Seriously, I am able to reach 30 miles simplex (no repeater) on my cars with a simple 1/4 wave Larsen antenna...  Concentrate all the efforts in the base setup.
G.

This is why it is recommended "drilling the hole" 
G.

I had that Comet antenna bite the dust when I was in a Chevy. The mount just came off the car when I hit about 60 MPH. The magnet has a good 25 pound pull to detach it from the sheet of steel I have it currently o.

I am not sure what antenna you are referring to, but for a point of reference, I am using a Comet CM-5M mag mount with a Comet CA-2X4SR.
Yesterday, it was an extremely day. Maybe 30 to 40mph.  I was passing a car on a 2 lane road. Probably around 75mph.  I heard a very loud thud as I passed the slower vehicle.  The noise was the antenna coming off the roof and hitting the side of my car. I have never had that happen before, but like I said, It was really windy.
I hope this helps.  

Yeah, I'm wondering too. 50W mobile with antenna on the roof already in. What is the problem are you trying to solve with low-power repeater and low-mount antenna (bull bars, mirrors)? And while on the move?

These are the ones I use. 
Pipe-Pipe Clamp
If you have a mobile not sure why you would want the repeater also. 

Even though you say this is off topic and is not about antennas, I would argue that it actually is about antennas, but not "HT" antennas.
I think the biggest difference when using an amplifier like you describe is that it uses a more sophisticated antenna system. It could be as simple as a mag-mount antenna on a pizza pan, or as complex as a tower-mounted antenna system, but either way, it's a vast improvement over the rubber ducky.
Even without the amplifier, if you set up an external antenna like what's needed with the amplifier, you will see an improvement in range.
The problem with that is that you lose the portability of the radio, and it's no longer hand held at that point.