WyoJoe

I have the Anytone AT-779UV as a mobile radio in my truck and another on my desk as a base station. It's the same radio as the DB20-G. I have a few GM-30 HTs and Tidradio TD-H5 HTs. These models are essentially identical. I've put the 771G antennas on a couple of them, but because it's so long, I often prefer to grab a radio with the stock antenna for close by/local communication.

You're quite welcome! I am not a fan of the "you must create an account" mentality of some of these companies. Unfortunately, Tidradio does the same as Retevis in this regard, and requires you to do so in order to download their software. I don't mind creating accounts for sites where I expect I'll make multiple purchases over time, but I don't like it when I just want support for a product I bought through Amazon. Fortunately, though, the TD-H5 is essentially the same radio as the GM-30 and P15UV, so you can use the GM-30 software from Radioddity to program it. I tried it when I got a pair of TD-H5 radios, but already had the GM-30 software installed. The software from Radioddity can be readily accessed without the need to create an account.

The 778 is marketed as a dual-band ham radio, so it has 2m and 70cm capabilities from the start. It is not type accepted for GMRS to the best of my knowledge. On the 779, it is marketed, and type accepted, as a GMRS radio, and the factory default is that it only transmits on GMRS frequencies. It can be reconfigured to a dual-band ham configuration, which also allows it to transmit on GMRS and MURS frequencies, although using it in this way may violate FCC regulations. I believe there is a stipulation in the regulations that says a GMRS radio cannot work on other services like the amateur radio service.

The GM-30 has an SMA-F fitting on the radio, which requires an antenna with an SMA-M connection. The NA-771G from Buy Two Way Radios is available in both SMA configurations, plus BNC, and is specifically tuned for GMRS frequencies. Most Baofeng radios require antennas with the SMA-F connection, so if you order something different that doesn't specify the connector, it probably won't work on the GM-30. There is also a shorter NA-701G antenna you can buy, but some reviewers have said it doesn't work much better than the stock antenna. I haven't tried it, so I can't comment on that aspect of it from my own experience. It has the advantage (as does the stock antenna) of being less intrusive than the 771G due to its shorter length. If you're going to use the radio in a vehicle, I'd recommend a magnet-mount (or permanent mount) external antenna for better performance. Even a cheap, but properly tuned, mag mount will improve performance substantially over using a whip attached to the radio inside the vehicle.

The Baofeng UV9G is rated IP67 Waterproof. I think that would be a good start, although I don't know if I'd try keeping it on my person while swimming. There are bags made to protect phones and radios from the elements, which when used to protect a "waterproof" radio, might do the trick.

Your antenna choice would depend on your planned usage for the radio. I believe you said your radio is the DB-25G model, which is a GMRS (transmit & receive) radio with UHF/VHF receive capability. If so, I would recommend a dual band antenna, but with the tuning optimized for GMRS frequencies by shortening the antenna a little bit. That way your antenna is optimized for the frequencies on which you transmit, but should still work to receive other frequencies. Other that some handheld transceivers I have, I don't generally use the same radio for GMRS as I do for ham 2m/70cm bands, so I have separate antennas for each. I am using a Laird UHF antenna in my truck for GMRS. It's similar to the MXTA26 Midland GMRS antenna that I've seen mentioned on this forum quite often. Unfortunately, I don't know how well they receive on VHF frequencies, in case that matters to you. I will let others chime in about their recommendations for antennas, as I know there are others on this forum that use theirs the way you intend to use yours.

I'll chime in about the Anytone AT-779UV (and its clones) too. This is the best new mobile radio I've found in the $100 price range. It offers most of the features and benefits of more expensive models with a modest decrease in the amount of output power (~20W vs. ~40 to 50W). There isn't really anything I want or need in a mobile GMRS radio that this radio does not provide. The programming software leaves a bit to be desired, but for GMRS use, I haven't found a need to use the software very often. As for the power supply, you could even run the AT-779UV off something as inexpensive as this: https://www.amazon.com/AstroAI-Converter-110-220V-Cigarette-Compressor/dp/B07JGS8CN2/ref=bmx_dp_lke25cro_3/139-8647592-1663754?pd_rd_w=A1g2L&pf_rd_p=f43599e0-aaab-4357-b62a-afc3efe44d3b&pf_rd_r=SSG0JANDV41Y47VZWKEK&pd_rd_r=17727c7b-c740-4179-a1ed-a2d8c0dd4037&pd_rd_wg=bV5lV&pd_rd_i=B07JGS8CN2&psc=1 I wouldn't necessarily recommend it except possibly as a backup as many inexpensive power supplies tend to be "noisy," meaning they cause RF interference. I'd also recommend a larger power supply to allow you to add more radios and other loads as you get more involved in the hobby. I have a Tekpower 50A Power Supply, but you may not need that much power. More than likely, you could power several radios on 30A or less. Here's a 30A model for a little over $100: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08GSK6CHL/ref=vp_d_pbp13n_TIER2_cml_lp_B00L2M2Y5O_pd?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=B08GSK6CHL&pd_rd_w=WLZXb&pf_rd_p=7fb6c4c4-5294-4fb6-bef5-bacf84e34b1d&pf_rd_r=06GD7DTX1MCK3EMKR0VH&pd_rd_r=4ec948b0-92e1-45ad-af40-f83183caf115&pd_rd_wg=Vi3WN I cannot speak for the quality of these power supplies, but I wanted to give some ideas about what's available to you if you decide you want to buy one.

Well, without knowing what type of vehicle you're wanting to add a radio to, and without drilling holes, your best bet is most likely a magnet mount antenna. Unless your vehicle uses non-metallic or aluminum body panels, a magnet mount should work on it. There are tons of choices out there, but it seems that there is a trend toward antennas using an NMO mount. There are magnetic bases with NMO mounts, to which you add an NMO antenna tuned for the UHF 460-470 MHz band, and they would serve you very well for GMRS. A second option for an antenna that does not require drilling into your vehicle is a roof rack or mirror mount antenna, which basically clamps to a metal bar of some sort on the exterior of the vehicle. Of course this option requires that you have something suitable to clamp to, but it could prevent you from needing to drill into the vehicle.

I'm not familiar with the BF-H7 model, but I'd suspect the added weight is in the battery. It might have a larger capacity than the standard batteries in the other models, and from what you said about the price of the battery, I'd expect that to be the case. Have you compared the weight of the different batteries? Have you also compared the weight of the radios without the batteries attached? When I compared the weight of a UV-82 battery (3000mAh) to a GT-3 (similar model to the UV-5R) battery (1800mAh), the UV-82 battery felt slightly heavier. The UV-82 radio also felt slightly heavier than the GT-3 radio, both without batteries attached. This is as I would expect since the UV-82 is slightly larger and has what feels to be a more robust case.

Are you sure it's not transmitting? Have you checked for signal with another radio? If so, are you sure the CTCSS/DCS codes are correctly configured or not used at all? Are you sure the receiving radio is on the same frequency as the transmitting radio? If yes to all of the above, you may have a short in your feed line to the antenna. Do you have adequate power to the radio? A feed line short would prevent the radio from transmitting, and would be common to the antenna system rather than the radio. That could be why neither radio you tried would transmit. A poor (e.g. low current) power source could also interfere with transmission, as there may not be enough power to the radio. Provided this was the same in both cases, it could also be the reason neither radio would transmit. Those would be the first things I would check. A little more information would be helpful so we can help you figure things out. First, how are you testing the radio output? Are you using another radio to receive? What channel(s) are you using? What model(s) of radio(s) are you using? Are you using a CTCSS or DCS code on transmit? ...on receive? ...on both? Answers to these questions and anything else you can provide will help us to help you. By the way, welcome to the forum.

I'm curious about why you might send back the GM-30, especially if you only have those two radios. It would be helpful for us if you would tell us what you want to use GMRS for. The reason for my statement above is that GMRS is most often used among family members to communicate with one another. If you are looking for people to chat with outside of your immediate family or close friends, you may be disappointed with GMRS. Unlike ham radio, there generally aren't a lot of GMRS users just sitting by the radio waiting for someone to chat with. That's not the case everywhere, though, and in some areas there are some fairly active repeaters, so depending on where you're located, you might find someone to talk to. Anyway, if you could give us an idea of what you'd like to use GMRS for, we could help you better. By the way, welcome to the forum!

I found a G3 and G6 in Moses Lake, and another G6 in Lake Chelan. In Seattle, the just used Seattle #1, Seattle #2, (and 4, 6, and 8). The numbers used corresponded to the repeater pairs 1 - 8 in all those instances, so I'm assuming that is what the owners of the repeaters intended.

Normally, the repeater name is whatever the owner decided to call it. G-2 or G-7 in the name would most likely be something meaningful to the repeater owner, possibly a regional designation, but it doesn't necessarily have a common meaning. If we know what repeater you're referring to, it's possible someone in the vicinity of it might know. Edited to add: Actually, after reading the descriptions of two repeaters in the East Wenatchee area, I think I may have figured out what was meant by G-2, G-7, etc. It looks like they refer to the 8 GMRS repeater pairs (the frequencies used by GMRS repeaters). G-1 would be the .550 frequencies (462.550/467.550); G-2, .575; G-3, .600; G-4, .625; G-5, .650; G-6, .675; G-7, .700; G-8, .725

Michael, Are you trying to save a new memory channel, or to edit an existing channel? I haven't really tried creating any new channels since what I need is already configured by the computer programming application, but to see if my results are the same as yours, I'd like to know if that's what you're having trouble with.

Which UV9G did you get? The Wouxon KG-UV9G, or the Baofeng UV9G? Unfortunately, with the introduction of that model by Baofeng, there is now more confusion in the GMRS HT world!

Be sure to set your tones/codes in channel mode. From what I can tell from my radios is that if you set them in VFO mode, they won't carry over onto Channel mode, and vice versa.

Yes, and lately, I've been using the dual band TYT UV-88, which has the same form factor as the GM-30/TD-H5. Because of this, it allows me to use the same batteries on both radios, although the UV-88 battery needs a minor modification to work on the other radios. I have a few other HTs as well (mostly CCRs) that I use occasionally, partly depending on where I'm going. I have different radios programmed for a few different areas I visit when I travel, so that I can become familiar with repeaters in those areas. I'm usually traveling with family, though, so I don't often end up monitoring the radio very much, and haven't familiarized myself with those other areas yet.

I run my programming software on Linux using Wine. It doesn't always work, but with a bit of tweaking, I can usually get it to work for me. I believe Wine may be available on Mac as well. Has anyone given that a try?

Glad to hear it worked!

I think my first "GMRS" HT was an FRS/GMRS combination radio marketed by Cobra. Since then, I've acquired many radios, and still use several different ones regularly. For most day to day usage, though, I grab either the Radioddity GM-30 or the Tidradio TD-H5. (They are both essentially the same radio). They just seem to be easy to use, easy to carry, easily configured, and they work pretty well for my needs.

Ham (amateur) and GMRS are two different radio services, as defined by the FCC, so you would need a separate license for each in order to legally transmit on both services. Of course you can monitor (listen) all you want without any need for a license.

This will give you a good idea of how to scan for tones/codes. If you can get close to the repeater, and set your radio to receive the repeater input frequency, then you should be able to scan for tones/codes there, to find out what's in use. Of course this is dependent upon being there when someone else is hitting the repeater. Basically, you need to be in range of the transmitting radio for this to work.

You should be able to update the firmware to correct that problem. On the GM-30 radio, it was the same for me when I got it, but with a firmware update, I can program multiple repeaters with different tones/codes that are on the same repeater frequency. For the GM-30, I downloaded the firmware updates from the Radioddity website. If you can't find the Pofung software, I'd be willing to be the Radioddity GM-30 software would work on the P15UV. It works on the Tidradio TD-H5, which is another nearly identical radio.

On my TD-H5 radio (same as the GM-30), the CT only shows up when I transmit. I don't have it set to use a PL tone on receive, though. Just for grins, though, I just added a CTCSS tone on receive, and the CT shows up on receive, too. If you're not seeing it on transmit, it may not be correctly set up. If you select <Menu><1><2>, it should show the transmit tone. If it says "off" then it's not programmed correctly. If its' not programmed correctly, after selecting <Menu><1><2>, use the channel up/channel down keys to select the tone you want to use, the press <menu> again. You should hear "confirmed" at which point you can then click on the exit (top right) key.

Before you opt for the V1, take a look at the Baofeng UV-9G, Tidradio TD-H5 / Pofung P15UV / Radioddity GM-30 (all three are basically the same radio), Retevis GMRS handheld radios (they have several models at <$50), and the Wouxon GMRS handheld radios. I believe the V1 has lower power output, but costs more than the others (except the Wouxons). For a mobile/base rig, there are some other options that cost less than the 50x1. The Anytone AT-779UV (also sold by Retevis and Radioddity) is selling on Amazon for about $100 currently. It's rated at 20W nominal, but also allows programming of additional repeater channels. It's a pretty decent radio that competes with Midland radios in this price range, but pretty much distances itself from the Midland mobile radios with a much wider feature set. Another mobile you might want to consider is the Wouxon KG-XS20G. It's a little more than twice the price of the Anytone, but a bit less than the BTech (last I checked at least). It's received some good feedback from those that have used it.