WyoJoe

With the 15" antenna, clipping the radio on a belt can be a bit of a nuisance. The antenna seems to be in the way a lot. That's not the case so much with the shorter antennas. If you're putting the radio in, or clipping it to, a backpack, that's not much of an issue. I would recommend considering how you'll use it to help you make your choice. Another consideration is if you're using the radio in a vehicle, you might want to get a magnetic mount UHF 450 - 470 MHz antenna with the appropriate adapter for the radio. With that and a "speaker mic" plugged in, you can clip the radio to something in the vehicle cabin and use the radio as a mobile unit.

Have you tried to manually enter the channel number? I know on the Baofeng and Radioddity radios I'm familiar with, you can enter a channel number from the keypad. They require three digits so anything less than 100 requires one or two leading zeroes.

Yes, that is correct.

I believe MacJack was referring to programming the 805G with Chirp, not the 935G.

I'll second that. I expect the issue is the programming cable, and not the radio. As a Linux user, I haven't had issues with the programming cable, but for those using Windows, there are often issues, particularly with the Prolific (or knockoff) chips. This is a common issue, and pretty well documented on the web. Here is one page that describes many of the solutions to driver issues for common programming cable chipsets: https://www.miklor.com/COM/UV_Drivers.php

It took me a while to figure out what you added!

For repeater use, the most important (CTCSS or DCS) code to know is the receive code for the repeater input, which must be used by the transmitting radio to "open" the repeater. Without it, your signal will not be transmitted by the repeater. As for the repeater output, there are sometimes codes used there, too. Your radio will receive transmissions from the repeater if it uses no code at all or the same code as the repeater output. If it uses a different code, then you will not receive the repeater's transmissions. Because the repeater output uses the shared GMRS frequencies, you might hear a transmission that you think came from the repeater, but was instead a simplex (non-repeater) transmission. When a code is used on the repeater output, you can use that code on the receiving radio to filter out simplex traffic. So, if you think of the codes as filters, you'll see that when any receiver is set to use a code, only those transmissions using the same code (aka encoded transmissions) will be received, as all other transmissions will be filtered out. On a repeater, only those encoded transmissions will be re-transmitted, as it will have filtered out all other transmissions. As for "finding" repeaters, the easiest way to do so is to scan the repeater frequencies in your area. You can scan the repeater output frequencies to hear what's out there, but you won't know if it's from a repeater or simplex unless you hear a repeater ID or something like that. You can also try scanning the repeater input frequencies, which would give you a more positive identification of the repeater, however, to do so would require you to be within simplex range of the transmitter accessing the repeater. If you are able to hear the input signal, you can scan for CTCSS or DCS codes using <menu 30> for CTCSS or <menu 31> for DCS. Those menu options are for the GM-30/TD-H5 radios, but I believe are the same for the P15UV, too. If you do identify the code being used, you would need to use that code on transmit in order to open up the repeater. Please keep in mind that the repeater is privately owned, so unless it's advertised as an "open" repeater, you will need the owner's permission to use it.

I haven't found a way to scan CTCSS Tones or DCS codes with this radio. I looked in the manual, and didn't find it there, either.

How each person interprets these rules is up to them. The way I look at it is summed up by this question: "would I be able to defend my position if challenged by the FCC?" I interpret the rules the same way that Michael (mbrun) does. While the terms "access to" and "control over" are somewhat ambiguous, I feel that I can defend my position if I allow a family member to use one of "my stations" to communicate with another one of "my stations" (directly or through a repeater) when I operate the latter, or it is operated by someone in my household. For instance, I have a sister that lives about four miles away from me. If I give (lend) her a radio and she uses it to talk to my wife at my house, in general, I believe that would be permitted. Of course, in order for me to maintain "control over" those two stations, I would have to instruct them on proper use of the radio, and monitor their usage to ensure that the rules are followed. If I found them using the radios improperly, I would also need to have the means to stop them from using them. The most extreme of these means would be confiscation of the equipment, which I would only be able to do if I could access it. That's not too difficult at four miles, but is much harder at four hundred miles. On the other hand, my other sister lives across the country, nearly 3000 miles from me. If I "lend" her two radios, and she and her husband use them to talk to each other, in general I don't believe that would be a permitted use. In other words, I don't think I could defend the position that it is a permitted use of my license. I would not normally be able to monitor their use of the radios, and I would not have (reasonable) access to them to maintain "control over" them. In the second example, however, there is an exception. If I were across the country from my home, visiting my sister and her husband, and I had "access to" and "control over" the radios, I believe it would be permitted. That, of course, begs the question, "would my wife, who stayed home, still be able to use my home station to talk to my other sister while I was across the country?" My thought on this is that it would not be permitted, since I would no longer have access to, and control over, those stations. The easiest solution to these situations would be to have each of my sisters (or their husbands) get licenses of their own.

I believe there is a statement somewhere that says family members may operate under the license when using the license holder's equipment... I don't recall the exact wording, but I had the same understanding as MBrun - if using their own equipment, then the user (family member) would also need their own license.

I also have the Anytone AT-779UV (three of them, actually). It is a very good mobile radio, especially considering the price (~$100). The Radioddity version appears to be identical, as does the Retevis RA-25, so I can't recommend it over the Anytone or Retevis versions. The biggest downfall, in my opinion, is the programming software. The "factory" software is cumbersome, and somewhat awkward to use. Chirp is what I prefer, as it is much easier to use, but doesn't work with this radio at this time. Other than that, I recommend this radio since it performs better than most handheld radios, for not a whole lot more money. Of course, you still need to buy an antenna, but all-in-all, it works pretty well for what it costs. Other options in this price range are some of the Midland radios or used commercial radios. These have their pluses and minuses, but in general can be more difficult or even impossible to configure/program for GMRS usage, especially if using repeaters.

It certainly sounds like you got it working correctly. 465 miles is pretty good considering that I assume you're in the middle of the linked repeater coverage area (given the repeater in Golden that you were trying to connect to). How was the other guy connecting to the system? Zello?

You're right, I misunderstood what they were saying. I didn't realize the kid was in the same place.

My guess is that neither of you broke the law. Rules of courtesy, perhaps, but not the law. The kid she heard was probably on an FRS radio, and perhaps he wasn't even able to hear you on the radio. I would expect that a kid on an FRS radio wouldn't necessarily know to check for traffic on that channel/frequency before transmitting, so may have just blurted something into the radio intending to send a message to a friend.

Membership for this group is attained through the Front Range GMRS website, which is linked right below where it says "Click Here for Access" on the repeater's info page. It's quick and easy to join. Just submit your email address and create a password, then when you submit your info, they'll send a reply showing where to enter your GMRS license number, and that completes the membership/registration process. I just did it, so I could use the network when I'm in the area (typically once or twice a year), and it only took about two minutes. The Front Range GMRS group maintains six repeaters from southeast Wyoming to southeast Colorado, with coverage extending across much of that area, and even into northern New Mexico.

I had to go back through this thread to see how we veered so far off the original topic. It was a theory about the FCC needing to make the changes in their antiquated computer system... in order to effect the price changes.

To think you can do that and a lot more with just a Raspberry Pi these days!

Thank you for the clarification. Because of how it was being used, I assumed it was a mainframe, but, considering the era (around 1978-1979), it certainly makes sense that it was a mini.

I agree with the post from mrgrms above. I have found Randy's YouTube channel to be the primary channel I go to for all things GMRS, and his off-roading content is pretty good, too. Most of the off-roading content is SoCal related, so if you're in Southern California, and looking for this type of thing, I'd recommend checking it out. Of course, the main reason I've visited his channel is for the informative, yet humorous, content related to GMRS radios and radio usage. He explains things in a way that it should be easy to understand for beginners, yet informative enough that more advanced users would appreciate it too.

On the GM-30 and TD-H5, Menu 30 scans CTCSS codes, and Menu 31 scans DCS codes.

The P15-UV and GM-30, as well as the Tidradio TD-H5, are essentially the same radio. As you noted, the Baofeng radio has a different keyboard layout, but from what I've heard, it doesn't match the programming menu of the radio. The keyboards on the other two models do match the programming menu, which I believe is the same across all three radios. I've read that you can use the same software to program all three radios, though my experience is only with the GM-30 and TD-H5 models, and can confirm that to be the case with these two radio models.

When I was learning FORTRAN, the turnaround time for me was around two weeks. I was in grade school, and we had to put our routines (punch cards, wrapped in a rubber band) in the school mail bag so they could be sent downtown to the mainframe (DEC PDP-11), where they would be run, the output printed out, then sent back to our school. I think the mail went out weekly, so when we got them back, we made our corrections (if needed), then re-submitted them (hopefully) before the next mail run. We didn't have many opportunities to make corrections before the school year ended!

Sorry to hear about your loss. It's a shame that someone would steal your radio, but unfortunately, I think it's a sign of the times we're in.

That is more or less what I was expecting to hear about the 701 antennas...