WyoJoe

Welcome to the forum Dan21. I, too, got my GMRS license after being a ham for several years. I got the GMRS license so my whole family could use radios to talk to each other, without all of them needing a ham radio license. I also had some old FRS/GMRS radios kicking around, and bought new batteries for some of them, but haven't even used them since doing so. Since then, I've bought a few mobile units, several hand-held units, and even a couple of repeaters that I may deploy in my area for community communications. Many GMRS radios are inexpensive, so you can get into it pretty cheap, or you can go the other way, and as you say -- "BOAT" !

For short distances, the stock antenna should be sufficient. I doubt you'd notice any perceptible difference between it and an aftermarket antenna on short distance communication. I believe there's another Nagoya model (NA-701G?) that's a similar length to the stock antenna, but I haven't heard or seen much about it or its performance. If you're looking for something even shorter than that, there are some stubby dual band (ham) antennas that I've seen, but most of the reviews I've read mention that their performance suffers, except when in very close proximity. Those reviews were for ham radio usage, so I'd expect the antenna wouldn't fare any better on GMRS. There may be others that have had different experiences, though, so you'd have to make your own judgement. One other option is the Smiley 5/8 slim antenna. It's a stubby 5/8 wave HT antenna that's 4.5 inches long - a little shorter than the stock antenna, but longer than the stubby antennas mentioned above. I haven't tried it, though, so I can't comment on my experience with it. Unfortunately, I haven't seen many reviews either, so I can't advise if it performs better than the stock antenna, though based on the specs, it looks like it should. https://bettersaferadio.com/smiley-antenna-5-8-slim-duck-465mhz-gmrs-noaa-sma-f/

I am a fan of hot wings, but I've never tried them at "the J." I'll have to give them a try some time, since I go by there almost daily.

Yup! Near the top of the Grapevine, not all that far from you. I've listened to a few of the repeaters around SCV on occasion, but usually I'm focused on other things, so I don't turn my radio on to listen to them.

The Anytone AT-779UV won't cost quite as much as the B-Tech, and it comes type-accepted and configured for GMRS. It puts out about 18 watts on high power, and from my experience, seems to work reasonably well with a decent antenna. I've used it to reach my home from several places I never expected it to work for me.

Nice to be able to talk into SCV from SFV. Is the repeater you're using on Magic Mountain (not the amusement park)? It overlooks both valleys, more or less.

My guess as well is that it wouldn't be legal. With the 467 frequencies being reserved for "future" repeater inputs, I would assume transmitting on those frequencies wouldn't be legal, but the other part of the picture is the crossing of the U.S./Canada border. I'm not sure what the legalities are in that regard, other than the restricted use areas we have in the U.S. Obviously, radio waves won't just fall to the ground at the border, so whether intentional or not, users close to the border could very well communicate with each other even if they weren't trying to.

There have been quite a few times recently when the FCC database would not copy correctly into the MyGMRS site, due to inconsistent formatting. When this happens, the data must be manipulated manually. This can add a few days to the process. Please allow two or three more days for your callsign to be recognized.

There have been numerous occasions where the FCC database does not sync with the MyGMRS site, due to inconsistent formatting of the FCC data. This may be a situation where the data needs to be manually edited , which can take a few extra days. If you hang in there for a few more days, I'm sure things will work out.

All of this makes me wonder about the legality of using a GMRS radio in Canada to contact other users through a repeater in the U.S.

I tried editing the file in Chirp and writing it to the radio, but found the same thing you did. When I opened the file with the factory software, the TX field was still empty. I, too, had to edit the XML file, then send it back to the radio, to get it to work. It does work now, so I am glad to know this trick.

Well, you can rest assured you won't be able to hit Santiago Peak from Texas! I would not recommend a ham HT for GMRS, primarily because it wouldn't be type-accepted, and most are made in China anyway. I'd recommend either sticking with a dedicated GMRS HT, or going with a repurposed UHF business band radio that's been programmed for GMRS, the latter of which may be used for GMRS by following the old rules regarding acceptance. Unfortunately, most of the dedicated GMRS HTs are also made in China, but those made by Wouxon seem to be more highly regarded than those made by Baofeng, etc. The most likely way to find a radio made anywhere other than China would be to go with a repurposed Kenwood, Vertex, or Mororola UHF radio. There are many threads on these forums regarding these radios.

I wonder if you can add repeaters via Chirp, then write the new configuration to the radio, then read it and write it back with the Radioddity software, to have it TX to the newly added repeater. I think I tried this with mine, but I don't recall for sure. I'll have to give it a try and see what I can do with it. I've heard that this trick works with some Wouxon radios to get the Chirp programming written to the radio correctly, so it may work with the UV-5X / UV-5G GMRS radios, too.

For info on studying for and passing the ham radio license exam, I recommend checking out the following YouTube channels: Ham Radio Crash Course and Ham Radio 2.0. Josh and Jason, respectively, are the hosts of those channels, and both provide info regarding getting licensed. From MichaelLAX's link above: "A typical ground station for contacting the ISS station includes a 2-meter FM transceiver and 25-100 watts of output power. A circularly polarized crossed-Yagi antenna capable of being pointed in both azimuth (North-South-East-West) and elevation (degrees above the horizon) is desirable." The minimum license necessary for 2-meter (VHF) communication is a Technician class license. Higher class licenses are not required until you get down into the HF bands. It's defined in the user privileges for the different license classes.

Immediate family is pretty broadly defined, and includes almost everyone except cousins: Any individual who holds an individual license may allow his or her immediate family members to operate his or her GMRS station or stations. Immediate family members are the licensee's spouse, children, grandchildren, stepchildren, parents, grandparents, stepparents, brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews, and in-laws. There is one stipulation, however: The licensee must maintain access to and control over all stations authorized under its license. That pretty much means that your covered family members must be nearby.

Agreed. That is probably the biggest shortcoming of the UV-5X (now called UV-5G) GMRS radio (aside from the fact that it's still a CCR). It is now supported in Chirp (as the UV-5G), but even though you can program additional channels, you cannot transmit on those channels, even when they are within the GMRS frequencies. At least that has been my experience. Other radios like the Radioddity GM-30 and Tidradio TD-H5 do allow you to add additional channels, and you can transmit on those added channels if they are in the GMRS band. This radio appears to offer similar functionality, but also adds waterproofing/water resistance. I suspect it will also get Chirp support very quickly as it's based on other supported models. I believe the board it uses is the same as the UV-82 (which the B-Tech GMRS-V1 is based on), so it may already work with Chirp, but I don't know yet if so.

I fixed the link in my earlier post. Agreed that this is another run-of-the-mill CCRs, but it does provide waterproofing that not many other radios offer. I don't know how good the waterproofing is, but it should at least help protect the radio from water damage.

While browsing Amazon, I just spotted another GMRS radio offering from Baofeng. Here's a link: https://www.amazon.com/BAOFENG-Waterproof-Outdoors-Rechargeable-Programming/dp/B098JGLWZ1/ref=sr_1_4?dchild=1&keywords=uv-9g&qid=1628364257&s=electronics&sr=1-4 The new radio is the UV-9G, and it's touted as being waterproof with an IP67 rating. It looks like the same radio as the UV-9R and GT-3WP models (but with different firmware), and appears to be based on the UV-82 model. This will likely compete directly with the B-Tech GMRS-V1. It's a similar radio for less money, and it's waterproof too.

Many, but certainly not all, antennas are tunable. If you can find a 70cm antenna that is tunable, you can trim a little off the length to retune it for GMRS. As you mentioned, the wavelength for GMRS is shorter than it is for the 70cm ham band, so this is a relatively easy thing to do. Using a 70cm antenna without retuning will cause some of your power to be reflected back to the radio due to an SWR mismatch. How much so will very much depend on the specific antenna. This also may or may not be problematic depending on the specific situation. With that said, when I'm shopping for GMRS antennas, I try to find either GMRS specific or UHF business band antennas that are designed for the 450 to 470 MHz spectrum. They are out there and not too hard to find, but because they are less common, you may have to look in other places than where you'd look for a ham radio antenna. Buytwowayradios.com is one place I've found them, and theantennafarm.com is another.

I have a KG-UV9G, which is a pretty nice radio, but also has a couple of issues. The most talked about issue seems to be the display, which is often difficult to see in full sun. The second issue for me is that the battery life, while decent, doesn't seem to be as long as it is for some of my other radios. The third issue for me is the price. Since it's in the $150 to $170 range, I find that I don't take it out of the house much, because I don't want to break it or lose it. What do I do in that case? I end up grabbing one of my much cheaper GM-30 radios and taking that with me instead. If I drop it and it breaks, it's not really a big deal.

For new mobile radios, the KG-1000G seems to be about the best thing available at this time. It's a bit spendy at well over $300 currently, but it also offers features not found elsewhere. There are some other less expensive (new) mobile radios out there, as well as re-purposed business radios and other used equipment. For about 1/3 the price of the 1000G, you can pick up an Anytone AT-779UV. While not as feature rich as the 1000G, and only 20W instead of 50W, it still does most of the things you would want a mobile radio to do. There are also some other mobile radio offerings from B-Tech and Midland that are priced between the two models mentioned above. For used mobile radios, buying Kenwood, Motorola, or Vertex commercial radios and getting them reprogrammed for GMRS seems to be the hot ticket. There are a lot of posts in the forum about these radios. For new handheld radios, you also have several options. For new dedicated GMRS radios, you can get a "CCR," otherwise known as a cheap Chinese radio. These are the typical Baofeng type radios, the virtues of which have been greatly debated on these forums. For use across the GMRS spectrum, including repeater usage, this is, in my opinion, the minimum you'll want to get. Be aware that many of these radios are ham radios and are not type accepted for GMRS, and as such, are not legal for GMRS use. In my opinion, the better type accepted radios in this group would be the Radioddity GM-30, Tidradio TD-H5, or the Pofung (Baofeng) P15UV. I believe all three are basically the same radio, just branded differently, although I have yet to get my hands on the Pofung version. There are also some Retevis branded radios that seem to be comparable, though I have no experience with them. A step up from the CCRs are the Wouxon handheld radios: KG-805G, KG-905G, and KG-UV9G. While still made in China, as are almost all current GMRS offerings, these radios offer better tuners and better features than the class of radios mentioned above. They are also about two to four times the price of the "CCR" class. There are also a number of "bubble pack" or "blister pack" radios, typically sold in big box stores, that are GMRS type accepted, but do not allow you to use them to access GMRS repeaters. I would only recommend these for people that want short range radio to radio communication, with no intent of ever using a repeater. Finally, there are also used handheld radio options to consider. As with the mobile radios, you can purchase used commercial radios and get them reprogrammed for GMRS. Typically, the same brands seem to be preferred (Kenwood, Motorola, and Vertex). There is also a lot of information on these forums about this. For the used radios, whether mobile or handheld, you'll want to do your homework to find out about type acceptance for use on GMRS. Again, there is a lot of information on this topic within these forums.

I received a pair of Tidradio TD-H5 radios today that I ordered a few days ago. They are very similar, but not identical, to the GM-30 model from Radioddity. Basically, the speaker grille on the body of the radio is a little different. That and the TidRadio logo are the only differences I could see on these radios. All the menu/keypad choices appear to be the same. I was also able to successfully program both radios with the Radioddity version of the software. Since I already had this installed on my computer, I gave it a try and it worked as expected. To download the software from TidRadio, I believe you have to create an account on their site in order to access the downloadable file. I did not need to do this since the Radioddity software works as is. Overall, I think the two-pack of these radios (available on Amazon last I checked) is a great value. For just under $80, I received four batteries and two speaker mics for my existing radios, a programming cable, and a few other accessories. If the batteries were $13 each, the speaker mics $10 each, and the programming cable was $10, those things alone would exceed the cost of the package I ordered. Even without the radios, the package would be a decent value, but the package I received even contained a couple of "spare" radios (if there really is such a thing). The one thing that is not included is a charging base. Like with the GM-30, the included batteries can be charged with a USB-C cable, which was included. I like charging my radios on a charging base, so I use the TYT UV-88 charging base. The UV-88 uses the same basic case design, so the charging base is compatible with these radios, too. I have also used a Baofeng UV-5R charging base with these radios. While the fit isn't perfect, the batteries will charge properly as long as the radio is making good contact. The LED on the charger will indicate charging status. As was mentioned earlier in this thread, the radio's antennas are "fixed" and cannot be removed. Not unless you loosen the set screw, that is. When you do that and unscrew the antenna, you'll find the jack on the radio is an SMA female, and requires an SMA male antenna. This means that your typical UV-5R type of antenna won't work, because they are SMA female If I have anything negative to say about these radios, it's that the belt clip seems a little flimsy. The same is true for the GM-30 and the UV-88, as they all use identical belt clips. There were also only two belt clips included, but since they attach to the batteries, there aren't enough of them for all the included batteries. I prefer the GT-3 type of belt clip, which is a direct replacement for the standard belt clip, so I ordered a 10 pack of the GT-3 belt clips to replace those on all my batteries. The UV-5R belt clips will also work. In summary, if you need or want a pair of decent GMRS handheld radios, I would recommend the Tidradio TD-H5. They come as a two-pack for about the same price as two of the Radioddity GM-30 radios. The TD-H5 package also includes two extra batteries and two speaker-mics that you do not get when you order two of the GM-30 radios. You can find better handheld radios, but they generally cost at least twice as much as the TD-H5.

The antenna farm cable is a USB to serial cable and is not a two-part cable. It connects the computer's USB port to the Mic jack on the VXR-7000. As for the software, I run it on my Linux computer using Wine with the Windows XP profile, and once the proper COM port was configured, it worked well for me. I purchased a used VXR-7000 and added a duplexer to it, installed in a similar manner to the "official" Vertex model, then programmed it using the cable and software from Antenna Farm. I'm about to turn it on to test it out, so hopefully it will all work as planned.

Does the cable work for programming the UV9D Plus? If so, you probably want to use the same settings for the 905G. Is the 905G software intended to run on Windows 8? Have you tried Windows 7 compatibility mode or none at all? Do you have any errors in Device Manager? Perhaps the driver isn't loading correctly. As one that rarely uses Windows, I'm just taking a couple of shots in the dark at some things I'm thinking it could be. It's taken me some time to figure out, but I've been able to get most of my radio programming software working in Linux, using Wine for the stuff that's intended to run on Windows.

I have nothing bad to say about the KG-1000G. It is a great radio from my own experience with it and from what I've heard and read. I would say it is the best dedicated GMRS mobile radio available presently. For many mobile applications, though, I believe the Anytone AT-779UV would suffice, especially considering that it's about one third of the price of the 1000G. The 779UV only puts out a nominal 20 watts vs. 50 for the 1000G, and the 779UV doesn't have a remote-mountable front panel like the 1000G does. It is also not easily paired with another radio to make a simple repeater, but unless those things matter to you, it's a pretty good little mobile rig. I offer this suggestion primarily for those that want to advance from an HT to a mobile rig, but perhaps are not yet ready to take the plunge or spend the money for the 1000G.