WyoJoe

I'm not sure which version it is other than 1.08, which is what it tells me in the "about" tab on the software. The installation file was CE27 for Windows (CE27win.exe). I don't remember now if it was the US or Export version that I installed, as it looks like the program disk I received has both on it (Export is in a separate folder), each with an executable file of the same name. Whichever one I'm using allows me to set the repeater to Wideband, so it may be the Export version, but I'm not sure.

Is the duplexer already tuned for your desired frequency? Is vendor tuning the duplexer for your desired frequency? If no in both cases, then you'll have to get the duplexer tuned. I assume you know this already, but wanted to mention it since the duplexer in the repeater will likely be tuned for a different frequency than what you plan to use. I really like the VXR-7000 and have found it to be about the most cost-effective repeater solution available. For mine, I went with a flat-pack duplexer that I installed inside the unit, so it's self contained. I had to fabricate a mount for it because I didn't have the factory mount, and I don't think it would have worked with the duplexer I bought. I just made two "straps" out of 1/8" x 3/4" flat stock, and bought metric screws to attach to the factory mounting holes. I used a little foam padding for cushion and strapped the duplexer to the repeater, and arranged the cables as necessary. It is working well for me. I also bought a programming cable with the CE-27 program disk which allows me to program the VXR-7000 easily.

In spite of the occasional programming issues, I really like my AT-779UV / DB-20G radios. From a price/performance perspective, I think this is where you can get the best bang for the buck in a new radio. There may be used commercial radios available at around the same price that offer better performance, but they won't be new at that price, and they have to be programmed, requiring software and a programming cable. Depending on the radio, that can quickly add a lot to the price.

I have mine programmed to ID every 15 minutes (900 seconds). If I key up the repeater, it will ID right away, and again in 15 minutes. If it isn't used after the second transmission, it won't ID again until it is keyed up by another user. Basically, it will ID every 15 minutes while it's in use (when it has been used after the last ID), but it will not ID if it hasn't been accessed since the last ID. I thought there was a setting in the software to set it to ID continuously, or to ID when in use (as above). I didn't find anything to change that setting in the software. That doesn't mean there isn't a setting to do this, it just means that if there is, I haven't figured out yet how to change it.

While it's true that in those cases, the radio is still "portable," I would not call it "hand held." Essentially, at least to me, they would fall into the category of "mobile" rather than hand held. While the base radio may still be an HT, it isn't being used in that manner in these cases. I would like to find a simple antenna for mounting on my bike, and another for mounting on my backpack. In both instances, I think I will have to fabricate something since I have yet to find something readily available that would work out of the box, so to speak. I opened the handbook that you linked and started reading it, but there's a lot there to digest, most if it geared toward HF operation. I'll have to take some time with it. While it interests me somewhat, I am more interested in "pedestrian mobile" UHF/VHF dual-band or GMRS operation, as opposed t HF. For HF, I have a portable radio and antenna system, but I don't have any intention of operating it while walking. I'm only interested in setting it up when in camp or at another suitable destination.

I've used a hand held radio in a mobile configuration simply by connecting a mag mount antenna on top of the car and using a battery eliminator to power it. Most of the time, I'm just monitoring the radio, but with only those improvements, the reception is much better than with the rubber ducky antenna. I can't speak much to transmitting, though, because I haven't tried using it outside of the normal range where the rubber ducky would work.

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.

For channels 1-7, the radio is locked down to low power (~5W). Channels 8-14 are nonexistent because they are restricted to .5W, which the radio can't supply on transmit. I added these frequencies to my radios, but with TX inhibit so I can only monitor them. If I hear something on one of those channels that I feel compelled to respond to, I'll just grab one of my handheld radios to respond with. Channels 15-22 (simplex) and 23-30 (repeater) are, by default, set to high power (~20W). By default, all channels are set to narrow band.

I'm not sure what you're using for a repeater or mobile radio, but are you using the mobile in close proximity to the repeater? If so, you may be experiencing desensing of the repeater or the radio. How are you checking to determine if the audio is coming through? Are you listening on another radio while transmitting? If so, it's probably that radio that is experiencing desense. Since you are hearing the repeater tail, this is what I most suspect in your case.

In the articles I've read, I've seen the same things you have, but really, this will depend on how you plan to use your radios. If you're using them for close range communication, of say, a mile or two, you may not have any reason to change antennas. If you're trying to squeeze out every inch out of your radio's range, then it might make sense for you to change the antenna. I use a repeater at my house for local communications around the neighborhood, and I can hit the repeater effectively using stock antennas from 2 to 3 miles out. Beyond that, and I start getting behind hills or into valleys, and an aftermarket antenna may work marginally better, but because of terrain, I don't get a lot of benefit from it.

One other thing I neglected to mention in my post above, if the antenna is tuned to 465 MHz, it should perform very well on 462 MHz, and should not need to be retuned. There is more to antenna performance than just a great SWR, as I'm sure many on this forum will tell you if you ask. Have you checked the antenna's SWR? Is it below 1:2? People generally want a "perfect" 1:1 SWR, when in reality, an SWR below 1:2, or even higher in some cases, is acceptable.

If you have a GMRS magnet mount antenna, it may already be properly tuned so you don't have to trim anything. Most GMRS antennas are tuned to about 465 MHz, because this is the center of the GMRS band when you factor in the frequency range from 462.xxx to 467.xxx. If your antenna is already tuned to 465 MHz, then you'll have to figure out how to extend it to tune it perfectly for 462 MHz, because when you go down in frequency, you increase the signal wavelength, and thus, need a longer antenna, as the antenna length is a ratio of the wavelength. The best bet would be to get an antenna analyzer and see what your antenna is tuned for. If you have, or know anyone with, a NanoVNA, it will work well for this purpose. Otherwise, if you know anyone that is a "ham" (amateur radio operator), they may have what you need to analyze the antenna.

As @OffRoaderX mentioned, the GMRS repeater channels share the same output frequency as the "simplex" channels 15-22. Here's a long-winded explanation: Just to clarify, a repeater is a system that takes the output from your radio and re-transmits it, generally with more power and from a better location. This allows you, through the repeater, to get a signal out to a wider area, and potentially, to a wider audience. The repeater channels (numbered 23-30 on many radios) receive the signal from your radio in the 467 MHz range, and re-transmits the signal in the 462 MHz range. The exact frequency depends on the channel you select, but if you use, for example, Channel 26 (Often called "Repeater 18" or "Repeater 4" or something similar), the repeater receives at 467.625 and transmits on 462.625. Some radios call this "Repeater 18" because it uses the same transmit frequency as Channel 18. Others call it "Repeater 4" because it's the fourth "frequency pair" of the designated pairs. There are 8 in all. Your radio, on the other hand, when tuned to that channel receives on 462.625 and transmits on 467.625 (opposite of the repeater). This allows your radio to hear the repeater and vice-versa. Simplex communication uses the same frequency for both transmit and receive. On most radios, Channels 1-22 are simplex channels, and use the same frequencies as Channels 1-22 on FRS radios. This mode is for direct radio to radio communication without using a repeater. Now, regarding your question about the "Emergency" channel repeater 20... GMRS does not have a designated "Emergency" channel for the most part. There may be some communities where a channel is monitored in the event of an emergency, and there may be repeaters that are designated for use by emergency services, but that would be established within a small area, and is not common to the GMRS community as a whole. It seems as though in your area, you may have a repeater designated for use in emergencies, that is tuned to the "Repeater 20" channel (The repeater is tuned to receive on 467.675 and transmit on 462.675). You mention a "tone" of 141.3. This is what is referred to as "continuous tone coded squelch system" or "CTCSS." This is a sub-audible tone that is generated by the transmitter, which "opens" the squelch of the receiver, allowing the message to be heard. Without the proper tone, the receiver ignores incoming transmissions, and only listens to those using the proper tone. If no receive tone is designated, the receiver will listen to all incoming signals. If you set your radio to use tone 141.3 on transmit only, it will generate the tone needed to open the squelch of the repeater, but will receive all incoming signals regardless of the tone associated with those signals. In general, this is the configuration I use for repeater channels as it allows me to hear all incoming traffic on the frequency regardless of tone. That means I may be hearing simplex transmissions in addition to those coming from a repeater. If you set your radio to use tone 141.3 on receive only, it will not generate the tone needed to open the squelch on the repeater, so the repeater will ignore your transmission. You will also only receive incoming signals that are encoded with that tone, and you radio will ignore all other incoming signals. If you set your radio to use tone 141.3 on transmit and receive, it will generate the tone needed to open the squelch on the repeater, but will only receive incoming signals that are also encoded with the same tone. If you have a lot of incoming signals that are not from the repeater, this is a way to "filter" those signals out so you only hear the repeater. There are also some repeaters that use "split tones." This is where the transmit and receive do not use the same tone. This is helpful to reduce unauthorized use of a repeater as it makes scanning for tones a bit more difficult (but not impossible). This also only affects you if you enable CTCSS on receive on your radio. I just wanted to mention it so you're aware that some repeaters use this configuration.

Unless there's a problem with the data from the FCC, the website updates will normally happen in three days or less. If you try to register before the update has taken effect, I believe it gives an error that the call sign is not valid. In this case, it sounds like the OP's call sign was recognized, so there may be something else happening there. Unfortunately, I don't have any idea what would be causing the error, as I didn't have any trouble when I registered.

From everything I can tell, it's an "active" cable. I use the same cable for my GM-30 (and clones) as I do for Baofeng (UV-5F & UV-82 series), Wouxon (KG-UV9 series), Retevis (RT85), TYT (UV-88), or any other radio I've programmed that has the K-plug (Kenwood style) connector. I've successfully programmed all of these types of radios using the same cable.

John, I've seen that post before and it definitely contains some great info. It helped me to realize that RG- series cable isn't sufficient for runs of even a moderate length (~30 to 50 feet) unless you are willing to accept the significant losses. That's really what it boils down to: how much loss (for both Rx and Tx) are you willing to accept in your feedline? Obviously, there will be some losses regardless of what you use. They can be minimized by keeping your runs as short as possible, and using the best feedline for your situation. Your information helps us to make informed decisions about what feedline works best from a cost vs. performance perspective.

Based on my findings there, it looks like the radio is only rated for 20W on the repeater output frequencies (467.xxx). It shows the 462.xxx frequencies at 5W.

The transmitter offset is based on the receive frequency, but can be higher or lower, depending on whether it's a positive or negative offset. As Sshannon mentioned above, for the 2 meter band, the offset is 600KHz (.6 MHz), and can be either added or subtracted from the receive frequency depending on + or - offset. For the 70cm band, the same is true, except the offset is 5 MHz.

As Sshannon mentioned, you want to add the frequencies shown. Those are the receive frequencies that the repeaters output. The (-) and (+) indicate the transmitter offset, but are only needed when programming your radio to transmit to the repeater.

Reading this caused me to look at my Wouxon KG-UV9G, and it doesn't have such a line. It does however, show the model as KG-UV9G, GMRS. There is no mention of GMRS or Part 95 compliance anywhere else on the label.

I have yet to find anything on the tags of any radio I have that mentions Part 95 compliance. They just show the FCC ID and that's about it as far as compliance is concerned. I have purchased several of these radios, and all were delivered in GMRS mode. With the programming software, I've been able to add extra repeater channels to mine that work for both TX and RX. I do have to watch the order in which I enter the frequency data, though, because sometimes the CPS application writes over the information I've entered. For example, it wants to default to using the same frequency for TX as was entered for RX. At times, I didn't notice that it changed things until after I programmed the radio. I then tried to key up my repeater, only to be denied because it was using the wrong transmit frequency.

The RT-97 can be ordered to work within the UHF or VHF ham bands instead of the GMRS band... Perhaps that's how the reviewer was using it?

Chirp does not support the GM30. The only way I can program mine somewhat easily is with the factory software. Are you able to use your cable for programming of any other radios using Chirp or other software? Perhaps this is a cable/driver issue and not a GM30 issue. If you are able to use the same cable for programming other radios, then that would likely rule out the cable/driver issues, otherwise, that is where I suspect the problem is. Are you using the driver that Windows recommended for your cable? What kind of cable is it? If it has a "fake" Prolific chip in it, the driver may be the issue. Many problems have been attributed to those chips, and the only way to get them to work in Windows is to roll back the driver to an older version that doesn't check that the chip is "genuine." Finally, I've read some posts on other threads about the latest Windows updates breaking their cable drivers, causing them to no longer be able to program radios successfully with cables that worked previously. As I'm not using Windows, I can't speak to that issue, but perhaps someone else reading this will be able to.

In the folder where you installed the application, there should be a text file called setting.txt. If you edit the file, you should be able to specify the com port setting needed by changing the value in the "CommPort=" line. In my case, the file was found in "Program Files/GM-30 GMRS/Data" and after editing and saving the file, I was able to open the application and have it access the correct com port. As I've mentioned before (possibly in other threads), I am running the software using WINE on Linux rather than natively in Windows. My setup may differ from yours because of this, but you should be able to do something similar to get it to work for you.

I was only going by memory of the specs I've seen in the Amazon online listing for the Anytone AT-779UV version of the radio. I did check my software (version 2.01), and it has 500 memory slots, plus PL1, PH1, PL2, PH2, VFO1, and VFO2 slots as well. I'm not sure what all of those last six slots are for, but they are listed after channel 500. I have the NOAA weather channels programmed into slots 494 to 500, and the ones I can receive are working for me.