WyoJoe

In the case of the MXT115, if/when you are looking for more features and functions, an inexpensive upgrade is the Anytone AT779UV / Radioddity DB-20G / Retevis RA25 radio (each of these is the same as the others). For about $100, you get another small radio that puts out ~20W, offers narrow and wideband, repeater capable, and offers UHF and VHF receive capability. It can also be reconfigured so it will work on the 2m and 70cm ham bands, should you ever wish to pursue, or if you already have, a ham license. It also has a small, but useful, color display. On top of all that, it even comes with a "Fun" button on it! What more could you ask for? Okay, the "Fun" button is actually the "Function" button, but the word Function didn't fit on the small button.

I pretty much stopped using M$ operating systems at home several years ago, and am using Linux Mint instead. It has software to do almost everything I use a computer for, and will even run a lot of Windows applications using the Wine compatibility layer. I have several radio programming applications that I've run on it successfully. The only things I use Windows computers for (other than at work) are TurboTax and a couple of old Windows games that I play every once in a while that won't run under Linux. It seems that every time I start my old Windows (8.1) laptop, it wants to run lots of updates that came out since the time before.

Many of the newer GMRS radios have scan functions built in, so it's pretty easy to scan the channels for activity. Some older bubble-pack type radios don't have a scan function as far as I know. It would be a lot harder with one of them...

How about channel 2 for motorcycles; 4 for cars, SUVs, and pickups (or what the truckers call "4 wheelers"); 10 for three-axle box vans; and 18 for your typical 18-wheeler? Perhaps even channel 1 for unicycles...

It appears that these prohibitions would apply to Part 90 equipment. I haven't investigated this matter, but is there a similar prohibition for Part 97 (amateur radio service) equipment?

There are a lot of ways of looking at this. If you live only on Social Security, there is a good possibility that your income is below the threshold for paying federal taxes. Depending on the state in which you reside, you may or may not be exempt from paying taxes on S.S. income. It is entirely possible that you wouldn't pay any income tax if you're on S.S., or you could pay both state and federal income tax on it depending on your overall income situation. Obviously, what applies to one may not apply to all. I agree with Michael on this one: check with your tax advisor.

Yes, you're correct. That should have said: Retevis Radioddity does have a clone of the TYT UV-88. It is the RT85 model (dual-band ham radio).

The RT76P is a similar radio, but is not the same as the others. The batteries and battery eliminator are specific to that model and do not work on the Radioddity/Pofung/TYT/Tidradio versions. If you look at the connections between the battery and radio, you'll see that they're offset on the RT76P, and side-by-side on the others. Radioddity does have a clone of the TYT UV-88. It is the RT85 model (dual-band ham radio).

I have used my TYT UV-88 battery eliminator with my GM-30, and it works fine, but needs a small modification. In the attached image, I show a GM-30 battery and a UV-88 battery. The UV-88 battery has two red ovals showing the "ribs" on the slot where the battery latch latches. These have to be removed to work with the GM-30. The battery eliminator also has ribs that need to be removed. I used sprue cutters to remove mine, but an exacto knife or utility knife should work equally well. If the "ribs" aren't removed, the battery latch will not engage, and the battery or battery eliminator can easily separate from the radio.

Was there supposed to be a link or a picture or something to give us some idea about what you're asking about? The only "toy" dozers I'm familiar with are from Tonka...

Well, you could get a little extra clearance for a taller antenna if you let a little air out of your tires everytime you park in the garage... (((Please don't take me seriously in this post!)))

The UV-5R requires an SMA Female antenna, while the GM-30 requires an SMA Male antenna. For GMRS use, I'd recommend the Nagoya 771-G from BuyTwoWayRadios.

The technician license primarily allows the use of the VHF and UHF spectrum of the amateur radio band. GMRS operates in the UHF spectrum. Operationally, GMRS and the UHF/VHF spectrum of the amateur band are very similar. The primary differences are the frequency on which they operate, and the way they are commonly used. GMRS is most often, though not always, used within a family or small group (like a 4WD club) where the user is talking to other people nearby that they know for the purpose of communicating within the group. Amateur (ham) radio is often used to talk to others outside of the small group, quite often even to strangers, for the sake of contacting others. With GMRS, the use is usually secondary to other purposes, such as four wheeling, hiking, traveling, etc. With amateur radio, the use is often primary, meaning it is used primarily to make contact with others. With GMRS, one license covers the licensee and immediate family, and there is no exam. This makes it convenient for family use, which I believe is the most common usage. You and your son can both operate on the same license, which could be convenient for you. With amateur radio, the license only covers the licensee, so, each user needs their own license, for which a test is required. This means that you'll be talking to another licensed ham. The equipment is nearly identical between GMRS and the 70 cm. (~440 MHz) UHF amateur band. In many cases, the same equipment will work for both. Many GMRS radios are based on amateur radios, but with modified firmware and Part 95e certification. If you can use one band, you should have no trouble with the other.

I've always wondered, if something is "improved," how can it also be "new" at the same time? Wouldn't the item, by definition, be old (older/oldish) if it has been improved?

It's easy to copy from one line to another on the Anytone version of the software. Since this software works for my radios, I haven't tried the Radioddity version, though I suspect it'll work the same way: Click on the channel number (the line header), the click CTRL-C to copy and CTRL-V to paste. There is no visual clue that this works until you see the line pasted into the software. Using "right click" on the mouse doesn't work (as you might expect it to), but the standard keyboard shortcuts do.

Rich, I commend you on the new website. It looks great and provides a nice, clean experience. I'm still trying to figure out where everything is on the new site, but I had to do that when I was new to the old site, too. Anyway, I love the new look and feel of the website. Great job on it!

I found the link on the BTWR product page in the downloads tab: https://www.buytwowayradios.com/downloads/dl/file/id/1412/product/5287/wouxun_kg_1000g_programming_software.zip

The DB20-G is identical to the Anytone AT-779UV. Unfortunately, the AT-779UV and AT-778UV are quite different, and do not share the same microphone pinout. Any information you find for the AT-778UV isn't likely to be helpful. You might be in luck, however, as I did find this information on building a programming cable for the AT-779UV (aka DB20-G): https://www.miklor.com/COM/UV_ProgrCableAT779.php I don't know if that will provide the info you need, but it could at least get you headed in the right direction.

Michael, My version looks very different from what you posted, however, on my version of the KG1000G software, there are arrows that allow you to move your channel selections up and down the list. There are also insert and delete options. When I tried to use Insert, it would not insert a new line, so I'm not sure how the insert function works. I also did not try the delete function yet. What I was able to do, though, was select a blank entry from the end of my channel list, and use the up arrow to move it up to the desired channel position where I wanted to add a new channel. As it moves up the list, the selections it passes move down the list, so nothing is lost. That works for me to add blank spaces with relative ease without the need to completely reprogram the radio.

A topic that has come up frequently in other threads is "How do I program my radios if I'm not using Windows?" (Thank you Michael LAX for the inspiration for this thread) I am not a Mac user, so I'll defer the expertise to others, but the common thread I've seen in this regard is to run an instance of Windows on the Mac using "Parallels." I'll leave the technical details of this to others since I have no experience in this area. I'm also not much of a "Virtual Machine" (Parallels, VM Ware, VirtualBox, etc.) user. Virtual Machines basically create a separate environment within the native Operating System (O.S.) in which a "guest" O.S. can be installed. Most often, it seems to be Windows that is installed in that environment, though you could conceivably install almost any O.S. you want. There are some special considerations to be made when using a Virtual Machine, particularly in setting up the programming cables. They need to have the COM ports properly configured, and the cable drivers must be properly installed in order for the programming cable to work. Again I will defer to the experts to chime in to share their experiences with Virtual Machines. I am a Linux user, however, and I have used Linux exclusively for my radio programming for several years. Here are some of my experiences using Linux Mint 20 (other versions will be similar): Programming Cables: Every programming cable I have tried to use in Linux has worked pretty much "out of the box." The only real difficulty is in knowing what port it's connected to. Typically, it's either ttyUSB0 or ttyUSB1. I can figure that out with a little trial and error. Chirp: Chirp is a somewhat universal radio programming application. By universal, I mean that it works on many types of radios and multiple operating systems. Chirp can be installed and run natively on Windows, Mac, and Linux. I use the "Flatpak" version of Chirp, since I am running a newer version of Linux Mint, which uses the Python 3 libraries. Chirp is (or, at least, was) heavily dependent upon the Python 2 libraries which are incompatible with Python 3. The way around this is the "Flatpak" which bundles the necessary libraries and the application together in a separate "container" for lack of a better word. To install it on the newer versions of Mint, you'll need to use the Software Manager to install the Flatpak application, and if it doesn't also include Flatpak-builder, you might want to install that, too. I'm not sure about the necessity of the second application, but it's installed on my Mint 20 desktop and works well for me. Lastly, you'll want to download the latest version of Chirp (in Flatpak format) from the download section at chirp.danplanet.com and install it from the command line with the following command: sudo flatpak install ~/Downloads/chirp-daily-20210930.flatpak The command assumes your download was saved in the Downloads directory within your Home directory. If not, you'll need to point the installer to the correct path. Finally, replace "chirp-daily-20210930.flatpak" with the name of the file you downloaded. Manufacturer CPS: For most of the CPS software that is provided by the radio manufacturers, I run them in Linux using a "compatibility layer" called "WINE." To use it, you have to first install WINE. I did this from the "Software Manager" on Linux Mint. Once installed and configured, WINE will open automatically any time I try to run any Windows application (.exe). It will run in its own Window on my computer, and I do that with the setup programs that come from the radio manufacturers. Once installed, the programs can be run from the WINE selection of the "Mint Menu" or what Windows users think of as the "Start Menu." I sometimes go back to the WINE configuration to tell WINE what version of Windows to emulate. I typically default to Windows 7 for this purpose. As with the native Linux configuration, WINE also requires a little configuration to point the "COM port" to the correct USB device that was identified above. This is done by creating a symbolic link in Linux. In this case, I can assign "COM 1" to the ttyUSB1 device with the following command: ln -s /dev/ttyUSB1 ~/.wine/dosdevices/com1 Once configured, I select the program from the Mint Menu, and in most cases it will run correctly. Occasionally there are little glitches that make the program difficult to use, such as windows that don't render properly, or fonts that don't display properly. Some of those issues have yet to be resolved in my case, but the software is, more often than not, quite usable even with those issues. I've only had one or two programs that wouldn't run for me, and those were for radios that are supported by Chirp.

Michael, I haven't looked into this specifically, but I don't believe either of them is so certified. They are not sold as GMRS radios in any configuration I'm aware of (except perhaps as the Midland MXT400), so it's highly unlikely that you'd find one that is certified.

The Midland MXT400 looks nearly identical to the TYT TH-9000D (and its Retevis RT9000D clone), and I suspect also looks largely identical on the inside, too. Other than minor cosmetic changes and different firmware, I suspect they're essentially the same radio. I don't have the Midland, and can't confirm this, but I'd be surprised if that wasn't the case. If you consider the TYT/Retevis 9000D radios to be CCRs, then the Midland will probably also be considered a CCR. This is based on my expectation that these radios are essentially the same. If anyone believes (or knows) otherwise, please chime in.

I am not sure what repeaters near me support DMR, but between home and work, I'm sure there are several. Depending on my level of interest and available time, I may opt for a hotspot sometime soon, too.

That looks like an interesting device, but alas, as of now, I don't have any experience with Zello. I've thought about looking into it, but as of now, I've been too busy to do so. I'm starting to take an interest in DMR, and may dabble in that as time permits, but that's enough new tech to figure out for now... perhaps next year, after I get a handle on DMR and things settle down a bit, will be a better time to investigate Zello.

There are even some models of TID radios that are not listed. The TD-H5 GMRS radio is one such model. I think they'd generally want to support their own products before adding other products to their application. Certain Baofeng models may be the exception to this rule by virtue of the sheer number of radios sold, which would have a significant impact on the potential audience for this product.