WyoJoe

In general, this is not realistic. The only way it would work is if there is a repeater at each end and they are linked together. The coverage area for most repeaters is 30 miles or less. Even with an exceptional repeater, with users at either end of its usable area, you'd generally be lucky to cover 100 miles between the two parties. Maybe, if you got really lucky and were able to put the repeater on top of Mt. Shasta, you might exceed that distance, but certainly not all the way from Klamath Falls to Sacramento. Back to the linked repeaters for a moment... If you had a repeater in the Klamath Falls area, and another one in the Sacramento area, and they were linked via the internet, they could be used to relay the signal from one end to the other. I haven't checked, but I doubt there's a linked repeater system that would work for you in this instance. If there is, I'm sure someone else on this forum will chime in about it.

I believe a lot of the issues brought about by Rugged had to do with licensing. It seems they sold a lot of radios that were pre-programmed to use commercial frequencies that were not licensed for this purpose. From what I understand, people buying the radios were not instructed that they needed to obtain licenses for the frequencies they used, and that is a large part of the reason Rugged was cited and their products deemed "illegal." When I first heard of Rugged, they were selling their version of the UV-5R for something like $70. I suppose that to someone that is not familiar with Baofeng, that might look like a bargain, but it's 3 times the price of a regular UV-5R. Their GMR2 radio is listed for about twice the price of the other radios like it that it looks to be based on. They do very much target the ATV/UTV/4x4 market for their radio sales. It looks like their newer offerings have moved to GMRS rather than the commercial frequencies they used in the past.

With the price, quality, etc. of the UV5R being what they are, why would anyone bother making a knockoff? It just struck me funny as I read your post.

GMR2 is the model of the radio that Rugged Radios is selling. It is a GMRS radio, and from the looks of it, appears to be the same radio (cosmetic differences aside) as the Radioddity GM-30, Tidradio TD-H5, and Pofung P15UV, all of which can be found for, what I believe, is a better price. Rugged has a tendency to rebadge existing products with their name, then charge a lot more for them. This appears to be the case here, too. Granted, they offer customer support that is likely better than you'll find with other radio vendors. If you feel you need that type of support, it might make it worth your while to buy from them, but if you're comfortable setting up and programming your own radios, I'd advise buying elsewhere.

The first thing I'd check is the presence of the repeater. Are you certain the repeater is within range and is operating? You may have already done so, but if not, contact the repeater owner to find out if the repeater is functioning, obtain the current codes/tones needed for access, and to get permission to use the repeater (unless it's designated as open for use by others). If you're just depending on a repeater listing from this site, you may find that listed repeaters no longer exist, or they now use a different frequency and/or CTCSS/DCS code. I use my GM-30 to access a private (unlisted) repeater quite often and generally, I am able to do so reliably within several miles when relatively within line of sight. I can get through the trees in the forest and over/around small hills without too much trouble. It's mostly the bigger hills and mountains that limit my range, and the fact that the repeater is in a valley, and not on a mountain top.

My guess is their radios were "programmed" with multiple frequencies. Regardless of their programming, though, I expect most of them were tuned to either FRS or MURS channels (or perhaps both).

Using "channel numbers" can be problematic if, as in your case, a radio has received custom programming. For repurposed LMR radios, this would be likely, and may also be the case for GMRS radios that have been reprogrammed. All of the stock GMRS radios I've seen have been programmed in a similar manner, with the frequencies on channels 1-30 being the same for all of them. The exception to this is for mobile radios which, from what I've seen, generally do not have anything programmed into channels 8-14. If these channels are programmed, they are typically receive only. Unlike CB or FRS, there is no absolute rule in GMRS that each channel be mandated to use a specific frequency. I do believe, however, that when someone refers to a GMRS channel number from 1 to 30, it is widely accepted that there is a norm that is followed. Mainly, I believe standardized GMRS channel numbering is intended to maintain compatibility with FRS, which has 22 channels, all of which share frequencies with GMRS. In addition to those 22 channels, GMRS also adds the repeater channels (467 MHz "main" channels - see below). The FCC regulations are where I believe the idea of channels came from. With the FCC standardization of FRS channels, I believe it was natural for GMRS to follow suit. The FCC also refers to GMRS "channels" in the regulations: § 95.1763 GMRS channels. The GMRS is allotted 30 channels - 16 main channels and 14 interstitial channels. GMRS stations may transmit on any of the channels as indicated below. (a) 462 MHz main channels. Only mobile, hand-held portable, repeater, base and fixed stations may transmit on these 8 channels. The channel center frequencies are: 462.5500, 462.5750, 462.6000, 462.6250, 462.6500, 462.6750, 462.7000, and 462.7250 MHz. [These are commonly identified as channels 15-22, or as repeater outputs for channels 23-30] (b) 462 MHz interstitial channels. Only mobile, hand-held portable and base stations may transmit on these 7 channels. The channel center frequencies are: 462.5625, 462.5875, 462.6125, 462.6375, 462.6625, 462.6875, and 462.7125 MHz. [These are commonly identified as channels 1-7] (c) 467 MHz main channels. Only mobile, hand-held portable, control and fixed stations may transmit on these 8 channels. Mobile, hand-held portable and control stations may transmit on these channels only when communicating through a repeater station or making brief test transmissions in accordance with § 95.319(c). The channel center frequencies are: 467.5500, 467.5750, 467.6000, 467.6250, 467.6500, 467.6750, 467.7000, and 467.7250 MHz. [These are commonly identified as repeater inputs for channels 23-30] (d) 467 MHz interstitial channels. Only hand-held portable units may transmit on these 7 channels. The channel center frequencies are: 467.5675, 467.5875, 467.6125, 467.6375, 467.6625, 467.6875, and 467.7125 MHz. [These are commonly identified as channels 8-14]

Well, I think this thread has pretty clearly established that GMRS Channel 20 is considered by many to be the "official" travel channel for GMRS. Since this thread is about "un-official" GMRS travel channels, it would seem to me that 19 for highway conditions and 16 for off-highway use would both make pretty good "un-official" travel channels, each for their respective purposes. As with every idea along this vein, they have to start somewhere. Once started, they need to catch on locally, then spread to other areas, gaining acceptance along the way. With 4x4 clubs being pretty popular, each club could choose to adopt channel 16 as their "official" GMRS channel. I think this would be fairly easy to implement within the off-roading community, as there are groups within the community to promote the idea. While some groups may choose not to implement such a plan, I'm sure many would do so, just as they did with CB channel 4 years ago. For highway conditions, the use of channel 19 would be a lot trickier. Even though this was the case with CB for many years, I think it would be harder to get this idea off the ground for GMRS. The main reason for this is that there aren't a lot of recognized groups to promote the idea. Maybe writing a letter to your local AAA branch would be a way to promote this idea. If they were to buy in, and promote the idea within their membership, you might have a chance of getting this idea off the ground. My expectation, however, is that they would most likely adopt the official or semi-official channel 20 instead, if only for the reason that it doesn't have the geographical restrictions near the Canadian border that are found with channel 19.

This post got me thinking... would a relative of a licensed myGMRS member be able to sign up with the same callsign if they chose to join this site? What if they added "/unit2" to the callsign in their profile?

I'm pretty sure I ran the unzipped executable file, but I didn't get any errors when I did so. I also do have other Radioddity software installed within Wine, so that could account for the OCX libraries. I'm not sure if I have them or not, but as mentioned, I didn't get any errors running the DB25-G application. I can't read and write to a radio, though, so it's possible I'd get errors at those steps.

I can't say for sure that you'd have been okay using Linux instead, but that's how I've been running my CPS software for my radios. I just tried downloading and installing the DB-25G software on my Linux machine, and it installed and ran under Wine, but I didn't try up- or down-loading to a radio as I don't have that model radio. It sure looks like it'll work, though. As for Chirp, it runs natively on Linux, so that's what I use for quite a few different models of radios. I then use factory software for the ones Chirp doesn't support. I've only found one or two CPS applications (for Windows) that don't work in Linux.

Thank you Michael. I didn't know when the newest version would come out, but I saw it today and see that it now includes the Baofeng UV-9G. If only they would add support for the GM30/P15UV/TD-H5 triplets... and the DB20-G/AT-779UV/RA25 triplets, too! I'm still waiting for those to be added.

I was thinking desense as well, but was going to ask if you're using two hand-held radios to do your testing. For example, are you transmitting on one while trying to listen on the other? If so, their proximity to each other could be causing desense in the receiving radio, which would make it look like the repeater isn't working. If you're doing the testing by yourself, you'll likely run into this issue. If possible, you'll want to get a family member (or another licensed GMRS user) to listen somewhere within range of the repeater as you move about testing it. They could then reply as you check in from various locations.

This is essentially the concept that was used to set up a cheap Baofeng repeater that I saw in a Youtube video a few years ago. They did use cables between the radios to tie the output of one radio to the input of the other, and vice-versa, but the radios were set with VOX on so they would retransmit upon receiving a signal. I'm pretty sure, though I don't remember positively, that they were set up for cross-band repeat. Unless they used significant distance between the radios or very directional antennas, I don't think they would not work well otherwise. If you didn't tie the radios together with cables, I believe, as wqpn591 said, they would likely get caught in a transmit loop where they just keep transmitting back and forth, at least if they were set up as a bi-directional repeater.

Unfortunately, (or fortunately, depending on your point of view) there is no "one stop shop" for all GMRS repeater information. What you'll find on this site is the best collection of data that I've found, but it certainly isn't all-inclusive. In addition, if a repeater isn't listed on this site, yet seems to be actively used, it can be very difficult to find out anything about it, as may be the case with the repeater you've identified. There is no requirement that GMRS repeater information be made public, and many repeater owners prefer not to publish that information, but rather, wish to keep it private so they can have a private repeater system of their own. Granted, they don't have exclusive use of the frequency, but by keeping their repeater information unpublished, they may very well be keeping people from trying to hack into and use their repeaters. There are both advantages and disadvantages to publishing your repeater information. If you do so, you inform others about your repeater. This can be helpful to inform other repeater owners about the frequency pair and PL/DCS code you're using, so they can use a different pair and/or code. At the same time, it invites others to use your repeater, whether they have permission or not. Some repeater owners want to keep their repeater for private (family) use, while others welcome anyone and everyone (who is properly licensed) to use their repeater.

I was reading the "issues" page for Chirp, and there is a thread there about the Baofeng UV-9G. I believe the UV-9G support is either very new or still experimental/in development. The discussion there was happening in the last few days, and from what I read, they got it working, although I wouldn't expect to see an official UV-9G module added until the next release at the earliest. I am certainly not an expert on Chirp or the differences between versions for various operating systems, but I think for the most part, once a module has been written for a particular radio, it will generally work across the different OS platforms.

Scott, I'm certainly not a Mac user, so I can't comment on that or the use of "Parallels," but I think both of the radios you're trying to program may be supported by Chirp, a free (open source) application that can run natively on MacOS, Linux, or Windows. I personally use it on Linux with almost no issues. I think I encountered the "handshake" error once, and later realized that I had a com port issue or something like that. I've also had success with several radio programming applications running on Linux using the Wine suite to emulate Windows. It generally works best if choosing an older version of Windows to emulate, such as Windows 7 or even XP. It doesn't work as well in Windows 10 mode however.

I have the N9TAX dual band slim jim antenna for 2m/70cm, and I've been using it for several years. I hung it from a ceiling hook in the corner of the room, and I've just left it there since. I really don't think about it much. It just works when I need it to. I've used it with several mobile and hand-held radios, and any issues I've had have always been radio related, not antenna related.

Something to possibly consider for those living in or near small towns, would be to designate a channel that would be monitored by a local radio club or the like. You might even get the town council on board to designate such a channel for that area as an official act. For the benefit of travelers, you could post signs along the roadways as you enter the town, stating which channel is monitored. This could be very similar to what is done in some national parks where they post a radio frequency to tune to for park information, except in the case of FRS and GMRS, it would allow for two-way communication. The sign could read "FRS/GMRS Channel 4 is designated for local radio traffic" or something similar. It could also be used by both the FRS and GMRS services, however with GMRS, of course higher power output would be possible. If there was a nearby repeater and the owner were to allow it, you could even (instead or in addition) designate a repeater channel to be used for this purpose. The biggest drawback I see to such a designation, is that you'd want to be sure some locals stayed tuned to that channel in case anyone traveling through chimed in with a question about the area, traffic, etc., because, if it is posted, I think they might likely expect a response if they asked a question on the air. This would also result in a fairly small area where that channel would be officially designated for this purpose. You could, however, reach out to other adjacent communities and pitch the idea there, too. If you had an area with five or six small towns, and all of them designated the same "local" channel, you could conceivably establish a travel channel for your region.

Because a repeater is a "station," I believe Michael is correct that there needs to be an ID provided when the station is in use (every 15 minutes, etc.). I do not believe it needs to be automatic. If I'm using my own repeater to talk to my family, I believe just IDing with my call sign is sufficient. If someone is using someone else's repeater, and it doesn't automatically ID, then, in order to be in compliance with the FCC rules, they would need to provide their ID and the ID of the repeater (for example: "This is aaaa111 on the bbbb222 repeater").

I have a couple of Wouxon KG-UV9 radios, and both slowly drain the batteries when stored. They were stored after being charged a couple of weeks ago, and they're currently reading 7.4V on the display when turned on. The battery indicator shows about "half full." My other radios seem to maintain a charge for a much longer period of time, but it's hard to tell since they don't have the same quality of battery indicator as the Wouxons.

Many of the features of the UV-5X/UV-5G (GMRS) radios are comparable on the TD-H5 (a.k.a. Radioddity GM-30 or Pofung P15UV) radios. Where the TD-H5 shines is in the ability to scan for tones (as you noted), to use "Sync" mode where the top and bottom rows of the display can be configured to work together, and to store 200 channels vs. 128 on the UV-5X. On mine, using sync mode, I have the channel name on the top line, and the frequency on the bottom line. Both lines change accordingly when I change channels. It also offers USB charging via a USB-C cable, and is compatible with UV-5R speaker/mics and programming cables. Personally, I find the menu on the TD-H5 a little bit easier to use than the UV-5X/UV-5G (GMRS) menu. The advantages of the UV-5X/UV-5G (GMRS) are that it is compatible with most UV-5R accessories (not including antennas), such as extended batteries, it comes with a drop-in charger, it offers a tri-color (selectable) display, and it's programmable in Chirp. I'd also say that the standard belt clip is much sturdier. If you already have a UV-5R and want to maintain the same form factor, or if programming with Chirp is important to you, then the UV-5X/UV-5G (GMRS) makes sense. If that's not a concern for you, and you are looking for a radio in this price range, then I'd recommend the TD-H5 or one of the other variants of that radio. Both the UV-5X/UV-5G (GMRS) and the TD-H5 are sold only in pairs from what I've seen. The Pofung and Radioddity variants of the TD-H5 (P15UV and GM-30, respectively) can be purchased individually. The Pofung version seems to be the least expensive of these. Personally, I like to use a drop-in charger instead of the USB cable that comes with the TD-H5. As a ham, I purchased a TYT UV-88 (a.k.a. Retevis RT-85) dual-band radio which has the same form factor as the TD-H5, but comes with a drop in charger. I use that charger for my TD-H5 radios now. With a slight modification, the batteries are also compatible.

If they use the same antenna connector, try swapping antennas between your two radios and see how they behave. That should indicate whether the problem is with the radio or with the antenna. If the problem follows the antenna, then it's the antenna. If the radio performs the same with either antenna, then it's most likely the radio.

That's pretty funny!

I guess that doesn't surprise me since it's linked to the KERN System as well.