WRHS218

A 5W handheld will easily get you 10 miles if there is clear line of sight. I am at 3340 feet elevation and one of my daughters is 3.7 miles away at 2400 feet. We have a ridge between us that is 80 higher than the line of sight. We can talk on handhelds at 5W and 2W. We have to be standing outside to get clear communication. If you can hear the repeater you might be able to hit it with the 5W. The best test is to try it. If it were me I would have both a handled and a mobile anyway.

I have the Repeaterbook app on my phone and it allows you to search for GMRS repeaters. It seems to have fewer repeaters than MyGMRS. GMRS repeaters are not coordinated like Amateur radio repeaters. So unless the repeater owners add their machine to a database (and keep it updated) it can be hard to find active repeaters.

Forgot about FPD. The two towns I live closet to are unincorporated so I just listen to Madera SO who provide our LEO services.

No I haven't tried that. Thanks for the link.

This is what I do. When I moved to this area a bunch of years ago I searched LEO, Fire, and public works for our county. I then checked the FCC database for frequencies on which I was not hearing anything. To my surprise the were all active just not much going on. I live in a mountain area. The two largest counties around me, Fresno and Madera, have not made the jump to trunked systems or digital and still use VHF.

I am retired and actually do use Windows 7 on an old Lenovo laptop. We don't have anything newer that isn't a chromebook. I just keep laptop around for radio stuff. I will eventually have to get something newer. I am not a computer person although I used them for the last 30 years of my working career. The last time I used an Apple product was in 1991 and it was a MacIntosh all in one computer (toaster Mac). I downloaded the Q10G software so I could take a look around but so far have not been able to make it work on my machine.

I don't have the Q10G but I do have or have had just about every other GMRS radio Wouxun makes. I have never found a way to do what you are looking to do in any of the Wouxun programming software. I tried for a while to get CHIRP on my very old windows 7 laptop. I finally gave up. As a side rant I sure wish you could copy and paste from one version of their software to another but you can't do that either, not even between the 935G and the 935G Plus. Good luck! The Q10G looks like a fun radio.

I only have Wouxun GMRS HTs now, but I have the Nagoya NA-771G and a NA-701G. I don't find that the shorter 701G adds anything extra to my radios but I like that it is more flexible than the OEM antenna. The longer 771G may be a slight improvement over the OEM in receiving signals on the fringe but not a lot in my experience. I have tried several others that I don't have any longer and don't remember the brands. Seems like I normally end up just using the antenna that came on the radios. But again, different brand radios than what you are asking about so YMMV.

What is the difference between a 2023 Kia Rio @ $17K and a 2023 Camaro SS @ $50K. They will both get you to the grocery store. The will both get you across the country. Why would anyone pay $50K+ for a new car when they can get one that will do the same thing for $17K? Yeah, it is kind of like that. I have had both the cheap radios and a couple of the more expensive radios. The build quality, the ease of programming, IP rating, and a lot of other things make the more expensive radios I have worth it for me. It comes down to personal choice. If you have to be talked into buying something, you probably won't be satisfied with it.

No failing memory this time. The GM15 is a GMRS radio.

Is that the Midland repeater that is very similar to the Retevis RT-97? If so, the guy in the linked thread has some good information:

I use the manufacturer's programming software because I can't get CHIRP to work on ancient Windows 7 computing machine. It seems CHIRP would be easier to use as even different models from the same manufacturer don't share the same programming software. Being able to copy and paste inside of one programfor all of your radios would be great.

Is it a fixed antenna as in glued? or is it fixed as in there is a tiny hex head screw in this hole at the base of the antenna and don't you dare take that screw out and unscrew the antenna!?

Not according to the Repeater Map on this site. It has been a year since I drove through there but I didn't hear anything scanning on my mobile radio.

This is for my RT97 not the "S" version. I would imagine it is the same but I cannot confirm this. Pin 2 + Pin 1 - I have not checked the currant draw.

Sounds like the FRS radios don't use the standard CTCSS tone numbering format such as 67.0Hz. You have the right frequency for channel 7, the 11 part of the 7.11 might be tone 94.8 (Hz). If it isn't try to search for the privacy tone chart for the brand of FRS radio they are using. If someone has a radio that will scan for CTCSS or DCS codes you can use that to find the correct tone. Good luck.

After 42 years of marriage I finally got my wife to carry and actually use a radio. Getting her to wear a belt and a holster? I'm pretty sure I don't have that much time left.

They gave her back.

That is a really good idea.

We were out in the wilds of the Alabama Hills, on foot, last week climbing around large boulders and the 935G+ that my wife had clipped to her jacket fell and bounced down the rocks about 35 feet. The only damage was to one corner on the bottom of the radio and that was just a scuff. The radio still works perfectly. The day before we had been exploring an old mining ghost town. I had a radio and our friends had a radio. My friend's wife got separated form the rest of us and it took us a while to find her. From that point on everybody carried a radio. My wife didn't even smirk when I pulled out the extra radios. We spent three days with very little to no cell service so the radios came in handy.

IF there were a complete, codified, sanctified, canonized list of GMRS air wave rules AND you followed them all of the time AND you never made a mistake, you would still piss people off. A number of radio operators and keyboard warriors are cut from the same fabric. They will get butt hurt and will scream and whine but at the end of the day they are just lonely, sad people seeking attention. Try stuff, make mistakes, try to have fun doing what it is you want to do with your radios. If you do it enough you may even learn to enjoy the cries of the metaphorical basement dwellers.

Again, don't have this radio. Was just trying to help and now I am curious. This is the section from the manual...

I don't have this radio, I just looked at the manual for it. Are you in what the manual calls GMRS mode? That was the only place I saw GMRS mode mentioned so I am assuming that means Channel mode not VFO mode. You have probably already tried but maybe hold down the # button for longer than 5 seconds. Hopefully someone who knows what they are talking about will chime in. Good luck. And if you find out let us know.

Well, I did pretty much say I was a moron and my experiences were anecdotal... The multi-ban antennas on my Yaesu radios are OEM Yaesu/Vertex, sooooo...

This is just a semi-informed opinion with anecdotal experience, but for my handelds I have found that the dual band antennas are a compromise. You can TX/RX with them but they are normally not as good as an antenna tuned to a specific band. On a dual band, tri band, or quad band radio you need that dual (tri or quad) band antenna if you plan to use more than one band on an outing and done want to haul around an extra antenna. I have an amateur band Yaesu VX-6R and a VX-7R. The multi-band antennas that came with them work well enough but if I am headed out with other people I will normally switch to an antenna tuned to the band we are planning on using. Your H8 is (I think) a modified HAM radio. It probably comes with the same antenna the HAM version came with. Since you are going to be TX on GRMS frequencies I would be inclined to use the antenna that is tuned for those frequencies (771G). It has been my experience that you will still be able to RX reasonably well in both 2m and 70cm bands with the 771G. On my GMRS handhelds I either use the OEM antennas or a 771G. And, of course, as Sshannon said, try it and see what works best for you.