Raybestos

Does this model last longer than the 50V2 before crapping out?

I have lived in apartments before. They were always small enough that I could reach from one end of the apartment to the other without a repeater. I could even reach from inside the apartment to the dumpster outside when my wife took the trash out.

FWIW, several years ago I ordered the Browning base loaded NMO antenna. Hole mounted it on the right rear fender of a 08 or 09 Hyundai Sonata (older and better body style). It performed very well with an Anytone Smart CB inside. I found the performance as good as any Wilson 1000 or K-40 I ever used. Unfortunately, the car was totaled with in a wreck with a dump truck. My next car was bought in a rush and I had no real estate for antennas. If I ever get another car or truck, it WILL have a CB and this is the antenna I plan to use. https://www.amazon.com/Browning-BR-140-Land-Mobile-Antenna/dp/B0043I6FJA/ref=asc_df_B0043I6FJA?mcid=55684a0f4a963b8bb4dfae26a94289f4&tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=693362547589&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=7567373534784621621&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=m&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=1021278&hvtargid=pla-761964227712&psc=1 Note: As with most CB antennas you WILL need to trim the whip. An SWR meter will be necessary.

Thank You, Sir!

Can you share any details?

Interesting! I know the KG1000G Plus, as do several of the KG series hand-held GMRS radios, have an intermittent issue with the CTCSS and DCS squelch not opening, some times with some radios. I have noted the problem when trying to receive other Wouxuns, Motos, and WLN's, as well as possible other brands. I have experienced this with every Wouxun KG GMRS radio I have owned, as well as a few that friends owned. Many have been quick to tell me they never experienced the problem. I guess they have been very lucky, I have been very unlucky, or they haven't used their Wouxun KG's in CTCSS/DCS mode enough, yet. A few weeks ago, I reprogrammed a friend's 50V2 for him. He had been experiencing similar problems with a DPL repeater. He could Xmit and key up the repeater, but the repeater was not opening the DPL squelch on his receiver. I checked. He had the proper DPL code set for encode and decode in his radio. For the heck of it, I tried using my KG935G Plus on that repeater's output to see if it would open his DPL decoder. It would not. Sounds like another decoder issue. I re-programmed his radio with my normal format for GMRS channels 1 thru 30. I then added all the repeaters he wanted. This time, just in case, I programmed each repeater to encode and decode its respective PL or DPL, followed in the next channel slot with the same parameters but encoding only and receiving in Carrier Squelch (CSQ) mode. That way, if his radio started acting up as it had done with the DPL protected repeater, he could move up one channel slot and hear with CSQ. We tried it out on the antenna at a mutual friend's home where I was programming it. All PL protected channels worked as they should, to include the DPL protected repeater channel that would not open up for the repeater or my ht. When my friend got his radio home, he reported all channels worked (and decoded) as they should. A week or two later, the finals in his 50V2 burned out, same as his first 50V2, which this one replaced. I have one UV5G Plus. I use it in the house to monitor two repeaters, 24/7. Thus far, I have experienced no decoder issues but I am painfully aware that just because I haven't, doesn't mean you did not. To the credit of Baofeng, I have owned or used several UV5R's and UV5G's and never experienced a decoder issue.

I am curious. Which radios are not opening up for you? The KG-1000G Plus? The 50V2? Both? All radios noted?

Yep! I recall ham friends who visited Texas saying that they used 2m (VHF) simplex out there the way we used repeaters in South Carolina. They said due to the flat terrain, you would hear more people chatting away on simplex in places they were, than you did on repeaters in SC. While UHF would likely still have shorter range in those places, it probably would do well at 50W and running gain antennas on base and mobile.

I have said this before, but will mention it again in case someone new to the forum might find it useful. Whether a frequency agile ham/business radio, or a dedicated GMRS radio with channels 1-30 already programmed from the factory, I follow this pattern. (Note: This frequently can not be done with Midland, Radioddity, Retevis, and other brands where the design engineers figured you don't need any or many channels beyond the basic 1 thru 30. For that reason, I avoid those brands. This works well with Wouxuns and similar channel schemes.) On the installed channels 1 thru 30, or if adding them to a non- GMRS specific radio, still in channels 1 thru 30, I have GMRS Channels 1 thru 22 labeled as "GMRS-01, GMRS-02, GMRS-03, etc, coinciding with the channel number in the radio. Each channel is set up to encode only, a 141.3 CTCSS tone. Each channel also has no tone in its decoder, or is in carrier squelch (CSQ) mode. Since 141.3 is the most commonly found tone used across the USA (aka the "travel tone") having it encoded may improve your chances of being heard at any given location, at least a little. If you are running a GMRS Specific base or mobile radio, you can skip this process on channels 8 thru 14 as it will not transmit on them, anyway. Having the receive decoder turned off will allow you to hear and converse with others who might be around, via simplex, the same as if you never added the tones in your encoder (or transmit). Channels 23 thru 30, I label as RPT 15 thru RPT 22, respectively. If using a non GMRS specific radio, you will need to ensure that you program each channel to receive its 462 MHz frequency same as its simplex counter part, and transmit on 467 MHz with the 141.3 PL also encoded only with Carrier Squelch (CSQ) on receive. For instance: GMRS-15 transmits and receives on 462.550 MHz. RPT-15 will have to receive on 462.550 MHz with no tone on its decoder (or CSQ). RPT-15 must transmit on 467.550 MHz and encode a 141.3 CTCSS tone. It is important to leave the tone off on receive because for whatever reason, (too) many repeater owners out there just did not have the extra thirty seconds it would have taken them, to set their repeater up to encode a CTCSS tone on its output. If you are hitting a repeater and keying it up, if it does not encode a tone on its output and your decoder is turned on, you will not be able to hear the repeater or anyone talking on it. With your decoder off (or in CSQ mode), you will hear anything on the channel that is in range. After Channel 30, feel free to put in whatever repeaters you use or anticipate using and if a repeater encodes a tone on its output, by all means feel free to set your radio's decoder for that repeater's tone. The steps I described on channels 1 thru 30 do not guarantee you will hit a repeater or make a simplex contact everywhere you go, but they will statistically improve your odds of making contact should you need directions, help, or just conversation.

Oh hell no! BTECH =

Demonstrating a firm grasp on the obvious, but for the benefit of newcomers who may not know, those same channels scanned without a "privacy tone" on an FRS radio will also hear GMRS as well. They use the same channels. It will also hear repeaters if any are in range and active, on channels 15 thru 22.

I actually had the one on the left, as a child. Mid-1960's I believe. Made by Mattel. The barrel retracted into the frame and the grip pivoted into the bottom to make a toy camera. Push down a small lever on the outside and the barrel extended and the grip folded out, as in the picture. I believe it fired roll caps.

As others said, a GMRS or ham mobile radio is probably not very steal worthy. I recall in the late 1960's and early 1970's, 8-track tape players were the most popular and most stealable items. Police killed great forests to make the paper used for "Auto-Breaking/ Larceny" reports. After 1973, and the Arab oil embargo and subsequent gas shortage, without a doubt, CB radios were the most stealable items for at least a decade, probably longer. If it even looked like a CB, it was in danger of being stolen. A friend who owned a landscaping business had a Low-Band Motorola Mocom control head stolen out of one of his work trucks during that time. The goobers who stole it, thinking it was a CB, left the transceiver that was mounted behind the seat. Before I retired in late 2000's, it was those GPS units that people plugged into the cigarette lighter and set on the dash. Killed a lot of forests doing reports on those. Today, a mounted GMRS radio is probably pretty safe.

The problem with (too) many repeaters with setting T-Squelch (your radio encodes a tone on xmit and decodes a tone on receive) is that some repeater owners (for reasons that defy all logic) choose to require a tone to access the repeater, yet do not encode a tone on the repeater output which allows the end-user to set their decoder and still hear that repeater. This forces the end-user to set their CTCSS to encode a tone only and use carrier squelch for receive. It is as though they just did not have that additional thirty seconds it would have taken them to program a tone on the repeater output. There are several such repeaters here in South Carolina. I have noted this issue with ham and GMRS repeaters. Almost thirty years ago, some ham repeater owners may have had a decent excuse in that they needed an expensive or hard-to-find board or tone reeds to cause their repeater to encode a tone on its output. These days, repeaters are programmable, just like ht's and mobiles, and all it takes is a few seconds of your time to program a tone on the output so end-users can enjoy setting their "T-Squelch" and keeping their receiver quiet until something on the local repeater comes in.

In all fairness, the dude is right. There is so much buggy crap out there on the market that should not be, especially among those brands he listed.