Raybestos

^^^^This!^^^^ Most CCJ radios have direct conversion receivers and are susceptible to bleedover, intermod, and other stuff from within and outside of the GMRS band. What you are hearing may not even be on GMRS. Several excellent suggestions on this thread about using Morse decoder apps or posting the audio on here for one of us who can copy Morse, should help ID the source.

With the constant migration of police, fire, and business, Land Mobile radio comms to VHF-Hi, UHF, 700 MHz, and 800 MHz, trunked radio systems, VHF Low Band has been fast becoming a deserted wasteland. Surely there is available spectrum between 42 and 50 MHz. Motorola produces little if any Low Band gear, anymore. Kenwood has been a "go-to" for Low Band gear, but I understand their presence in that market may be dwindling with the demand. The military has always had a presence there AFAIK, at least back to the Vietnam era. Surely they don't need the entire 30-50 MHz all the time. I recall during what was the largest manhunt ever in my state, in February of 1974, National Guard APC's and possibly helicopters were operating on 42 MHz Highway Patrol frequencies to coordinate with them. They had frequency-agile gear and it sounded to be transmitting a broader signal than the HP radios, during the manhunt for 3-4 cop killers who murdered a deputy and seriously wounded another, as well as murdered a town police officer the night before. In the early 1980's, I would hear military aircraft doing practice bombing or missile strikes on local telephone microwave towers on 49 MHz. It has been many years since I heard any such activity. I imagine they too, have moved to higher spectrum. The shorter wavelength of these frequencies would allow for easier antenna placement in mobile or portable applications than with CB. It would also allow for better signal peneration into and out of automobiles, as well as brick and stone buildings. A real plus for rural and mountainous areas would be realized through dense foilage as well as "knife-edge" propagation over and around hills and mountains. Such a band would be far better in rural environs than UHF.

I remember in Middle School, some dork used to "finger paint" on the inside of the stall walls and doors in the bathroom. MyGMRS TOS probably forbids me mentioning the media he used for this activity. I don't think the janitor was happy about it, either. Edit: Good grief! This is still going on today per this YouTube video that popped up on my feed, this morning!

Several years ago, I sent Radio Shack a proposal for something that I think, if approved by the FCC, would have returned some of the yesteryear excitement to visiting their stores. Their response was something about legal "rights" to the idea and me generating tons of legalese paperwork for them, something I had neither time, money, or resources for. In that day, before the current flood of CCJ (Cheap Chinese Junk) GMRS radios, the average Joe or Jane had two options; CB or ham, for off-grid or grid-down comms. GMRS was an option if you were wealthy enough to afford Moto, GE, or other Land Mobile gear. As we all know, most wives, children, and other family or friends refuse to be bothered with studying for and taking a Technician test, no matter how simple it is. CB is on a long wavelength which makes portable comms unwieldy at best and nearly impossible from inside some buildings and automobiles without an external outside antenna. Mobile and base range is crippled by a 4 Watt power limit and short channel spacing, as well as frequent skip. At that time, Homeland Security had PSA's on radio and TV urging citizens to contemplate preparing for unexpected disasters with food, water, and communications gear beyond landlines and cell phones. My proposal involved petitioning the FCC to carve out a portion of the VHF Low Band somewhere above 42 MHz for a "Homeland Security" band. My proposal would allow for 50W mobile and base radios. Portables would be a maximum of 6W. A minimum of 45 channels should be provided at 15 to 20 KHz spacing with narrowband analog FM being the only accepted mode. 5 channels would be set aside as ht transmit, base and mobile receive-only. These would be the highest frequency channels of the band/service. Bases and mobiles would be receive only and transmit only on a corresponding fixed lower frequency in the band. A Dual Receive Capability capable radio would allow simultaneous receive on the ht channel corresponding with a fixed lower transmit frequency for that ht channel. One such DRC channel (the highest) would be for emergencies, like old CB 9. The next would be for taking the emergency to for detailed or prolonged comms if necessary. The other three DRC capable channels would allow any user to monitor the higher (6W ht only) frequency and their fixed corresponding lower frequency and use them for any purpose the service allowed. The purpose of this would be to allow persons with only a ht to have a clearer shot at making contact with an emergency monitoring station, or their own home base without having to compete with 50W bases and mobiles. All radios would be required to have CTCSS/DCS encode/decode capability and a fixed tone (say 100.0) would be used on the two emergency channels for all comms. Since Radio Shack was the creator of FRS, by petitioning the FCC for such, I figured such a project would re-vitalize the waning interest in their once-vibrant stores. While skip would still occur at the higher end of VHF Low Band, it would be less frequent than on CB. Unlike CB, ht signals at those frequencies CAN get into and out of a closed automobile and many buildings that CB could never touch. Alas, it was not to be.

Had a nursing home near me using Channel 1 and 67.0 PL. Occasionally, usually late at night, I would say something like, "I just crapped my bed again. Can someone please come clean me up and change my sheets?" There would be several "Who said that"'s and confused chatter between the staff for a while. It helps if you can do a good "elderly person" voice. I could do that since my teens. I AM elderly now so it just gets easier.

Wanna have some fun? Belch a couple of times and listen as there is a panic to verify possession of all radios by the teacher they are assigned to. They think a kid has one of the radios. Orrr...after hearing names of teachers or administrators (Mr Jones, Mrs Smith, etc) in the school for a while, if you can get your voice high enough to genuinely sound like a kid, say something like "Mr Roe and Mrs Doe are sleeping together." Pandemonium will ensue. Don't ask how I know this.

What if I was operating under my maternal grandfather's GMRS license? He has a different last name and AFAIK, there is no requirement that a family keep documentation of such.

Regarding carrying a license copy, Hamcrazy.com has neat "credit card" size plastic license copies you can order. While unlikely I would ever need it for anything, I do carry one of my ham and my GMRS license in my wallet. They now have a version with your ham license on one side and your GMRS license on the other. I figure it can't hurt to have it on you. I mean, if you wind up in a severe earthquake, hurricane, etc, and you are at a shelter that is radio equipped, having such proof on your person might get you sitting at an operator's desk if they need people to man their radios. https://www.hamcrazy.com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=14_21

These laws are getting ridiculous. I get the "no texting" laws but requiring no touching of a cell phone are silly. Not everyone can afford a brand new vehicle with blue tooth sound connection and built-in GPS. GMRS, before they called it GMRS was Class A Citizens Band. One of the Federal Highway agencies is currently blackmailing states into passing these laws, or lose Federal Funding. This is likely un-Constitutional, but has been happening for decades to force states to knuckle under to their will. Years ago, I was listening to Coast To Coast AM one night. I forget who the guest was, but he was talking about this trick they have used to force states to pass seatbelt laws, DUI enhancements, and other unpopular laws in the name of "safety". The guy noted that in his home state (not sure, but possibly Missouri), they were threatened with loss of funds if they did not pass a seat belt law. In an unusual nod to personal choice and freedom, legislators in his state did the math. They figured that if they failed to pass a seat belt law, it would amount to a $5 penalty for every man, woman, and child, who were then residents of that state. They decided that personal choice and freedom were worth more than five dollars and told the Feds to go kick rocks. As it should be! Stuff like this reminds me of a saying my maternal grandfather used to quote a lot. Truer words were never spoken. "More laws, less justice." Marcus Tullius Cicero

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.