Raybestos

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.

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.

Whoever is having this problem in 2026, please come back to 2025, BEFORE the outage in March of 2026. It might be better, back here.

Are you going to the meeting in Augusta, this Saturday?

Hi 73 Blazer! I use either the BTWR/Wouxun proprietary software or the RT Systems in all of my programming. I have found CHIRP to be quirky and difficult to use on the two computers I have tried it on. I know, lots of people swear by CHIRP and don't want a radio that doesn't allow its use. I never use CHIRP so that can't be the issue. It is incredibly annoying when this problem does manifest itself. I have experienced it while in communication with other Wouxuns of various models as well as other Chinese radios and Motorola repeaters. Addendum: I have owned, used, and programmed and tested a number of Baofeng UV5R's, UV5G's, and UV5X's (actually earlier model UV5G's), and even 888's. These are like the flagships of "Cheap Chinese Radios" and are available for a fraction of the price of the Wouxuns. I do not recall ever experiencing this difficulty with the Baofeng radios. For multiple reasons, I prefer the Wouxun platforms, but the CTCSS/DCS issues make me a bit gun shy about dropping another century note and a half or more, on a new Wouxun. I wish Wouxun would collaborate with Baofeng (not B Tech) on this CTCSS/DCS issue if they are unable to fix it, themselves.

I am glad you have noted no PL/DPL issues with your Wouxuns thus far. I hope your good luck holds. Mine is not such. In fact, this past Saturday I got a taste of the problem, this time with DPL. A good friend and myself were helping out a privately run charitable event with logistics (parking, sign in, site transport, protective, etc). He and myself brought several each of our own radios to use on FRS/GMRS at the venue. Overall, as far as range, etc, they worked very well. The night before, I was programming three WLN KD-C1's so as to match up with a channel our radios had in common. Yeah, I know the KD-C1's are not type accepted so save the lecture, anyone thinking about it. Two were new out of the box and one I have used lightly for about a year. I programmed them using the template my friend's three WLN's were programmed with. Knowing how weird the Wouxuns can be with PL, I tried all three on a Simplex (from FRS/GMRS 1 thru 7) on a channel I had DPL 245 programmed in, with each-other and with my KG935G+. All radios could hear each other with no issues, except that the older KD-C1 could not be heard by my KG935G+. As a precaution, I programmed my 935G+ with an extra version of that channel in it but to encode DCS 245 and receive CSQ. My thought was to issue the older WLN out only if there were a shortage of radios and I absolutely had to. If it came to that, I would set my radio to the channel with CSQ receive and still be able to hear the older radio. Just for the heck of it, I tested that older WLN with my old and slightly off frequency KG935G and my KGS88G. Interestingly enough, they could both hear the older WLN KD-C1 just fine, despite the fact that I have had PL/DPL weirdness with them both, in the past. I packed the KGS88G in case it was needed but it was never issued. For most of the day, all radios performed well and contributed to the smooth operation of the event. Near the end of the day, I was talking to my friend who had brought some of his radios to issue out. He was carrying his own KG935G. Another member of event staff on another KG935G called him on the radio. Both of us heard that transmission. When my friend answered on his KG935G, I could not hear him. He made a series of transmissions to the staff member and each time, I heard the staff member but not my friend. I switched to my recently added version of that channel with CSQ and continued hearing my friend. Leaving the event, using my mobile B-Tech (I think the 20V somethingorother) with DPL encode AND decode set, I could hear my friend just fine. There IS something effed up with these Wouxun KG series GMRS radios regarding their PL/DPL algorithm. Whatever it is, IS mostly intermittent which makes it all the harder to catch and diagnose. I wish people who experience this would come forward and share their experiences. I find it harder and harder to believe that I am just the poor unlucky SOB that BTWR has somehow managed to divert all specimens with this problem to. There is definitely something in their PL/DPL algorithm in need of modification or replacement.

Hi Guys! Sorry ot took me so long to get back to you. It has been a very hectic week for me. Every model of Wouxun ht I have owned has exhibited issues with its PL encode and/or decode algorithm. The worst were the KG905G's. I had two and, before I knew there was a problem, bought two more for some good friends. Some times, some frequencies, using some PL codes, they either failed to properly encode or decode using the same PL on the same frequency. You could try communicating simplex using certain tones and, depending on individual radios, the PL would not open on one or more of the radios in use when in literal line-of-sight with each other. I believe I experienced this with 250.3 and/ or 254.1. Frequencies and encode/decode tones were checked, double checked, and re-checked. The problem persisted. I have had this or similar issues with KG935G (which sounds to be about a KHz or more off-frequency transmitted and received), KG935G+, KG1000G+, and KGS88G radios, owned by myself and/or friends. For those of you who have never encountered these problems, I am sincerely glad for you. Maybe I received radios from lots from the days the people in the Chinese labor camps were not fed or watered well, or maybe not beaten severely enough, to produce the quality of product you guys enjoy. Just because your radios have worked well does not mean that others have not experienced problems as I describe. Some people have bought Dodge automobiles for decades and never had a problem. Others never had a Dodge that was anything but trouble. Ditto Fords, Chevys, and other brands. Me, I had three Hyundais in a row, starting in 2000, when the company began trying to pull its name out of the mud. I loved each one of them. They were very durable and reliable for me. Today, it would appear they are letting their quality slide back into the mud so I would be hesitant to buy another, but during the years I had three outstanding Hyundais, I had friends who had lots of trouble with theirs. Because my luck had been good, I did not dis-believe their tales of misfortune and trouble. I was just grateful that mine worked and served me well. My friends vowed never to buy another and I respected their choices. For those who have not had the PL issue with their Wouxuns, fantastic! I hope your good fortune continues. As for myself, having bought around $3K in KG series radios and accessories for myself and friends over the last few years, I likely won't be buying any in the near future. At least not until BTWR/ Wouxun acknowledges a problem with "some" of these radios and announces steps taken to correct them. How many of you who claim no problems use the PL encode and especially the decoder? How often do you use your Wouxuns? Daily, weekly, monthly, a couple of times a year? I use mine almost daily and frequently use PL even on simplex. OffRoaderX, with the literal dozens of different brands and models of GMRS radios you have at your disposal, how often do YOU use your KG-series radios? Doing a short video and playing with it two or three times before/after the video may not be enough to notice this problem. Ditto the many who comment on here about never turning on the decoders.

Hi OffRoaderX! Sorry I am slow getting back to you. I have a lot of things on my plate the next few days and will try and get back to you early next week with more detailed info. The short answer is Yes, I have had actual issues with these radios as I have noted before, either with my tone not opening the CTCSS decoder on another radio, or another radio or repeater, including Motorola repeaters, not opening my decoder. I appreciate your gallant need to challenge me anytime I mention this problem. No doubt, your valued sponsor appreciates your efforts to de-bunk me so that they can continue marketing what is a good platform overall, but with a seriously annoying flaw regarding their encoder/decoder algorithm for CTCSS. I'll try and get back with more in a few days.