WROA675

Success!!!…Well, sort of.
Both programming apps are now functioning perfectly although I feel like I bypassed defeat buy installing Windows 10 on what was my Linux box in my garage. I first installed the Baofeng software and the UV-9g connected and I was able to download the configuration. Great!
Now, the Radioddity software was another story. I consulted Radioddity Support and they said to run the program as an Administrator. No Luck. I kept getting the same Missing File or Dependency errors. The files in question are:
MSCOMCTL.ocx
MSCOMM32.ocx
MSFLXGRD.ocx
These files are ActiveX files and the same ones my Windows installation through Parallels on my Mac were showing as missing. I downloaded the files, dropped them in the Windows\syswow64 directory and then registered them. The files came up one by one each time I tried to install the Radioddity SW. I would get so far through the install and it would error for a different missing file. With the Parallels install, after I added these files, the SW still wouldn’t let me download the radio’s config, but on the standalone Windows install, it docked and downloaded from the radio perfectly. 
So, the bottom line is, after wasting hours of MichaelLAX’s time and mine, a standalone install of Windows and some added files solved the issue.
FYI…Chirp just released a new version that now supports the Baofeng UV-9G. I updated mine and it too works great. Unfortunately, even though the Radioddity SW now works, I still can’t get Chirp to recognize the DB25-G. Now big issue though as the Radioddity SW is now functioning.
I know this is long winded, but I figured putting all of the here might help someone else with similar issues.
Thanks again to MichaelLAX and everyone else who posted with suggestions.
Scott

That metal chimney will have unintended consequences for your SWR and for where your signal will go.  I can't tell based on a photo, but raising the antennas above that chimney will eliminate any problems (in addition to adding a ground plane as kb2ztx advised).

Regarding the distance between two antennas...  it doesn't matter that you're not transmitting on both at the same time-- if they are too close, you could damage the one that is not transmitting.  Raising one higher than the other will help with this problem. 

Can you add a mast to the one that is attached to the chimney to get it above the chimney?  That and adding ground planes will help immensely.

Being neither has a true ground plane it may be worth adding a ground plane vs moving them. Maybe its just the picture but i see no ground planes on either antenna. Those are both mobile antenna's so without a ground plane are both not going to do much. 

GMRS_Repeaters.csv

The versatility of the Part 95(e) certified Radioddity DB20-G (and its clones) has been cited many times on this forum.
I posted that photo for @Greyrider's benefit:
 

Depends upon who your neighbor is... ?

I've found with radio while traveling is that you have to be in the right place at the right time. Unless someone is involved in a long ragchew as you're passing through, the radio seems to be pretty quiet. I occasionally monitor the "KERN System" and sometimes it's silent for hours at a time, yet at other times, it's quite busy. During this holiday weekend, it's been pretty quiet when I've listened to it.
I haven't looked at the numbers, but I suspect there aren't a lot of GMRS users in the Taft and Cuyama areas. My experience shows that there may be only about one GMRS licensee for every 10 or more ham licensees. Other than on my family's personal repeater, the only place I've heard traffic on a GMRS repeater is in L.A. where there are a lot of users.
I've found the same thing with CB. Unless there are a couple of people ragchewing, local traffic on the radio is basically nonexistent. About the only time I hear much of anything is when there are traffic problems on the freeway, and even then there isn't a lot of traffic.
The airwaves are a lot like our roadways. It's often nice to have the road to yourself, but it does feel lonely when you don't see any other cars around. In some ways, it's kind of nice to have the airwaves mostly to yourself, too, but only as long as you have someone else to talk to when you want to talk.
Like you, my experience is that the family's interest has mostly been passive. I think the biggest problem for me is that most of my family is spread out to where we are out of range of each other for CB, GMRS, and UHF/VHF ham bands. In order to use the radio to talk to each other, we would need to use either a linked system or HF (which would likely require they get at least a General class ham license). We would probably also have to call each other to find out when we would be on the air, so we could coordinate our contacts. This kind of defeats the whole purpose of radio, since we could just talk on the phone in that case.
It would be good to have the ability to use radio in the event of a major disaster, which where we are would most likely be a major earthquake. In such an event, I will likely scan CB and GMRS frequencies, and the local ham repeaters. If I need to reach someone by radio, most likely, it'll be on a ham repeater as that's where most of the radio traffic seems to be.

Every time I dial over to Frazer Mountain, I hear that female voice reminding me how limited the solar batteries are on the KERN System and I feel guilty and do not key up! ?
We're trying to get @Papatreeup and running on that repeater as soon as he passes his Technician test next month! ?

Wow, let's ask for help and then slander someone that is trying help... How quickly one shows their true colors when faced with a challenge. WTFAY!?!
What a piece of work, shame on you... maybe it's because either you clearly have no clue of what you're doing and have such thin skin that someone asking you to be transparent has triggered a plethora of insecurities, and/or you have some type of personality disorder.
Either way, calling someone a troll, that you don't even know, is highly disrespectful!
Since I've been a member, I've seen Michael help many people here and out in the community, especially noobies like me. His post speak for themselves (I suggest you read them and everyone else, for that matter, before passing judgement and slandering someone else's name).
Michael is eager to share his many years of experience, both as a amateur radio and gmrs operator. What have you contributed?
Michael's knowledge in things Mac, Windows, and others computer/radio related matters has been evident in his proficiency through assisting others within the radio community (again, not just me saying this, but read the many posts for yourself).
Personally, Michael has gone out of way to help me work around many radio and programming issues and I'm sure others can attest to the same thing.
So feel feel to "ignore" me as well, "mr.engineer", because I'm sure "on air" or off, you don't deserve anymore of my time or another stroke from the keys on my Dell. 

Wow, let's ask for help and then slander someone that is trying help... How quickly one shows their true colors when faced with a challenge. WTFAY!?!
What a piece of work, shame on you... maybe it's because either you clearly have no clue of what you're doing and have such thin skin that someone asking you to be transparent has triggered a plethora of insecurities, and/or you have some type of personality disorder.
Either way, calling someone a troll, that you don't even know, is highly disrespectful!
Since I've been a member, I've seen Michael help many people here and out in the community, especially noobies like me. His post speak for themselves (I suggest you read them and everyone else, for that matter, before passing judgement and slandering someone else's name).
Michael is eager to share his many years of experience, both as a amateur radio and gmrs operator. What have you contributed?
Michael's knowledge in things Mac, Windows, and others computer/radio related matters has been evident in his proficiency through assisting others within the radio community (again, not just me saying this, but read the many posts for yourself).
Personally, Michael has gone out of way to help me work around many radio and programming issues and I'm sure others can attest to the same thing.
So feel feel to "ignore" me as well, "mr.engineer", because I'm sure "on air" or off, you don't deserve anymore of my time or another stroke from the keys on my Dell. 

Thank you @mbrun  for your excellent writeup!   These two key points were settings that were unclear to me, but now make sense, and complete the picture.    Also, thanks for the walk-thru on how to demonstrate these functions.    I only have one 935, but I did try (and fail) to simulate it last weekend with another piece of equipment talking to the 935.   Based on your example, and with the understanding of the ANI#DEST, and SP-Mute, I'll try my simulation again perhaps this weekend.    
And thank you all who've contributed to this thread!
(BTW, I set my ANI as the last 3 digits of my callsign.   BOT helps force me to wait a moment before speaking, and EOT is a bit of a "signature" Roger Beep.  Currently they're set to BOTH.   Not sure if I'll continue using them as such... I guess it depends on whether folks on repeaters I use raise a big stink over it or not.)

Very good question. I am utterly amazed there has not been more talk about this topic. While I am not an expert on the subject I will share what I do know.

- There is no official need for DTMF in GMRS. It is a feature that can be used when you have a special need for it.
- DTMF codes are commonly used to remotely control repeaters and to control other electronics that might be monitoring the frequency.
- In some radio circles (outside GMRS) some repeaters and other radios might require both a tone burst to trigger a remote receiver to open up. This is a feature that equipment that long pre-dated CTCSS and DCS sometimes needed for operation. I know of no cases in GMRS where is applicable today. Perhaps someone else will have a current day example where it is being used.
- Sidetones refers to the feature of your radio that allows you, the operator, to hear the tones that your radio is sending out. This could be your radio’s ANI-ID, manual DTMF from button presses, or even select-call calling tones. The term ‘Sidetone’ comes from telephony and refers to the sound emitted from the ear piece portion of the phone. If you press a button on the phone’s keypad you will hear the tones from the ear piece. In your radio, when sidetones are not active you could very well be sending out DTMF tones and have no idea that you are. If you are using DTMF for anything, turn sidetones on so you know when and what you are sending.
- The ANI-ID on your radio is a number that you establish that identifies your radio. You have six digits available and values must be greater than 101.
- If you have ANI-ID turned on, when you press and/or release your PTT, your ANI-ID is sent out. The BOT, EOT and BOTH values you see in one of you radio’s function menus determines if your ANI-ID is sent out when you press PTT, release PTT or press and release.
- If a receiving radio has a DTMF decoder within it, your ANI-ID will appear on their display suggesting to them which radio is transmitting.
- The ‘Ring’ feature is one that, when properly enabled, allows other radios in your group to cause your radio to ring to attract your attention. For this to occur, the transmitting radio must have a valid ANI-ID value configured, the receiving radio must have an ANI-ID configured, and the transmitting radio also needs to have the receiving radio’s ANI-ID entered into the Call Group it is using. So, for example, if you have two radios, one with an ANI-ID 101 and another with an ANI-ID 102, radio 101 can cause radio 102 to ring, and radio 102 can cause radio 101 to ring. The Call Group fields are where you enter the ANI-ID of the various radios you want to be able to call/ring. Think of them like speed-dial memories. For radio 101 to call 102, radio 101 would have 102 in one of its Call Group cells.
- When you have one of your PF buttons configured to make a Call, that button causes two things to be sent out in rapid succession: your ANI-ID and the receiving radio’s ANI-ID. Using the 101 and 102 radio example above, this takes the form of ‘101#102’.
- Some wildcards are supported in Call Groups. Instead of entering ‘101’ in a Call Group, you could enter ‘1**’. The later would case all radios whose ANI-ID begins with ‘1’ to ring.
- Ringing is not enabled by default on Wouxun radios. One must expressly enable it.
- One way to enable ringing is to set the current channels SP-Mute mode to “QT*DT” or ‘QT*DTMF”. Since SP-MUTE is a channel-by-channel setting you can have some memory channels configured to ring when called and others that do not.
- ANI-ID needs to be programmed, but it does not need to be turned on to always send out to use the Select call feature.

I have found zero Wouxun documentation or videos that covers this. Admittedly I struggled for sometime trying to piece it together. Thanks to [mention=5881]IanM[/mention] who provided some enlightenment to help me bring it all into focus.

I have found some BF stuff that covers the subject a little, but terminology is slightly different.

These features have, in my view, practical use in large organized group and family outings. They have also had merit, and perhaps still do, in some LMR circles.

I recently have been configuring all my radios to have unique ANI-ID, and setting up Calling Groups.

I have yet to work to work out the specific details of the SP-Mute mode called ‘QT+DT’ or QT+DTMF. But my current understanding is that the radio will not break squelch until it hears an ANI-ID in DTMF form and then when it does there is some other unique behavior. I will soon be exploring that and documenting its behavior.

Hope this helps.


Michael
WRHS965
KE8PLM

Edit: If you to do some experimenting and to see things work with little complication do this:

1) Configure multiple Wouxun radios. Give each a unique ANI-ID starting a 101 and going up. Use 101 in your KG-935G.
2) Set each radio to GMRS channel 01 (462.5625), low power.
3) Make sure all radios are using the same CTCSS. Say 67.0 Tx and Rx.
4) Set the SP-MUTE mode for channel 01 on all radios to QT*DT.
5) On your KG-935G radio, enable sending out of the ANI-ID each time the PTT is pressed.
6) Turn all radios on.
7) Press PTT on the KG-935G and immediately press 102# and watch what happens. Then repeat using the ANI-ID for all other radios. This simulates a select call.
8) Press PTT on the KG-935G and immediately press 1** and watch what happens.
9) Press PTT on the KG-935G and immediately press *# and watch what happens.

When you have made it this far and have seen ANI-ID show up on the radio displays and you have successfully experienced ringing, then move to programming your call groups in the radios if you decide you want to use them.

You may also wish to explore the different behaviors you get if some radios are in the 100 series, some in 200 series and some in the 300 series of ANI-ID values.

BTW, Despite PTT-ID being a menu option on the 805G, the ID is never sent out of that radio, nor will the radio ever display one if it receives one.

Your future is 2 meters and 70 cms, so get the antenna optimized for Ham bands!

I appreciate the tip, good looking out.?
I'm still on the sidelines about spending another hundred bucks, at the moment, but I think your right about antennas and amazon and will order from a reputable dealer (i.e., Antenna Farm, DX, HRO) if I decide to pull the trigger on this one.✌️

Get the X50G! ?

Amazon is *not* the place to buy antennas.  ?
That looks very much like a knock-off of the Diamond X50A, which is a pretty good 2m/70cm ham antenna, and does fine on GMRS, at least for me.  If that's the way you want to go, get a real one for $6 more:
https://www.theantennafarm.com/catalog/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=191_193_257_1107_261&products_id=4869

If you like your KG-935G, I believe any twelve-year-old, slightly interested in radio, would love and not be easily bored with the KG-UV9G Pro or the KG-UV9P (Ham version). 
That said, I am available for adoption, will be taking my tech test in 3 weeks, and would love Santa to gift me the KG-UV9P. 

Update to the update:
Radioddity has sent me a RMA, so I will be returning the unit for exchange.
One one hand, I am relieved to swap it out considering the defect and on the other hand, on the fence about it because the external speaker is working fine. The decisive factor is in the notion that if the internal speaker has malfunctioned, what's next?, and I might not be able to exchange it if something else goes wrong and didn't exchange it now.
That said, my base unit will be off-the-air for a few days until I get the replacement. I will save my settings in a codeplug and reset the unit to factory mode before shipping.
Thank you all for your input regarding this issue and I hope it helps someone else in the future that may experience the same situation.
73

Yes it can. @Papatree has identified the three scan choices on the 935. These choices, and there behavior, have been the same on every Wouxun radio I have ever used. One choice ends scanning the moment it detects a signal, one choice pauses for 5 seconds when it detects a signal and then automatically resumes, one choice pauses to permit you to hear a conversion and then continues after a period of inactivity on the channel.


Michael
WRHS965
KE8PLM

I don't usually like to post videos, but this video was inspired by many comments that I have read here and in a few ham-radio forums.
 

Years ago when I was bicycling mobile on two meters with my Kenwood TH-22a strapped to my handlebars, I had a Kenwood headset under my bicycle helmet and by turning on VOX I did not have to use the push to talk button
It transmted automatically every time I spoke. 

It has a few uses, not necessarily related to GMRS. I have used it for packet stations, that way I dont have to use an expensive sound card to key the radio. It is also used at times with headsets where your hands won't be free for use, like climbing, skiing, etc...

Try using the programming software to turn it off.
 

If I'm not mistaken the speaker output on the DB-25G uses a TRRS (tip ring ring sleeve) connection, making the standard plug on most external speakers useless with this radio. If you didn't use a special breakout cable for your speaker, I actually surprised it worked at all. When I tried plugging an external speaker into a QYT KT-7900D (a very similar radio), it locked the transmitter open until I unplugged the speaker.

Update to the update:
Radioddity has sent me a RMA, so I will be returning the unit for exchange.
One one hand, I am relieved to swap it out considering the defect and on the other hand, on the fence about it because the external speaker is working fine. The decisive factor is in the notion that if the internal speaker has malfunctioned, what's next?, and I might not be able to exchange it if something else goes wrong and didn't exchange it now.
That said, my base unit will be off-the-air for a few days until I get the replacement. I will save my settings in a codeplug and reset the unit to factory mode before shipping.
Thank you all for your input regarding this issue and I hope it helps someone else in the future that may experience the same situation.
73