JimSmitty

Absolutely bang on! This is a prime example of the differences between a "ham listener" and an "active ham..."
Over the years I've heard hams whine that "the bands are dead," yet when I ask them how much time they invest in calling CQ they nearly always answer "What's the point? I never hear anyone talking. The bands are dead!!!"
<Sigh>

Like any of the bad guys care.
JG

As the title states, the new version on Chirp now supports the Baofeng UV9-G. I installed it and it seems to work great.

The DB-25 is on sale as well, $96.
https://smile.amazon.com/Radioddity-Repeater-Scanning-Receiver-Overlanding/dp/B09C7JBBVY?ref_=ast_sto_dp

If you have prime it should be 20% off of that and show $87.99.  That's what it is showing me now.  

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

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.
 

RT97 “Duty Cycle”
 
I had a replacement RT97 come in today as a replacement for one that failed. The prior failed as it would not longer talk to a computer for programming. The TX/RX worked fine. I decided to test this new units “duty cycle” and heat displacement abilities.
 
The first thing I did was open it up and see what it has internally to bridge the transmitter to the aluminum outer housing. The bottom of the RX/TX unit has large fins cast into its aluminum body. It appears to be bedded in thermal paste to make a conductive path the aluminum outer housing.
 
I took a food thermometer and put it into the thermal paste. The unit was at 70 degrees.
 
The “Test”:
 
Stage One: I had it transmitting on high power. The transmission was broken up into three 1 minute sections with 10 seconds between each followed by a whole 2 minutes of TX. The transmitter rose from 70 degrees to 82 degrees. Hardly warm to the touch. (12 degree rise for 5 min Total TX w/ 40 seconds rest)  
Stage Two: I gave it about 2 minutes of rest and hit it with two more sessions of 2 minutes transmissions, separated by 20 seconds. It had fallen to just below 80 prior to and rose to 89 after.(9 degree rise for 4 min Total TX, w/ 2 min 20 seconds rest)  
Stage Three: I finally let it sit for 1 minute and did five more sessions of 2 minutes transmissions, separated by 20 seconds. The temp started at 88 and rose to 102 (14 degree rise for 10 Min Total TX w/ 2 min 20 seconds rest)  
End total of 19 min of TX w/ 3 min 20 seconds of rest. The temp rose from 70 degrees to 102 degrees.
 
What I find interesting is that after the radio “warmed up” it took significantly more time to heat up further. I expected the 10 min spent TX'ing in Stage 3 to raise it more than it did. At the end after only about 60 seconds of rest it already had dropped to 94 degrees from a high of 102. I did not repeat this test on low power but I can only assume it would take longer to heat up.
 
Being as my use with these repeaters are outdoors here in Alaska it doesn’t appear that heat will be an issue for me. During the winter our avg daily temp is around 20 degrees and we only get to an avg daily temp of 60-65 in the summer. This leaves a lot of head room. The cooler ambient temperatures should further increase the rate of heat dissipation as my home was 70 degrees to start with. Anyone see any flaws with my logic?

I just wanted to put this out there. I have had at least one RT97 working here in Alaska for about a year and half now. It's outdoors and exposed to the weather on a 2000 foot ridge line. (think -30 degrees F lows during cold snaps and high winds in the 50-70mph range during wind storms). I am sure some of you have seen the posts.

I had one "break" on me. It still worked fine as far as RX and TX but one day I couldn't get it to communicate with a computer for updated programming anymore. I sent Retevis a message, they attempted to work through the issue with me for a few emails and then requested I send it back. Yes, their english was not exactly 'correct' but it was fluent enough for easy communication.

Yes I paid my own shipping to get it back to China, which cost me 70 bucks, but it got there. They had it for about a month and just sent me another one back. All in all they stood by their product. They don't just ghost you after purchase.
 

I always ask "How much radio do you need?"
But I also have an unhealthy obsession with "vehicular repeaters" and wireless speaker-mics.  So take this with a grain of salt.
But sometimes you really don't need much radio -- range or power -- to achieve your goals.  We should really be encouraging small garage repeaters on Open Repeater Initiative configurations; there's a lot of coverage holes, and this would help with that.

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.

I believe some antennas have a DC connection from the radiating element to the shield. Grounding the shield bleeds off static electricity buildup and generates less noise in the signal while protecting the sensitive front end components from failure. You can get huge static voltage build ups even on sunny days just due to a small breeze blowing across the antenna.
I read a story about one Ham who got knocked off his roof after touching his un-grounded antenna, no feed line attached, due to the static voltage on it.
I also know people who will disconnect the coax from all their radios, sticking the ends in glass jars, when thunder storms are moving in to the area.

I respectfully beg to differ, but it doesn't take a $500 radio to incorporate the points I've presented.  Good documentation...$20 radio should have it, $500 radio should have it.  And most of the other points do not involve expensive changes nor hardware changes.  Most of these are cases of making simple, good decisions when programming the radio anyway.  So why not do things such as not imposing an arbitrary limit regarding how many of the abundantly provided memories one can program with multiple occurrences of repeater freqs/tones?  The manufacturers of the cheap line of GMRS radios have already demonstrated a willingness to adopt such changes.
  -- mrgmrs

mbrun, I agree with you regarding BuyTwoWayRadio's positive role in advancing and improving GMRS.
Another person who has done so is Randy from youtube channel NotaRubicon.  It's obvious that GMRS manufacturers are aware of him and that he is an influencer.  For example, when he mentioned nine or so issues with a recently introduced GMRS radio, the manufacturer responded and fixed the bulk of the issues with a firmware update immediately.
Another good contribution is mygmrs.com.  Its forum appears to be the main GMRS watering hole.  The repeater database is also appreciated.
Thanks for mentioning you were glad to see this thread started.  I appreciate your and everyone's comments.

Alright.  Since I am the guy with the tens of thousands of dollars setup and the commercial install I believe I need to interject here.  Never did I say that a small repeater system is useless.  And there are COMMERCIAL repeaters available that ARE indeed two mobiles in a box with a controller between them.  And those work find if that is all you need. 
My point was if you are going to put up a big commercial grade install that you need to NOT pull the crap of wanting fee's paid for access, as this level of install has a huge footprint that will interfere with other repeaters on the same frequency in that footprint.  And the frequency resource is limited for repeaters.  I am all for guys that want to put up a repeater on their roof or short TV tower and be able to talk 8 or 10 miles.  This sort of thing SHOULD be encouraged.  But you still need to be aware of others on the frequency and try to find a quiet pair to set your repeater up on.   
The other thing that needs to be said here is IF you are going to stick an antenna WAY up in the air and cover a 60 to 80 mile radius, you DO need to have good commercial equipment and not two portables with a back to back cable between them and a cheap duplexer.  And here's the reason.  If you are the only one that will be using it, and the usage is light, it don't matter.  But with a big coverage footprint there is a good chance that it will see a lot of use and portable radios are NOT designed to be run at that duty cycle.  The commercial repeaters I use for GMRS are 100% CCS (continuous commercial service) rated.  This means they are designed to be transmitting up to 100% of the time, 27/7/365 and live.  If you were to try that with the two back to back mobiles the transmitter would not survive the abuse, even with a fan and additional cooling.   Now, my repeaters are only logging 30 to 45 minutes of use a day currently... but that number keeps increasing.  And that's fine.  I built it to run all the time, and offer it for free to all licensed users in the coverage area to use at their leisure.  But I would hate to see someone put in inferior gear at some remote site and it die when it was needed.  That situation is actually worse in my mind than it not being there at all.  Because if it's needed and expected to be operational.  And that operational repeater is part of someones emergency plan, then it needs to work as such. 
 
 

Good Day Jim. Welcome to the forum.


Michael
WRHS965
KE8PLM

CHIRP doesn't work for this radio anyway, sadly. 
The radioddity software is buggy, strange things happen sometimes when writing to the radio. 

What does “duty cycle” mean?
 
I bring up duty cycle every time I hear somebody talking about making a repeater out of cheap Chinese mobiles and worse any type of handhelds. Duty cycle is the maximum time an amplifier may transmit within a five minute interval, expressed as a percentage, to avoid overheating. Suppose a mobile amplifier is rated at 30% duty cycle. This means that it may transmit for no longer than 1.5 minutes and must remain off for not less than 3.5 minutes. Some people forget that a repeater is transmitting for 2 or more people, duty cycle will be reached quickly if you get into conversation. More people in the conversation just amplifies the issue.
 
Once a radio reaches it's thermal design limits it will no longer be able to adequately cool the output transistors. Even if a radio is not hot to the touch the transistors are, in part because of the inefficient transfer of heat to the units housing or internal heat sink. The longer you exceed the duty cycle the more heat builds on the transistors, surrounding electronics and heat sink effecting it's ability to remain on frequency without spurious emissions. Exceed duty cycle long enough and you will need a new transmitter or radio.
 
I have tested a few Baofang and TYT radios on my service monitor without great results. All of the radios started deviating outside of the allotted channel bandwidth after simulated conversation at 50% duty cycle, the longer I allowed this the worse if got. Testing was done using an Aeroflex 2975 IFR recently back from the calibration lab. 
 
GMRS is a tiny sliver of spectrum surrounded by the commercial land mobile part 90 service. It is important that any repeaters that are built or re-purposed are held to the highest standards and operated as to not cause any interference inside or outside of our allocated spectrum. I wont get into the part 90/95 debate but i do stand firm that non certified import equipment has no place on GMRS. 

Though I've mentioned this as a side item in various posts, I wanted to take the time to create a specific post to spotlight my favorite youtube channel for GMRS info, including equipment.
I'm speaking of NotaRubicon Productions.
The owner of that channel is a down to earth guy by the name of Randy.  His channel has good things going for it:
  + Good Production.  Good lighting.  Good mics.  A sense of humor.  A born-to-do-this delivery ability.  Aspiring YT channel stars, take note.
  + Good Information.  The good production attributes mentioned above can help bring people into a channel and make them want to return.  But that is not enough.  There has to be relevant information delivered to the point.  Randy does this.
It's obvious that manufacturers are aware of him and the fact that he is an influencer.  When Randy gives a thumbs up for a radio model, buyers snap them up.  When he mentions problems with newly introduced radios, manufacturer's fix them fast.
I have no connection with Randy or his YT channel.  Just wanted to share a good GMRS youtube channel for those interested.