PACNWComms

Great advice given above. The XPR6xxx series radios are great for GMRS use. I use one myself, although mine requires a hex edit due to the frequency it came with to allow this. Mine is the low UHF1 split, and to get to the 462/467 MHz, you have to get more creative with software hex editing of the CPS. Getting frustrated on continually wanting to change things, and that hex edit mess.....I ended up getting a XPR7550e recently which covers the entire 403-512 MHz band. Stick with that XPR6350 though, great radios, and glad to see someone keep them from the landfill. My XPR6550 is now about twelve years old, and was re-cased a few years ago, as I used it in the oil industry (2010 Deepwater Horizon response), which destroys everything.

All the old tricks are new again, just for GMRS at this point. As gortex said, this is common for radio networks when they are first starting out. Similar equipment at each site, and you end up saving on hardware and maintenance since everything is similar hardware wise. Great way to build out a radio network without getting too complicated, and easier for the hosts of the network to maintain and administer. The Motorola GR1225 is a repeater, and 10 watts is not going to strain the hardware. I still have one myself and tend to use it for extending the range of radios when camping (when I am not hiking everything into the camp), more like "car camping".....the one thing to check on the repeaters is the heat conductive paste, that tends to dry out and then you have hardware problems. Keep the fan clean and give that repeater stable power and good coax/antenna and they should serve you well. Good luck on your installation.....post some pictures when you can too. Last thing to add, is a link to the tropospheric ducting thread, as you may have this happen. with three repeaters, that could get very interesting for the times it does happen,if they are on the same frequency, even with different tones in use.

I think I could still write a book on this subject. Or those that do this with every radio or related device they get their hands on. I still recall co-workers that tweaked "golden screwdriver" style their Maxtracs for as much power output as possible, then it was the Spectra's then Waris CDM series, and on and on, while they burned up radios. Some service shops have done this to create more paying work from their customers, though they will never admit to doing so. Most recently, I had this happen on the repair of several MTR2000 repeaters with failed power supplies. Repair/replace the power supply and find out they had tweaked output wattage to try to get max ouput power, which then bore down the power supply, shortening its life. Excellent point there.

Yes, this speaker being behind the keypad, and then the use of Motorola Trbo Ion series accessories is my issue. Ion series Trbo equipment is more expensive than the legacy XPR7xxx/e series accessories, and most of the company has been using XPR7k series radios for a few years now, with stock on hand accessory wise. My employer also has APX900 and APX4000, essentially similar radios to one another except the APX4000 has dual microphones for the noise cancelling and as you mentioned, it is noticeable in high noise environments. Forklift drivers end up getting APX4000's as a result, with custodial personnel getting APX900's as they are not working during business hours and it is a much quieter environment. It will be interesting to see how much the audio difference really is, transmit and receive. If anyone finds video at some point, please post here and any other radio related site, it will be watched for sure.

Received the Motorola Whitepaper for the new R7 Trbo series radio that is supposed to replace the XPR7550e, which has an expected end of production date for mid or late 2023. The paper really pushed the better receive audio and noise canceling transmit in high noise environments. However, until I find video of this audio side by side with a XPR7550e, it is just subjective rhetoric. Motorola R7 Whitepaper.pdf

In my area Community Emergency Response Teams host a GMRs repeater, to be used by families in the area, that have been instructed in using FRS/GMRS or post-2017 GMRS only radios, on their own licenses. CERT made it clear though that users were to use their own call sign and unit number if applicable. This also infers no group or club license option. It was also noticed at my State's Emergency Management Department radio rooms that there was a Bridgecom GMRS repeater, supporting Auxiliary Communications Service.....however, I am not aware of how they operate license wise.

I have this problem with both fire and private security personnel, people that carry a radio as part of their job everyday as well. Yesterday, I had to have a firefighter show an office worker how to find the serial number on her APX8000 Motorola radio. I was attempting to confirm the serial number to a radio ID. This was commercial and very expensive radio, and this type of situation still takes place. But, you are ahead of many that do not even place a label on the radio or attempt to instruct end users.

When mobile, I do both......my daily driver has a Radioddity DB20-G VHF/UHF mobile, and a Cobra 75 WX ST AM CB radio. Both have their place, but in my part of the country, it is GMRS that seems to be used a lot more now. On a road trip to Montana I only had one driver talk back via AM CB, while I had several respond on GMRS. It varies due to a lot of issues. I sometimes wonder how often people on these forums answer back someone on the radio in real life.

Yes, that is the one I use for XPR7xxx series Trbo handhelds. Good luck gman1971, I would only be able to do the manual/calibration, not Autotest, test on those Vertex mobiles.

I could do that if you want to ship to the west coast. That is if they are equivalent to XPR-4xxx/5xxx/e mobiles. I have TDMA Trbo Autotune. Might be a bit pricey on shipping though right now. My newest Vertex are a handful of VX-3200's analog only, back when Motorola first bought the company. My 3920 does seem to clean up some of the Sunny Comm XPR4550's people buy in this area. (I like the XPR4550 over the XPR5550e as people get into the menu and mess things up on the XPR5550e. Great radio, but too easy for end users to change settings and then get lost in the menu tree.)

I remember those days as well. Now it is "1 watt, 1 mile" for the more honest. I still get a kick out of the blister pack FRS radios that claim up to 28/30/32/46/50 miles, when that is under very ideal conditions at best, top of mountain to base of mountain.

Yes, the XiR8668 is a XPR7550, just the model number sold outside of the United States and Canada. It would look the same. In this brochure for Belize and the XiR8668, it shows them with a silver band on the antenna.....those bands come in many colors and are sold as an accessory for marking radios as part of a specific teams or frequency band. An expensive rubber band essentially. The new R7 radio is going to retain the same model number worldwide (R7), and then will need to be regionalized, by connecting it to Motorola Solutions Inc. servers. This will set the region, by loading the appropriate language options. I could take my XPR7550e from the United States to an office in Zhoushan, China and it will work with corporate XiR8668's, mine would just show English language text. (I administer the radio network in Zhoushan as well for my employer.) Chinese language does take a lot of memory in the XPR7550/e/XiR8668 radio though. xir_p8600_bro_ar3-04-001_0412.pdf

I recall many years ago seeing an episode of "Cops" in Russia (for the young ones, predecessor to "Live PD") where the Russian police bragged about having authentic Motorola radio's and HK MP5 submachine guns. Certain things lead to the look of credibility.....like many small businesses buying Cisco lab kits and phones, to look like they have an entire IT department. Motorola, Cisco Systems, and other companies add credibility to an environment by being leaders in their field. I used to, and sometimes still do, provide network and radio services to local businesses, and they want the look of a larger company by having certain products and infrastructure, even if it cuts into their profit margin for a long time. That is interesting though, I wonder if it was a Motorola XiR series radios, the equivalent of the Motorola XPR series in North America. The recent release of the R7 radio is touted as being regionalized by connecting it to Motorola servers, instead of having model specific numbering based on sales region. (XPR7550 in united States is the XiR8668 in China for example.)

+10 on this. Don't make it complicated. There was a previous thread on this a month ago. In my part of the Pacific Northwest, many people agreed on using FRS channel 1, no Tones. That still works often and well. And great advice on leaving something in the vehicle or trailer that mentions the radio information being used. Near Mount Baker, Washington there was an incident about a decade ago where a hiker was using Morse Code, and the Auxiliary Communications Service had decided they did not need a CW key for HF, as most people were new "hams" and passed the No Code test. I walk into the room and heard this, then I told them to switch to "CW" and PTT as if it were Morse Code.....you could hear a pin drop. Keep everything life safety related stupid simple, it may save your life.

There is a thread going on about this right now.

I recall many of these types of incidents in the past. It was great when radio networks became "smarter" (and re-banding helped) as radios would then only affiliate with sites in their own network (SystemID). As you also mentioned, now it is hard even getting a UHF frequency pair assignment. Trying to get a pair for a dense RF environment right now. On the Tropospheric ducting aspect, I also worked tropo communications terminals in the military, with many experiments in prediction ducting, then came a company that bounced radio traffic off of meteorites. Lots of fun but esoteric types of propagation techniques. Washington State ferries to my north even had a statewide location reporting system based on the meteor bounce company, and two generations of that system were put into use. I am not sure if that is still used now, but it was an interesting technology to hear about, detecting a meteorite and using its ionized trail to bounce radio signals off the tail. Seemed to work for burst transmissions.

I recall when the first lawsuit came out, and former co-workers of mine had just bought Hytera radios to save some money, based on the fact that they worked perfectly with the then newly produced Motorola XPR6550 radios. However, I asked if they had tested them with something "smarter" than an old HP8920 RF Communications Test Set. They brought one to my office and we tested side by side Motorola versus Hytera, and there was a reason they were cheaper.....they looked similar, functioned similar, but to worse specifications. But, they were cheaper they said. Intellectual property theft should have consequences, but China only bears part of the fault. Schaumburg is a shadow of what it once was, producing very few Motorola radios in 2022. Outsourcing to Malaysia and Mexico has hurt Motorola in ways they have yet to understand. Thank you for sharing the news OP, this is something I have been tracking since it began a decade ago, and it is still interesting.

I have never used the UHF PCTEL antennas, but have used many of the 800 MHz, whips and "thimble" or Laird Phantom looking style of PCTEL antennas. The whip versions work well until our drivers smack something, then the base portion and the upper part just spin freely, the electrical connection is them broke. However, this is usually forklift drivers going into conex boxes, so we have had to instruct them to move the antennas to a horizontal orientation when they go into conex containers. The thimble version also help with this, at the sacrifice of some signal. Good antennas for their price point. If OP gets one that is less than 16 inches long, that should work.

You are correct on the unit itself not being locked, as that would display "Password" on the LCD if it was locked. However, it could be receiving on frequency and channel, with Busy Channel Lockout enabled. If you open squelch, can you hear radio traffic? I'll attach the user manual, maybe you will find something I have missed. That is an older Kenwood, but a great series when they are working correctly. Used often to build repeaters, and for out of band use. (Just stay away from TK-941's if you get into 900 MHz amateur use.) users-manual-125612TK760.pdf

Looks good. For the oil industry and many coastal stations, I have made similar setups. Except Sirio antennas were not available as easily in the West Coast of the United States, the local Marine VHF antenna of choice is made by Morad. UHF was then used for a command and control element, and Commscope antennas (DB-404-B), I still call these "paperclip" antennas from my radio youth, have worked very well for a very long time. Great combination there, and you show a very similar antenna stack. Just be sure to use low loss coax and weather sealant tape on the connections and you should get many years of VHF and UHF comms use out of that antenna system. Show pictures once you get it installed, may help show others here, and I am always curious to see myself.

I myself tend to start with handheld radios at first, because they are portable, and easy to have with you while traveling. Coupled with information from a site like this one, you program the handheld radio with local repeaters, chat with locals, and learn more in time. The issue with handhelds is that they are lower power, often have lower capabilities from mobiles, and for GMRS, may lack a removable antenna. However, if that travel is in a car, as BoxCar mentioned, you will lose a lot of signal in and out (transmit and receive) with a handheld in a metal car. Adding a better antenna to the outside of the car helps, but the higher power of a mobile radio will help even more for getting out. For listening, that better antenna mounted to the outside of the vehicle may be all that is needed. Either way, it is good to research repeaters and listen for frequencies actually in use in areas you travel. For a first GMRS radio, you may not even want anything that is programmable. Many of us, myself included started with "blister pack" radios that were sold in two packs, TalkAbout series, and others by Cobra, and Uniden. These are great for finding out what is local to you, but remember, trying to monitor while driving is going to cut your signal down inside a metal car. I then migrated to the Garmin Rino series of FRS/GMRS radios with GPs receiver. I still use these today, even though they are not programmable. What they are loaded with is what you get. Which includes 1/2 watt output on FRS channels, and 2 watts max on GMRS channels. In 2017, the regulation for FRS/GMRS changed and so did power output allowed, and capabilities and requirements for FRS and GMRS radios. My initial recommendation, until you decide to buy a mobile, would be to try a handheld in a car, with the window down, or sunroof it it has one. Then search around here in the forums for "rat tail" or counterpoise, that may help your transmit and receive signal with a handheld radio. That is the cheapest and easiest option at first. Find out if you enjoy talking with others, and can pick up other users as you travel. If you do, then a mobile might be a good idea, and external antenna on the car. You have lots of options and will get a lot of advice on here. What I now end up with is something like the picture below, but Motorola gear is costlier, and requires programming software and cables, you may never even want to get to that point. In my case, I have been in professional radio for a long time, and accrued a lot of gear over time, setting some up for GMRS use as I travel or commute. Good luck on deciding what to get.

I posted a similar combination, that I sometimes use on my vehicles. The antenna itself is a Laird QW450 NMO mount UHF, and is six inches long. The NMO magnet mount I use with it is the GB8UM mount that comes with a mini-UHF connector. Pictures are in the gallery under my screen name, if the attachment does not work. The mini-UHF connector fits Motorola UHF radio / mobile radios, but maybe not what you are using. Verify before buying of course. But, the 6 inch UHF antenna gets out very well for its size, and should on your vehicle as well, if you place it in the middle of the roof like your current antenna. It also looks like your current base is NMO, so it may screw right on. I go with Laird as I have used them for years and their build quality is great, but there are other 1/4 wave antennas that may work as well. You should not have too much trouble finding a UHF GMRS appropriate quarter wave that will be less than that sixteen inch length.

That is a 160 Ch Analog model. Same as what I use. Then it is just having CPs and the programming cable and time to program as needed. Great radios for GMRS. AAM25RKF9DP6AN

While I use Motorola CDM1550LS+ radios for GMRS, I know a few people that bought versions that were only 16 channel analog, so great advice here. Had I not owned them already (CDM1550LS+) I would have used CDM-1250's instead. They can be had for about $150 or so from SunnyComm, great vendor I have used a lot, and others online.

My original link was to get you started, seeing what it takes to get a safe mast that can be 60 (or more) feet high. Rohn makes many different sizes of towers. However, that height does require more than what you could probably get at Home Depot, or expect from chain link fence poles. However, it is your money, house, property, etc. Advice is advice, you can take it or leave it. https://www.cableandwireshop.com/rohn-45gsr-tower-4-foot-short-base-section-r-45gsrsb.html Poke around the website, or others, but Rohn is a very respected company in the industry of radio antenna masts. 60 feet is higher than what many people need, want, can afford. Depending on location, you may need permits, lights, painting the mast, and other items as well. Also, height should include the length of the antenna you wish to put on this mast, and the base that is going to be used. Good luck with your installation, be sure to post pictures whenever you complete the project, a 60 foot tower is something that I would be interested in seeing.