WROQ359

I don't believe the 905G will do the announce for the channels, my Baofeng will but the Wouxun doesn't. There is a voice option #11 I believe that will give you voice prompts for the menu items but it doesn't do so for the channels. Also no support for the 905G from RT Systems, the 935G yes but not the 905G.

I think your home would more likely be burglarized due to mail/newspapers piling up in an obvious area, trashcans unattended, or lack of vehicles/activity seen at the home more so than someone hearing your call sign and doing the research to figure out where you live and making arrangements to steal your belongings. Just because you and your wife are away from home doesn't mean that there isn't someone else living there that would be home at the time of your absence.

You can also buy an inexpensive laptop to program the radio. The Wouxun software is fairly simple to use and can easily run on a laptop running Windows 10 maybe even earlier versions. I've seen older laptops with Windows 10 already loaded for less than $100 and if you're getting into the radio hobby, having a capable way of programming the radios other than by hand is very practical and a worthy investment.

I just moved to central Louisiana a couple of months ago. Now that I am here I am the only licensed GMRS user in our small town and the neighboring towns only have about a handful of users. I am really looking forward to putting up an external antenna which will increase range and going to get my ham license so that may generate more activity. It is quite a change how quiet it is here compared to the city I moved from.

Just sad to see such a great resource go to waste, but maybe its time for the repeater owners to implement stronger protocols for repeater usage to keep the knuckle draggers off the air.

Yeah I heard the dumb@$$ on Shaw Butte as well. Wouldn't be surprised to see Shaw Butte and Towers 600 going the same way that Towers 575 went because of the socially defunct moron. On a side note I saw there is a new 575 repeater on Signal Peak heading out toward Globe.

What part of Louisiana are you in? I am planning on relocating out there and looks like a good bit of GMRS activity in the southern part of the state.

Use repeater section of the site to locate repeaters near you. Keep in mind you will likely find more repeaters that you can hear than you will be able to make contact with. Also check and see if there are any clubs in your area. Most importantly just have a good time and try not to let the knuckleheads ruin it for you.

Yep we get the same BS here.... A bunch of HAM guys get on the GMRS channels just so they can talk about HAM radio. I don't get it either, there are A LOT more ham repeaters in the area than GMRS and A LOT more HAM repeaters on different bands that are active. Now why in the world they would want to use GMRS when they can use one of the available digital modes or even the analog modes available on the HAM repeaters completely escapes me, but im not a HAM and haven't been for X number of years so maybe I just don't understand it. And here to we get the HAM jargon on the GMRS channels too, QS-whatever, 73's, and other nonsense. With all of that I do feel that everyone that has a GMRS license is equally entitled to use of the GMRS repeaters even the HAM's, but they are two different services and which is why there are separate licenses and call signs.

The GM-15 Pro is the same radio as the Radioddity GM-30 and uses the same software (free to download). As far as communicating with other radios do not rely on Ch #..... rely on the frequency. Some of the bubble pack radios have different frequencies for each channel and while you think you are communicating on the right frequency you are on two different frequencies. If you are trying to communicate through a repeater make sure you have the correct tones (ctcss or dpl) best to contact the repeater owner directly if possible and not count on info posted online as it can be out of date.

A lot of the schools here in Arizona have subscribed to one of the several DMR systems in the area, good coverage and quality radios. This allows them to have on campus radios as well as for the bus operations. If your school doesn't have the ability to do something like that, I know a lot of schools have funding issues, why not try Zello? Just about all of your staff members likely have a cell phone, and as long as there is good cell coverage at the school the using Zello would be free. You can setup as many channels as you need and no worry about anyone listening in or having access to the system that isn't authorized.

Why is there a problem with the 905G software? I will admit it is not as feature rich as say the RT Systems software (which doesn't support the 905G) but it works. At least Wouxun has software for this radio, I bought a Baofeng GM15 Pro and they specifically tell you to download the Radioddity GM30 software......

Have you tried the Towers Mtn 575 ? Towers Mtn is up in Crown King but has a very large coverage area, Shaw Butte 725 also has fairly good coverage in the valley but can be hit or miss depending on your location. Both free to use. I am in Apache Junction.

I have the 905G, 16 banks with 16 channels each all can be setup with custom channels.

When I started looking into getting a GMRS license I too learned that your address that you have to provide to the FCC is online for anyone to find. I don't necessarily think I am some sort of "wacko" maybe a little crazy but still didn't really want that information available to the general public. I rented a PO Box before I applied and listed the box # as my address. One cool feature the post office has started doing is allowing you to use the physical address of the post office and your box # as the "suite" so you can now receive packages not only from the USPS but UPS, Fedex, and others as well. I have all of my online purchases sent to the PO Box so I don't have to worry about my packages being taken before I arrive home. The PO Box is less than $100 a year and serves two purposes, works well for me.