SteveShannon

I have a friend who had a Chevy Volt. He had really good luck with it but he needed something to pull a trailer. He ended up selling the Volt to fix up his Suburban, which seemed like it was always in the shop. Now he has an older F-150. I hope he has better luck with it.

My wife gets around with Pride Elite GoGo scooter. As far as I can tell I never see any RFI and even when my 100 watt radio is transmitting it doesn’t appear to interfere with it.

I like mine.

At $220 for the price of the KG-Q10H, you’re within $30 of arguably the most durable SHTF radio out there, the Yaesu VX-6. It’s worth knowing about anyway. https://www.hamradio.com/detail.cfm?pid=H0-007681

I have two of the RigExpert analyzers. I really like them. Easy to use with lots of features for someone who enjoys fiddling with antennas. And they are on sale right now I believe. If I was only going to check one antenna though I would just get a decent combination SWR/power meter. The NanoVNA (I’ve got one too) is an interesting tool, especially if you’re testing fittings for insertion losses, but not as nice to use as the RigExpert.

The Yaesu FT5DR receives AM and FM from 500khz to 900 MHz, is rated IPX7 (submersible), and transmits on 2m and 70cm. It might be possible to open it up for GMRS. It’s arguably the best APRS handheld currently available. It’s not cheap, but if you watch the sales you can occasionally find it for $360.

Sorry

The PDC2 was not designed for GMRS frequencies. The specs say 24-30 MHz. You’ll need a different SWR meter.

That’s interesting and unexpected.

The Wouxun KG-uv980 is also a quadband radio that might target the same audience. I wonder how it is.

Although your power supply might be rated to provide up to 30 amps, it had better not be using that much. When transmitting at a full 50 watts you should see somewhere around 12 amps max. When in standby it should only read an amp or so. I would hook up a separate voltmeter and watch what happens to the voltage measured right at the power input on the back panel of the radio. If it sags under 12 volts you have a problem with your power. If it’s not in warranty then I would look for poor connections to the power supply. I had a radio that was constantly resetting and I eventually discovered that there was a bad connection on the power cable. I would agree that it sounds like there’s an internal problem of some kind. I don’t know if you could load the 50v2 firmware. I agree with @WRXB215 that BTech should just replace it.

Welcome, Rox!

It’s a good racket selling radios that don’t work completely correctly with the expectation that your customers will fix them.

What do you do if you get caught in a hail storm?

Welcome and happy new year!

There is a different thread where that’s the case:

A lot can change in two plus years.

How dare you quote me and then sort of agree with me in principle.

If you’re trying to stay legal in both countries and have NOAA channels, the only way to do it is to buy an FRS radio that is certified by FCC and IC. This looks promising: https://www.amazon.com/Motorola-Solutions-T475-Extreme-Rechargeable/dp/B08KBP1RH7/ref=sr_1_17_sspa?crid=3TBAZQH0VFFXA&keywords=frs%2Bradio&qid=1704558129&sprefix=FRS%2B%2Caps%2C1536&sr=8-17-spons&sp_csd=d2lkZ2V0TmFtZT1zcF9tdGY&th=1

This person is having an issue registering for this site, not an FCC licensing issue. I’ll report it to Rich.

Call signs are not recycled in GMRS. Could you have the wrong call sign? 4 letters followed by 3 numbers.

Consider the KG-805. It’s a relatively simple to use GMRS radio. However, Canada doesn’t permit 5 watt radios on GMRS frequencies. You’ll need to do some research to see if you can even use these radios in Canada. Their GMRS is more like our FRS.

Are there any digital voice protocols that don’t require a proprietary codec at least? (If I’m saying that right…)

Although his quote lacks context it’s obvious (at least to me) that he was agreeing with you.

Welcome! I have and like Yaesu, but Yaesu doesn’t make a radio certified for GMRS. They make great ham radios though. People will say that certification isn’t important, and as you progress you might even decide that it isn’t, but for someone trying to get started it sure makes it easier to use the radio without having to worry about violating a regulation. Others will tell you that it doesn’t matter if you violate the regulations because the FCC doesn’t enforce them anyway. Statistically there is some validity, but I still like to know where I stand with respect to regulations. Wouxun is arguably one of the best GMRS radios made and certified for that purpose. The people who have one like the KG1000G Mobile Radio. It’s a 50 watt radio. As far as I know all mobile GMRS radios have a UHF connector for an external antenna. They have to. Several of us have purchased the Radioddity db20g, which is a tiny 20 watt GMRS mobile radio. It’s small and easy to use, plugging into the cigarette lighter. Like the Wouxun it needs an external antenna. It’s about $100, unless you wait for a sale. I bought two of them directly from Radioddity for $87 each. It’s sold under a couple other names as well. Firmware might vary based on brand. These forums have lots of discussions about what radio is best. There will never be universal agreement.