SteveShannon

I have several of the RT Systems programmers. Two of them, the ones for DMR radios, can corrupt channel memory, which I submitted to RTS as a bug. Instead of saying “Thanks, we need to fix this” they said (paraphrasing in my own snide way) “yeah, that’s really risky to try and use the features we provided.” So I no longer try to move channels up or down in the channel list or zones in the zone list, but I really do like the DMR calculator that builds multiple channels at a time by conflating talk groups with frequencies.

And here I thought i was being helpful. Silly me.

Welcome!

Menu + 9 enables or disables voice. Page 25 of the factory manual.

I think he’s saying to install the firmware for the UV-13 Pro into the GM-15 Pro, and then you would be able to load configuration files created with the UV-13 Pro.

Welcome @WSEY982!

The closest thing to a "procedure" would be for you to call them up and talk to them. Unfortunately, there are no frequency coordinators in GMRS like there are in ham radio.

I agree that’s based on location. In my area we don’t even have a GMRS repeater yet. There are ham repeaters in almost every town bigger than 10,000 people. Looking at repeaterbook there are 160 amateur repeaters in Montana and only 8 GMRS repeaters. MyGMRS lists 10 repeaters for Montana, but that’s still 16 times as many amateur repeaters. I realize wrkc935 was comparing traffic, rather than numbers of repeaters, but without repeaters, there is no traffic.

Do you have any handheld radios? If so it probably has the ability to send 2-tone.

After drinking some of his dad’s hooch

Be very careful. Your 4x4 post and antenna are within very easy striking distance of your electrical service entrance. 230 volts can definitely kill you. It looks like the translucent white zip tie is what keeps it from tipping. Those zip ties are subject to rapid weakening due to UV rays. Make sure you use something that's UV resistant or better yet a stainless steel cable and move the post far enough away from the service entrance that it cannot strike the overhead service wires. Why do you want a repeater? It looks like you have what you need (other than my nit-picking above) right now.

I’ve reported this to Rich. He’s the only one who can answer.

I have two of them. I bought a used AA-600 from one of the local repeater owners because it was a good deal even though I already have the Stick Pro. The AA-600 has a larger screen. The Stick Pro is small and convenient in a go bag. Plus the Stick Pro has Bluetooth and I can see it with my phone. I helped a friend put up an antenna and I attached the Stick Pro right to the antenna and we would tune the antenna then put it up in the air and I could see what the SWR was in the air. If I could only have one I’d keep the Stick Pro. It’s the black thing right at the bottom of the antenna in the picture:

Or just because the sarcasm wasn’t sarcasm at all.

There’s no reason to believe that your NanoVNA is less accurate than a RigExpert. I have both. The RigExpert is more convenient, but not necessarily more accurate. In fact because you calibrate your VNA against the standards each time you may even be seeing more accuracy from the NanoVNA.

If the VNA is accurately calibrated it will probably be more accurate than an SWR meter. Unless you are using something like a Bird meter with the right size slug, the directional RF coupler in most consumer SWR meters are non-linear in detecting the very wide range of RF power that’s transmitted forward and being reflected at low SWR. The good news is that it really doesn’t matter much at such low SWR values.

I have done tests with people listening to me while I change from narrow to wide and back to narrow. The difference was just not very noticeable.

What channel are you on?

That’s what I remember too.

Over the years I’ve argued against people who condemn “cheap Chinese radios” for GMRS, but one thing I cannot argue against is the fact that documentation is better for higher quality radios. Of course that can be taken to an absurd degree also; my Yaesu FT5dr has a general operations manual, a manual for APRS, and advanced manual, a manual for the software used to program it and one more for use on C4FM. My Alinco is better. It just has two manuals. It’s a variant on an Anytone radio also. With that in mind, maybe this will help. It’s the manual for the Alinco DR-638 which is their version of the Anytone 5888. http://www.radiomanual.info/schemi/Vari/Alinco_DR-638H_user.pdf Many (nearly all in my experience, from Baofeng to Yaesu) radios should be able to send a 5-tone signal. For the 5888 to decode them you want both menu 9, 5 tone additional signaling, and menu 11, CTCSS Decode, to be set. Be careful with your experimentation. Stun and kill mean different things for different radios. See this thread:

What do you mean by “a simple power adapter?” If you’re talking about a wall wart, probably not. As @wayoverthere said you need to understand the current requirements and the voltage needed. Most mobile radios prefer 13.8 volts of clean DC. Wall warts are not always designed to provide clean DC. Also, a 25 watt radio, again as @wayoverthere said, probably needs 5 amps of DC current at 13.8v. A bad power supply can be a source of problems.

Many of the repeaters are not mapped accurately. Drive around and see if you can find it or write to the owner at the address for their call sign. Or see if you can find a website for the repeater.

And Archer and Archer Space Patrol Realistic tended to be their better brand. They had handheld ham radios that were built for them by other companies. I bought a pair of these after I was grown up and newly married, although this picture is from a radio museum website. Apparently I was a latent ham even then!

I agree; it sounds like you have a radio problem, not RFI or antenna.

An aluminum hood is fine. I think maybe wrxp381 thought that your antenna mount doesn’t couple to the hood somehow. without knowing more about the mount you’re using I can’t tell, but most do. Keep in mind that the position of the antenna on a ground plane affects the propagation of the signal.