SteveShannon

It’s either a typo or not GMRS. There are no 466 MHz frequencies in GMRS.

Look to see what voltage is required by the battery charger cradle and pick any solar panel that provides that voltage. All of my chargers are 12 volt, so any solar panel that has a 12 volt dc output would work.

No, the rules are based on the type of “station” you’re using. If you’re using a GMRS radio you follow GMRS rules. If you’re using an FRS radio you follow FRS rules. FRS and GMRS share the same frequencies. There’s no such thing as a “license free” channel if you’re using a GMRS radio. A person transmitting on an FRS radio to a person on a GMRS radio doesn’t have to identify. The person with the GMRS radio does.

Your radio encodes its transmissions which then go to the input to the repeater. Your radio decodes the signals it receives from the output of the repeater.

From the regulations: (b) Revoked or withdrawn certification. In the event that the FCC revokes or withdraws a grant of equipment certification for a type of Personal Radio Service transmitter, existing transmitters already in service may continue to be operated unless and until the FCC determines otherwise and gives Public Notice of that decision.

I don’t think you have turned on us, but you have gotten to the point where you have expressed a disregard for the regulations and it’s clear you don’t understand (or even want to understand) why they exist. There are four sets of frequencies in GMRS. The requirements for bandwidth and RF power (and how measured) vary considerably with some of the frequencies (interstitial) wedged tightly in between others from other sets. You claim the right to transmit on these frequencies with whatever radio you want to use, but you don’t know what you don’t know. So, that’s kind of off-putting to people who are trying to help you learn.

You must use the repeater input tone as your TX tone. Otherwise the repeater will disregard your transmission. You may use the output tone as your RX tone. If you do, your radio will disregard (refuse to reproduce) any transmissions that do not include the same tone. But you don’t have to. If you leave the RX tone out your radio will reproduce all of the signals it hears on 462.675 MHz. The same frequencies are used to receive both simplex and repeater signals.

If you turn on the RX tone you’ll only hear transmissions that include the same tone, but they could be either simplex or from the repeater.

It is asymmetric. Read the regulations. Although the regulations prohibit certifying a radio for GMRS that can be easily converted to a ham radio, they do not prohibit a ham from building or converting an existing radio to be used for amateur radio activities They do however explicitly prohibit using non-certified radios for 95E. Many ham radios are not certified and certainly not for 95e. There is an argument to make for using part 90 certified radios for GMRS. TL; DR: You can use a certified radio on a service that doesn’t require type certification, but the rules prohibit using a non-certified radio on a service which requires type certification.

It sounds like you’re using one of the simplex channels (15-22). Instead, use 23-30 (might be named RP15-RP22 on some radios). They receive on the same frequencies but transmit with the 5 MHz offset.

Then you should stick to FRS or MURS. I doubt that the FCC would consider self-consciousness as an excuse for violating their rules. If anything they would think your rationale sounded stupid.

Well, technically those are limited to people who participate in MARS or members of the Civil Air Patrol, not so we can use an uncertified ham radio on GMRS , which requires 95E certified radios.

I wonder if that's because you used a cable based on the FTDI chipset instead of the Silicon chipset that the YPS was written to use. In any case, the explanations in the manual for the YPS might help you to understand what you're seeing in Chirp. If there's a way to inhibit transmission on specific channels after you deliberately open up the frequencies, I don't know what it is. I haven't looked for it either. Presumably some of the bands are receive only.

Also, here's a link to the Advanced Manual: https://www.yaesu.com/downloadFile.cfm?FileID=13235&FileCatID=151&FileName=FT-65R_E_Advance_Manual_ENG_1710-C.pdf&FileContentType=application%2Fpdf

In the Yaesu programming software (YPS for my convenience), those channels shown in red on the Chirp Next screen are on different memory tabs. At the bottom of the screen in the YPS you see six tabs: YPS refers to the content of VFO-A and VFO-B as "the default frequencies" for those VFOs. Note that only VFO-B contains an FM radio default. The channels listed in PMS are the upper and lower limits for each band on the radio. A band edge alert can be programmed for when you cross either edge. The P tab shows the four frequencies that are programmed to the four P buttons (P1 - P4) I'll upload the manual for the YPS. It was in the zip file that you downloaded from Yaesu. FT-65R_E FT-25R_E Memory_Programmer_IM_ENG_1711-A.pdf

In the Yaesu software, that column is named "Offset Direction" and has three selections: Plus, Minus, and Simplex.

No, tones don’t prevent interference. Tones are part of the received signal. A directional antenna might make it possible for you to selectively use one or the other repeater.

Off in the duplex column simply means that it doesn’t apply an offset between receive and transmit, which is required for duplex. Those channels in red might (I’m guessing) be the priority channels for scanning. You might want to download and study the advanced manual for the ft-65 before you brick it, given your track record.

And something to consider is that commercial lighting arresters do a good job of limiting static buildup on an antenna.

When swr goes erratic like that it could be a damaged connector, water absorption at the end of a cable or at a damaged spot, poor electrical connections on the antenna components or several other things.

No, unfortunately that’s not the case.

We all have opinions. For your first radio I would recommend a radio that makes it very easy (as intuitive as possible) to program tones. That’s where I see new users get confused. Second, @marcspaz has a video on this site that’s a great introduction to GMRS. Watch it. Third, I would recommend watching Notarubicon videos about GMRS basics. They really are good tutorials.

If you want to save money, get the Yaesu cable and use the Yaesu free software (or even Chirp next). That’s what I do, but I find myself switching over to RT Systems software (and cables if needed) for my favorite radios because of the ability to download repeaters from numerous sources and simply a better interface. I have given up on Chirp next following very dire warnings from Norton 360. The warnings no longer are implicit. They have changed to “you’re trying to access a site that has definitely been identified as unsafe” or similar words.

Probably not. UHF is limited to line of sight and that doesn’t change with power. However, if you’re separated from your target radio by materials that attenuate the signal, having more power can make a difference.

Yeah, not many truly good guys.