SteveShannon

That has been mentioned more than a few times on myGMRS , but the regulations don’t say the same thing. The difference is why lawyers and judges are well paid.

Welcome!

It’s molded into the cover. The top jack is for the headphone. The bottom is for the microphone. Both are necessary for programming unless you’re using Bluetooth.

I wish I could get my wife to buy stuff for herself. She and I talk about purchases, but I would never expect to control her purchases unless I was concerned about her cognitive functioning (not even on the radar!) and I think she feels the same way about my purchases. She might ask me what I bought if my monthly credit card bill is higher than usual, but it’s curiosity rather than control, but i usually will say something like “I’m ordering a new gun” or radio or computer. After 45 years we know how to communicate well. But, neither of us have ever had “my money” or “her money”. It has always been “our money”, so it’s only considerate for either of us to discuss large expenditures with each other. One of the first signs of drifting apart is when couples begin separating their money. We were adamant that wouldn’t happen to us.

Do you have another radio in the cab that you’re listening to when you transmit?

Yes, you misunderstood. The vertical width is a total of 7°. According to the documentation the default tilt is 0°, or horizontal. If you want it to have a down tilt you would have to contact the manufacturer and ask them to adjust the phasing harness (I assume they do).

People sometimes get hung up on height. We have 60 miles and several mountain passes between Butte and Helena Montana. It’s extremely difficult to get higher than the mountains to get line of sight. Yet we have a guy who checks into our 2 meter Net from Helena. We asked how. He does it by bouncing his signal off a mountain that’s in his sight line. I don’t know if something like that could be done in your instance, but look for high topographical features and see what happens.

I absolutely agree with you but as I’m sure you realize, tones do not reduce clutter. They simply mask it. If a channel is busy it’s entirely possible that an emergency call will never be heard. This is part of the fallacy of relying on GMRS for an emergency wherever it’s in heavy use. With that said, having a two way radio of any kind and knowing how to use it is infinitely better than having no way to communicate.

Did you do a search first? There are several threads which mention the TK-890H. One mentioned that they burn out quickly. Another mentioned that because it’s a 100 watt radio it would be a poor choice for GMRS. The people here with the most Kenwood experience and who post prolifically are @Lscott and @tweiss3. Maybe they have some insight. And here’s the results of a search: https://forums.mygmrs.com/search/?&q=TK-890&quick=1&search_and_or=or&sortby=relevancy

Given that it’s more than three years ago, you would probably have to check Craig’s List as mentioned in the original post.

@wqnd300 and @WRXP381 You both are being obnoxious jerks. @Lscott has just as much right to be here and talking about what digital might bring to GMRS as either of you. He brings much more intelligent discussions and less judgmental rhetoric than you also. If you don’t agree with him, that’s no problem. He and I have disagreed about digital modes also, but it’s easy enough to disagree without becoming disagreeable.

85.4 hz isn’t CTCSS #307 on any radio. 307 was simply picked to denote channel 3, tone 07.

Some radios have deeper squelch settings that can only be configured with the CPS which allow you to control how the squelch works when you adjust it on the fly.

Yes, you can safely, generally adapt a handheld radio to an external antenna that’s matched for the correct impedance. Use the appropriate type of cable for the frequency you’re using and keep the cable length short to avoid losses. Using an external antenna that’s meant for a different frequency than the radio may easily be less effective than the rubber duck antenna that came with the radio.

Repeaterbook has its strengths, but if you’re looking for GMRS repeaters this site is the more complete database. Click on Repeaters (like @amaff points out), and then click on where it says “near me” assuming your device knows your location.

It also depends on how much moisture is in the tree. It’s not the wood as much as the water.

It can be done. I haven’t done it but about a year ago someone asked about it and I googled it.

Given that the process the FCC uses to change rules hasn’t begun yet, there’s no chance before the end of the year.

This cannot be stressed enough. People routinely talk to the space station using 5 watt radios and it’s more than 200 miles away, but there’s nothing in the way.

-0.3 db means 6.67% of the signal is attenuated. 93.333% gets through.

Probably not. I wouldn’t change it out.

I would put an analyzer on the input of the duplexer, a dummy load on the output, and look at the response as frequency rises. Sweep it from 462 to 470 MHz.

I don’t know. What I do know is that there are two important standards for reception: sensitivity, which is the ability to hear a weak signal and selectivity,which is the ability to pick one signal out of several, to reject adjacent signals. The manufacturer’s typically will publish both specifications but I haven’t seen a table comparing the various handheld radios. You might find that most of the better radios hear about the same. For selectivity and clarity of output (a factor of audio amplifier quality and speaker quality), I suspect that many of the folks who have worked with commercial radios will tell you that commercial radios have superior selectivity and audio clarity, and I wouldn’t be surprised if they’re right. Some of those radios cost in the thousands when new and presumably the difference in cost meant something. They were designed to discern signals reliably and reproduce loud and clear audio in the worst conditions. But I’m one of the few people here who hasn’t got an old Motorola or Kenwood commercial handheld radio. Personally I’m very happy with the performance of my Yaesu handheld radios. Even my $100 Yaesu Ft-65 sounds really good when paired with the external factory microphone/speaker. I will say that the antenna is frequently the most important element in sensitivity, so be prepared to hear some opinions on what’s best there. Also, you neglected to specify which bands you want to hear “the best, furthest, and clear”. Good luck! I’ll be watching to see what I can learn.

Yes, but attaching a name is just a convenience for you, not a requirement. Your family is only required to say “wrvd881” and many people don’t even do that. So you can call someone by saying “ Suzy, this is dad.” as long as you use wrvd881 at the end of the conversation (not every sentence) and once every 15 minutes.

@Davichko5650 is correct. For repeaters you transmit in 467 MHz and receive at 462 MHz range, but as long as you’re using a GMRS certified radio that’s automatically taken care of. The repeater channels are channels 23-30 or sometimes they’re labeled Rp15-RP22. Radios tuned to those channels actually receive on the same 462 MHz frequencies as 15-22, but automatically transmit 5.000 MHz higher.