SteveShannon

I haven’t seen any reports on this forum. I think you’ll have to try it and let us know what you think. Keep in mind that most GMRS antennas are vertically polarized. 

Agree!  I can count on half of one hand the number of times I've used the repeaters in my area.  I got into GMRS in 2017 (cue the "I've been a H.A.M. for (years") and at the time was not active as an Amateur Operator, although licensed. I got it for using in Northern MN where, at the time, there was zero cell phone coverage. Used to talk from Cabin to boat and back, to talk mobile to cabin and around the resort area.  Current usage is that, as well as on off road trips, solo or group, around the house (beats yelling) and with a small group of friends in the neighborhood to chat on occasion on simplex. On the amateur side of radio, got back into that in 2020 and about 99% of activity there is on HF, and most of that on digital modes. Talk all day at work on two-ways, so like to chat via keyboards to those random strangers Randy warned us all about!
If you're getting into GMRS as a "gateway" or "Ham Lite", it's not really where it's at.  OTOH, not my place to tell people what to do, so those that do, it's their choice.

I guess I think the premise of this thread is wrong. It’s not up to me or anyone else here to say whether someone else is using GMRS “as intended”, as long as the regulations are followed.  And it’s not up to me to enforce the regulations  I’ll gladly help somebody understand the regulations (as much as I can) but I don’t get to reinterpret them to fit my ideas of how GMRS is intended to be used.
If you want to have a conversation on the repeater with someone you’ve never met who announces they’re “monitoring”, it’s not my place to pass judgement. If you want to run your family ranch, good for you!  If you use it while you’re out boating or hiking, do it.
I think there are way too many people who want to decide what’s right for others to do  
 

10/4, I think I will...lol

Like some of you I usually quote a post or a portion of a post so the context of my comment is clear. 
On occasion I have written a comment, thought better about it and backspaced to the beginning of my comment to start again. Sometimes I backspaced one too many characters and I end up inside of the quote block. If you add your comment there it’s not easy to know what you quoted and what you commented; both appear within the quote block. 
At first I couldn’t figure out how to get out of it. It’s not always possible to click below it. 
But then I discovered that if I just go to the very end of any text or spaces in the quote block and hit a couple of returns, the forum software would move my cursor out of the quote block and underneath it, right where I wanted. 
You probably already knew this, but just in case you didn’t, I thought I’d mention it. 

On my favorite repeater, it's mostly nets and people chatting while stuck in traffic or the like. Of course, there could be people using ham for simplex while talking to family, traveling in a convoy, etc. and I just don't hear it. There are literally thousands of available frequencies in amateur radio and people doing that probably aren't on a "high traffic" frequency. The ability to use a frequency that nobody else is on is the main advantage over GMRS for those purposes. The big disadvantage, of course, is that all participants have to have an amateur radio license, so unless they're doing something ham-related, it doesn't seem like that would happen a lot. I used GMRS a lot in Alaska, but I've hardly even keyed up since I moved to Oklahoma. There are two good repeaters in Anchorage and two in Palmer, and people used them a lot to communicate highway conditions, much like CB is used elsewhere. It's possible there was a lot of CB action for the same reason, but I didn't have a CB, so I don't know.

I rarely use GMRS simply because I rarely have any occasion to do so. I don't have any family in the immediate area, I don't participate in an off-roading group, and when I travel, it's usually just me. If I were traveling in a convoy with family, I'd give them radios, but it hasn't come up. I do use ham repeaters when I travel just to alleviate the boredom. There's usually someone willing to have a chat with a stranger passing through.

I guess I think the premise of this thread is wrong. It’s not up to me or anyone else here to say whether someone else is using GMRS “as intended”, as long as the regulations are followed.  And it’s not up to me to enforce the regulations  I’ll gladly help somebody understand the regulations (as much as I can) but I don’t get to reinterpret them to fit my ideas of how GMRS is intended to be used.
If you want to have a conversation on the repeater with someone you’ve never met who announces they’re “monitoring”, it’s not my place to pass judgement. If you want to run your family ranch, good for you!  If you use it while you’re out boating or hiking, do it.
I think there are way too many people who want to decide what’s right for others to do  
 

When I travel, I monitor all 15 GMRS 462 (main and interstitial) channels. I do not monitor the 467 channels. Also, I program all the repeaters channels as presets for the areas I intend to travel through for the just in case. I've had a GMRS license since the mid 90s and as of this date, I have only on a couple of occasions had the just in case situations to report a serious traffic collision when there was no cellular telephone coverage.
I have never heard any trucker traffic, or at least I couldn't identify any trucker traffic because no one was talking about their Jake Brakes or putting out smokey reports or asking if the coup is open. I have never had engaged in any exchange of radio traffic anyone while traveling. Most of the simplex traffic appears to be FRS for a very brief period of time as you are within range. In the larger population centers there appears to be a lot of traffic on the various repeaters for the area.
Essentially, most of my radio communication use is when traveling or wheeling with groups and it is usually on GMRS simplex. If it is my private travel group, we will communicate on either VHF or UHF Business Radio Service freqs.

I totally agree with this comment you have 8 Channels and most of them is very quiet there are times people drives through and uses it to communicate with other groups that there with that's what these frequencies are for communications!!! I monitor 700 (CH 21) and I hear traffic 

I have been using a HT with a mag mount, but a base it the next purchase. I have been using the painter pole with a mag mount at home, works well. I am hitting a repeater about 40 miles away on 5 watts, as well as another one about 10 miles away. For those that use batteries, are there any issues? I am thinking of going that way so I can take it out back with me a little easier. Otherwise has anyone used a cigarette lighter style dc converter like this?
https://www.amazon.com/Converter-Cigarette-Refrigerator-AUCARAUTO-C15/dp/B0C4KJYMSZ/ref=sr_1_17_sspa?crid=3CPS5ZWOZGQ8E&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.fXIC-VleCgLkcho3QA14OILDONN7ZuJJP8xBERoIU6A7wagqv4XY7yEGA3fpTOwK1tJenJ2OJYwCIr-Mx0OkGAvUsUN7bokOaH3jXbQn8kUSOAk12Ul1gEwilWGYClo4pg762PJW94nE-LyVecwLNfduBxeE37-3ISuN5AoTbyv4ITK69QvHSD83bYvsomWmSDmFQDpV-D4hdL15tyle1K7LLGFl1QS892RllXp34go.hosoaLxkAr1uOUoiDsFGs4r1V5wZ2fBR6_bp3u0Ep9I&dib_tag=se&keywords=12v%2Blighter%2Badapter&qid=1739245365&sprefix=12v%2Blighter%2Caps%2C168&sr=8-17-spons&sp_csd=d2lkZ2V0TmFtZT1zcF9tdGY&th=1
Sorry if your not supposed to put links, just using it as an example.
Here is my current house setup, pizza pan and all.😂
 

I think you will be happy with the TH-7800. I've only had mine since October 2023 but both have worked just fine.

Welcome!

Many of the radios advertise an 'optimistic' power output, but 20 Watts does seem low.   Yes, the cable would attenuate the signal, so if you were measuring the power with the meter at the far end (antenna end) of the cable, then 20 Watts may actually be what is getting to the antenna, but if you are measuring the rig's power output with the meter right after the rig's antenna connector, especially with a 1.1 SWR, then that is less than half the advertised output, and I would question the seller, although it is now about 2 months old.

Channel 20 (462.675) may be a repeater output channel for one of your local repeaters, so if you hear them on 20 and try to talk to them, you're only transmitting simplex and not transmitting on the true duplex repeater input (467.675).
IOW, they may be on a duplex repeater channel ("RPT20" on many radios) and you're only working the output frequency. I'd suggest looking up the GMRS repeaters near you on those frequencies and trying to reach them there. You will probably need to program in a CTCSS to open the squelch on the repeater.
Good luck and welcome aboard!

It must be a turkey cooking reference: full of stuffing. 

Using GMRS is infinitely better than not. Nothing is gained by having silent channels. 
If you have long conversations, pause every so often to allow someone else to use the frequency or repeater. 
Help someone else get started with GMRS.  
 

Wart & Admiral, good data points.  My right side was defective out of the box, 2025 new radio purchase.  And it had the defective left side relay, also out of the box.  It seems they didn't fully address these problems with the currently new radios.  Evidently, it's luck of the draw with these radios.  
Based on multiple recommendations here in this thread (thanks gentlemen), I ordered a TH-7800 from R&L today, not wanting to take any more chances.  Still have the other new 9800 on its way that I bought before I discovered the first one was faulty, so I'll have both the 7800 and the 9800 here by the end of the week operating side by side.  Wish me luck, seems I'm going to need it.

Well yes and no.  I use it to keep in contact with my wife.  Sometimes I'll give a HT to one of my adult children when we are traveling in separate cars or getting stuff at a big box store when we'll be at opposite ends.
And I'll chat with friends that are definitely not family on the local repeater just for the conversation and to find out how everyone is doing in general or their jobs.

Congrats on being part of GMRS.  With that said, the radios themselves can be frustrating at first to set up correctly.  There are some great YouTube videos that explain this very well, check out (NotaRubicon) as well as some as well as others on youtube.  if you feel like you have the frequencies and tones set up correctly drive to the repeater and key up, if you get a static back, your hitting the repeater.  Chirp software is a great tool that makes setting things up easy if your radio is compatible.  Good luck and most on here are a wealth of knowledge that are willing to help.

I have had 2 or 3 50V2 radios and none of them output more than 32W (iirc) .. When I called BTech about it I was told the low power reading was because I was measuring the power with the antenna connected instead of with a dummy load.. So I purchased a dummy load and the power output reading was the exact same... When I measure my KG1000G radio(s), they all read 48-51Watts..
This is one of the reasons the BTech's are inexpensive- because they lie.
 

This!!!
I’m always surprised by how many people spend many minutes and sometimes hours researching and asking others questions that could be answered in less than a minute by trying.

I’m sorry that happened to your wife. It shouldn’t have. Not on GMRS and not on any of the ham bands. 
As long as people are not intentionally violating regulations in a way that interferes with others, we should be welcoming and supportive. 

I don’t think I cast doubt on your experiences. I just disagree with your opinion. 

It's illogical to say that you doubt what I'm telling you my experiences are. I'm pretty sure that we do not live in the same places. Do you suppose it's possible that what you experience in your location could vary from what I experience in my location? It is in fact what is prevalent here. And it isn't just that it's inappropriate to ask about equipment, It's inappropriate to make the unwelcome contact to begin with. When someone hears chatter on the GMRS, maybe listen to it. If it sounds like a couple of people just exchanging mundane information between eachother, use your non-autistic brain to recognize that it's not a CQ call...
This only sounds alarming and insulting if you frame all-things-radio with a Ham radio mind. And therein lies the issue.. Hi, not ham radio...