WRQC527

Can you post a screen shot from Chirp of your settings?

Anyone with $35 for a license and maybe $150 for a good handheld (or halfway-decent mobile radio and antenna) gets all the functionality of analog amateur radio UHF equipment (radios, repeaters, etc) without the drama of testing. It stands to reason that GMRS is growing fast. Hard licensing numbers are tough to come by, but it does appear that GMRS is getting more popular, especially after the FCC cut the price of admission in half.

See folks? We didn't need 4 days, 83 replies, and bunches of hostility to communicate that, the mostest simplestest of answers.

So... 4 days and 83 replies later, are Midland radios good?

I build all my antennas for HF and VHF. Pretty darn good ones actually.

True. I use my HTs when I'm hiking, usually attached to the front of the shoulder strap on my backpack, with a speaker microphone. I suspect that the speaker mic cord "sort of" acts as a counterpoise, but when I set my HT on my desk with a speaker mic attached, the reception actually gets worse. Antenna theory is voodoo science if you ask me.

Consider this, if you will. HTs have been around for quite a while. I have both a Yaesu 2-meter handheld and a handheld Icom airband transceiver from the mid-1980s, and I have a variety of much newer HTs. In all that time, I have never seen a factory-supplied counterpoise, or a factory-designed way to install one. The manufacturers of HTs, who have all manner of RF and electronics experts designing these radios, have not seen fit to either provide or even recommend counterpoises. Because they've designed these radios to operate adequately in the hand of an operator, or with an external antenna.

Believe it or not, there are people here who will tell you that you can use cable TV coax for GMRS. I've never tried it, and I'm not so sure about 30-year-old coax, but hey, what's the worst that coud happen?

To be honest, I posted the image under "general discussion" because it wasn't specifically GMRS-related, but it had, among other things, radio content. I knew it would wander all over the forum map.

Could be his wife, now that she's seen what buying radios does to the bank account.

Nice. I was able to do the same thing in my Sienna with my FTM-7250 with the useless cubby.

You don't need your own linked repeater, all you need is permission to use an existing linked repeater. That is, unless you have money to burn and you want your own repeater. I used Zello once, mostly because I don't want to use it twice. Not a fan. Linked GMRS repeaters are a hot-button issue across the GMRS universe. Some people like them, some don't, some say they're allowed, some say they're not, some people who had them disconnected them to avoid potential trouble with the FCC (should the FCC ever crack down, which is unlikely). It depends on what you think GMRS is for and how you interpret Part 95 rules. Endless arguments are raging to this day. I would say that if you're this interested in linked repeaters, get your amateur radio technician license and play with linked repeaters to your heart's content. Amateurs have it figured out. I have some pretty strong opinions about linked GMRS repeaters.

Don't worry, Ray. This is just some local yokel playing dress-up. He just got back from the Army-Navy store.

Probably because after blowing all their $$$ on guns, ammo, and preserved food, they only have $20 left for a radio.

Maybe you will too, maybe not. I was casually researching how many guns were sold by state, and this image of a fully-equipped member of the Delaware Militia, including a Baofeng with a high-capacity antenna, showed up under their statistics.

I'm going to throw out some ideas, but by no means are these anything scientific, and they may be obvious. Channels shouldn't nave an impact. It's about frequency. First, is your UV-5R "unlocked"? I know you said you can transmit on GMRS simplex, but check it anyway. Second, did your copy and paste carry over with the repeater offsets? Check that. Third, did your copy and paste carry over CTCSS tones? Check that. You may need to manually enter each channel rather than pasting from the GM-5RH. Also check the transmit frequency ranges on your radio. Mayhaps they are not set correctly. If you can insert a screen shot of your UV-5R settings, maybe we can take a look. These are all things to check. I'm sure others will pontificate further with additional ideas.

Maybe this is interesting, maybe not, but I did find a reference to the Polmar DB-50 from 2013. So many of these radios are rebadged, slightly redesigned, "re-frequencied", if you will, re-certified for different services, marketed for export-only, that it's hard to keep track. https://hamgear.wordpress.com/2013/10/11/incoming-polmar-db-50/

This. They're all over Ebay and Amazon. SMA Female to SO-239 adapter. Also, you don't need anyone's approval to test your HT.

A few suggestions: Put down your radio, take a deep breath. Stop calling it a BigWang. It's a Baofeng. Don't let the radio win. You're in charge here. They're not obstacles, they're steps. Take them in order, be patient. While you're waiting for your license to be recognized by MyGMRS, read online tutorials and watch videos specific to programming your radio. I find that watching someone else do something helps me learn. You'll get this. We all did. And most of us are more than willing to help where we can.

We care enough to point out your misunderstandings. This all could have been avoided if you would have read the OP's original post, where he specifically said he had a UV-5R GMRS radio. A simple internet search would have revealed to you that there is indeed such a thing. Instead, you went straight for the throat and assumed the guy is a criminal.

The volume of what I studied to pass my tests and get my amateur radio license, be it online, printed, and from in-person talks with "Elmers", is more than I could ever type here.

Unless you have some weird ASSociation with X-ray vision to see through walls, your problem would be the antenna, not the repeater. The repeater itself is inside, out of sight. The idea with repeaters is to get the antenna up high enough to make it "visible", if you will, to other radios. Most ASSociations with antenna restrictions would have a meltdown if you put the antenna where it can be seen, especially if it was high enough to make it effective as a repeater antenna. Being that there is already a repeater near you, yes, it might be redundant, but that has never stopped anyone from setting up a GMRS repeater. They're not coordinated like amateur radio repeaters are, so you just need to be careful that yours isn't interfering with an existing repeater.

There are buttloads of videos and tutorials about how to set up that radio. My recommendation would be to search them out, because you would be able to watch and follow along with someone as they program the radio. I find that easier than reading someone's "rewrite" of the manual. As far as nets, there are some GMRS nets, but they'll probably be on repeaters, and hosted by clubs. Not sure what you mean by "meshes", other than "mesh networks" that require special equipment, which are far beyond the scope of GMRS. Like you said, GMRS isn't normally where everyone hangs out and talks to each other, although it does happen. That's a ham radio thing. GMRS is more geared toward groups of like-minded folks out for a hike, an off-road excursion, keeping track of each other when camping, car and motorhome caravans, hunting, that kind of thing. Although there is no limit to what you can use them for if you need a communication tool. Formal nets happen at specific times on both ham and GMRS repeaters. But there is no official time. The ham net I host is at 7 PM on Tuesdays. But different repeaters have nets at all different times. One ham repeater here in Southern California has what they call the "Net at 9", which occurs at both 9 AM and 9 PM every day. Another GMRS repeater here has one on Monday nights at 7 pm.