WRQC527

I don't know what you have in your HT collection, but every one of mine is limited to five watts.

If you get an HT, you're always limited to 5 watts. That may be good for walking around as long as you have reasonable line of sight to a repeater. You can even set it up mobile with a magnetic mount antenna. But if you're going to be out driving around much, in and out of handheld range, marginal line of sight, etc, you'll eventually wish you also had those extra watts. Also remember that once you permanently install a mobile, it's stuck with that vehicle. So you could make a mobile more versatile by making it moveable from one car to another. Like in a go-box or something. You may find you need both HTs and a mobile to fill your needs. Another solution is a mobile amplifier you can install in a vehicle so you can connect your handheld. But those cost as much as a mobile radio.

I've never used CB SSB but it's characteristics are similar to 10 meters. I and many others here are licensed for amateur radio and do HF. In my opinion it's not great for emergencies, because it's tricky to communicate locally. CW is no longer required for licensing, so to me it's more of a novelty and Ive never learned it. There's a large spectrum of amateur HF equipment ranging from the hundreds to well into the thousands of dollars. Like they say, ham is an acronym for "had alotta money".

Good to know. Can't assume these days.

Could be a she, we don't know that either.

That's the one.

One resource you might want to try is repeater-builder.com. I've used them as a source of information for maintaining my Motorola Quantar repeaters, which are obviously not the same, but there is other information on the site that is related to connecting radios for use as repeaters.

I like the FAQ idea. Also I like the idea that many other forums have of locking threads so they don't get revived months or years later.

I'm thinking that since this topic comes up so often by new GMRS licensees, an email should go out to every new registered user of this site explaining the distinction(s) between FRS/GMRS and amateur radio. Just a thought.

It goes by many terms. Unlocking, jailbreaking, etc. Generally it's a "do at your own risk" proposition. There's lots of how-to videos, including some made by regular contributors to these forums.

The current Icom IC-V86 2 meter handheld still sports a BNC antenna connector.

Did someone say that?

This subject has literally been beaten to death on this site and many others. But since you asked, I'll compare my favorite two HTs, my Baofeng UV5R and my Yaesu FT-70, both of which will do GMRS if the situation allows it. Cost. $20 vs $170. Baofeng wins. Printing rubbing off the keys in 6 months. Yaesu wins. Keypad programming. Yaesu wins. CHIRP programming. Baofeng wins. Receiver sensitivity. Yaesu wins. Battery life. Baofeng wins. Durability. Yaesu wins. Transmit audio. Tie. Receive audio. Tie. Flashlight. Baofeng wins. User manual. Yaesu wins. Worrying if it falls in a lake. Baofeng wins. I'm sure there's more, but you get the picture. I think the Yaesu is the better radio, but the Yaesu is certainly not 9 times better than the Yaeasu, and the Baofeng is not 9 times worse than the Yaesu. Or however that math works. I hope I answered your question without violating your rather numerous demands.

"It just so happens that your radio here is only mostly dead." With apologies to Miracle Max.

Which is one reason I haven't had a daily driver built in the 21st century. The other reason being that I spend all my money on radios.

I'd be more curious about if it actually works in the first place. Although I would hesitate sacrifice my extensive collection of three Baofeng HTs and two cheap Chinese mobiles to find out.

From my research, a radio can be revived in similar fashion. It's also questionable whether the feature actually works or if it's a carryover of a feature of commercial radios that isn't actually enabled. I've never heard of anyone who has killed a radio or anyone whose radio has been killed. One of my Chinese radios calls it a "remote death function". Personally I wouldn't worry about it.

Some radios can be remotely shut down (stunned or killed) by sending a signal to them from another radio. I'm sure others here will pontificate in much greater detail.

CHIRP works on Linux also. Quite well, in fact. My understanding is that it was developed for Linux, but I wouldn't swear to it. I had it on a Raspberry Pi that I used as a desktop until the Pi died.

You can get into 10 meters for around $200-$300 using something like an Anytone AT-6666. It's a mobile 10-meter radio that can be used as a base station with a power supply. There are pantloads of videos on this radio and others like it. 10 meters is getting very active now. I've made a lot of 10 meter contacts in recent months. In fact, my longest contacts with Australia, Europe and Japan have been on 10 meters. A technician level license gives you access to a portion of 10 meters. I have a Yaesu FT-891, and I normally don't run it at more than about 40 watts, with a very basic antenna. There is also a large selection of multi-band low-power radios that are sometimes hit-and-miss in the quality department, such as the (tr)uSDX and its Chinese knock-offs that are sub-$200. There are some handhelds like my Yaesu VX-7R that support 6 meters but it's normally FM and isn't going to transmit far. There used to be handheld 10 meter radios like the Magnum 10/12, but you can only find them used at this point. Some people were able to reach a few hundred miles on them, but only if the conditions were right. Have fun, get the Technician license.

You seem angry.

I'm not going to write you an essay here about repeater frequencies and tones, because you are going to get a lot of those. One thing that may help though is to know what kind of radio you are using.

I've always said I want to die peacefully in my sleep like ol' grandpa did. Not screaming in terror like the rest of the people in the car with him.

I've used both CHIRP and manufacturers software for various radios, and I much prefer CHIRP. Some people like RT Systems, but it's pricey and radio-specific. Ive never used it. Because I’m cheap. One thing I did find is that even though my Yaesu FT70 is supported by CHIRP, only analog is supported. Not digital. The folks at CHIRP do a fine job.

Set a roger beep on your radio. That's a sure-fire way to get a response. Perhaps not a favorable one, but maybe a response nevertheless.