dosw

Do you have a squelch tone programmed on your channel 2? Anyway, if you're using your UV5G Plus in a vehicle you probably should get an adapter and a mag mounted antenna to get the most out of the radio.

I [may have] hooked a UV5G (allegedly unlocked) to a Shakespeare 6db fiberglass Marine VHF antenna on the transom of a boat, as well as to a Tram 3db Marine VHF stainless whip at masthead, then to a Comet CA-2X4SR-NMO (VHF/UHF) at masthead with 40 feet of LMR400. I [may have] been testing antenna SWR and propagation viability at Marine VHF frequencies, MURS, and in the case of the Comet antenna, GMRS. If the antenna is designed to work at the appropriate frequencies, you absolutely can use it with an HT, just as you would with a larger mobile radio. You'll still be somewhat limited by the quality (or lack thereof) of a $25 radio. But the external antenna will help a lot. Similarly, I've tested an MXTA26 6dbi GMRS antenna, MXTA25 3dbi GMRS, Comet CA-2X4SR-NMO, Laird TE B4505SN 5.1dbi GMRS, and HYS SDN1-T 3dbi GMRS antenna on my old Bronco, as well as on my trusty window air conditioner using the same UV-5G at GMRS frequencies, and in the case of the Comet, also at MURS frequencies. With the stock rubber ducky, and with a Nagoya 701G the Baofeng was barely audible five miles away with city terrain between. With the external antennas I was able to reach back home with varying levels of much better clarity than with the small HT antennas. Of course switching over to my 40w mobile made a huge improvement in this test, but it did go to show that external antennas can make a situation where an HT would barely get through into a situation where it can be heard. And finally, with a good external antenna at home hooked up to the Baofeng, I'm able to pick up simplex mobile radios ten miles away, and can work repeaters 64 miles away.

Ok that's a good reason to go with 3.

The article says this: Buy an FRS/GMRS capable radio or walkie-talkie and program the 307 channel into the radio Program to UHF 462.6125 Privacy Code 85.4 or Channel 3 and Privacy code 07 (307) Not exactly clearly written. It probably should have said: Buy an FRS or GMRS capable two-way radio. If it's a GMRS radio, get a license for your family. Set channel 3, or UHF 462.6125 Set the PL tone (privacy code, CTCSS tone) to 85.4. (07 on some radios, 307 on others). Stop by any state parks station, sheriff, police, or fire station to confirm your radio setup with a quick radio check. Switch over to a different channel and tone for your group communications, and back to this setting for emergency use. Place this sticker on your two way radio reminding you what channel and tone to use for emergencies. I wonder why they picked channel 3, limited to <=5w instead of 16, or 22, limited to <=50w. I know very few handhelds will transmit over 5w, but if a person in trouble manages to get back to their vehicle (possibly broken down), they may be able to get a signal out on 15-22 that wouldn't have been as clear on 1-7.

You can also listen to channels 15-22 Sunday afternoons, weekday evenings, and take notes if you find a net running. Sometimes they'll explain how to participate. You usually need to the squelch tones. But you may gain enough information to find someone to contact. Or if you have a scanner, you can set it to find the tones for you as you're listening to a net in progress. It takes more work, for sure. One time I heard a couple of people on a repeater say they're going to switch to simplex on 18, open. I switched over, and asked them about the repeater. They were happy to help.

No change to the ground plane when swapping in the duplexer. I do think that having an SWR <1.1 for both MURS and GMRS 467, and <1.4:1 for GMRS 462 without the duplexer is an indication that the setup is pretty well configured until I add in the duplexer.

I have a Comet CF-4160J Duplexer that accepts either two inputs (one in the 1.3MHz-170MHz range, one in the 350-540MHz range) to output to a single antenna, or that accepts one input to output to two antennas -- it works in either direction. The duplexer: Comet CF-4160J I have been testing it on a Comet CA2X4SR antenna. The antenna: Comet CA-2X4SR-NMO. With this antenna, no duplexer, in the MURS range, I get an SWR of <1.1:1. In the GMRS mains I get an SWR of <1.4:1. In the GMRS repeater inputs & interstitials, I get an SWR of <1.1:1. So pretty darn good results. Now add the duplexer. Antenna plugged into the duplexer. The radio plugged into one of the two frequency-ranged inputs. So plug the radio into the VHF side and test MURS: I get <1.2:1 SWR. Now plug the radio into the UHF side of the duplexer. In the main 467 frequencies, I get an SWR <2.3:1. In the repeater/interstitial frequencies, I get <1.1:1. My Surecom SR-102 is located inline between the radio and the duplexer. Here are the results in a more tabular format. SWR Meter between Radio and Antenna (NO DUPLEXER): MURS: <1.1:1 GMRS 462: <1.4:1 GMRS 467: <1.1:1 SWR Meter between Radio and Duplexer: MURS: Duplexer: <1.2:1. GMRS 462: Duplexer: <2.4:1 GMRS 467: Duplexer: <1.1:1. 2.4:1 is survivable. But it's strange that the duplexer seems to have very little effect on SWR at MURS frequencies, and at the 467s, but at the 462s it is markedly worse performing. Now if I move the Surecom to be inline between the duplexer and the antenna, instead of between the radio and the duplexer, I get the following results: SWR Meter between Duplexer and Antenna: MURS: <1.1:1 GMRS 462: <1.4:1 GMRS 467: <1.1:1 So the outlier is the GMRS mains in the 462 range, between the radio and the duplexer. Do I have a defective duplexer, or is this a pretty typical experience; that there may be rough spots at random places in the spectrum when using the duplexer?

If you know the frequency of the repeaters you're interested in gaining access to, you might try keeping your radio tuned to one or two of them (if it's dual-watch) in the evenings. Popular "net" times in my area seem to be evenings between 7pm and 9:30pm, and Sundays around 4-8pm. I know that's a lot of time to cover, but if you can just leave the radio on as you go about your day, you might hear a net start up. It's common during weekly nets for the net control operator to ask if there are any visitors wanting to check in. That's your invitation to state your call sign and introduce yourself, even if you haven't officially been granted access. And at that point you can ask what is needed to gain permission to use the repeater. If there are no nets, and the owner never responds to your request on mygmrs.com, but you DO know the CTCSS or DCS tone for the repeater, you can listen for traffic, and if you find someone having an idle conversation, wait your turn, and then state your call sign and ask how you might gain approval to use the repeater. If they tell you you're not welcome, you just apologize and go on with life. If someone announces their call sign and states "monitoring", that's also a way that people say they're looking for conversation. You can say "<your call sign> here, my name is <first name> from <city name>. I wanted to inquire about how to get approved to use this repeater.", and just see what happens. If you are polite, they may get you hooked up. Or they may tell you to not use the repeater, but it's worth a try.

Yeah, the limits of 5w in 462 interstitial, 0.5w in 467 interstitial, and 50w in the 462 mains are not necessarily desirable in a handheld. Nobody wants 50w next to their ear. But I think the assertion "most power allowed by law" on a radio that outputs (as their answer says) nearly 3w is misleading, and I can't think of any way to reconcile the statement with the actual FCC rules, which is why I sent them the question.

Well, my apologies. Feel free to stick around. Strange that three questions came in with nearly identical topics.

What repeater is configured that way? That's very non-standard, to have anything that isn't a 5MHz offset.

Is this your third post, under two different accounts? https://forums.mygmrs.com/topic/7974-chrip-help-with-dpl-tones/#comment-82463 If you're using CHIRP, which is often much easier, there's a response in that thread that should help.

This isn't your first time posting, you posted the same question seven minutes prior. Anyway, I can't take a screenshot of CHIRP right now, but you would set "Tone Mode" to DTCS, you would set the DTCS column to 464. For a repeater you would set the "frequency" to 462.575 and set Duplex column to +, and offset to 5.000000. However, in your strange scenario, you want to set it to an offset of 5.075, which seems kooky to me, but whatever, it's the question you asked. And again, for the repeater you use DTCS mode, and typically polarity will be NN.

Well, I asked Midland a question about what "X-TRA Talk Power - Maximum allowed by law" means: With "type approved" 8w handhelds on the market, I don't think the answer is actually accurate; that there's a 5w limitation for handhelds. Maybe, though. And at what point in time was 3w the legal limit for handhelds? Maybe it was. I probably missed the memo. Anyway, they're "in the process of updating our website", so maybe that claim will be removed.

General class has these additional features. Operate digital modes. Generals can operate all digital modes on HF, including FT8, which has become the most popular mode--not just the most popular digital mode--on the HF bands. Operate SSB phone on HF bands below 28 MHz. Operate on the 20-meter band. The 20-meter band is arguably the best band for “working DX,” that is to say making contacts with stations in foreign countries. Operate in more contests. Because Generals have more operating privileges, they are able to more fully participate in amateur radio contests than are Technicians, Administer amateur radio examinations. Generals can become Volunteer Examiners (VEs), although they are only allowed to administer Technician Class exams. There are other frequencies available to General class that Technician class can't use: 2200m, 630m, 160m, 80m (Tech can use CW in some portions of 80m), 60m (5 channels), 40m (Tech can use CW in some portions), 30m, 20m, 17m, 15m (CW available to Tech in 15m), 12m, and 5x more space in 10m. If you only want 2m and above, there's not as much difference.

The OP did register an account. He just didn't use it to ask the question. Nevertheless, just asking for more information to add clarity to the question is a reasonable response. No need to make it rude. "Help us to help you" is not an attempt to be rude, it's trying to draw the OP into understanding why we're asking for more information.

I bought a pair of GTX1000 radios before any of my repeater-capable radios, not thinking I would care about repeaters. Here's where they excel: They're weatherproof, they're rechargable, they came with a 12v and a 120v charge cord, and they're simple. So if I'm going on a hike, camping, or skiing with my kids or my brother, I'll set one or two of the GTX1000s to my preferred frequency and tone, LOCK them, and hand them to the kids. We don't need or even have access to repeaters within range for those activities, so they're fine for this sort of thing. The kids (13 and 15) don't want to be bothered with anything besides pressing a button and talking. We have access to a cabin that has spotty cell phone coverage, too, and is about a mile off the paved road. Again, no repeaters in sight, but these work fine for simplex. They also have weather alerting, which can be useful. I think this claim on the Midland website is funny: "X-TRA TALK Power - Maximum allowed by law." What does that mean? Are they saying that channels 1-7 are a full 5w, channels 8-14 are a full 0.5w, and channels 15-22 are a full 50w? They might come back with "Well, it's the maximum allowed except for channels 15-22." But then I really doubt that channels 1-7 are a full 5w with these radios. So what exactly are they saying?

A 1/4 wavelength at 462MHz is a touch under 6.4 inches. Any ground plane is better than no ground plane, I imagine, but using a 14 inch pizza pan would be better.

That's a nice way to get a repeater in your area; convince the HOA that it's good for the safety and convenience of all homeowners. And ask to be allowed to put an antenna up on the clubhouse roof, and maybe even get it funded. The downside is residents will get their licenses and proceed to carry HOA-style feuds into the airwaves. -- just a joke

Do keep in mind that even higher-powered radios often have some sort of a plug near the radio. My RA87 (40w), for example, has wiring that is permanently installed. At one end of the wiring it came with bare wires to be wired-in however you see fit. But the radio-end of the wiring uses a plug: This makes the radio removable almost as easily as with a cig lighter, after initial install. However, I do like the ubiquity of cig adapter-compatible radios. The Wouxton KG-XS20G is the radio to beat, in the 20w category, from what I understand: https://www.buytwowayradios.com/wouxun-kg-xs20g.html It's $200. You can find 20w radios for less, though. The MXT275 comes with a bracket that allows the radio to snap in, snap out. It's really simple to remove, and uses a cig adapter. I have one, and move it between my RV, my boat, and my wife's car depending on our needs. But the 275 is a GMRS radio for people who don't want to work multiple repeaters, since it only allows for one set of CTCSS tones per channel. And it's 15 watts (which was never a problem for me, with a decent antenna).

Will it change anything? Signs point to yes. Will you be able to tell a difference? My sources say no. Will it matter? Very doubtful. Can we be sure? Don't count on it. Best thing you can do is try. But here's my experience: I have an MXTA26 on a lip mount attached to the aft-end of the hood of my old Bronco. That gives a flat metal plane all the way around (older vehicles had a cowling between the windshield and the hood), minimum radius eight inches. This also means that the antenna is probably 2/3rds obstructed in some directions by the windwhield and upper-body of the vehicle. I can easily hit a repeater 63 miles away. I've also tested simplex three miles away with the vehicle transmitting in every orientation relative to the receiving antenna, and really can't tell a difference, either. Yes, a portion of the signal will be attenuated by the roof of your vehicle. And yes, you'll have your antenna 18 inches lower. It's hard to know for sure if it will make any difference at all, but under anything but the most pessimal of conditions, I doubt you would notice a difference.

Somehow I feel this is probably your fault.

Help us to help you by at least telling us what radios you're using. Then we can try to narrow things down.

A repeater will take whatever signal it is receiving that opens squelch on an input frequency, and will retransmit it 5MHz lower on an output frequency. 467.7000 would retransmit on 462.7000 for example. It turns out that 462.7000 is also a simplex frequency (a regular channel), so when you hear a conversation on 462.7000 but they can't hear you, it's because that repeater is listening on 467.7000, not on 462.7000. And it's using tones that you probably don't have programmed into your radio. You can hear them, but you're neither transmitting on the correct frequency, nor with the proper tone to make them hear you. I don't know what you mean by only two people being able to use them at a time. Group conversations happen all the time. People just have to be patient and take their turn. Only one person can be talking at any moment in time, or there will be some strange interference.

I guess my fascination with radio started in the 70s when, as a kid, I had a Radio Shack kit from which I built a crystal radio. About that same time, a friend's dad had a CB in his Chevy truck that we would listen on once in awhile. My parents got my brother and I a couple of toy walkie-talkies back then also, which were in the 27.1xx MHz range. I built a kit that could transmit to them, as well, and got in trouble for bugging my sister's room. In the early '90s I got my first RS scanner and did a bit of experimenting with various antenna configurations. Got into listening to aviation, first responders, and whatever else sounded interesting. In the late 90s I was a buyer for a 14-store electronics retailer, and I remember this new type of two-way radio, FRS, just came out. I presented the idea of buying 50 units from Sony (ICB-U655) to our GMM who was underwhelmed with the idea. His recollection was around how poorly kiddy walkie talkies performed in that 27MHz band when he was a kid, too. Nevertheless I went ahead and ordered 50 units and put them in our "A" stores. They sold out the first weekend, and from there it was off to the races with that product category. In the mid-2000s I picked up a couple of Motorola combination FRS/GMRS radios and used them only on the FRS channels, which at that time weren't entirely aligned with GMRS, if I recall. Eventually I wore those out from years of camping and travel, and forgot about FRS and GMRS until, as I mentioned earlier in this thread, my kids got to an age where we were enjoying exploring skiing, but they were too young for cell phones. I was worried that we might get separated. So I got a GMRS license and bought some Midland GMRS handhelds. Then it was pretty natural for me to add one to my car for a little more punch, in case the kids really did get separated at a ski resort. That turned out to be really useful for guiding the vehicle back to hook up with my RV, and also for caravanning multiple cars on road trips. And before I knew it, I was fully into GMRS.