KAF6045

Pardon? I've owned CB HTs since the 1970s... And still have RatShack and Midland units sitting on a bookshelf.

FYI: GMRS is ~64cm; 70cm is the Amateur allocation at ~440MHz

Is the Condor system still active? 1.25m band.

2017 is when the FCC reorganized the rules prohibiting joint FRS/GMRS units. I have units from closer to 2010 that were sold as FRS/GMRS and those have 2W output. (Actually, one set goes close to 5W -- and the 2017 reorganization makes it a GMRS unit, not FRS). Pure 0.5W FRS-only, pre-2017 units would date back to 1996. FRS/GMRS combo units probably go back to whenever the FCC dropped the GMRS "max 2 licensed frequencies" clause. That occurred in 1999. Pretty much any unit sold between 2000 and 2017 was a joint FRS/GMRS unit with 2W output on 1-7/15-22

Ungrounded bracket may cause problems as you won't have a ground plane to reflect a 1/4Wave antenna -- instead you end up using the outside of the coax shield as a "return path". For 1/4wave, you want effectively a sheet of metal connected to the outside of the connector to make a half-wave dipole (1/4wave real, 1/4wave "reflection". Also, with most of the metal behind the antenna, your radiation pattern is going to be very distorted -- if it attempts to use the hood and body as a ground plane, the offset may have the forward beam aimed at the ground, while the rearward beam is going to aim at the sky.

On many of these radios "TONE" mode means it only sends the tone, but does not check for that tone on receive. ToneSQL means it both sends and expects to receive the tone (why so many editors use separate columns for specifying the actual tone based on mode I will never understand). Leaving the mode in TONE means you should hear all traffic on the frequency, so you can confirm the repeater is accessible. Later you can change to ToneSQL (and put the tone into the other column) to block out non-repeater traffic on the frequency (make sure to test before finalizing the configuration). And has been mentioned, repeaters need a +5.0MHz offset.

They'd have to very old to be only 0.5W -- like: original FRS from ICOM and RatShack. Anything sold during the joint "FRS/GMRS" period likely has 2W output on all but "8-14", and the 2017 reorganization now classifies them has FRS units. (Careful though -- I have some old Midland GXT1xxx units, and they have three power levels -- and High power is >2W, meaning they are license required GMRS under 2017 rules; also some units had repeater capability, those also are now GMRS units, not FRS).

FYI: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SMA_connector I would not recommend constantly switching between multiple antennas. One could, I suppose, use a M-F extender to avoid wear on the radio side, but that would also become a physical weak point for torque if one bumps the antenna.

The only difference between a simplex channel and a repeater channel is that the repeater channel TRANSMITS on 467.xxxMHz rather than 462.xxxMHz-- both are receiving on 462.xxxMHz. Stupid idiotization of radios: in the old days one didn't have separate simplex and repeater channels, one had ONE channel and a front-panel button that toggled simplex/duplex (and maybe a reverse button to temporarily let one hear the repeater input frequency -- you you could hear the other party you were close enough to use simplex).

I was responding to the concept of a Part 90/Part 95 E combination certification. A part 90 radio that is also part 95 E is valid for GMRS -- but if the part 90 radio can transmit on, say, Amateur frequencies, it CAN NOT be certified for Part 95 E.

The Grand Rapids City repeater typically just reaches 20 or so miles (on a good day it may make 30) -- but that is a 50W repeater on a 300 foot tower, with a 6dB gain antenna (ERP => 200W).

Hmmm, I must have missed that edit window when I looked at the programming software...

Part 90 is valid as long as said radio does not have the ability to transmit on frequencies used by non-type-accepted (Part 97).

I have the 935 -- and the programming software seems to locked to COM1 (maybe W8 mode corrects something in that pop-up). I had to find the interface cable in the Windows Device Manager, and manually tell it to use COM1 for that device... Which can be problematic as I now have two separate cables which both are assigned to COM1 -- so only one cable can be used at a time.

I don't see any entry in the software where one may enter short text/call sign for display. You may have to go into the Windows device manager, find the COM device being used by the radio, and manually change it to be COM1. At least for the Wouxun software, which seems to lock on COM1 and ghost any selection choices. CHIRP might be able to use whatever COM# the cable was assigned by Windows, but you will have to track that down.

Based on my supply -- BTech claims DESIGNED in America, but the production is straight Baofeng/China.

That's only applicable to high-end, former LMR, class radios. The more common GMRS mobiles (Midland MXTs, Radioddity, etc.) do not have on/off hook sensing. The microphone hanger is just a common (CB) spring clip.

Might be a "birdie" in the radio, or intermod from two other frequencies. Note that the frequency is 2MHz higher that the GMRS .550 simplex/output, and 3MHz below the GMRS .550 input.

I'd suspect those are for a VFO scan, rather than channel scan. Didn't see any option either -- it seems the scan function is just optimized to identify active channels/frequencies (in the case of a VFO/frequency scan, it appears you can save the frequency when it pauses). No carrier operated, time-out operated, or one-shot (stop of first active channel) settings

That applies to recently issued (to me, that means last decade or so) call signs. Call signs issued in the 80s/90s are AAA9999 format (see mine) I do see a wrqL685 in the FCC database

Based upon https://www.miklor.com/COM/Review_TDH5.php the 24 "DIY" channels are three sets of 8, and it sounds like you aren't supposed to change any frequencies for them -- just tone codes and maybe W/N. That means a set of 8 running from .550-.725, a second set, and a third set. Modifying the frequency (even if you set it back) may make the radio treat it as a receive only channel. I'd suggest starting with a complete reset of the radios to see if 31+ come up with proper offsets.

The purpose of a repeater ID is so that, should it be necessary, the FCC can send notices to the repeater's owner. If one is getting random IDs from multiple users, who is the responsible owner? Instead, as a private/family machine, all IDs are the same and can be assumed to be that of the owner.

Heh... Might be cheaper to obtain some sort of water-tight housings and mount the radios only a foot or so from each antenna... And put together a LONG wiring/power harness with which to connect/control the radios.

Yaesu does (proprietary) System Fusion/C4FM. Icom does D-STAR (not proprietary, but Icom is the only current producer of compatible radios -- Kenwood had produced some for a few years) Neither protocol is DMR

The MD500T, at least, is a part 90 (Land Mobile) radio. However, the manual (skimpy at 20 pages) has lots of notices that the radios are preprogrammed by the dealer, and various features may be locked out. One would have to cozy up to the dealer to have have it unlocked and to obtain the programming software and cable.