WRUU653

I had to change the squelch settings for my UV-9G to better dial in this issue. I did this in Chirp. I'll include them down below. Your settings may vary depending on the sensitivity of your radio so you may need to just play around and see what works for you. I always save a back up of all my settings and programs so if I mess somthing up I can go back to what I had before.

Good point here. Sitting at my dining table with a HT and the LED lights on overhead definitely will cause static. I know this and yet I still forget

I looked at the manual and on page 12 it indicates that it does support this. No indication on how to stop scan regularly though. I don't have this radio but all the HT's I have pressing any button other than the directional buttons stops the scanning.

I'll second this statement. @Tiercel the way you are going about this is a good way to get acquainted with radios and programming which will help you make informed decisions about future radio purchases. Also if you find you need more channels for repeaters you will be able to add them with the radios you have. Chirp makes this easy too.

This ^^^ . I think a good practice is if I live around family members using my license that works for me. If we’re on a trip and I hand out radios we’re still good. If they’re on a trip of their own perhaps they should have their own license. If my adult son or daughter in another State is using radios with their kids it would be best if they had their own license. I know you can make an argument against this but it maintains some control of your license and is in the spirit of how the rules are written. If some family members were or are interested I would even get them a license as a gift.

Certainly an interesting observation. One that I doubt would or even could be enforced. The distinction is likely to reinforce that you are responsible for people using your license.

but you don't have to.

great band name!

Many radios have a status bar that shows receiving signal strength as well. That's a good indicator that someone is using the channel even if you don't hear them do to some tone settings.

I beleive the statments made in question (as noted in this thread) were directly related to not having an antenna installed and keying up. Not rogue CB ruffians in the 90's

Congratulations! Also they absolutely are Chirp compatible. That's how I program mine.

This is the most important thing if you ask me.

With Radio To Go 259

I have heard a Ham near me with MTW in their call use Monday Tuesday Wednesday. It may not be traditional but it couldn't be easier to understand. I like it.

I'm not blind but I do need glasses.

It usually only takes a couple days but sometimes the FCC has issues with their data list getting uploaded and that's where this site gets it's data from to verify your call sign. You can check the daily data list here and check your FRN here. You should get an email from the FCC though before it shows up in the Daily data list.

@Tiercel it sounds like you are in an ideal location if you are at even a bit higher elevation than everyone else. You may find an HT does rather well and anything more will just be icing on the cake when at home using GMRS. A ham version of the Baofeng UV-9G is the GT-3WP. I have both of these and they both work really good. I get being obsessive in doing comparisons. Hell I made a spread sheet before buying my first radio. Embarrassingly I have purchased quite a few more radios since, both GMRS and Ham radios. It's far to easy to do.

Myth: Hams are the only ones that can be considered sad...

@WRPL700 add @WRWA937 or quote their previous post, that way the person you ask a question of will be notified they were mentioned in a post.

I was wondering the same thing. I could see testing with no tones but I don’t understand how testing would work with the frequencies being the same. Would it wait for squelch to close and repeat on a delay? Is this done so one person can test there TX and RX from a location without a second person? Just curious.

The radios will work as well as any for distance but actual distance depends on many factors. How high are the antennas? GMRS is mostly a line of sight reception. Are there buildings or other obstacles in the path? You will likely have to test to see if you can reach. This line of sight tool may help give an idea of what you are looking at.

I don't want to tell you what to get, just some options of what's out there. I don't want to spend other peoples money. Hell it's far to easy to spend my own. In the end you'll likely find yourself getting other radios down the line as you figure out what things are important and not to you so that's why I say jump in and get a cheaper radio and you'll discover things as you go. You mentioned fishing so maybe a radio that has an IP67 rating is important. Perhaps a Baofeng UV-9G? A warning though buying radios can be habit forming. You asked for wisdom, that's as close as I got. The radios I mentioned are locked for GMRS on TX. As for Supper heterodyne vs direct conversion, I have both and a with a good direct conversion like the KG-935G plus it would be hard to tell the difference. If you haven't yet you may find watching some videos help. Randy aka @OffRoaderX is on the forum here and has some videos on GMRS radios at Notarubicon, his own brand of humor included at no extra charge. Since you mentioned getting your Ham license I like Josh's videos with Ham Radio Crash Course.

I have to say when he posted that I was wondering how it got so messed up. This makes sense.

Some things you may want to consider. How will you be using the mobile? If it's mostly around home with just a few repeaters the Midlands have a reputation for being simple, solid and usable out of the box. The Wouxun KG-1000 Plus is the other end of the spectrum with more space for many repeaters (if you are traveling this may be what you want). A lot of stuff in between. For a solid GMRS HT radio you'll find many like the Wouxun KG-935G Plus, that is just my preference. I would recomend starting out with a handheld (even a cheep one) and get to know what you may want and not want in a radio. The wants could expand as you get your ham license as well. Something else to consider if you are a Mac user or just don't like radio software provided by the manufacturer is if the radios you are looking at are available in Chirp. Chirp is a very friendly to use open software and is Windows and Mac compatible. I hope some of this is helpful.

good catch