WRUU653

I would go with @SteveShannon’s method. It’s probably the best and easiest solution… still @dosw’s post of $5 online Cantonese tutors could be effective after some effort and time and shouldn’t be discounted.

Check out this Bronco Sport forum. Several different approaches to your exact situation. One drilled the roof and he gives measurements as to where. Anyway looks like a few options to consider. Good luck.

Looks like they didn’t fill the notch with an excess of solder. I wouldn’t worry about it. If you’re concerned, leave the cable unattached and the antenna removed and take an ohm meter and test that there is no continuity between the center and shield. I’m sure it’s probably fine. edit- as @OffRoaderX said, test that it’s not shorted. This is good practice regardless of what the ends look like especially after dragging the cable through the firewall and what not.

The shout out to So Cal had me rolling . If the roof is metal then center of it is best but putting your antenna elsewhere isn’t going to kill your radio though. I use a bracket by the drivers side A pillar and it works perfectly fine and plenty of Jeep people put theirs in the rear off the spare mount. I agree with @SteveShannon on the antenna choices and would add the Comet SBB5 antenna works pretty good for Ham and GMRS as well.

I wonder if the button has gone bad. I realize the scan button is on the radio body but I would try unplugging the mic on the off chance there is a short in the cord and see if there’s any change. This probably isn’t much help but doesn’t hurt to try.

If you mean the speaker in the mic, there is no speaker in the mic, it’s just a mic. Or if you mean just being able to use the mic, as @SteveShannon said make sure it’s plugged in all the way.

I think it's working the way it's meant to. Though I don't use priority scan myself. If I want to listen for a channel that's what I use the dual display for and I think my eyes would go buggy trying to read the scan display , I only care if it stops.

This all reminds me of years back there was a company that if I’m remembering correctly had communications from their tractors on farms that sent digital info back to the tractor machinery company and illegally on GMRS frequencies. The FCC did take action. I’m not saying it’s them but it was two years ago Midland got a wavier.

One of the things you will find that is different in having a GMRS repeater is that it has to be opperated under one persons call sign unlike having a club call sign in Amateur radio. Your local Ham club is probably a good place to start for setting up a GMRS repeater. Just incase you didn't know there is one near this location called Herman Peak and another called SHUTTERS LANDING, to the south. The owners of those might also be worth speaking with. As @SteveShannon noted the linking of repeaters for GMRS is now officially frowned upon by the FCC. There is a collection of repeaters around Guerneville, Duncan Mills and Jenner California (I linked one of the larger ones). This area is similar to your area in terrain and proximity to the ocean and these are used for the community for fires, floods and local communication. You may like to get in touch with them. My wife and I like the Brookings area south of you so I'm always checking repeaters in the area and I have noticed more taking place. Good luck.

Sorry to hear that, I hoped it was worth mentioning.

The Y adapter is the most logical issue. However and this may sound silly, have you turned both volumes up? Also I saw this note in the manual “The radio must be powered off/on after external speakers are connected before they will become active.”

I have the Icom IC-2730A as well and I’m very happy with it. I got mine from Ham Radio Outlet (they also do the MARS mod if you so wish). I picked up some of the mounting accessories from Amazon though because it was cheaper there.

This is why while @SvenMarbles choice may be right for him, it’s not an absolute one answer for everyone. It’s still simple, just not that simple.

I wouldn’t get a Midland or a DB20 and not because I think either are unreliable. I don’t fault those that do though… While I have an old XP laptop, I hate using Windows machines. I have been an Apple IOS user since forever and I prefer to program on that platform so until those radios are supported on a Mac I’m out. I’m hopeful for the DB20. So if someone is considering a radio purchase and they have the same preference for operating system as I do and want to use a computer to program with then I recommend checking the radio you are interested in for Mac compatible RT software or Chirp. It’s easy to say what you don’t like, I think we all know people that only do that. So what do I like? Well for what is type accepted I would go with the Wouxun KG-1000 plus if you like bells and whistles. If you want a little more basic I like the Retevis RA87 , (I have one and I’m very happy with it). If you are okay with Windows and you need something more resilient I would go with the Wouxun KG-XS20G (I think they are IP65). That’s just my opinion and as of today it remains. Of course tomorrow something new will come along. I hope I have given some ideas to what someone might consider rather than just saying “that radio sucks and this is better”. The why is it better for you part can be helpful. Side note, I recently had opportunity to deal with the people at buytwowayradios.com for a small issue I had with a radio and the customer support team was awesome. I sent a radio back and they had taken care of it and sent it back to me before I even knew they had seen it. Cheers

…hold on now let me double bag that for you, did you get everything?

This sounds exactly correct.

Well I mean as long as it’s highly suggested…. I don’t see how you can argue with that. Cheese and crackers, “you promised, you promised”. Run for cover the socalgmrs cops are here!

Welcome @Bobuff977 and @HHD1 to the forum.

Okay based on other comments here I think the radio you have is a Retevis RA87? If that is correct there are two ports on the back. One is for a speaker the one above it is the data port. Chirp is pretty basic for this radio and the left and right channels are seperately programmed. If I got the radio wrong let me know.

I guess I missed that, thanks.

There is likely a way to do a factory reset if that is the route you want to take but you would lose things you may have programmed in that you might want to keep. Retevis is the brand, IP67 is a waterproof rating. Do you know what model you have?

Found this one here MXPW500 Ammo Can , kinda pricey but nice.

I didn’t notice any GMRS clubs listed near you. As mentioned it looks like you have some good open repeaters near you that you and the family can use. If you’re looking for clubs I would possibly ask the owners of those repeaters or possibly look into Amateur Radio clubs near you. Sometimes you’ll find over lap and some repeaters are hosted by someone also in Amateur Radio.

What radio were you using before? How did you program the RA87? Are you using chirp or Retevis software? If so could we see the program? Have you checked your squelch setting??? What channel and tones are you using? Are you sure the repeater is on line? Some more info would help in troubleshooting. Did I mention the squelch?