UncleYoda

@arn 's post that I responded to referenced only "UV-5R" - that is a HAM radio and that is what I was commenting on. Y'all need to be really careful to use correct model #s in your questions if you want a good answer. I have 2 "UV-5G"s I got a little over a year ago. and they are GMRS certified (no transmit on other freqs). There were no others like "UV5R GMRS" when I got mine and I have no knowledge of, experience with, or interest in those. p.s. They're sold by Abbree, which is a vendor. Btech is a vendor too. They both claim to have a Baofeng Store, but they're not actually the Baofeng company.

The old ones are better than the new ones in some ways. Old batteries would not be good however. Can you ask the seller what the firmware version is?

I've been using solar panels and batteries for a long time, but nothing specific for any particular radio. I just got another panel (20W) with charge controller for $49. The charge controller only has led lights and not a voltage readout. I use my multimeter to check voltage before charging. The charge controller is unfortunately allowing the battery to be overcharged a bit by my standard (e.g., 12.82-84 compared to what I've read is full, 12.7). But that's not a big issue - I've used my other large panel without a charge controller for 10 years, just guessing at charging time needed. What I do now is wait until the next morning for the voltage to settle back down. But that means I can't charge more than what I estimate is enough time. Intermittent clouds or not keeping the panel moved enough to keep it in the sun both make it hard to estimate charging time. I need a way to check if a battery is fully charged right after charging on the panel. I suppose a way of measuring amps may work but my understanding is amps have to measured under load. Also in the past I tended to blow fuses more often when checking amps. I'm thinking maybe a work light or a fan could be used as the load to check amps. If somebody knows a better way, preferably something relatively foolproof, I'd appreciate a tip.

I think it's because the workers are not of the same caliber they were when we were young. It's not specific to one company but across the board, all part of the destruction of real America.

A) 10-4 is not = CB. Firemen and police who are new to HAM are are the ones I hear using it the most. And they know the feelings about it, but it's hard to break habits. Tradition, no matter how entrenched, is not enforceable on others. The regs are all that count. Most HAMs do not understand this and they are in the wrong.

USPS is the one I'm having some trouble with. (@WRWR489, I'm also in SC, different area). I haven't had a package delivered by Fed-Ex in a long time. UPS seems to do fine - I would choose them if I got to choose but usually don't.

sent PM

Most of the magnet mount antennas come with RG-58 coax at best. That's not great for GMRS. BuyTwoWayRadios has a Melowave NMO antenna mount with better quality cable. I got one but haven't done testing.

Maybe. And/or show both viewpoints.

How would you settle disputes? Even the OP of a thread can't remove comments, so it would need a moderator to keep it clean. I haven't seen any active moderators on this site, other than the owner stepping in on rare occasions.

IMO, @foamhand is misinterpreting the regs. Having buttons on the microphone does not violate the regs; the buttons don't change what the radio is able to do. That's the problem with having everyone trying to apply their own interpretation - it doesn't work well. And that's why the regs need to be written better.

PL-259 male connects to SO-239 female. (But the SO-239 is typically on mobiles not HTs)

Has anyone reported the same problem for any UV-5Gs? (I can't test mine on simplex because no one close.)

They're definitely better than the other Chinese vendors. They say they have an office/HQ in Delaware, but all the replies to the support email come in the middle of the night so I'm assuming they're in China or somewhere over there. My impression is the names they give us aren't real (e.g. Ingrid, Sophia, Kate); the names sound like American or other native English speakers but the replies sometimes don't seem to correspond with that. Also, the replies might sometimes be from bots but that's not certain. They are good at trying to come to a resolution. They didn't solve my driver issue (SShannon did that), but they did give a partial refund once and I've just ordered a spare mic they're shipping from China. I had to pay on their website, though, and I almost balked at doing that. Their website is terrible if you watch all the connections being attempted. And they use Spotify for payment processing which I normally avoid. So as long as I can order their stuff through Amazon I might buy from them again. But if I have to buy directly, probably would look elsewhere. tl/dr: they're OK

You have no chance of taking 2m frequencies away from HAM (it's already too crowded). There are 150 MHz freqs that aren't used much since the emergency responders moved to 800MHz etc. - try to get those and leave 2m HAM alone.

Select the Settings tab. Then it may be under Service Settings in the left side panel. Not all models have that though.

But the rules need to be clearly understandable by the majority of the users, not just some experts. It is obvious that everyone does not read all the regs to mean the same thing you do. Yea, some of the provisions are clear enough; some won't even getting a passing grade from someone skilled in interpreting regulations. We can submit suggestions (and I just did last week). On the FCC complaints page, there is link call "Your Story" where you can send them comments. This is not for specific complaints against one station breaking the rules; that is for the complaint form. As in talking only to a station of the same type? Or are you referring to people using non-certified radios?

You seem to have not noticed or understood this phraseology. It says family members can operate your station(s), So, to me that means if they have their own station(s). they need their own license.

Necessary or not, phonetics are helpful on any radio service (not as much though on ones that don't have callsigns). I even sometimes use phonetics on the phone but some of the dippity-doos have trouble understanding them.

I definitely have the feeling that I shouldn't post anything here, as in being serious, but... Myth (GMRS): Fixed stations are based stations when using repeater. Truth: those two are separate things and you can't just claim to be whatever you want at different times. Myth (HAM): Can't discuss religion and politics on air. Myth (HAM): You aren't violating the regs by using a UV-5R or other HAM radio for GMRS. Myth (HAM): HAMs are nice, helpful people and will even give a newbie all the gear you need to get started. Myth (HAM): Nets are useful. Myth (any handheld radio): you can talk for 50 miles from your La-Z-Boy chair. I may think of more later; they're probably lots more for HAM than GMRS.

YOU'LL HAVE TO FIGURE IT OUT YOURSELF.

We need to be using our radios, both HAM and GMRS, for serious discussions. I'm not going to explain because it should be obvious to anyone with two brain cells. I'd even like to extend the concept to the forum but I don't expect much from the jokers here. Get serious or don't press the PTT button!

@RayP I'm with you on the problems. And since I'm within range of most of the same ones, I know you aren't even telling them all of it. I don't know if that short range repeater you refer to is in range for me. But the short range one that is close to me is on a frequency that will have another separate repeater about 20 miles away this time next year. I'm letting my membership in the linked system expire and will focus on open ones. I won't bother trying to convince the detractors here and you should probably ignore them as well. This site is dominated by smartelecks (never can figure out the right spelling of that word).

With only a couple of dozen feet separation, how do you know the ribbit devices (phones?) did not communicate directly without going through the radios?

OK, thanks. But transmitting an inaudible tone is still using the transmit frequency the radio is set to. I wonder if that would be considered a form of encryption. And what about the ID requirement? I don't think an inaudible ID would suffice. It seems to me to be an inappropriate use of the normal voice bands, but maybe it would be OK on a designated frequency like they do with 144.390 in HAM. I don't think there is anywhere in the limited GMRS frequencies where that would be appropriate. Even audible scrambling would be better and that is mostly not allowed either.