UncleYoda

I have a different version of the 5RM and it does perform well. I wish they had made the screen more visible outdoors and channel names were full size. I left my first one out in a heavy rain and the speaker seemed to be damaged but later came back to normal.

Doesn't matter. Almost everything worth talking about is political. We have reached a point where there is likely no possible reconciliation and no peaceful way to coexist. Why assume if we object to that kind of rule that we are breaking it? I mostly just avoid those. But "fun" is not the only purpose (despite the attitude exhibited by most hams). These are communication tools/services, not necessarily a hobby for fun. Within the regs, what I talk about is what I'm interested in. And if that means I'm limited to simplex then so be it.

Ray summarized it well. That no-new-members repeater is close to me. It was the main reason I put off getting a GMRS license for ~10 years (there weren't any others in range then). That owner/group and others did get upset by the new, linked one. One owner fifty miles away was also against it because one of his repeaters used the same frequency and there was some overlap. The big objection was especially the frequency he chose but the content made it stand out like a sore thumb. I'm thinking about making that objectionable frequency my base station simplex default though because it has the least activity. There is one other one that has a close repeater listed on myGMRS but the status is unclear.

I'm glad someone else said that. I decided to ignore it because he isn't near me. But I avoid any repeaters that make that kind of rule. So far around me, only ham repeater owners have done that. But if GMRS was used more for general conversation I'm sure it would happen to some of them too. If I can't talk about current events (and almost everything is political), then I have no interest in conversation. There is still emergency use, but that isn't everyday.

I think you're wrong. Hopping will potentially cause interference (because you won't be able to listen before transmitting). And it intentionally obscures the conversation.

It's more than this thread; it's a systemic problem on the whole forum. This type of distraction from the topic is happening all the time. I think I have tried to be serious the whole time here. But wisecracking, joking, smarteleck comments ruin nearly every topic. I have most of the regulars that apparently sit on the refresh button to post on every topic on Ignore but it does little good. What you do won't matter much to me because I can get by without this forum (the repeater listings are helpful though). If I do keep coming here, I'd participate more if people could restrain from making unnecessary posts that contribute no useful info. It'd be nice if the forum had a timed expire for posts so I could post some things (like this) and then have it delete before it feeds the trolls. Even if the post just showed as "auto-deleted" rather than missing. Back on topic, I could not tell if the OP meant repeater number in programming software or something on this site's repeater listing. He doesn't mention a radio model or a software type and I don't knowwhat his "channel chart" reference means.

@WRKY933 I can't tell you any more about detecting fakes than what is at those links I posted (the Nagoya page is linked from the kb6nu page also). If yours is junk (we can't tell from your lack of detail), then it's either a fake or a bad one due to the lack of sufficient quality control which the Chinese are famous for. That other stuff you referred to is not allowed in USA under FCC regs regardless of if the radio is capable of it. If you use that, people listening will be able to tell you're breaking the rules. Your signal can still be tracked.

https://www.kb6nu.com/fake-nagoya-antenna/ Authentic Nagoya NA-771G Handheld GMRS Antenna (15.3 Inch)

@LeoG I'm with you on how things should be, but I think Steve is closer to how it will be treated.

@Daedalus0101101 You seem to have it exactly backwards. Using a repeater from home is where the difference of opinion lies. A mobile in the car or a handheld with antenna attached directly to the radio (i.e. portable) are fine for repeater use.

I think it's goofy to say a base station is a control station when using a repeater. I don't know if the goofs are the ones interpreting it this way or the FCC for writing it like this. One thing I can point out with the wording is base station is not mentioned in the control station definition. My opinion is (1) a base station is a base station regardless of who you talk to, and (2) we can't resolve this ourselves to everyone's satisfaction - we need clarification from FCC.

I don't know if the team being assembled is up to the task, but the how is actually simple - stick to the Constitutionally delegated authority. If they did, FCC could only regulate Federal employees and Federal property.

@Hoppyjr that's what I was hoping for and hinting at in my Brendan Carr topic. If he doesn't improve the agency and regs it'll be disappointing. They made a big mistake letting digital take frequencies in the 2m ham band.

I'm not an engineer, never played one on TV. But connecting both wires from the radio to the battery with a fuse on the red wire has worked well for me. The only time I had a noise problem was with CB connected to the auxiliary cigarette-lighter type socket (is there a better name for those?). I have used other radios that way without a problem. (And this is on a Ram, V6, not much extra electronics just A/C and built-in AM/FM.)

It's DMR. Kind of what I expected. The links will be useful when I hear other junk.

Thanks, I'll bookmark that site because I can probably use it later. But none of those match what I'm focused on right now. The closest was MT63 but I've never heard of that.

Anyone know of recordings I could listen to (no videos) to identify the type of digital transmissions I'm hearing? The most annoying one is a fluttering static, but no squeaky modem noises. I'm curious about others too. This is data, not DTMF tones or anything similar (not CW either).

No, @LeoG that's not what it means. Messages are just information - there is no rule to stop that. In fact it is a standard part of emergency comms. Besides the example already given above, it does mean you can't have a conversation half on one service and half on another, as if I talk to you on 2m and you reply back on GMRS. (Short test messages like that are OK though.)

Forget the debate - you won't get much here that could be considered useful comments. And forget "national". Scale the idea back to your area first, then try to get it used statewide. I know this won't be satisfactory if you're traveling across the country, but it's a way to start that actually has some chance of working. Having a club that backs it would help but GMRS doesn't have many clubs like ham does. You could try to get CERT or some other organization to adopt it (local CERT here does direct traffic in emergencies so there is relevance). One thing that helps with all types of radio services is actually using it. People listen to and join in on channels/frequencies that have activity. So just do it.

If you want to transmit through the repeater, you need to use the repeater channel. Repeater input is on 467MHz. Repeater output and the corresponding simplex channels are on 462MHz. Yes, you are making it hard when it is really simple: use repeater channels for repeaters.

The channels function independently. The repeater channel has a 5MHz offset programmed in for the transmit frequency. So if both your display channels are set to the same receive frequency, the radio could receive on either one. If the repeater transmits an output tone, you can optionally set a receive tone to know when you're receiving from the repeater.

You could try Baofeng K5+ ... they seem very close and it is 10W tri-power, aircraft ban RX. I can't tell what if anything is different. The extra battery being sold for AR fits them both. It has 5RM as part of the ID #s on the inside back label. https://www.baofengradio.com/pages/download

I don't know who he is, but... President Trump Announces Brendan Carr as Chairman of the FCC: https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2024/11/president-trump-announces-brendan-carr-as-chairman-fcc/

It has some issues you should be aware of. The BTWR owner would not post my review where I explained all this. When setting tones or just changing channels, holding down the arrow keys does not work to cycle through like it does on every other radio I have. Starting a scan takes 3 button presses instead of holding down one button. The channel numbers on the right are really small - I need high magnification glasses to read the chanel numbers. The extra info across the top is tiny too but that is less important usually than channel number. The mic port went bad on mine in less than a year. I usually listen on earphones with a mic button; the speaker port still works and I can still talk by using the PTT button as I would without the earphones. Not a big deal but I expected better quality from TYT since my 12 yr old UV5Rs never went bad. It does receive well, better than the newer UV5Rs which have somehow been modified to not pick up weak signals as well as the older ones did. Transmission sound is good too. I believe it's supposed to be good as far as harmonics but I can't test. One feature I like is the screen backlight can be set to stay on - I hate radios that go dark just to save battery power, I want to see that my radio is on and be able to glance at the screen. I leave mine on 3, the middle setting, brightest is too bright and dimmest is too dim. The battery eliminator which I got started having problems - somewhere inside or in the cord there is a loose connection. I use battery eliminators indoors whenever I can. Other people may not care. And I've only had this one so I don't know if it's a common problem. The battery release, on the bottom, is really hard for me to operate. It's a good, mostly well built HT. But overall I was not impressed enough to buy more. As it ships (AT LEAST WHEN I GOT MINE), VFO mode is locked out, which is ridiculous for a ham radio (but common in Part 90 radios). The key sequence for unlocking VFO is posted on the BTWR site.

REACT HQ would not even give me a contact for my state