UncleYoda

When I select my state, and Open for Type, I get no results. And there are actually quite a few. I have seen similar empty results before for other combinations including state and frequency. UPDATE: all good right now

Lithium ion batteries do drop quick near the low end. But I don't see the connection to over-heating.

@rdunajewski is the site owner. He can set up a newbies section if he concurs there's a need.

I'm getting distant repeaters on the same frequency and tone used for local repeaters. (e.g. Rock Hill) This seems to be most common with 141.3 tone used for many open repeaters. It seems like there is a need for at least one more tone to be accepted in common use for open repeaters. Any ideas? If we need to contact repeater owners and suggest a different tone, it would help if there were another agreed upon one to select as an open alternative. (I do realize any other tone would work so no need to suggest just pick anything else, that defeats the point.) [I can't look up tones used by the repeaters that have them unlisted, so that complicates the process of finding ones that are less used.]

And that's what all (that I've bought or looked at) the HTs use. I haven't had any smoke or even get hot. (lucky?) [When talking a lot using a battery eliminator that does get hot but it isn't a battery.]

Something about what you're describing is not right. On UV5G, you can't program extra transmit channels, so you have to be able to set tones on the pre-programmed channels. That both tones can be changed and saved on already saved channels is one difference of the 5G from the ham version UV-5R. Don't put too much faith in what the manuals for Chinese radios say. The PTT issue sounds like what happens when trying the PTT on out of band (disallowed) frequencies. Where did you purchase yours from? Are you sure you got authentic UV-5Gs and not UV5Rs? What channel and frequencies have you tried? Are channels 1-30 the standard GMRS frequencies? Don't do a firmware update on any radio until you are sure you know what you are dealing with.

No one is "arming people" - if they don't have defensive weapons (not necessarily guns), then they would not be asked to do any checks. My comment above is not intended to be right for everyone everywhere, it's just how I choose to approach it. And it is just a plan at this stage, no need to implement it yet. [The fact that someone on the internet or this site disagrees is meaningless to me (not to mention taking it out of context and twisting the meaning). ]

For mine, I wouldn't send anyone out to do a wellness/safety check unless they are armed (and reasonably able) because you don't know what they may encounter.

nevermind

The notice doesn't give us much to go on regarding what they're looking for. Would clarification of existing regs be relevant? Or are they looking more for things like eliminating licensing for GMRS? I could comment on things I care about but I am not likely to help them cut costs significantly. I agree with SoCal's points and have a few of my own but I'm not convinced anything I suggest would receive serious consideration.

Unless they changed it since I got mine, the GT-5R is made and marketed as a HAM radio. It was made to only transmit on HAM frequencies. The UV-5G is essentially the same radio in a GMRS version.

There is, but it requires paid membership (more for family). 700 in Gilbert area of Lexington Co. and 650 in Columbia. The other, inactive ones listed for 550 and 575 might come back, hard to say.

Any update or is this kaput? Like most forum discussions, it seems to have died. I just checked and there are 3 different listings for 550 in Lexington Co., none of which are working (2 are stale, most recent is offline). I'm getting highway flagmen on 575 (I doubt they're using FRS radios because they are a few miles from me). [Do these flagmen always use 575 in other places too?] And the occasional activity from Crowders Mtn. 575 repeater is still there. The Lexington 575 repeater is offline too but anyway it was Permission Required with no response to requests. So I'm looking for a different home base frequency to routinely monitor. I had an idea that if those in the area would agree on a tone we could use the 600 that mostly sits idle. So IMO 141.3 would be best to start with (typical for open repeater or travel use). Without a repeater, my range will be short but we do have several local GMRSers in range if they want to use it. FWIW, I heard users from Central Time zone on 725 so it is still linked. I don't know about the 650 and 700 members-only repeaters but I'm not monitoring those anymore.

You are justified in asking, but no one here can give the official answer. The answer has to come from Brendan Carr or his employees. And it matters because fixed station is being used in a twisted interpretation way of using base stations for communicating through repeaters.

In my region (Southeast) that would be repeater input, with output on 444.3000. Maybe your region is backwards.

It isn't true simultaneous receive. It's Dual Watch (Timed? Dual Receive), which alternates checking the two displayed frequencies. It's good enough for normal people and $30 radios.

What type of antenna connection does the MU-5 have?

You haven't said what radio or which software! Company software for UV-5G: Edit > DTMF One example (for a different radio, ham version) using Chirp:

UV5R or similar model - have to use software (Chirp or manufacturer) to set the ID.

Ignore the scofflaws here (this forum is full of them) - you do not have to justify following the regs. (Why on earth anyone would trust a utuber joker is beyond me.) Knowing the radio is capable of more is worthwhile for emergencies, but you're right that it's best to not transmit on the extra frequencies normally.

Old UV-5Rs do scan for tone. Baofeng deliberately changed the firmware because some repeater owners complained that wasn't fair. My TYT TH-UV88 does too, menu SEEK 29 or 30.

You did say "open" though, and and the frequency range specified in the instructions includes both. Open is widely used to mean more than just locked to one service. (Don't worry about how busy I am - I'm watching the show in DC.)

Sorry, but you can't have both services on the radio at the same time if you want to follow the rules. There was some guy at FCC a few years ago who said even having the capability to transmit on both using VFO (like a typical open UV5R) violated the regs. I was surprised at that, but reprogrammed my radios, and bougght a GT-5R that was limited to ham. Never did find any final word on that.

"NOBODY CARES" is not correct. It's a secondary offense, like being pulled over for speeding and then getting a ticket for not wearing a seat belt. And me and lots of other hams (and I assume some GMRS licensees) do try to follow the rules even when we don't like them regardless of whether we expect to be warned/fined.

N9TAX does not recommend putting his roll-up ladder-line Slim-Jims inside of PVC pipe or even against anything. If you do it, do some before and after testing.