Sab02r

Nice! I am looking forward to a review on the RT49Ps, PartsMan, once you have had a chance to get them on the water. I'd like to know how many "fars" they will allow you to "talks" across the water. Here is my Christmas KG-1kG plus. Thanks wifey!

Glad to offer what little help I can. As fast as new products come out...we are all noobies to some degree. One thing that helped me was to purchase a couple of cheap(ish) radios from different manufacturers (UV-5R, KG935G) and do some programming for each through the keypad and through software (CHIRP). The software allows you to see the broader scope of functionality, and store a backup configuration (always), while programming with the keypad helps you get a feel for what buttons to push to get you where you want to go. I am looking forward to a product review of the GMRS Pro, once you feel proficient. Welcome to GMRS.

First and foremost, please let me say that I do not own a BTech GMRS Pro. I am getting this information from an online manual linked below. I am sorry I couldn't do more to help aside from quoting the manual. My understanding is that there is an App available to allow you to configure the radio using your smartphone or tablet, which may be easier to manage than trying to build a channel list using only the buttons on the face of the radio. See online manual linked below for more information: Page 20: "Using The App While the App is connected to the radio, it will have full control. To use the controls on the radio, disconnect the app. Pairing Your Cellphone/Tablet to the Radio 1) Open the app, Turn-on the radio, then press the orange key twice OR scroll to [Pairing] in the menu, then select the OK button to enter the pairing state, a 'BEEP' will be heard and a red-green light flashing means the radio is now in pairing status (APP requires Bluetooth permission, please make sure the Bluetooth status is on), The APP will search for active Bluetooth devices, and it will display as shown in Figure 1." Questions 1-4) Based on the following statement from page 24, I suspect you may have to add channels to the unit's memory and/or assign channels to a scan list in order for the unit to know which channels to scan. "[Scan]: Radio will begin scanning channels programmed in the scan list. Click Single CH or Dual Ch to turn off scanning." You may have to set this function shown on page 26 for each channel you want to scan: "[Allow Scan]: Allows the channel to be added to scan lists" Scan-start and scan-end frequencies may also need to be defined: Page 32: "Click the Start frequency to set the lower frequency limit, and End to set the higher frequency limit. This will set the scan range of frequencies Click the >| to start the scan. Hit the ← next to SCAN to go back and stop scanning." Question 5) I don't see a menu selection for defining the scan mode described in the manual, though I am familiar with some other radios that allow the user to tailor the scan mode. Question 6) The manual describes the following process to add channels for specific frequencies: Pg_49: Adding A New Frequency Tip: The GMRS-PRO only allows the creation of new channels between channel groups 2-6 ① Add a regular frequency Create a new frequency list in a new group, then press the [Enter] button to add to the channel list. Press the [UP] or [DOWN] keys to select the channel number. Press the [Edit] button to edit the frequency. Then press [Edit channel], and edit the frequency and memory settings to set your frequency. ②Add a GMRS frequency Create a new frequency list in a new Group, then press [Enter] button to the channel list, press up or down keys to select channel number. press [Edit] button to edit the frequency, Press [GMRS Channel] to select the Channel, then press [Edit channel], to set your frequency. If you add a GMRS frequency, all the restrictions stipulated by the FCC will take effect, and you can only modify the parts that are allowed to be modified, if you want to clear the GMRS channel information, you can select [Clear Channel]. https://baofengtech.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/gmrs-pro_cmk1_may-25.pdf It looks like a radio with some interesting capabilities!. I hope this helps at least a little.

Another vote for the KG935G for their scan-group feature, ease of use, and user-friendly display.

Seems there are alot on 'NO' votes. I wonder if that is because people prefer to remain to themselves (or to talk among their own family group), or because they don't want stickers on their nice vehicles... ...or because they prefer the HAM bands over GMRS. Of course, what makes America great is that everyone is entitled to their own preferences.

Greetings fellow Huskers, It is good to see a few neighbors here. I am a newbie as well. I realize I am months late, and I apologize for reviving this thread if it has already perished, but WRUB436 if you happen back through here, please expound on the club you mentioned.

That is good info, Lscott. I am not very familiar with the Kenwoods so i took a second to look at the NX-200. The NX-200 and the KG935G bear some resemblance. I am guessing some of the Wouxan engineers may have drawn their inspiration for the KG935G from the NX. The Wouxan doesn't provide quite that much flexibility. In the KG935G scan-groups are selected through the menu functions with just a few keystrokes. Individual channels can be de-selected (skipped) without having to delete them from memory (with a few more keystrokes). Having a programmable label to indicate which scan-group is being scanned would definitely be a nice feature. The way I handle that in the Wouxan is to add a dummy channel at the start of each scan-group with a name that describes the region I set the group up for, like "Alpine" or "Moab". I see the region name scroll by on each scan so I know whether I selected the proper scan-group number. Those dummy channels can be also de-selected so that they are no longer scanned, but they are still in the memory as reminders when you do feel the need to manually weed through all of the channels you have programmed...or add channels to a particular scan-group region, which I do in CHIRP.

The KG935G has the ability to be programmed with several memory scan-groups. You don't have to scan all 999 channels, though you can. You can set up a scan-group that includes only your local repeaters and only scan those channels while you are around home. A second scan-group can be programmed for repeaters in a a different city or area, and a third-scan group for a region where you may like to go wheeling, or visit repeatedly such as a summer home...or the in-laws house. A fourth scan-group can be added for a layover point along your travel route. As you travel, you can simply select a different scan-group that includes the repeaters you pre-programmed for that area without having to reprogram the radio, and you are no longer scanning those repeater channels that are now out of range. I don't know if other radios have that ability, but for that functionality alone I think the KG935G is well-worth the price for anyone who does any sort of traveling.

Thanks for mentioning that Michael, I did not have stale and offline repeaters selected...but suddenly I understand your question about Lake725! Nope, I am not in range, but at least now I know to look for stale repeaters!

I thought it was interesting as well, though I cannot remember who posted it here originally to give credit where it is due. (Apologies to the OP) As you and KAF6045 both mentioned, I will indeed try to record the morse ID and see where that takes us. Please forgive my ineptitude here, but would FRS be able to trigger a repeater? I suppose it could if no tones were required by the repeater...which effectively leaves the repeater open to any traffic on that frequency, whether intended for the repeater or not. Is that correct??? Lake 725 does not ring a bell, but I am close to the Platte River and there are many sandpits. Looking at the myGMRS map, I see that BRA675 is an open active repeater in Brainard that shares the same frequency (462.675mHz, tone 141.3) with the Grand Island REACT repeater and an Emergency Management repeater in Fremont, and others in the "grandfathered" list. Though I am definitely outside of the 27 mile range listed for BRA675, I suspect that is probably the source of the traffic I have been hearing. Thanks to all for your input!

You are right to wonder. I had the same initial thought, which is why I didn't monitor closer, but I am relatively sure I heard the repeater tail attached to at least two transmissions. I am nine miles or more from anyplace that would be holding a fun-run. I'm not sure if simplex would cover that, but I suppose it is possible.

Hi Michael, This list: http://www.thepeters.org/grandfathered_gmrs.html (which may or may not be current and which I likely located through a link posted on myGMRS.com). The traffic I hear is very infrequent, aside from the morse ID. One day last week the frequency was being used for station-to-station communications along the race course of a pre-Thanksgiving marathon or fun-run. I left my HT scanning while doing some outdoor work and caught descriptions of the last few runners to cross the finish line...but never a callsign, so I assume the users were neither HAM nor GMRS license-holders. (Perhaps I should have chosen a better descriptor than amateur.) That traffic amounted to a few intermittent mumbled sentences ("guy in the blue shorts with green shoes...third from the last") over the course of an hour, which is the most I have heard it used. I did not attempt to correspond with them during the race to find out how they came to use the repeater...or if they even knew they were using it. Prior to that, I have only heard occasional traffic, perhaps once or twice a week, and only while scanning, so I never hear more than a second or two of any broadcast at any given time, and by the time I navigate back there is no further traffic, so I cannot say what the content is. I will add that channel as a priority channel in my scanlist so that I can better monitor its use. It is definitely not SAC (they probably have better radios ?), and I cannot say for sure that it is truly abandoned, as I was told. I would hate to start using a repeater and then find out it is being maintained for emergency use, so it seems I have some further research to do before I key the mic on that channel. Thanks for the links. I will post any info I find.

Is anyone using the Melowave Overlander GMRS mobile antenna? https://www.buytwowayradios.com/melowave-anm-123g.html?___SID=U How do you like it, and how did you mount it? I was thinking about adding one to my truck, but it looks a little like a bamboo fishing pole painted black. If others are seeing positive results with these, I may get one, paint it tan and add a red and white bobber hanging off the end as camouflage. ?

BREAK - BREAK I am breaking into the conversation to say thanks WRVE426 for asking these questions, and thank you seasoned radio veterans for your valuable input. This helps the rest of us noobs, who otherwise may not be commenting, learn as well. In my area, a REACT repeater is on a list of repeaters classified as "grandfathered" by the FCC. A person who claims to have helped set it up many years ago has indicated that it now runs in an "abandoned" condition since the agency that originally used it has moved on to a different comms system. It is not listed on MyGMRS.com, and I have no way to know whom to ask for permission for it's use, though I do rarely but occasionally hear traffic from amateur users. So, to glom on to WRVE426's original question: Should one wait for explicit (written) permission prior to accessing a repeater, particularly one that may be unmanned? Is it acceptable to access a repeater for which you have the codes in order to ask permission? If attempts to hail someone for permission go unanswered...what then?