ian3211 Posted March 11 Report Share Posted March 11 Just wondering what some good mobile equipment yall reccomend. Just got my license and looking to install in my jeep and work truck. KiltedHam 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OffRoaderX Posted March 11 Report Share Posted March 11 "good" is entirely subjective and depends on what "good" means to you, so you're only going to get a bunch of people telling you what THEY have/what THEY think is good for them. So I'll start: In both my Jeeps I have Motorola XTL5000s.. To me they are good, so I i highly recommend one. blastco2, Wrvq441 and Sshannon 2 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gortex2 Posted March 11 Report Share Posted March 11 As Randy pointed out most will give you what they feel are the best. Searching this site will help you see what others have used. It will also depend on how you use your radios and what expectation you have of GMRS. Personally I run APX radios in all my vehicles, however in both my Jeeps I have the midland MTX series as they are simple and the same as 90% of the folks I ride with. When the say go to channel 6 I flip to 6. Simple and basic. They talk to the jeep in front of me and all is good for that use case. When I'm home or in my work truck I mostly use my APX (way out of your price range) because I like them. I had the XTL5000 with HHCH in my old Jeep and that worked great also. So in the end it will be what works for you. WRUU653 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pcradio Posted March 11 Report Share Posted March 11 Look at the Wouxun line of products. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lscott Posted March 12 Report Share Posted March 12 7 hours ago, ian3211 said: Just wondering what some good mobile equipment yall reccomend. Just got my license and looking to install in my jeep and work truck. How big is you wallet? Some of the guys here run radios in the $2000 to $5000 plus range, top of the line commercial grade multi-mode analog/digital new and used equipment. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sshannon Posted March 12 Report Share Posted March 12 12 hours ago, ian3211 said: Just wondering what some good mobile equipment yall reccomend. Just got my license and looking to install in my jeep and work truck. I use a Radioddity DB20G that was on sale for under $90 recently. I bought 2 of them. They are mobile 20 watt units that are small enough to fit in a jacket pocket easily. The same radio is also sold as an Anytone. Configuration software is free and pretty easy to use. I unlocked one of the radios, which allows it to be used as a dual band ham radio for 2 meter and 70 centimeter. They might not be the best, but for my needs they’re good enough. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WRKC935 Posted March 12 Report Share Posted March 12 Tough to say. If you are just getting into the World of GMRS and not sure about it, I would stick to the preprogrammed Chinese stuff from Woxun and Anytone. If you are a ham operator and a GMRS user, you might look at the more programmable stuff that will operate on both services. Once you get into the commercial radios from Kenwood, Icom, Motorola and others, you need to track down programming software, programming cables and sometimes slower computers to get the radios setup. The other thing you need to do is get familiar with the model numbers for some radios beyond the radio family number. Motorola is the worst about this as they made CDM radios in all different bands and they were all CDM 750/1250/1500, but they could be low band, VHF, 220 or UHF. Buying the wrong radio sort of sucks. Kenwood's model numbers would at least tell you what band the radio was for. And then there were frequency splits of bands in the Motorola stuff as well. An S split was 450-512 and would do GMRS but not ham. A R split would do 403 to 470 and would do both, but a T split was 470 -590 and wouldn't work for either. Batlabs.com is a good source for model number breakdown if you are looking that direction. Another Motorola radio that seems to be well accepted is the XPR line from Motorola. Again actual model numbers are key here to getting the right radio for GMRS / HAM use. I personally favor the Motorola stuff, but I work for a Motorola dealer and repair shop so that's what I know. I have radios from many different manufactures but I use the Motorola stuff almost exclusively. As mentioned, there are some radios out there that are down right expensive. They have a number of functions that have zero application to GMRS or HAM operations. They are very good radios but have a 4 digit price tag to go along with the prestige of ownership. Yea, I have a couple of those too. But for a guy just starting out, getting an APX radio is really NOT the think to be doing. But again, I would start with something inexpensive but don't have high expectations for the actual radio. The cheap stuff works. How well it works can be debated but it WILL properly function and allow you to get on the air and talk. The manufacturing quality of that stuff isn't the highest available, but you are not paying 500 bucks for it either. The bottom of the barrel portable radios are under 50 bucks (Baofeng) but will allow you to get on and talk. I would advise a mobile / base first however not knowing where you are. Portable radios are great if you are close to a repeater and can get in it well. But lack the power to talk much distance. And a base station can be a simple mobile radio connected to a 12 volt power supply sitting on a desk with an outdoor antenna that will significantly increase your range. Lscott, ian3211 and Sshannon 2 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lscott Posted March 12 Report Share Posted March 12 8 hours ago, ian3211 said: Just wondering what some good mobile equipment yall reccomend. Just got my license and looking to install in my jeep and work truck. To continue with the discussion you have to decide if you want to go with purposely built GMRS radios or commercial radios that can be programmed to operate on GMRS. The purposed built radios are generally of Chinese manufacture and are affordable. The programming software is available and mostly easy to use. Looking at commercial radios typically means buying used equipment. Programming commercial radios is not like Ham gear or the purpose built GMRS radios. There are more options, many you won't need, and a steeper learning curve. The advantage is you have a radio you can tailor to you preferences better. If cost is a factor there are some budget friendly radios to be found in both areas. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KiltedHam Posted March 12 Report Share Posted March 12 Just my 2 cents worth, If you are just getting into GMRS and aren't into Ham radio at all, the most budget friendly radios are going to be the Midland or one of the Chinese radios. I've never dealt with the Midlands and am a Ham so my setup may not be the norm for most. However, as to the various Chinese radios, a lot of them are rather tough to get support on because they are only supported from China. My personal recommendation for radio brand would be the Btech's! Yes they are manufactured in China BUT, they are supported (by an awesome customer service team!) here in the USA!!!!! They best reference material you will probably find for an impartial tool to decide would be Miklor's site! https://www.miklor.com/ Find what does what YOU want to do and makes you happy!!!! Don't worry about what others think or want you to do or get! 73 WRDC573 Lscott 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
back4more70 Posted March 13 Report Share Posted March 13 I have a Retevis RA25 in my car, with a Midland ghost antenna. It works well for me. That being said, I may swap out the RA25 for a higher-powered Wouxun. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ian3211 Posted March 21 Author Report Share Posted March 21 Yea I'm looking at this radio with a antannae for my Jeep. BTECH GMRS-50V2 50W 256 Fully Customizable Channels Mobile GMRS Two-Way Radio. Repeater Compatible https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BNLT88FD?psc=1&ref_=cm_sw_r_cp_ud_ct_C4M6PYAPPTCYPVPQFQQS Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sshannon Posted March 21 Report Share Posted March 21 37 minutes ago, ian3211 said: Yea I'm looking at this radio with a antannae for my Jeep. BTECH GMRS-50V2 50W 256 Fully Customizable Channels Mobile GMRS Two-Way Radio. Repeater Compatible https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BNLT88FD?psc=1&ref_=cm_sw_r_cp_ud_ct_C4M6PYAPPTCYPVPQFQQS This link will take you to the different posts about that radio: https://forums.mygmrs.com/search/?q=GMRS-50V2&quick=1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ian3211 Posted Saturday at 02:35 PM Author Report Share Posted Saturday at 02:35 PM Thank you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ian3211 Posted Sunday at 04:03 PM Author Report Share Posted Sunday at 04:03 PM gonna go for it. ill take the risk. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WRUE951 Posted Sunday at 10:27 PM Report Share Posted Sunday at 10:27 PM Depends.. Lots of good legal FCC approved GMRS radios out there, i use the Maxons. And there are lots of FCC non-approved for GMRS radios out there such as the Baofeng's and the Motorola XTL5000s...... Personality i prefer to follow the rules. If you are one that wants to stay FCC compliant, perhaps you may refine your question to best radio to use that is FCC compliant, then take if from there. Good Luck. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WRWE744 Posted Tuesday at 06:32 PM Report Share Posted Tuesday at 06:32 PM I'm not sure what the general consensus on the QYT KT 8900D is, or even the QYT brand as a whole. I just got an 8900D and so far I'm liking it, but I haven't put it through to much testing yet. It is definitely an inexpensive unit, and it looks a lot like the Radioditty DB25G. I'm definitely not recommending it yet, as I haven't used it enough to do so, but it's doing pretty good thus far. WRUS537 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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