BTECH GMRS PRO antenna no longer removable?

[WRXW653]

GMRS noob here. Getting into the hobby and already own a few Tidradio units and a BTECH GMRS PRO. I saw the various YouTube videos and written reviews about this unit before I bought it and remain happy with my purchase. I know several sources say that the antenna is attached with a bit of glue and is removable using only some heat, torque and elbow grease but I haven’t found this to be the case. Does anyone else have any experience with recent units being more tightly secured? Mine have come with considerable amounts of adhesive and don’t seem to want to come off. I gave up trying after I realized that I was just spinning the internal part of the antenna mount and realized that the antenna itself was not actually traveling along the threads at all. Does anyone have a recent unit that has had the same experience?If I am totally missing something here on how to take the duck bill off, I apologize in advance. 

 

Best all!

 

[OffRoaderX]

I had a very early unit and the antenna came right off. Since then I have seen reports ranging from people just needing to give it a rough-twist to get it off to not even being able to get it off with a crowbar and a hammer.

For BTech to get certification for the radio the antenna must be non-removable (because it transmits data).. Once word got out that they were easily removable it looks like BTech upp'd their glue-game.

[WRXW653]

Thanks for the feedback. I saw your video on this topic and yeah, my experience is that it’s glued on tighter than all hell. I’d rather not break it and will just leave it be. 
 

Do you think the water and dust proofing gets affected by breaking that glue seal? I don’t see how it can’t be affected. 
 

cheers 

[OffRoaderX]

8 minutes ago, WRXW653 said:

Do you think the water and dust proofing gets affected by breaking that glue seal? 

On mine it doesn't look like it, but just to be safe i wouldn't play with it in the bathtub.

[WRXW653]

Roger- hot tub only. 

[WRQK522]

I ordered my GMRS Pro on February 2023 . My antenna came off very easy .
I plan on another GMRS Pro , so I hope the antenna comes off .


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Stone]

Just received my GMRS-Pro a few days ago. The antenna does come off. That said, There is a notice that says you will void the warranty if you remove it.

[Lscott]

1 hour ago, Stone said:

There is a notice that says you will void the warranty if you remove it.

Most likely that's just BS. Manufactures still stick crap like that on their products hoping some will believe it.

https://consumer.ftc.gov/consumer-alerts/2022/07/ftc-says-companies-warranty-restrictions-were-illegal

[Usmc1968]

I got mine (2x) in the mail last week and just for kicks gently twisted one of the antennas. ZERO glue, came right off.

[WRWE456]

3 hours ago, Usmc1968 said:

ZERO glue, came right off

Manufacturing defect, send it back.

[Lscott]

4 hours ago, Usmc1968 said:

ERO glue, came right off.

I'll bet it did.

[Usmc1968]

4 hours ago, WRWE456 said:

Manufacturing defect, send it back.

Hahahaha must have been, because it was clean as a whistle. Darn quality control these days   

[TheLastBoyScout]

I purchased my "Pro" after some strong online encouragement from some guy with a jeep.  I was prepared for the long battle of upgrading the antenna only to find that the antenna came off faster than a greased pig.  The radio works great, but in Texas we don't measure distance in "Farrs", we measure distance in Times.

[SteveS]

On 3/25/2024 at 11:57 AM, TheLastBoyScout said:

I purchased my "Pro" after some strong online encouragement from some guy with a jeep.  I was prepared for the long battle of upgrading the antenna only to find that the antenna came off faster than a greased pig.  The radio works great, but in Texas we don't measure distance in "Farrs", we measure distance in Times.

I've driven across Texas more than once and can attest that time in Texas is measured in days, if not months! 

[Socalgmrs]

8 minutes ago, SteveS said:

I've driven across Texas more than once and can attest that time in Texas is measured in days, if not months! 

Interesting statement since it only takes a day to drive from Los Angeles to Dallas Fort Worth  so how can it take days or months to drive across Texas?   

[SteveS]

2 minutes ago, WRXP381 said:

Interesting statement since it only takes a day to drive from Los Angeles to Dallas Fort Worth  so how can it take days or months to drive across Texas?   

It's something called a "joke," a "joke." But thanks for the kind welcome to my first post -- makes me really want to jump into the forums!

[SteveShannon]

2 minutes ago, SteveS said:

It's something called a "joke," a "joke." But thanks for the kind welcome to my first post -- makes me really want to jump into the forums!

Welcome to the forums. You’ll fit right in.  
 

There is an ignore list. 381 is on it for a few people. I could be too. 

[WRUU653]

1 minute ago, SteveS said:

It's something called a "joke," a "joke." But thanks for the kind welcome to my first post -- makes me really want to jump into the forums!

Welcome and feel free to ignore "some people". You will easily be able to spot people who are the helpful and those that want to be first to respond despite having nothing helpful to add. 

 

[WRYC373]

On a technical level data can be sent through any GMRS radio provided you own a smart phone or a computer

For example APRSDROID (which is free if you download it from their website and build it vs paying the appstore version) will work if you're in simplex receiving range and you can decode it with any other radio and phone. It obviously wont work like ham APRS.

I am not saying its allowed by the FCC but I can assure you it would work as 2 phones set up to act as APRS clients in hearing range of each other will encode and decode the data.

The cable that allows you to turn any android phone into a digital encoder and to do this with any K-type radio is 2$ on Aliexpress. I use mine in my car for road trips so people can track me on aprs.fi and it works very well with my cheap motorola phone and a baofeng connected to my car antenna.

[emory]

well the Vero VR-N76 and RadioOddity's remix are the ham band plus keypad sibling of the GMRS-PRO and is in general availability and it's for 2m and 70cm with an override for TX on GMRS bands if you're inclined. it also ships with APRS and BSS and also has a GPS receiver and can 'team up' like and with the GMRS-Pro. the android version of the HT App Vero ships is more capable than their iOS version. you can use either for firmware updates but only the HT App will gate radio tx over IP and out the other end into an HT paired to the network channel on another phone.

the location service and the initial firmware refused to respect you disabling digital transmissions. you have to force it to fetch a beta firmware to fix that and several other bugs and enhancements that the GMRS-PRO shipped with.

i like these radios a lot but i am super not into a reliance on a smartphone, especially the voice network link part of the HT App. there's baofeng shipping HTs with "voice scramblers" and smartphone apps bridging radios over the Internet, what is happening?

Edited August 9 by emory
+keypad