Brand New w/ no Equipment - Interested in family communication in emergencies etc

[Tiercel]

Greetings, and thanks to the hard workers who maintain this forum.  I have founded and administered forums and I know the work it takes to get and keep a good forum going.

I Just got my license, and I am studying for my Ham license Test in about 4 weeks), but GMRS will probably be my go-to since I don't need another intense hobby.

I think I will start with a mobile that I can lug to the house as a base if I want.  I also want a couple of handheld units. I probably won't get them all at once just because I am sure I will learn as I go. I am not an intense prepper but I do want some SHTF communication plan for my family.  I will also use them for outings, fishing, etc.

I might add that cost is not a huge issue as long as I am not extravagant.  I want good practical, functional, equipment.

Any words of wisdom?

[Blaise]

If you have kids, I highly recommend Retevis RT38s :  https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B088ZYRVZ8/?th=1

They work well and are so cheap you can buy six and go through them as lost/broken without any real frustration!

[Tiercel]

I should have been clear.  I am an active 73-year-old with a grown family in the area.  No more kids.  In fact, my youngest grandchildren are just entering college.  I am looking more for good serviceable equipment than expendable equipment.  It does not have to be top of the line with every bell and whistle just to impress people, but I want it to function and be something that can be depended on for emergencies.

 

 

[WRUU653]

Some things you may want to consider. How will you be using the mobile? If it's mostly around home with just a few repeaters the Midlands have a reputation for being simple, solid and usable out of the box. The Wouxun KG-1000 Plus is the other end of the spectrum with more space for many repeaters (if you are traveling this may be what you want). A lot of stuff in between.   For a solid GMRS HT radio you'll find many like the Wouxun KG-935G Plus, that is just my preference.  I would recomend starting out with a handheld (even a cheep one) and get to know what you may want and not want in a radio. The wants could expand as you get your ham license as well. Something else to consider if you are a Mac user or just don't like radio software provided by the manufacturer is if the radios you are looking at are available in Chirp. Chirp is a very friendly to use open software and is Windows and Mac compatible. I hope some of this is helpful.

[Tiercel]

WRUU653, Those Wouxun are both nice-looking units but definitely on the pricy side, especially If I buy both, antennas, programming cables, etc.  I guess I could use the mobile as a base as well since it is max watts for GMRS.  I would just need a base antenna and a power converter.

I was not aware GRMS had front keypads.  Are these locked on GMRS channels or can you input other frequencies?  Also, I wonder how much Superheterodyne vs Direct Conversion matters in a GMRS radio?  

[WRUU653]

2 minutes ago, Tiercel said:

WRUU653, Those are both nice-looking units but definitely on the pricy side especially If I buy both, antennas, programming cables, etc.  I guess I could use the mobile as a base as well since it is max watts for GMRS.  I would just need a base antenna and a power converter.

I was not aware GRMS had front keypads.  Are these locked on GMRS channels or can you input other frequencies?  Also, I wonder how much Superheterodyne vs Direct Conversion matters in a GMRS radio?  

 I don't want to tell you what to get, just some options of what's out there. I don't want to spend other peoples money. Hell it's far to easy to spend my own.  

In the end you'll likely find yourself getting other radios down the line as you figure out what things are important and not to you so that's why I say jump in and get a cheaper radio and you'll discover things as you go.  You mentioned fishing so maybe a radio that has an IP67 rating is important. Perhaps a Baofeng UV-9G? A warning though buying radios can be habit forming. You asked for wisdom, that's as close as I got. 

The radios I mentioned are locked for GMRS on TX.  As for Supper heterodyne vs direct conversion, I have both and a with a good direct conversion like the KG-935G plus it would be hard to tell the difference.

If you haven't yet you may find watching some videos help. Randy aka @OffRoaderX is on the forum here and has some videos on GMRS radios at Notarubicon, his own brand of humor included at no extra charge. Since you mentioned getting your Ham license I like Josh's videos with Ham Radio Crash Course. 

 

[WRYZ926]

I was going to get a Wouxun KG-1000G but everywhere I looked is out of stock. I ended up getting a Midland MTX500 instead. The MTX500 arrives today and I still have to run cables to my outdoor antennas. I have a Comet CA-712EFC on one end of the house for GMRS. The base of the antenna is 17 feet above ground.

If you happen to be a military veteran or otherwise qualify for membership at govx.com, then go through them for a discount. GovX has a 10% discount code for use on the MyGMRS web store. So the Midland MTX500 was actually cheaper than the normal price for the Wouxun KG-1000G.

As far as hand held radios (HT's) go, I went cheap and bought a pair of Baofeng UV-5R GMRS radios. The pair is $51 on Amazon. 

For HAM, I have a Comet GP9 that is going on the opposite end of the house from my GMRS antenna and the antenna base will be 24 feet above the ground. I bought a Baofeng GT-5R to play with and it works fine. I am borrowing an older Icom IC-208H mobile dual band radio for now. I am just using a mobile antenna on a cookie sheet outside my window with the IC-208H. 

I decided to just start out with my technician license for now and the test is pretty easy as long as you study for it. I suggest taking one of the free practice exams online until you can pass with at least 85% before taking the real exam.

[Tiercel]

I appreciate that feedback.  I have a long history of getting almost obsessive at comparing products, from house paint to TV specs.  I can drive normal people a little nuts.  Your advice to start less expensive makes sense because in the long run, I want to have some less expensive, simple radios to loan out anyway.  As I read somewhere, "Unlike Ham, with GMRS, you need to bring your own contacts or talk group". Plus, in an emergency, I would like to have a couple to hand out to family and neighbors. 

I think I will order a Baofeng UV-9G GMRS Radio (2 Pack), fir $86.99 Today.

I have been watching MANY YouTube videos for a couple of weeks, including Ham Radio Crash Course and NotaRubicon Productions.  I do have a few questions on other products I have seen reviewed.  First, a (2pk) 25 Watt Handheld (not legal for GMRS) for $ 209.99

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B086BXSZD7/ref=as_li_qf_asin_il_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=not025-20&creative=9325&linkCode=as2&creativeASIN=B086BXSZD7&linkId=b07381d081caa53ec51707f158313c1a&th=1

 Also, the BTech GMRS Pro I saw reviewed by NotaRubicon Productions.  $154.00

Those are on my wish list with the Woxun KG-935G and Woxun KG-1000

I have to save some mad money for Ham, although maybe I can talk the wife out of that new kitchen.  

Question:  Is it worth the effort to buy a magnetic mobile antenna for these radios or a homemade rigged antenna for the attic in my two-story house? I live at the foot of a hill/mountain ridge (1200ft high) that runs just to my south so nothing will get me over that other than a repeater.  A large river valley town is to my north and just a little lower than me.  I have hope that I can simplex to most of that valley, probably 100,000 population in several little connected towns ESPECIALLY if I head up the mountain.

 

 

[WRUU653]

@Tiercel it sounds like you are in an ideal location if you are at even a bit higher elevation than everyone else. You may find an HT does rather well and anything more will just be icing on the cake when at home using GMRS.

A ham version of the Baofeng UV-9G is the GT-3WP. I have both of these and they both work really good. I get being obsessive in doing comparisons. Hell I made a spread sheet before buying my first radio. Embarrassingly I have purchased quite a few more radios since, both GMRS and Ham radios. It's far to easy to do.

[WRYZ926]

I will recommend the Baofeng GT-5R for a cheap dual band radio. I've seen enough videos and did some testing of my own and the GT-5R is better than the standard UV-5R. And the GT-5R is $26.99. At that price, they do work and you won't cry much if one gets lost or broken. Ham Radio Crash Course did a good comparison of the GT-5R versus others.

Keep a good HT for yourself and hand out the cheaper ones to others.

There is a very high 2 meter repeater 20 miles away from me and I can use the GT-5 when outside my house to make contact with others on the repeater. It isn't the best signal since the radio is only 5 watts but it will work.

[WRYD530]

From my experience the handheld units just don’t have much range. I’m in Ohio. Pretty flat and lots of trees. My range with handhelds is 1-2 miles and that’s with extended range antennas. My mobile unit is the MXT575 with mxta26 center mag mounted on pickup roof. At least 40 miles hitting repeaters. Working on a home base unit trying to get antenna at least 30ft up. The consensus here is antenna height is king. 

[Tiercel]

Play Time!
I just got my (2)  Baofeng UV-9Gs.  I was surprised that they came with 2 standard 8" antennas (thin flexible) and 2 additional 15" whip antennas in the box.  I don't think that was in the description.  They included a programming cable, so I will play with that now.  I saw a review that all channels have a privacy code set and are set to a narrow band, so I will check to see if that is so and change it if it is. I think I have to use the Baofeng software.  I don't think these are Chirp-compatible.  I can also program a lot of scan-only frequencies into these HTs but I have no clue what frequencies I should include at this point.

BTW- I ordered (2) Baofeng UV-5R Ham radios a week ago but I am going to send those back even though they were cheap as dirt.  When I get my Ham license I will get something better.

[Tiercel]

22 hours ago, WRYD530 said:

From my experience the handheld units just don’t have much range.

Yeh, I am not expecting much range, but they are repeater-capable.  I want some HTs for outings, travel, and when we are at our little place back in the woods in GA.  Also for emergencies.  I expect to have my Ham license in a month and will likely get a GMRS mobile and some form of Ham unit then.

[WRUU653]

1 hour ago, Tiercel said:

Play Time!
I just got my (2)  Baofeng UV-9Gs.  I was surprised that they came with 2 standard 8" antennas (thin flexible) and 2 additional 15" whip antennas in the box.  I don't think that was in the description.  They included a programming cable, so I will play with that now.  I saw a review that all channels have a privacy code set and are set to a narrow band, so I will check to see if that is so and change it if it is. I think I have to use the Baofeng software.  I don't think these are Chirp-compatible.  I can also program a lot of scan-only frequencies into these HTs but I have no clue what frequencies I should include at this point.

BTW- I ordered (2) Baofeng UV-5R Ham radios a week ago but I am going to send those back even though they were cheap as dirt.  When I get my Ham license I will get something better.

Congratulations! Also they absolutely are Chirp compatible. That's how I program mine.

[WRYZ926]

2 hours ago, Tiercel said:

BTW- I ordered (2) Baofeng UV-5R Ham radios a week ago but I am going to send those back even though they were cheap as dirt.  When I get my Ham license I will get something better.

I have the Baofeng GT-5R which is the same price and it works well for a $26 HT. The GT-5R definitely gets better reviews than the standard UV-5R.  I can stand outside my house with the GT-5R and hit the repeater 20 miles away. Granted it is pretty flat around me. I am using a Nagoya 771 antenna on the GT-5R

[Tiercel]

I was 31/2 miles (as the crow flies) from the house, with some commercial buildings between us.  At that distance, my wife and I could still tell we were transmitting but could not understand each other.  I called her on the phone and told her to go upstairs (two-story house).  She did, and we could talk clear as day.  This will be a good unit to practice with.  Since they only cost $43 each I will have to figure out what an extra hundred dollars each would have gotten me.  This unit has:
8 Modifiable repeater channels
Totally submersible in water
Long antenna
Commercial FM
belt clip and lanyard
11 NOAA weather stations (I think alerts)
Scans 87 programmable receive only VHF UHF frequencies
Scans 2 talk channels at once
Flashlight with SOS
High Power (5W) and low power settings
Programming cable
Earpiece w/mic
VOX
Roger beep
Li-ion 1800mAh battery

It will take me a while to figure out what that I am missing other than maybe a bigger battery, but I can always order a spare.  So far all I can think is a larger screen, a watch, and maybe an electronic compass.  I'm sure I will think of more.

 

[WRYZ926]

8 hours ago, Tiercel said:

I was 31/2 miles (as the crow flies) from the house, with some commercial buildings between us.  At that distance, my wife and I could still tell we were transmitting but could not understand each other.  I called her on the phone and told her to go upstairs (two-story house).  She did, and we could talk clear as day.  This will be a good unit to practice with.  Since they only cost $43 each I will have to figure out what an extra hundred dollars each would have gotten me

That sounds about right for a HT given the circumstances. Now having a mobile radio setup as a base station with an antenna above your house will definitely increase the range. If you were inside a vehicle while using your HT then you did good. Vehicles will block a lot of signal.

And it looks like you are going about things the right way by starting off with HT's and then deciding what you want /need as far as equipment goes. It is too easy to go crazy buying radios and such right away. An easy solution for vehicles would be a good antenna hooked up to your HT along with a hand mic. That saves you from having to buy a mobile radio right away and you can use the antenna for a mobile once you decide to get one.

[WRUU653]

10 minutes ago, WRYZ926 said:

And it looks like you are going about things the right way by starting off with HT's and then deciding what you want /need as far as equipment goes.

I'll second this statement. @Tiercel the way you are going about this is a good way to get acquainted with radios and programming which will help you make informed decisions about future radio purchases. 

Also if you find you need more channels for repeaters you will be able to add them with the radios you have. Chirp makes this easy too.  

[bd348]

I get clear reports into a repeater 30 miles away with a 5W handheld and a base antenna near the second story window.  In fact it still gets in, with static, with one half of a single Watt, as well.  You may not have to bother with the attic.

You can run serious coax to the base antenna, then a little thin stub the last 18 inches or so, to make it much easier to keep the handheld upright.

And consider a plug-in speaker microphone.

[Tiercel]

I am going to try to connect to a repeater today.  I am not clear on whether I have to request access or not.  The freq. info is listed in MyGMRS.com.

I am guessing that for a mobile antenna or a base antenna, I need an SWR meter to tune any antenna I use.  Any recommendations on mobile or base antennas for GMRS or recommendations for SWR meters, antenna tuners, etc?


I might be forced to use an attic antenna for any Ham setup I get, but I might be able to come up with other opinions for a dipole antenna.

 

[WRYZ926]

I might have went overboard a little with my GRMS antenna. I have a Comet CA-712EFC mounted on a 40" J mount on top of the roof. I couldn't go any higher without chopping a tree down. I know the Comet and Tram antennas are popular here for a base antenna.

I don't have my dual band antenna mounted yet so I am just using a magnet mount mobile antenna mounted to the side of my house with two shelf brackets and a cookie sheet. It working okay for 2m. I can hit a couple of repeaters that are within 30 miles of me.

[Tiercel]

Another minor milestone.  I used CHIRP to configure the WTs.

There is one GMRS repeater in my county.  It is 1-3 miles from me on top of the tallest mountain ridge in the area.  I don't think the exact location is shown but from the elevation, I can narrow it down.

I programmed the repeater into both UV-9G HTs.  As soon as I did, it was like someone opened the squelch on every channel.  It is constantly static which is annoying.

I was able to switch to the repeater channel and transmit from one HT to the other, so I must have that set up correctly.  I am not sure if there are any specific rules for using a repeater or if is pretty informal like simplex.

[Sshannon]

7 minutes ago, Tiercel said:

There is one GMRS repeater in my county.  It is 1-3 miles from me on top of the tallest mountain ridge in the area.  I don't think the exact location is shown but from the elevation, I can narrow it down.

I programmed the repeater into both UV-9G HTs.  As soon as I did, it was like someone opened the squelch on every channel.  It is constantly static which is annoying.

I was able to switch to the repeater channel and transmit from one HT to the other, so I must have that set up correctly.  I am not sure if there are any specific rules for using a repeater or if is pretty informal like simplex.

That would be annoying.  You should not be experiencing static when there’s no signal unless you have squelch level turned to 0 and squelch mode set to Tone.

[Tiercel]

14 minutes ago, Sshannon said:

That would be annoying.  You should not be experiencing static when there’s no signal unless you have squelch level turned to 0 and squelch mode set to Tone.

It's QUITE annoying, and the thing is that it is on every channel.  The squelch ranges from 0-9 and was factory set on 5.  I just changed it to 9, then tried 0, and it seemed to have little to no effect.  I will mess with it a little, then wipe out the repeater channel to see if that corrects it.  If it does (and I think it will), I am not sure what to think.

 

Back to an earlier point, NotaRubicon Productions reviewed this HT and said the channels were set to narrow, and all channels had privacy codes set.  That was not the case with my units.

[Sshannon]

28 minutes ago, Sshannon said:

That would be annoying.  You should not be experiencing static when there’s no signal unless you have squelch level turned to 0 and squelch mode set to Tone.

Correcting myself to add “or if there’s a strong wide spectrum source of interference, such as some LED lights or a bad connection in a utility panel.”

 

[WRUU653]

7 minutes ago, Sshannon said:

Correcting myself to add “or if there’s a strong wide spectrum source of interference, such as some LED lights or a bad connection in a utility panel.”

 

Good point here. Sitting at my dining table with a HT and the LED lights on overhead definitely will cause static. I know this and yet I still forget