Very new to radio

[Guest CMC7273/WSFE814]

Hello everyone! As the title says, I'm very new. I have my Callsign for GMRS: WSFE814. I am learning about ham as well. I am an electrician so a lot of the ham stuff is familiar.

I recently purchased a AR-5RM and a UV-5G Plus. Also purchased Nagoya 771 antennas. I can read and hope I'm fairly intelligent, so I'm not necessarily looking for a complete how to(fix my problem/confusion). I'm sure its me and not the radios. I don't want to waste my efforts on something that can't be done given the two radios abilities.

Simple question; shouldn't these two radios be able to rx/tx to each other on GMRS? My initial thought was the AR-5RM could hear the UV-5R+ but being a ham it would not transmit to the UV-5R+. This is the opposite of what I have. So

Same Frq(have tried a few in the 130s and 462s, currently on 462.12625 to verify for my below example)

PTT on the AR-5RM, green led turns red, can hear on the UV-5G+, no beep on PTT press

PTT on the UV-5G+, green led stays green(its not TXing), nothing on the AR-5RM, beep on PTT press

Both have a lot of background noise, just static(sorry if my terminology is off, I'm working on it)

Both in VFO, SQL 0, TPX Mid, wideband, all other menu setting the same, admittedly I don't understand all of them yet.

 

Maybe a mismatched antenna?(but at 1 foot apart I wouldn't think that would matter much)

Maybe they wont rx/tx to each other

Probably I'm doing something wrong..

 

Thank and have a good one!

 

CC

WSFE814

[WSFE814]

Nevermind on this. I got a lot of it figured out. I think I was too eager to slow down and read a lot before playing with my new radios. A lot of YouTube, this forum, websites, and a couple of books.

Very interesting stuff, should have gotten into this sooner.

 

Thanks!

CC

[SteveShannon]

14 hours ago, WSFE814 said:

Nevermind on this. I got a lot of it figured out. I think I was too eager to slow down and read a lot before playing with my new radios. A lot of YouTube, this forum, websites, and a couple of books.

Very interesting stuff, should have gotten into this sooner.

 

Thanks!

CC

Welcome!  I’m sorry I didn’t respond to your questions.  Your initial problem, the inability to transmit from one radio to another a foot away could have been explained as simply as desense, but it could also have been different tones or even different channels or some combination of the three. Or configuration issues.  Such as when your transmit light didn’t come on when depressing PTT.  That might have been on a frequency where transmissions were inhibited. Anyway, good job figuring things out; that’s the spirit that will truly teach you the most.

Again, welcome!

[amaff]

The 5RM is a ham radio and, from the factory, locked out of transmitting on GMRS frequencies.
The 5G+ is a GMRS radio, and from the factory, locked out of transmitting on ham frequencies.

You'll probably need to unlock at least 1 of these to get them to talk on the same frequency.
Both should be able to *hear* the other (ie: they shouldn't be locked out of receiving on the other band, just transmitting), but they won't be able to transmit on the same frequency.

[Over2U]

The much maligned “Cheap Chinese Radios” are hopefully affordable enough to be purchased in pairs for the relevant radio service (GMRS or ‘ham’).

[LeeBo]

The much maligned “Cheap Chinese Radios” are hopefully affordable enough to be purchased in pairs for the relevant radio service (GMRS or ‘ham’).

Some of those radios (with decent antennas and location) are working just fine for repeaters 20-65 miles away.


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[Guest]

8 hours ago, Over2U said:

The much maligned “Cheap Chinese Radios” are hopefully affordable enough to be purchased in pairs for the relevant radio service (GMRS or ‘ham’).

The big secret is they all tx and rx just the same for the every day user.  No one can tell a $20 radio from a $3000 radio.  The distance is exactly the same if all other things are equal. . Midland, rugged, woxoun and lower end Motorolas usually have less features and the same or worse quality and double or triple the price tag than a “ccr”.  Just get a radio and get in the air.  Trust me no one can tell the difference.  

[WRXB215]

I'm a big proponent of CCRs. And in most everyday usage by normal people, you will not see a difference.

That being said, there are times when there is a difference.

In a side-by-side comparison between my Kenwood TH-75A and my Baofeng UV-5R, the sound quality difference is quite noticeable. The Kenwood sounds much better.

Selectivity is another place where the pricy radios shine. @OffRoaderX had a situation not long ago where his expensive Motorola was filtering out some RFI that his cheaper radio was not.

There is definitely a difference in design between CCRs and more expensive radios. The schematic for my UV-5R is one page, the schematic for my TH-75A is four pages. That is where the price and quality difference is seen on paper.

So, in practice you will likely never notice a difference, but in some cases there certainly is a difference. All in all, I still use my CCRs almost exclusively.

[AdmiralCochrane]

On the other hand, I feel that the previous Kenwood TH6A's speaker is tinny.  Listening to it is like learning to understand a fairly thick accent, where the UV5-R's speaker is much more natural.   The Kenwood definitely has better receive filtering and probably puts (almost) all its RF on frequency rather than splattering it around on harmonics.  6 to 10 times the price to put a Kenwood in your hand.

I own 2 of both.

[Willard]

A lot of people knock the Baofeng, but for the price it works.

They're easy to unlock, but it's not legal in the US to use them to transmit on the other frequencies.  Whether or not the FCC comes after is another story as I use the HAM version UV5R on the GMRS spectrum.

Get the proper antenna for what you're using it for.  It'll make a world of difference.  Especially for transmitting.


I mostly use mine to avoid using works Motorola CLS 1410's as they're absolute garbage.  The dual channel monitoring allows me to listen in to both Security's channel and communicate with my partner without non security co workers chiming in, while also being able to listen to general channel everyone has access to.

That and my workplace has a lot of loud music and usually no earpiece.  When working a door with a loud PA speaker above my head blasting music I can't hear if a Code Adam is issued.  I figured If I was gonna buy an earpiece it would be for my own radio.

[Shortarms]

On 10/19/2024 at 6:50 PM, WSFE814 said:

Nevermind on this. I got a lot of it figured out. I think I was too eager to slow down and read a lot before playing with my new radios. A lot of YouTube, this forum, websites, and a couple of books.

Very interesting stuff, should have gotten into this sooner.

 

Thanks!

CC

I'm new also and these have saved me a lot as long as i take a minute to relax to look them over.