Non-Chinese crap GMRS radios

[WRUE951]

My Hytera stuff works pretty dam nice, their repeaters are even nicer and all made in China..   i have no issue with 'Made in China'..  

[AdmiralCochrane]

There is made in China and there is CHEAP made in China.

[WSAF837]

On 11/2/2024 at 6:47 PM, RayDiddio said:

H3 is a fantastic little radio.

But that damn Queen made me order a RockyTalkie 5W radio... dammit.

I just ordered my first H3 (I have an H8 already), but those RockyTalkies look like they're Abbree AR-518s in a fancy housing. 

[dosw]

Anyone asking thinks they can tell a difference. And if you compare two radios side by side maybe you can tell a difference. But the person 27 miles away hearing you through a repeater is mostly hearing their own confirmation bias.

When I hear someone coming through all scratchy and thin sounding, I don't think "CCR", I think that person hasn't gotten their antenna up high, doesn't have good feedline, that sort of thing.

[AdmiralCochrane]

You should also be thinking they are holding their radio sideways instead of antenna straight up.  Antenna polarization is a real thing.  Not important standing right under the repeater, but it makes all the difference in the world out in the fringes

[Lscott]

4 hours ago, AdmiralCochrane said:

You should also be thinking they are holding their radio sideways instead of antenna straight up.  Antenna polarization is a real thing.  Not important standing right under the repeater, but it makes all the difference in the world out in the fringes

Sort of like those gang bangers you see in movies holding the pistol sides-ways. A character remarked to the gang banger how stupid it was since the ejected hot shell casing would hit them in the face.

[WRKC935]

On 11/2/2024 at 12:00 AM, Socalgmrs said:

Who cares. They are just jealous your ccr works just as good as any other. Or just don’t tell them what you’re running. No one can tell on The air anyway. A ccr sounds just as good as a 5000 radio on gmrs.     Let me tell you some one will always take issue no matter what you run.  If you get a $150 woxoun some one with a $500 Motorola will tell you the woxoun is junk.  If you get a used Motorola some one will tell you your old radio is junk and you need to step up to a brand new $5,000 ht.  If you do that, some one will tell you you need a new $13,000 ht.  THe moment you do that some one else will say Motorola is junk and you need a kenwood or icom.  And in the end NO ONE listening will know the difference at all.     Just use the radio that suits your needs.  If you’re scratchy or noisy it’s an antenna thing or a line of sight thing or you’re just a little to far away.  
 

when I do blind radio checks on the hand full of local repeaters  no one has any clue what I’m running and my $35 uv9r pro ALWAYS wins out over woxoun and Motorola. 

Yeah, and I am the guy that has some of those 12K radios.  And I can say that wide band FM is wide band FM.  Same thing coming from a 38 dollar Baofeng and a 12K buck Motorola.  Same thing with wattage, if 4 watts is measured at the output of one radio, and there is 4 watts measured from another radio, that's the same power. 

The 12K buck radio may continue to work in a high RF noise environment when the lesser radio gives up and looses the ability to lock onto the signal of interest, but that's the difference.  The 38 dollar may start mixing those other signals that are getting into the transmit circuits and begin to have issues on the air with a clean signal, but again, 12K gets you a LOT of shielding that's not going to be in the 38 dollar radio.  But outside of that, FM is FM.  If the 38 dollar works at all, it's going to work the same if it has the same power output and deviation (modulation) as the 12K Motorola.  And the ham / GMRS operator that has that 12K Motorola will NEVER be able to give you a reasonable and honest answer on why they 'need' that radio.  Because no one will ever admit that it's purely vanity that gets them to drop the silly amount of money required to get such a radio. 

There is no special function that makes those radios superior to even the cheapest radios in 99% of the operations they are expected to perform, which is talking on the local repeater.  I have Boafengs too.  I can't take them downtown on rooftops and expect them to work.  The RF noise in those locations drive the radios nuts.  My high dollar Motorola works in those situations just fine.  But if I am out in the country at home,  no one can tell if I am talking on the Baofeng or the Motorola.  While they don't sound exactly the same because that 12K gets you a bunch of audio processing, dual mikes, noise canceling and other stuff that 38 bucks isn't going to buy, you have to decide if 12K is too steep a price to pay so you can talk on the local repeater while you're on the lawn mower with all the engine noise being canceled out or not. 

To address the FCC type acceptance thing mentioned by others.  If you don't understand the type acceptance procedure, that is done by the manufacture, not the FCC.  Well you might read up on that before stating claims about it.  Manufactures do their own testing.  And may or may not be required to submit equipment for testing to the FCC for additional testing.  And even when there is a requirement for sending in radios, it's up to the manufacture to ensure that the radios going out the door for sale are the SAME design and function as the radios that were submitted for testing.  Some manufactures do verify that every unit is equally good as it leaves the factory.  And some manufactures make 'wonder knives' like the 'as seen on TV' ones that saw bricks in half then slice a tomato.  Can a knife be made to do that.  But when was the last time you were at a state fair watching the guy saw a copper pipe in half and then cut bread actually sell the knife HE'S using, not the ones on display.  Or randomly take one of the ones for sale for 19.99 and do those things with it, and then attempt to sell THAT knife.  Because NOTHING about the knife the seller is using is the same as the ones you will go home with other than looks. 

Now, would China based companies do such a thing?  Well they put lead in toys, ship Fentanyl to us, send helium balloons into our country to spy on use, and a full list of other things that would fill a page here but then verify that every last radio coming out of their factories is the same as the one they sent for testing that cost 10 times to make?  I am not going to hedge my bets on that.  But you are more than welcome to.