So several months ago, I scored a Tidradio H3 at one of those discount outlet stores for like 5-10 bucks. As far as I can tell, it works. I live in the New Orleans area, and have been able to successfully connect to the ROADKILL repeater across the river. I sound pretty awful though. Regardless of range.

I mention the locale as New Orleans, because I suppose we have some unique issues here. I live on the East Bank, and the repeater is on the West Bank. A massive river full of active traffic flows between as well as two levees, trees, buildings, et cetera. Our area is famously "bowl shaped". But even when I get elevated I find my range or how I sound to be mediocre.

I took the radio to a place called DX World. It's an older semi-retired guy that owns the shop. Super nice guy. He fiddled around with the radio in relation to some of his crazy equipment and said the radio was putting nothing out at all. But I know that cannot be the case because I have connected and spoken to people.

One other person did say that it could be a software issue. That updating the firmware could solve the issue.

What do y'all know? What would y'all suggest?

Many thanks!

Just did a trip to the Tularosa Basin in New Mexico. In the last 3 years I have gotten most of our family into GMRS. And this week, we had a chance to try a wild test.

One family member parked at a turnout on the east side of the Organ mountains outside of Las Cruces. Right up top. I was at our homestead a handful of miles south of Alamogordo, up against the foothills of the Sacramento range.

Between the two of us was White Sands Desert and the whole dang basin. As the crow flies, about 50 miles.

And using 5 watt HTs, we could hear each other loud and clear.

LOS is everything with these radios. This was the farthest successful simplex test I've done to date.

https://a.co/d/jcdf2sU The Talkpod A36SE. Its got lots of cool features. Also, can someone provide me the link to apply for a GMRS license in Canada? The government website is so screwy. I can't figure it out. Thanks!

I see a lot of discussion around the FCC banning GMRS linking via the interwebz.

But correct me if I'm wrong people should certainly be able to tune in, capture and stream GMRS over the internet.... Right?

The violation would come about if another GMRS station retransmitted the data, right?

Isn't this true, we can legally stream GMRS repeater output purely for passive monitoring... Eh?

Looking to actively listen to my local repeater even when away from my radio.

Thanks!

I am new to GMRS and am curious about encryption, do any of you run encrypted radios and whats your setup like? I know there was some analogue encryption modules for old (70's) military radios. (And no of course I would not speak in any coded language over the encrypted radio.)

I recently purchased a Rocky Talkie 5W and am trying to get it to transmit and receive on an open repeater in my area. I also have a couple of Baofeng TP5s (upgraded UV5R) and I have them set to the same repeater using the exact same frequencies. The TP5s are transmitting and receiving fine, but for some reason the Rocky Talkie 5W can only receive but cannot transmit, even on high power and utilizing the larger antenna. What I do get is about 1 second of static (received on my TP5) only after I've let go of the transmit button, not matter how long I hold it down. I've played with using both narrow and wide bands and I get the same result. Any thoughts or do I just have a defective RT5W?

I’m going to start by saying I am very new to GMRS and my terminology may not be great and questions may seem basic.

If I have channel 15 with a DCS sub channel set to 50, but I am on and using repeater channel 15 with a receive and transmit CT of 23. Will that mess with my ability to hear others on the repeater channel? I’m having trouble figuring out if I’m even transmitting on the repeater.

If more info is needed please let me know.

Don't wanna start a comment war, I'm planning on getting my license soon. Just had a question regarding urgency.

So I'm a total radio newb, I've had a passing interest in Ham over the years but I never got into it and never had a CB until I bought a jeep to 4x4 in.

Problem is, nobody uses CB in the group I'm going with. My dad told me to buy a "rugged radio" and said that's what everyone uses now, so I just went with that before knowing what gmrs was. Fast forward to now and I'm getting pulled into the hobby side of it all and wish I would've looked into other gmrs equipment. But I digress.

I'm only planning on transmitting when needed out in the woods. As far as I know there's nobody else using the groups channels and nobody runs into interference issues. Realistically, does not having a license matter? My dad had no clue you even needed one and has been using this radio for a few years now, I'm not really worried about an FCC van finding me. I just don't want to cause problems for other users.

Edit: GMRS license is applied for, now I just wait for a callsign! Thanks to all the commenters giving informed advice!

Good afternoon folks. Got a weird question about my TIDRADIO TD H3. Every time I push either of the PTT buttons the radio says "cancel" regardless of mode. Regardless of channel, frequency. I can set it to HAM and it does the same thing. Same for GMRS and in "NORMAL" mode. What am I missing? How do I rectify this issue?

Hey y'all, just wanting to ask a question about two Wuoxon radios, the KG-Q10G and the KG-Q10H, specifically. I'm looking to get my GMRS license so that I could use nearby repeaters in case of an emergency, as I live in a rural area where cell signal droppage and winding backroads are plentiful. I am not currently Ham or GMRS certified, and I don't plan to use either without being certified. Okay, with all that said:

I wanted to buy the Q10H and just not use the Ham bands, so that I had more granular control over antenna swappage without requiring soldering or any other tool-reliant know-how, as the Q10G has a fixed antenna. I'm wanting to pull the trigger on a mobile GMRS HT, as well as the license to operate, at the start of the new month, since I am relatively close to several repeaters, with the nearest being 10 miles from my house. That's why being able to attach a better antenna is important to me, as the max range for those is a listed 5 miles. So I want to know if it is able to connect to GMRS repeaters, once I get the license and, separately, permission to access said repeater.

If you have any better ideas, I'm open to them. I have a very small sling bag that I planned on carrying a HT on, or creating a mobile setup within the backpack with power supply to operate it, though that would probably not be accessible right away on my limited income. I'm already looking at using credit to purchase these.

In case these radios aren't going to work for what I need, my general priority is:

High: Programmable without computer Easily removable antenna Display USB-C NOAA capable Clear audio Higher wattage

Medium: High battery capacity Headphone/Bluetooth Dustproof

Low: Waterproof

Newbie. Our scout troop was camping outside a couple of weeks ago and for safety, since they were outside in single digit temperatures, I brought along a bunch of (FRS) walkie-talkies and my GMRS radio. I set all the devices on the same channel, no chatter, all quiet. My idea was to keep my GMRS radio on all night in case a kid needed help in the cold, while they would keep theirs off until they needed it. Come bedtime, all the lower channels were flooded with people commenting on various police interventions. I tried to pick another channel but they all had the same chatter. We gave up on using the walkie-talkies or the radio. No way I could have gotten any sleep. I tried to ask the people I could hear if they could stick to one channel but they did not seem to hear me.

I'm a total newbie, and most of my experience since getting the GMRS radios has been in my suburban neighborhood where I hardly hear anything ever. But then, camping in the woods in a cold night, there is too much chatter for us to get any use of the radios.

Is this a common situation? I was too busy and didn't catch the call signs but some had theirs as morse code after each communication. I don't understand the point of using multiple channels to chat about various (mundane) police interventions in the area.

Which models of the handheld GMRS radios have a scanning feature that scans the GMRS channels? The radio descriptions are vague on this.

Hi, I’m new to GMRS and want to use privacy codes. I’ve tried setting the R-DCS, R-CTSS, T-DCS, and T-CTSS codes to anything but “off” in the menu on my UV-5G radio. It will not work and immediately flips back to off, even after confirming the selection, but only if I am in channel mode. I’m not sure if this is a limitation of the GMRS-fixed Baofeng radio. I can see the selection stick around if I’m in frequency mode instead of channel mode, but this radio also won’t let me transmit in frequency mode, even on the specific GMRS frequencies. Anyone else encounter this? Any thoughts?

Hey all,

Just got into radios and got my first Baofeng to introduce me into the hobby and already loving every second of it. Already printing a few things and getting into meshtastic stuff now. Anyways, I have a few questions regarding programming the Baofeng. I have the bluetooth programmer and am unsure what settings these are (highlighted). Any help would be appreciated!

Looking for recommendations on a good GMRS radio for backcountry use. Bonus points for waterproof/water resistance.

I’ve seen the rockytalkie but it seems like something I can find a better/cheaper version of.

I’ve been looking into the btech radios. Waterproof, good price point. Anyone have some insight on these or any other recommendations?

EDIT: Also the main drawback for the Rocky GMRS is it’s not compatible with an earpiece. Use case will include hunting so having an earpiece is nice.

I'm an idiot and lost the charger and I'm apparently too dumb to figure out which one is the replacement one on Amazon. Any insight would be appreciated!

I have a pair of these radios (and headsets) for my wife and I to use at NASCAR races. The purpose is three fold: 1. headsets provide hearing protect, 2. listen to the MRN broadcast on 454.0000, 3. communicate with each other using a GMRS channel.

I have the following setup on both radios:

A = 454.0000

B = GMRS channel 8

Dual Wait is enabled.

I have also set both radios to use DCS 606N code (I just chose that randomly) to avoid hearing other conversations on the channel.

Have I done this correctly?

Is there any means of choosing a DCS code besides randomly?

What problems might I expect at the race and how could I overcome them?

Thanks so much for any advice! I am a newbie with these radios. I did get my FCC GMRS license.

Does anyone have a fleshed out table showing the ‘privacy’ code numbers for this radio and the corresponding frequency? They seem to be shifted off 1 from other common FRS radios like Motorola, BCA Link, Rockie Talkie, etc. I know this is a common problem, and could map them out the hard way but figured someone may have already gone through that effort! There isn’t much info on the FS-T7, though it was exactly what I was looking for spec-wise. I’m using them in combo with other GMRS radios on the FRS frequencies and looking for a quick reference table.

Hi r/gmrs - I've got way too many radios collecting dust and looking to thin out the collection a bit. First radio I'm looking to sell is my Wouxun KG-UV9GX. This is a beast of a radio, and just does not get enough use. Hopefully it will go to someone who will utilize it's capabilities better than myself.

I have the original packaging, antenna, charging cradle, and extra battery. Asking $125 USD, OBO. Please feel free to reach out with any questions, I'm typically quick to reply.

Here is a link to the product page and here is a photo of my HT that is up for sale.

Will be shipping from 55422.

I’m having a bit of difficulty understanding how I could do this. I’m looking to upgrade my truck radio to something like an Anytone 778 and having it unlocked for ham bands and GMRS.

Would I need to get a new antenna and use a diplexer along with my current Midland MXT26 antenna, or can I use one antenna for all three bands? Would the SWR be too high to use safely? Am I significantly better off using a ham radio and a GMRS radio separately?

I am about to buy a 6580 motorola. It is designed for 800-900 mhz, and I saw other people recommend them for GMRS. 800-900 is not GMRS, so can it go down to those frequencies? What is the ideal radio for GMRS? Looking for motorola XPR series for sure, or another motorola radio. I want it to be business grade. If it could reach down to FRS, it would be great. Also, I have no idea how to program a radio, so could I simply put in a frequency and listen in? Thanks in advance.

Looking for recommendations for a good durable, high gain antenna to stick up on the roof to hit local repeaters.

It seems that the programming workaround to Radioddity’s Windows only CPS is to use the CHIRP setup for the Baofeng UV-17ProGPS, which seems to work fine except for trying to program more than a single bank.

Does anyone know how to solve the “This radio has fixed banks and does not allow reassignment” error code issue?

I am getting into radio for the sake of emergency comms, overlanding group comms, and because a relative of mine is into it. I can sometimes get his base transmissions from my hand held, but I can’t talk back. I plan to get a GMRS Radio for my truck, but I would like to use it as a base station too. The thing is I can’t afford/ not interested enough to buy two more powerful radios. Are there quick disconnect systems available to be able to take my radio out of my truck and use it in my office?

I’m going on a rock climbing trip with some people who have some rocky talkies. I’ve heard great things about them but not sure if I want to drop the money on one yet.

I’ve been looking at the Quansheng UV-K5 as a cheap alternative. What other radios should I be looking at? Is the rocky talkie really worth 3 times the money?

It wasn't anything interesting or fun. It's just a jerk blowing up a repeater with noise.

Last night's post was at a middle suburb. Today at work, in an outer slurb, there was traffic on this channel, obviously on mobiles and a repeater with good range, and then someone started playing a recorded voice snippets, some Japanese-sounding bouncy energetic cowboy music, more recordings including ''you thought you were safe, I found you big Ricky boy'' followed by the non-Arabic singing snippets.

I thought there was some recorded voice snippets saying ''the FTC is coming to hunt you down in a white van right now'', but that might have been a real person who was annoyed. Another real person asked for call sign and another advised them to stay off the radio for everyone's sake.

I was on an HT on simplex and nobody else could hear me , so I wasn't able to ask anyone if they knew what was going on, and I was working, so I didn't stop to write down anyone's call signs.

So, nothing fun or interesting, not a community using the radio for something,, just a jerk.

Hello all, my buddy uploaded some repeaters off his radio via CHIRP. I was having a few issues when he realized that he has a the v2 radio and loaded up in that format. We transferred the repeaters over to the X1 Chirp radio setting and uploaded. Now I am not able to hear him on the radio when transmitting but I see the receive meter ping. If I turn the monitor on I can hear his transmission. Does anyone know of a setting that could have been changed during this debacle that would cause this?

So I am a Canadian who is looking at buying a quansheng uv k6 that is capable of using gmrs frequencies for talking with freinds on road trips and for offroading. What I'm trying to figure out is what sort of licence I might need, if I have the right radio, and if I don't have the right radio or licence what are the actual legal repercussions and will anyone actually be able to catch me/enforce these laws.

I am only asking this because the laws and actual consequences are way too confusing and conflicting to me.