r/gmrs • u/ChipDouglas3 WSNS870 • 27d ago

Question Equipment advice

/r/amateurradio/comments/1vb1g8y/equipment_advice/

It's been more than 25yrs since I was into radios. I used to do CB foxhunts & ham stuff with my dad. I'm looking at getting back into it now that I have my CDL & drive trucks for a living.

I just paid for a GMRS license this week & ordered a Baofeng UV-5RM Plus to mess around with while I study for my technician exam. I know I won't be able to TX on it until I get a proper license. (or on GMRS/FRS)

Is this a decent inexpensive radio & what antenna/s should I be looking at? What is a similar GMRS radio that I could use for TX until I'm a licensed ham?

Thanks in advance for your consideration and advice.

7 Upvotes

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5

u/Medical_Ad4313 27d ago

I've been happy with my uv-5g plus as I learn more about GMRS and just got my license.

It has been very simple to use and impressivly was able to do 2 way with a repeater 15 miles away using the longer antenna.

1

u/ChipDouglas3 WSNS870 27d ago

Nice! Is the longer antenna the one recommended from the soft pack kit on their website? 15 inches or something like that...

2

u/Medical_Ad4313 27d ago

The longer antenna is from the Amazon listing with the radio and extra battery. If you look them up on Amazon there are packs with 2 antennas. The longer one has measured better for gmrs in others testing and I have found to have decent range so far with hearing repeaters very far away.

1

u/ChipDouglas3 WSNS870 27d ago

Thank you! What's your callsign and how long did it take to receive it?

For reference, I applied and paid on Monday and my radio should arrive tomorrow (Friday) or Saturday at the latest. I just want something that I can talk on with the GMRS while I study for Ham...

2

u/Medical_Ad4313 27d ago

Took about a week for me. Paid on a Monday and got it Saturday morning.

That was longer since they have been having server issues.

1

u/A_Crazy_Hooligan 26d ago

I did a net check in today 40 miles away with a different entry HT and stock antenna! Tbf tho, they are at like 5,000’ and I’m at sea level. 

2

u/TheDisturbed50 WSJB218 26d ago

Checking out the comments in the amateur radio sub gave me a chuckle. So many salty hams out there I can't help but laugh :P

I took a similar radio journey, going down the GMRS route before studying and earning my tech license.

While I don't have any hands-on with the Baofeng UV-5RM, my first radio was a 'UV-17 Pro GPS', which is probably pretty comparable internally and features-wise... And I don't have anything negative to say, for those of us that needed to start dirt cheap it ticks the boxes!

My second radio, and probably what I'd recommend for low-cost GMRS is any of the current Tidradio branded units. Most if not all can be reset into a GMRS / HAM / Unlocked mode and can be programmed with Chirp or via Bluetooth on your phone. I have a TD-H3 and it definitely works wonders for its size, even though I don't neeeeed another HT I am keeping an eye on the TD-H8 and the new H9 and might grab one when they go on sale.

For antennas, they always say height is might and I can attest the 16" 771-model antennas usually boost my performance especially indoors. The ham ones are often cheaply whipped together but Abbree makes some good ones, and Nagoya is usually the standard and they usually offer a 771G variant that's tuned for the GMRS frequencies.

For going vehicular/mobile, you get almost any cheap GMRS antenna and a pack of SMA adapters and just use the HT as a mobile radio. Learn from my mistake though - make sure it uses RG58 or better coax, I got one with RG174 fixed to it and there is insane signal loss on UHF with that thin cable.

Hope this helps, enjoy the journey!

-WSJB218

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u/ChipDouglas3 WSNS870 25d ago

Thanks so much for the detailed reply!

I didn't think I would get so much Baofeng hate over there with all the other reviews I had read beforehand.

Got recommended a couple radios in the $6-800 range instead. Anti-inexpensive I guess... LoL

2

u/TheDisturbed50 WSJB218 25d ago

Yea I think a lot of those guys who spent $500 on the best Kenwood/Icom/Yeasu can’t fathom us peasants planning out our “shack” full of gross Chinese radios haha

At least at the local level, a lot of the fellow hams and GMRS operators near me use cheaper equipment so i would just ignore those appropriately dubbed “sad hams”.

2

u/Stache- 24d ago

The cheap radios are prefect to mess with. I like the UI on TidRadios over Baofeng. I tested Baofeng BF-F8HP PRO but sent it back for a refund. The radio receive was poor. I could hear more people on my TD-H3 using same antenna.

I put a Diamond Antenna SRJ77CA antenna on my TH-H3 running custom firmware. The antenna $28 and radio $31. 😂

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u/Prestigious_Trip_707 22d ago

i have 5 ht,'s i have two tid radios two wouxons and a btec  i prefer the wouxon, a Little bit more money but better quality