GMRS radios

Community & General Discussion Dr. Prepper
1

I purchased a pair of handheld radios a few weeks ago to have an alternative way to communicate around our town should the cell network fail.
Does anyone have experience using them? I received my FCC license and have been watching YouTube videos to learn how to connect to a repeater.
I’ve managed to get around 2 miles range but the signal is pretty noisy at that distance.

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2

Are they GMRS radios, or HAM radios with GMRS band?

3

They’re the TIDRadio H3’s. They can be set up as HAM, GMRS or open which covers 146Mhz up to 650Mhz perhaps more.

I have them set as GMRS while I get educated.

4

I have a set of Baofeng UV-5G Plus radios. Each came with an extended life battery and 3 different antennas. The longest antenna, though cumbersome will get you the most range. 2 Miles is good for these mini HAM transceivers!

5

I looked at the Baofeng but the TIDRadio were a bit cheaper. 2 radios 4 batteries, 2 antennas and 2 desk chargers for $70. They can be programed with Bluetooth or CHIRP.

I could not get CHIRP to recognize the radios but the Bluetooth interface is not to bad to use.
They charge with USB 3 or the charging cradles which I have not used as I have plenty of cables and chargers.

6

I had the same issue. It’s the crap cables! I was lucky that my cable did work with CHIRP.

7

I kept getting a driver error but couldn’t find a driver for my windows PC.
I’m running Win 10 PRO

8

let me see which one I used. If I can find it, I’ll send it to you!

9

gmrs and 2 meter ham are limited to line of sight. the best thing to do is get a base station with an antenna mounted as high as possible. you can also set up a base as a repeater for extending (Handheld Transceiver) HT to HT range. Also make sure you are using the correct antenna for the band u r using or get a multi-band antenna.

10

The CHIRP cable makes all the difference. I had to get three before I got one that worked for me. It’s all about how the chip in the cable emulates a serial connection and some do it better than others. It is possible to correct bad configurations by editing the COM settings on your PC but that is a bot advanced for the casual user.

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11

Thanks I’ll try a couple of cables. I tried the one that came with the radios but at the price point of the radios I’m sure they’re cheap ones.

12

GMRS is pretty much the new CB radio. Check out myGMRS(dot)com. There is a good repeater in Hamilton, NJ and others.

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13

@brucin Which one did you get?

14

I picked up a pair of the Tidradio TD-H3 off Amazon. They have a kit that comes with desk chargers cables 2 antennas for under $100. These are entry level units but work fine as far as I can tell.

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