Thanks so much for the positive feedback. Glad this will hopefully help. I realized I forgot to mention that in the CPS software on the left hand side when you click on “Function Setup”, there are some general radio settings you can change there. One of them is a startup message on the radio when you first turn it on. I changed mine to display my GMRS callsign. Within the next day or so I’ll post a follow up video on the Ed Fong J-pole GMRS antenna I use with this. The antenna is awesome. Thanks for watching and best of luck with your new radio 👍
Thanks for the kind words. Glad I could help. I’m really liking this radio so far. Also check out a channel called Gadget Talk. He’s two videos on the DB20-G and his latest from the last day or two shows how you can set the radio to work as a convention ham radio (as long as you have your ham license to transmit). I also love the fact that you can monitor the various ham frequencies with this radio. Thanks for watching.
@@davidturknett4447that’s a great deal. Was it thru Radioddity’s site or Amazon? Also was it the regular GM-30 or the plus? I’ve since unlocked my DB20 for ham (I’ve gotten my Technician license) and it works great for the 2m and 440 Nets I join. I’m using it with a Comet GP-1 dual band antenna in the attic and everyone says it sounds great. To avoid constantly swapping out antenna cables for ham and GMRS, I now just use my Wouxun KG-935G Plus connected to my Ed Fong GMRS antenna, also in the attic. That setup sounds great too. Thanks for watching and for the kind words. Glad I could help.
This is the best video on programming and walk through on features I have watched for this radio, and I have watched many. Very informative. THANK YOU!
Thanks for the kind words. Glad I could help 😊. Look for an upcoming short in the next day or so on some valuable info I just found out from Radioddity technical support today. Thanks for commenting and watching.
@@MikieLAX sorry I never ended up doing a video for this and thanks for the reminder. I had noticed that while the mic has a button for changing the power level, when you press the Fun button and then Pow on the mic, the radio beeps and nothing happens. The power setting will not change. I reached out to Radioddity Tech support and they replied back that you can’t change the power level via the mic. The only way is within the CPS software. I had to change the power from hi to low on my local repeater channel, as I still have my Ed Fong antenna in the same room and haven’t gotten a chance to move it outside yet. I mentioned to Radioddity that it makes no sense to have a power button on the mic that does nothing. They said they might change it in their next release. Not sure if they mean firmware release or model release. Hope that helps. Thanks for watching and commenting.
@@EverydayATV When this radio is "opened up" to allow transmission on the Ham 2 meter and 70 cm Bands (or purchased in that configuration as the DB20-UV), then FUN(A)-POW(0) on the microphone will work to change the power settings.
@@mitchh6702 from what I can remember, I think you can name the channels from the radio as well as from the software. I think I did mine from the software as I was already in there programming the tone codes for my local repeaters. Just keep in mind that for any changes you make on the radio, be sure to download and save a copy of the config to the software. If you don’t and you only upload from the software without using the backup, you will probably lose any changes you made on the radio itself. Hope that helps.
Thank for this video I wanted to buy this gmrs radioddity 20 but I was nervous because I don't know how to program it now seen the video I have more of idea thank you
My computer only shows 3 comports when choosing - i've tried each one but everytime i get a "Fail to read Data" message , is there drivers or something that was suppose to come with the Radio? I reinstalled the Software after un-installing it, but it still does the same thing. Any help would be appreciated.
Great video. I just got one of these and appreciate all the tips for this unit. Slight technical correction on the FRS vs GMRS channels: FRS and GMRS share all 22 channels. The 1st 7 are 5 watts on GMRS, 2 on FRS, the middle 7 are a half watt on both services (as they're shuffled with the transmit frequencies for the repeater channels), but most mobile radios can't run that low power, so they're receive only. And then there are the last 8 which are up to 50 watts on GMRS (still 2 on FRS). Plus the repeater channels.
Much appreciated on the explanation of the channels. I often end up looking at a channel chart just to keep them straight. Yes lots of shared channels for sure. 99% of the time I’m just on one of several of our clubs repeater channels. Kind of set and forget. Thanks for watching and commenting.
That confused me on why the 1st 7 showed the L (Low Power) I guess that stood for 5 Watts correct? The 8-14 only 0.5 Watt correct? then 15 - 22 are high Watt correct? so only 8 Chanels at at high watt (20 watts in this case) which are shared with the repeater chanels. Am I correct on all that? Been looking at this radio. Just not sure. Also what antenna works well with it. Thanks in advance.
@@Pirate19501 That's correct. This (and any other mobile GMRS type-accespted radio I'm aware of) can't and won't transmit on 8-14 because of the extremely low output limits on those, due to them being between the repeater input frequencies. If you unlock the radio, you CAN do it, but I wouldn't unless it was an emergency and those channels were, for whatever reason, your only way to communicate. Otherwise you risk stepping on the repeater inputs.
Sure, it’s a Realistic (Radio Shack) 13.8v 25a power supply from 1988 that I used to use to power my battery charger for my radio control cars. Thanks for watching. Here is what it looks like. www.ebay.com/itm/145687880371
Why does it evenhave channels 8-14 when you can't transmit on them? I get that you can monitor them... but can you just replace them? Seems like a waste of space. Also wish you could have more than 9 do it yourself channels, having a few hundred channel slots but you can only really transmit on the few slots that let you store repeaters. is this an FCC requirement (not letting you have more custom GMRS channel slots)?
The cable has an RJ45 plug at one end that plugs into the mic jack and a USB plug at the other that goes into your computer. That’s it. Comes with the radio. You can see what it looks like here. www.radioddity.com/products/radioddity-db20g#gallery-9
Did you have any trouble getting ctcss or dcs tones to work ? I had a db-25g and I switched to the db20 and glad I did. Much more user friendly and better display lay out. Just trying to figure out the ctcss coding to filter out other chatter when in a caravan on the road/trail
Chirp unfortunately does not support the DB20-G nor my Wouxun KG935-G. They each use their own programming software, which is very similar to Chirp. Chirp does support my BTech GMRS-V2. Nice thing about Chirp is that it also runs on MAC-OS. Radioddity and Wouxun’s CPS software only runs on Windows. Hope that helps and thanks for watching.
I did the trick of holding down the V/M button while turning it on to change the bands this radio can be used on. However, when I try to scan frequencies I programed into the radio, it doesn't scan the memory. None of them have the skip box checked, and when I program something in GMRS mode, the memories are scanned. Any thoughts as to how to fix this?
Hey Steve, I don’t have access to my CPS software for the next week or so, but let me try to talk you through it. When the radio is set up as the default GMRS, I had noticed that the scan function on the mic does not work for GMRS. Once you unlock the radio, you still have to enable a scan function in the CPS software. Just make sure that everything is backed up before you switch over from GMRS as you will lose all your channels you have programmed. When you do switch over and open it up, you also have to do the same within the CPS software, and there is a setting in there that you have to turn back on in order to allow the radio to scan. Hope that helps.
@@steves5825 glad it worked. I actually had posted in one of the radio forums as to why the scanning still didn’t work for me after unlocking the radio. Don’t know how I missed it in one of the CPS menus.
If you have your GMRS license and call sign, you can look into NSEA.com. They are the only one I know of in the Chicago area. I just got my Technician license for amateur radio and for amateur, there’s ChicagoFM Club and North Shore Radio club. I went for my technicians license since GMRS seemed so limited. Hope that helps. www.nsea.com
Did you try right clicking on the line where you double clicked? How does the fan kick on when transmitting? I didn’t like the db25g because the fan would kick on immediately after starting transmit
I just went back into the software and tried right-clicking on the row number and even on every field on that line. Unfortunately right-clicking does nothing. The only action that seems to work is double-clicking the arrows in the “more” column to open up the editing dialog box. Since the DB20-G is only 20 watts, there is no cooling fan. That was the other thing I liked better over the DB25. That and the fact I like the display layout better on the DB20. Thanks for commenting and for watching.
Thanks. I’m using the Ed Fong GMRS J-Pole. I did another video on it. th-cam.com/video/DJ7B5CMfH1w/w-d-xo.html Please note that I have since found out it’s not safe to run the antenna in the same room at the full 20 watts. I am therefore running it at 4 watts (the same as my handhelds) until I can relocate it in my attic. It’s a great little antenna. Thanks for commenting and watching.
Yes. I power it with a 25A regulated power supply that provides 13.8V. I used to use this power supply for charging my RC car battery packs. I’m using the Ed Fong GMRS J-Pole antenna in my window. I did a separate review on the antenna. Thanks for commenting and watching.
I really wish this radio would do analog APRS messaging like it does DMR analog messaging. But it only does beaconing in analog APRS. I don’t get why Raddiodity won’t add that feature in a firmware update.
@@gonkuz it’s menu item #12 on the radio. Page 17 in the manual has the details on scrolling through the characters. radioddity.s3.amazonaws.com/Radioddity_DB20-G_User_Manual_V3.0_20220310.pdf
@@EverydayATV i already placed the channel name. But it can't be save. If i go to another channel the name that i type will be erase and go back to frequency mode
@@gonkuz I just confirmed this works on mine. Press the FUN button to bring up the menu and then use the V/M button to scroll to menu 12, which is channel name. Use the up and down arrow keys to scroll thru the alphabet values. When you want to go to the next character, hit the MON key and repeat for the next letter. When your name is complete, hit the V/M key to go to menu 13. The name should be saved on the display. You can hit the MAIN button to go back down to menu 12 if needed. Hit the FUN key to take you out of the menu and back to the main screen.
Can you us CHIRP to program this radio instead of their propitiatory programming software. Only reason might be because with CHIRP you can use it on APPLE MAC or PC WINDOWS but their software is PC WINDOWS only.
@@glenn_r_frank_author I just downloaded the latest version of Chirp and they still only support the DB25-G and not the DB20-G. At this point I don’t know if Chirp will ever support this model.
Is there anything I can do to get a better instruction book. I cannot get my radio screen to look like yours. Only shows frequency no matter what I press. So frustrating
Pasting my answer I had given someone else for the same type of question. Hope this helps. Press the “FUN” key on your radio. It should display setting 01. Continue to press the “V/M” key to setting 12-Channel Name. There should be a name there. If you want custom channel names, you can change it here or via the CPS software. Keep pressing the “V/M” key to get to setting 19-DSPSUB. This is the option for the Sub-Display. Use the Up arrow key to set it to “OFF”. Continue with the “V/M” key to get to setting 29-DSPCHANNEL. Make sure it is set to “NAME”. Those are the 3 settings you need to get your display to look like mine with it displaying the Memory Channel Number, the Channel Name and the Channel Frequency all on the same screen. Hope that helps. Thanks for watching.
Powering the DB20 and programming it are done with two separate cables. The radio is powered by 12-13.8V DC via the power cable on the back of the radio. This plugs into either your car’s 12v plug or a 12v power supply if you use it indoors as a base station like I’m doing. The programming of the radio is done with the supplied programming cable that plugs into the microphone jack on the radio. The other end is a USB plug that will plug into the USB socket on either a Windows laptop or Windows desktop computer. Either way the radio still has to be powered via the 12v cord on the back of the radio. The USB programming cable does not power the radio. Hope that helps. Thanks for watching.
Are you editing the channel in the radio itself via the radio menu or programming it in the Radioddity CPS software on the computer? I’ll then check it out on my radio when I’m back home next week.
On the line you want to delete/remove, just double click on the first set of numbers in the line (462.XXXX) when it changes color delete the numbers, then click on another line, all the information on that line is now gone.
Hello, I live in Antioch Il, just noticed you are local. Purchased this radio (completely new to GMRS). Would love to chat and hopefully get some pointers.
Congrats on the purchase. I think you’ll really like this radio. If you already have your GMRS callsign, you can sign up and create an account on myGMRS.com. You can then request access to the Chain O’ Lakes repeater near you. I catch people on it all the time. You can also check out NSEA.com. Hopefully you can hit their repeater from your location. They have a Net every Sunday night at 7pm CT. Last thing I wanted to mention is that if you use the DB20-G indoors, if you are using anything other than low power, make sure your antenna is not in the same room (have it in the attic or outside). I have not been able to relocate my Ed Fong GMRS antenna outside yet, so I have my DB20-G programmed to only transmit on low power (4 watts) for any of the channels I transmit on. Hope that helps. Thanks for watching and for commenting.
@EverydayATV have it installed in my Jeep Gladiator, I can hear conversations but can't get anybody to respond to me. Oh well guess I just keep messing with it
@@randygraham1788 if you’re hearing the conversation on 462.625 then that’s the Chain O’ Lakes repeater they are talking on. You can hear them but they can’t hear you until you enter the correct tone that will open the repeater. Once access is granted to you for that repeater and they give you the input and output tones (2 difference tones for that repeater), they should be able to hear you. What antenna are you using on the Gladiator? Just a side note, keep an eye on it for the paint blistering that affects both the JL’s and the JT Gladiators. I did a video on it regarding the issue on our JL.
@EverydayATV my wife's 2018 JL has paint blistering, especially around the door hinges, this is my 7th jeep and know the pros and cons of owning wrangler. The antenna is just a cheap stubby (VHF UHF 136-174MHz 400-470MHz NMO) would it pay off to upgrade it?
@@randygraham1788 not really sure what antenna to use in that situation. Right now just using mine as a base station but would have the same antenna issues with the Jeep or my aluminum F-150 as you can’t use a magnet mount on either. Thinking of the Midland ghost antenna with the front fender bracket.
More so a marketing term from Radioddity. Dual Channel is more accurate, as you can monitor two channels at the same time. However, while you can only transmit on the GMRS band (UHF), it does allow you listen to both VHF and UHF.
Press the “FUN” key on your radio. It should display setting 01. Continue to press the “V/M” key to setting 12-Channel Name. There should be a name there. If you want custom channel names, you can change it here or via the CPS software. Keep pressing the “V/M” key to get to setting 19-DSPSUB. This is the option for the Sub-Display. Use the Up arrow key to set it to “OFF”. Continue with the “V/M” key to get to setting 29-DSPCHANNEL. Make sure it is set to “NAME”. Those are the 3 settings you need to get your display to look like mine with it displaying the Memory Channel Number, the Channel Name and the Channel Frequency all on the same screen. Hope that helps. Thanks for watching.
@@EverydayATV thanks for the info. I tried that but it just blanks out the bottom. I was hoping to have name on top and frequency on bottom and synced so I could see like RPT-20 on top and 462.675 on bottom
@@worldwide_wes ok I think I might have figured out what your issue is. The 3 settings I gave you above are correct. I just did a factory reset on my radio. Even with the settings I gave you, it will only display the frequency on the top line and nothing on the bottom. That’s because the Name in setting 12 is blank. As soon as I gave it a fake test channel name, that name showed up on the top line and the frequency was then shown on the bottom. As soon as I moved to the next channel (once again not having a channel name), the frequency would show on the top again and nothing on the bottom. Bottom line is, make sure you give each of your channels a name either via CPS or setting 12 on the radio menu. Fingers crossed. Now I’m going back and restoring my radio via CPS to my last backup. Lol.
Do not buy the BTech it sucks. Their customer service is also poor as well mine quit working after 6 months and it's not like it was abused it was in the cab of my pickup truck the whole time
Hey man got another question if you don't mind letting me know if yours behaves the same? I cannot get channel name to save without the CPS software. What happens is I can change the name via the menus and hit "Fun" to try to save it. It seems to work at first and shows you the new name on screen. However, as soon as you change channels and then return to the new channel the name "unsaves" itself somehow and it's driving me crazy! I can use CPS but really wanted to be able to add and rename new channels while on an upcoming trip without the need to lug a windows computer with me. thanks!
I tested it out today and it seems to work. Go to the channel you want to rename. Hit the Fun key and scroll to option 12. Use the Mon key to go to the letter position and then the up or down arrows to change the letter. Make sure to hit Mon to go to the next letter position and hit Mon again to move off the letter position when done. Then hit the Fun key to exit. For me it then showed the proper name even after I changed to a different channel and back again and even after powering off and back on again.
@@EverydayATV thanks fo r checking! Everything acts like it works but it just doesn't fully save, I must have something going on with mine. I sent a message to their support team.
@@worldwide_wes good idea on the message. Their support team is pretty good. I recently sent them a message asking why I can’t set the power setting via the Power key on the mic. Thought maybe something was wrong with my radio but they said that function is disabled on the mic for their GMRS versions. They said the only way to change a power setting for a given channel is via CPS. Go figure.
@@EverydayATV I think I just figured it out. I unlocked mine for HAM bands, so just to try it out I switched it back to GMRS-only mode and voila, same steps save the channel and it sticks. Super weird though you wouldn't think that setting would be affected whatever mode its in
Thank you for a very clear, straight forward tutorial. Esp with the CPS. That was very much appreciated.
@@charleslamont2963 thank you for the kind words and glad I could help 👍.
Thanks for watching and commenting.
This is a fantastic, in-depth look at this radio. I just bought a DB20-G and this is exactly what I needed to get started.
Thanks so much for the positive feedback. Glad this will hopefully help. I realized I forgot to mention that in the CPS software on the left hand side when you click on “Function Setup”, there are some general radio settings you can change there. One of them is a startup message on the radio when you first turn it on. I changed mine to display my GMRS callsign.
Within the next day or so I’ll post a follow up video on the Ed Fong J-pole GMRS antenna I use with this. The antenna is awesome.
Thanks for watching and best of luck with your new radio 👍
My DB20-G arrives next week and this is exactly what I needed to watch before it showed up. Thank you!
Just got my DB20-G and appreciate your video. Has helped a lot with understanding how it works and the programming.
Thanks for the kind words. Glad I could help. I’m really liking this radio so far. Also check out a channel called Gadget Talk. He’s two videos on the DB20-G and his latest from the last day or two shows how you can set the radio to work as a convention ham radio (as long as you have your ham license to transmit).
I also love the fact that you can monitor the various ham frequencies with this radio.
Thanks for watching.
My DB20 and GM-30 was delivered today. $109 for both, couldn't pass it up. This video was great!
@@davidturknett4447that’s a great deal. Was it thru Radioddity’s site or Amazon? Also was it the regular GM-30 or the plus?
I’ve since unlocked my DB20 for ham (I’ve gotten my Technician license) and it works great for the 2m and 440 Nets I join. I’m using it with a Comet GP-1 dual band antenna in the attic and everyone says it sounds great. To avoid constantly swapping out antenna cables for ham and GMRS, I now just use my Wouxun KG-935G Plus connected to my Ed Fong GMRS antenna, also in the attic. That setup sounds great too.
Thanks for watching and for the kind words. Glad I could help.
I’ve had my DB20G for two years now and I have learned new things about this radio, thanks
Glad I was able to help.
Thanks for commenting and watching.
Great video. Gonna pick a couple of these radios for my truck and the wifes car. Thanks for the info!
was going to send it back,your great video saved me thanks !
THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU, I could not figure this out and YOU made it easy.
This is the best video on programming and walk through on features I have watched for this radio, and I have watched many. Very informative. THANK YOU!
Thanks for the kind words. Glad I could help 😊. Look for an upcoming short in the next day or so on some valuable info I just found out from Radioddity technical support today.
Thanks for commenting and watching.
@@EverydayATV I can't find the "upcoming short." Thank you!
@@MikieLAX sorry I never ended up doing a video for this and thanks for the reminder. I had noticed that while the mic has a button for changing the power level, when you press the Fun button and then Pow on the mic, the radio beeps and nothing happens. The power setting will not change. I reached out to Radioddity Tech support and they replied back that you can’t change the power level via the mic. The only way is within the CPS software. I had to change the power from hi to low on my local repeater channel, as I still have my Ed Fong antenna in the same room and haven’t gotten a chance to move it outside yet. I mentioned to Radioddity that it makes no sense to have a power button on the mic that does nothing. They said they might change it in their next release. Not sure if they mean firmware release or model release. Hope that helps.
Thanks for watching and commenting.
@@EverydayATV When this radio is "opened up" to allow transmission on the Ham 2 meter and 70 cm Bands (or purchased in that configuration as the DB20-UV), then FUN(A)-POW(0) on the microphone will work to change the power settings.
@@MikieLAX good info, thanks. That makes sense then why it’s there on the mic 👍
Nice review you detail the radio very clearly. Great job!
Best lesson in using this radio. A++ thanks!
Excellent video on the DB20-G ! I was quite intimidated by the programming on the PC until I watched your video. I will give it a try! Thanks!
Thanks for watching and commenting. Hopefully this will help you out 👍
Is there any way to save the channel name when programming from the radio itself in the field? It looks much easier to do from the PC programming!
@@mitchh6702 from what I can remember, I think you can name the channels from the radio as well as from the software. I think I did mine from the software as I was already in there programming the tone codes for my local repeaters. Just keep in mind that for any changes you make on the radio, be sure to download and save a copy of the config to the software. If you don’t and you only upload from the software without using the backup, you will probably lose any changes you made on the radio itself. Hope that helps.
Bless Got one coming, so your video help me to learn the radio. Thanks 😊
Glad I could help. Good luck with yours. I’m really liking mine.
Thanks for watching and commenting.
Thank for this video I wanted to buy this gmrs radioddity 20 but I was nervous because I don't know how to program it now seen the video I have more of idea thank you
My computer only shows 3 comports when choosing - i've tried each one but everytime i get a "Fail to read Data" message , is there drivers or something that was suppose to come with the Radio? I reinstalled the Software after un-installing it, but it still does the same thing. Any help would be appreciated.
That was extremely good....... Thank You
Great video. I just got one of these and appreciate all the tips for this unit.
Slight technical correction on the FRS vs GMRS channels: FRS and GMRS share all 22 channels. The 1st 7 are 5 watts on GMRS, 2 on FRS, the middle 7 are a half watt on both services (as they're shuffled with the transmit frequencies for the repeater channels), but most mobile radios can't run that low power, so they're receive only. And then there are the last 8 which are up to 50 watts on GMRS (still 2 on FRS). Plus the repeater channels.
Much appreciated on the explanation of the channels. I often end up looking at a channel chart just to keep them straight. Yes lots of shared channels for sure. 99% of the time I’m just on one of several of our clubs repeater channels. Kind of set and forget.
Thanks for watching and commenting.
@@EverydayATV Man, I'm forever looking this stuff up. Too many movie quotes stored in the ol' noodle to remember useful things like this.
That confused me on why the 1st 7 showed the L (Low Power) I guess that stood for 5 Watts correct? The 8-14 only 0.5 Watt correct? then 15 - 22 are high Watt correct? so only 8 Chanels at at high watt (20 watts in this case) which are shared with the repeater chanels. Am I correct on all that? Been looking at this radio. Just not sure. Also what antenna works well with it. Thanks in advance.
@@Pirate19501 That's correct. This (and any other mobile GMRS type-accespted radio I'm aware of) can't and won't transmit on 8-14 because of the extremely low output limits on those, due to them being between the repeater input frequencies.
If you unlock the radio, you CAN do it, but I wouldn't unless it was an emergency and those channels were, for whatever reason, your only way to communicate. Otherwise you risk stepping on the repeater inputs.
@@aMaff Thank you. This radio worth the $$$ Radioddity DB20-G GMRS Mobile Radio
May I ask what exactly you are using to power this radio in your house?
Sure, it’s a Realistic (Radio Shack) 13.8v 25a power supply from 1988 that I used to use to power my battery charger for my radio control cars. Thanks for watching.
Here is what it looks like.
www.ebay.com/itm/145687880371
Why does it evenhave channels 8-14 when you can't transmit on them? I get that you can monitor them... but can you just replace them? Seems like a waste of space. Also wish you could have more than 9 do it yourself channels, having a few hundred channel slots but you can only really transmit on the few slots that let you store repeaters. is this an FCC requirement (not letting you have more custom GMRS channel slots)?
You can height the first and second frequency and hit delete
It would have been helpful if you showed the programming cable!
The cable has an RJ45 plug at one end that plugs into the mic jack and a USB plug at the other that goes into your computer. That’s it. Comes with the radio.
You can see what it looks like here.
www.radioddity.com/products/radioddity-db20g#gallery-9
Guys,, wondering, is available for tech license or just Gen & Extra?
Not a Ham radio. GMRS license not tech, gen or extra is needed to transmit.
It's easily unlocked to transmit on 2m and 70c if you so desire
Did you have any trouble getting ctcss or dcs tones to work ? I had a db-25g and I switched to the db20 and glad I did. Much more user friendly and better display lay out. Just trying to figure out the ctcss coding to filter out other chatter when in a caravan on the road/trail
Do you know if this radio is supported by chirp?
Chirp unfortunately does not support the DB20-G nor my Wouxun KG935-G. They each use their own programming software, which is very similar to Chirp. Chirp does support my BTech GMRS-V2. Nice thing about Chirp is that it also runs on MAC-OS. Radioddity and Wouxun’s CPS software only runs on Windows.
Hope that helps and thanks for watching.
I did the trick of holding down the V/M button while turning it on to change the bands this radio can be used on. However, when I try to scan frequencies I programed into the radio, it doesn't scan the memory. None of them have the skip box checked, and when I program something in GMRS mode, the memories are scanned. Any thoughts as to how to fix this?
Hey Steve, I don’t have access to my CPS software for the next week or so, but let me try to talk you through it. When the radio is set up as the default GMRS, I had noticed that the scan function on the mic does not work for GMRS. Once you unlock the radio, you still have to enable a scan function in the CPS software. Just make sure that everything is backed up before you switch over from GMRS as you will lose all your channels you have programmed. When you do switch over and open it up, you also have to do the same within the CPS software, and there is a setting in there that you have to turn back on in order to allow the radio to scan. Hope that helps.
@EverydayATV Thank you so much! I was able to find this setting, and it worked. Can't believe I missed this.
Thanks again!
@@steves5825 glad it worked. I actually had posted in one of the radio forums as to why the scanning still didn’t work for me after unlocking the radio. Don’t know how I missed it in one of the CPS menus.
Hi. I am a beginner to GMRS. I live in Chicago is there any GMRS radio club. Thanks
If you have your GMRS license and call sign, you can look into NSEA.com. They are the only one I know of in the Chicago area. I just got my Technician license for amateur radio and for amateur, there’s ChicagoFM Club and North Shore Radio club. I went for my technicians license since GMRS seemed so limited. Hope that helps.
www.nsea.com
Did you try right clicking on the line where you double clicked? How does the fan kick on when transmitting? I didn’t like the db25g because the fan would kick on immediately after starting transmit
I just went back into the software and tried right-clicking on the row number and even on every field on that line. Unfortunately right-clicking does nothing. The only action that seems to work is double-clicking the arrows in the “more” column to open up the editing dialog box.
Since the DB20-G is only 20 watts, there is no cooling fan. That was the other thing I liked better over the DB25. That and the fact I like the display layout better on the DB20.
Thanks for commenting and for watching.
@@EverydayATV appreciate the detailed reply. Thanks for the video I subbed
@@worldwide_wes thanks for the Sub. Much appreciated. GMRS antenna video coming later tonight or tomorrow at the latest.
Thank you for the review. What type of antenna did you use for your base station (assuming you are using this as a base station)? Thank you.
Thanks. I’m using the Ed Fong GMRS J-Pole. I did another video on it. th-cam.com/video/DJ7B5CMfH1w/w-d-xo.html
Please note that I have since found out it’s not safe to run the antenna in the same room at the full 20 watts. I am therefore running it at 4 watts (the same as my handhelds) until I can relocate it in my attic. It’s a great little antenna.
Thanks for commenting and watching.
@@EverydayATV Ahh okay sir. Thank you for the response and you’re welcome.
@@EverydayATV Also, is this radio both wide and narrow band? Thank you.
@@MichaelAMartin777 yes it does both.
@@EverydayATV thank you sir.
Nice radio so you have it setup as a base ?
Yes. I power it with a 25A regulated power supply that provides 13.8V. I used to use this power supply for charging my RC car battery packs. I’m using the Ed Fong GMRS J-Pole antenna in my window. I did a separate review on the antenna.
Thanks for commenting and watching.
@@EverydayATV oh ok well thank you for answering my question I appreciate it
I really wish this radio would do analog APRS messaging like it does DMR analog messaging. But it only does beaconing in analog APRS. I don’t get why Raddiodity won’t add that feature in a firmware update.
How do you save channel name without using the cps?
@@gonkuz it’s menu item #12 on the radio. Page 17 in the manual has the details on scrolling through the characters.
radioddity.s3.amazonaws.com/Radioddity_DB20-G_User_Manual_V3.0_20220310.pdf
@@EverydayATV i already placed the channel name. But it can't be save. If i go to another channel the name that i type will be erase and go back to frequency mode
@@gonkuz I just confirmed this works on mine. Press the FUN button to bring up the menu and then use the V/M button to scroll to menu 12, which is channel name. Use the up and down arrow keys to scroll thru the alphabet values. When you want to go to the next character, hit the MON key and repeat for the next letter. When your name is complete, hit the V/M key to go to menu 13. The name should be saved on the display. You can hit the MAIN button to go back down to menu 12 if needed. Hit the FUN key to take you out of the menu and back to the main screen.
Can you us CHIRP to program this radio instead of their propitiatory programming software. Only reason might be because with CHIRP you can use it on APPLE MAC or PC WINDOWS but their software is PC WINDOWS only.
@@glenn_r_frank_author I just downloaded the latest version of Chirp and they still only support the DB25-G and not the DB20-G. At this point I don’t know if Chirp will ever support this model.
I’d be interested in knowing what weather group u r in? 73 (Ham & GMRS licensed here.)
Is there anything I can do to get a better instruction book. I cannot get my radio screen to look like yours. Only shows frequency no matter what I press. So frustrating
Pasting my answer I had given someone else for the same type of question. Hope this helps.
Press the “FUN” key on your radio. It should display setting 01. Continue to press the “V/M” key to setting 12-Channel Name. There should be a name there. If you want custom channel names, you can change it here or via the CPS software. Keep pressing the “V/M” key to get to setting 19-DSPSUB. This is the option for the Sub-Display. Use the Up arrow key to set it to “OFF”. Continue with the “V/M” key to get to setting 29-DSPCHANNEL. Make sure it is set to “NAME”.
Those are the 3 settings you need to get your display to look like mine with it displaying the Memory Channel Number, the Channel Name and the Channel Frequency all on the same screen. Hope that helps.
Thanks for watching.
That was perfect!! Thanks so much!!
I have a dumb question. Let’s say I don’t have a laptop, how would I power the radio to program it to a PC?
Powering the DB20 and programming it are done with two separate cables. The radio is powered by 12-13.8V DC via the power cable on the back of the radio. This plugs into either your car’s 12v plug or a 12v power supply if you use it indoors as a base station like I’m doing.
The programming of the radio is done with the supplied programming cable that plugs into the microphone jack on the radio. The other end is a USB plug that will plug into the USB socket on either a Windows laptop or Windows desktop computer. Either way the radio still has to be powered via the 12v cord on the back of the radio. The USB programming cable does not power the radio.
Hope that helps. Thanks for watching.
Everytime I name my channel it doesn’t save. It goes right back to the frequency or channel number. It won’t save the name I enter. Any ideas? Thanks.
Are you editing the channel in the radio itself via the radio menu or programming it in the Radioddity CPS software on the computer? I’ll then check it out on my radio when I’m back home next week.
On the line you want to delete/remove, just double click on the first set of numbers in the line (462.XXXX) when it changes color delete the numbers, then click on another line, all the information on that line is now gone.
Thanks for the info. Very helpful to myself and others that may run across this same issue.
Thanks for watching.
Hello, I live in Antioch Il, just noticed you are local. Purchased this radio (completely new to GMRS). Would love to chat and hopefully get some pointers.
Congrats on the purchase. I think you’ll really like this radio. If you already have your GMRS callsign, you can sign up and create an account on myGMRS.com. You can then request access to the Chain O’ Lakes repeater near you. I catch people on it all the time. You can also check out NSEA.com. Hopefully you can hit their repeater from your location. They have a Net every Sunday night at 7pm CT. Last thing I wanted to mention is that if you use the DB20-G indoors, if you are using anything other than low power, make sure your antenna is not in the same room (have it in the attic or outside). I have not been able to relocate my Ed Fong GMRS antenna outside yet, so I have my DB20-G programmed to only transmit on low power (4 watts) for any of the channels I transmit on. Hope that helps.
Thanks for watching and for commenting.
@EverydayATV have it installed in my Jeep Gladiator, I can hear conversations but can't get anybody to respond to me. Oh well guess I just keep messing with it
@@randygraham1788 if you’re hearing the conversation on 462.625 then that’s the Chain O’ Lakes repeater they are talking on. You can hear them but they can’t hear you until you enter the correct tone that will open the repeater. Once access is granted to you for that repeater and they give you the input and output tones (2 difference tones for that repeater), they should be able to hear you.
What antenna are you using on the Gladiator? Just a side note, keep an eye on it for the paint blistering that affects both the JL’s and the JT Gladiators. I did a video on it regarding the issue on our JL.
@EverydayATV my wife's 2018 JL has paint blistering, especially around the door hinges, this is my 7th jeep and know the pros and cons of owning wrangler. The antenna is just a cheap stubby (VHF UHF 136-174MHz 400-470MHz NMO) would it pay off to upgrade it?
@@randygraham1788 not really sure what antenna to use in that situation. Right now just using mine as a base station but would have the same antenna issues with the Jeep or my aluminum F-150 as you can’t use a magnet mount on either. Thinking of the Midland ghost antenna with the front fender bracket.
Dual Band in GMRS??
More so a marketing term from Radioddity. Dual Channel is more accurate, as you can monitor two channels at the same time. However, while you can only transmit on the GMRS band (UHF), it does allow you listen to both VHF and UHF.
Be warned, there is a menu item buried in Radioddity’s CPS that will change the menu language. And it defaults to Chinese. Ask me how I know.
You know Chinese 😂😂😂
I can’t get my radio to read gmrs 2 on the top line. It is just frequemcy.
Can’t figure out how to turn off dual channel mode how did you disable it?
Press the “FUN” key on your radio. It should display setting 01. Continue to press the “V/M” key to setting 12-Channel Name. There should be a name there. If you want custom channel names, you can change it here or via the CPS software. Keep pressing the “V/M” key to get to setting 19-DSPSUB. This is the option for the Sub-Display. Use the Up arrow key to set it to “OFF”. Continue with the “V/M” key to get to setting 29-DSPCHANNEL. Make sure it is set to “NAME”.
Those are the 3 settings you need to get your display to look like mine with it displaying the Memory Channel Number, the Channel Name and the Channel Frequency all on the same screen. Hope that helps.
Thanks for watching.
@@EverydayATV thanks for the info. I tried that but it just blanks out the bottom. I was hoping to have name on top and frequency on bottom and synced so I could see like RPT-20 on top and 462.675 on bottom
@@worldwide_wes ok I think I might have figured out what your issue is. The 3 settings I gave you above are correct. I just did a factory reset on my radio. Even with the settings I gave you, it will only display the frequency on the top line and nothing on the bottom. That’s because the Name in setting 12 is blank. As soon as I gave it a fake test channel name, that name showed up on the top line and the frequency was then shown on the bottom. As soon as I moved to the next channel (once again not having a channel name), the frequency would show on the top again and nothing on the bottom.
Bottom line is, make sure you give each of your channels a name either via CPS or setting 12 on the radio menu. Fingers crossed. Now I’m going back and restoring my radio via CPS to my last backup. Lol.
@@EverydayATV ahhhh how dumb?! I will give that a try thanks again for the support
@@worldwide_wes anytime!!! Let me know if it ends up working 🤞
Do not buy the BTech it sucks. Their customer service is also poor as well mine quit working after 6 months and it's not like it was abused it was in the cab of my pickup truck the whole time
Hey man got another question if you don't mind letting me know if yours behaves the same? I cannot get channel name to save without the CPS software.
What happens is I can change the name via the menus and hit "Fun" to try to save it. It seems to work at first and shows you the new name on screen. However, as soon as you change channels and then return to the new channel the name "unsaves" itself somehow and it's driving me crazy! I can use CPS but really wanted to be able to add and rename new channels while on an upcoming trip without the need to lug a windows computer with me.
thanks!
I tested it out today and it seems to work. Go to the channel you want to rename. Hit the Fun key and scroll to option 12. Use the Mon key to go to the letter position and then the up or down arrows to change the letter. Make sure to hit Mon to go to the next letter position and hit Mon again to move off the letter position when done. Then hit the Fun key to exit. For me it then showed the proper name even after I changed to a different channel and back again and even after powering off and back on again.
@@EverydayATV thanks fo r checking! Everything acts like it works but it just doesn't fully save, I must have something going on with mine. I sent a message to their support team.
@@worldwide_wes good idea on the message. Their support team is pretty good. I recently sent them a message asking why I can’t set the power setting via the Power key on the mic. Thought maybe something was wrong with my radio but they said that function is disabled on the mic for their GMRS versions. They said the only way to change a power setting for a given channel is via CPS. Go figure.
@@EverydayATV I think I just figured it out. I unlocked mine for HAM bands, so just to try it out I switched it back to GMRS-only mode and voila, same steps save the channel and it sticks. Super weird though you wouldn't think that setting would be affected whatever mode its in