| Club Radios |
The Corvette Club of Utah uses GMRS Radios to communicate with each other when we are traveling together on day trips or longer overnight cruises. In the past, we have offered custom radios with external microphones, external antenna’s, and a DC power supply that works from your the auxiliary power plug in your Corvette. Club custom radios are no longer available. Unfortunately, we are unable to source some of the parts needed to build these custom radios and are recommending you purchase off the shelf GMRS radios instead. On Amazon, you can find a set of two Midland GMRS radios (Model GXT1000VP4) with DC and AC chargers that are equivalent to what the club currently uses. If you want an external microphone, you would have to buy the microphone separately. If you want an external antenna, you would also have to buy the antenna separately. The radio is battery operated and uses a rubber (rubber ducky) antenna. The batteries last 6 to 8 hours and then the radio has to be recharged. You use the provided recharging stand and use the DC Power Supply if recharging in the Corvette or the AC Power Supply if charging at home or in a motel room. You have two radios so you can use one while recharging the other. (See the linked product description sheet for more details) You can also buy a Caseline Hard Case for Midland GXT1000VP4 Two-Way Radios (Case Model 4336323820) to store your radios and chargers while at home or on the road. The case will hold both radios, the charging stand and both power supplies. Both the radio set and hard case can be bought from Amazon on the internet. The radio set currently sells for $79.99 and the hard case sells for $16.99. IMPORTANT: On the Midland GMRS Radios, the club operates on GMRS Channel 4 (462.6375Mhz), not Channel 14 which is a custom channel programmed on the CCU custom made radio. Channel 14 was chosen for the custom radio because some club members are ham radio operators and the GMRS Channel 4 frequency was programmed on their ham radio to replicate GRMS Channel 4. The club uses a privacy code (203.5 Hz) on the GMRS radios to keep other radio users from hearing us and to keep us from hearing them. If the privacy code is not loaded on your radio you may be able to hear the group but may not be able to talk to them and vice versa. On the Midland Radios, select CHANNEL 4, push the MENU button twice. Use the Up and Down buttons to select CTCSS Codes. Press the MENU button again and the Up and Down buttons to select CTCSS Code 32 (203.5 Hz). The Privacy Code icon on the radio display will indicate if you set the Privacy Code in CTCSS or DCS mode. It must be CTCSS mode. Confirm the selection by pressing PTT (Press To Talk) button or press the MENU button again to move to the next feature setting. (See the Midland User’s guide that came with radios for more details or to see all of the available privacy codes.) You can see and/or print a flyer (Product Description Sheet) for the Midland Radios by clicking on Midland Radio. A two pack of these radios are available from Amazon.com |
