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Even the FCC doesn't seem to care about type-approval, although technically it's required for a radio to be approved for the frequencies upon which you transmit. What people DO care about is being a good and considerate user of the airwaves. As mentioned, on the "interstitial" frequencies (channels 8-14) you're operating very close to the repeater inputs and could potentially cause interference. Besides, it's a jerk move to jack up the power and walk all over everyone else trying to use the frequency. I set my...err...I mean...if I were programming an AR-5RM to operate on GMRS/FRS frequencies, I'd set channels 8-14 to receive only. If there's a genuine emergency (defined by the FCC as an immediate threat to life or property and no other means of communication is available, it takes only a few seconds to turn on the transmit feature if you know what you're doing. If you don't bring attention to yourself by being a jackwagon, nobody will know and few will care which flavor of 5RM you're using. However, unless you plan to eventually get an amateur radio license, most of the features of the ham variants will mean nothing to you and you'll get no use out of them. The wacky part is that sometimes it's cheaper to buy the ham version than the GMRS version, which is probably why a lot of people do it. Others do it because with some radios, the ham version will store 999 channels and the GMRS version will only store 30, which means you can only have 8 repeaters in the radio at a time. Apparently, the manufacturers think GMRS users don't travel and won't need more than a few repeaters programmed in. However, the UV-5G Plus claims to have the capability for 999 channels just like the AR-5RM. I have a couple of AR-5RMs, and I like them a lot. I'd probably like the GMRS version too. I don't think you could go wrong with it.

Any way you approach it, what you want to do is going to involve a good antenna with a lot of elevation, either your own or a repeater. You simply can't reliably get communication at 12 miles without it. I have occasionally, when all the stars aligned and the radio gods were smiling, gotten ~20 miles HT-to-HT, but we were both on elevated terrain features. Most of the time, you'll be lucky to get more than 3 miles. I have no idea what the terrain is where you want to communicate, but there's no harm in taking two HTs and trying. If it's hilltop-to-hilltop, you might pull it off. If there are good repeaters in your area, that's probably your best bet. I can hit most of the local GMRS repeaters with a handheld from about 15-25 miles away because they're on elevated terrain features and have tall antennas. In CA, you have to expect that repeaters may be extremely busy. That doesn't mean you can't make it work, but you have to be aware that at any given moment, the repeater may be busy. Depending upon the terrain, you might be able to get the distance you need with a base unit and high antenna at your house -- the higher the better. I live on an elevated terrain feature and have a really good antenna on a 30' flagpole at my house, but my repeater's performance is still a bit lackluster. I hope to get another 20' of elevation in the reasonably near future, but as you may guess, there are technical issues to be overcome.

I did read it & I have the speaker mic plugged in to the DB-9 and I do not see the channel's changing or scanning.

And let's not forget paint with lead in it. Many children grew up healthy as hell even though they used the window sill as a teething ring. And don't get me started on the asbestos scam. I believe long term exposure to airborne asbestos poses a health risk, but floor tiles don't. Same with lead.

Boy is the new owner gonna be PO'd when the FCC swat team raids his house at O Dark Thirty.

Personal opinion only. But with the billions (possibly trillions) of gallons of leaded gasoline that was used you'd think we would all be dead. But strangely lead poisoning is quite rare. Yea, we wore protective gear in the tetraethyllead house, but the concentration was so far above what the average person would ever be exposed is enormous.

Oh how I lusted after an original 44 Automag. But alas, two kids a wife and a mortgage came first. However if anyone knows where a Webley Fosbery can be found fairly reasonable, let me know.

Of course if you thought about this being an issue in the first place, then simply list an old address you no longer reside at . If the commission needs to send you mail, leave your email for correspondence. It works for me.

This is correct - if you go this route, create a new FRN and buy a new license.

If one is already licensed, changing to a PO box will not completely wipe your old addy. It will be another layer or two back, but your old addy is still there.

If i had to guess if you ordered that radio, it would show up as a uv or ar 5rm.... if it says anything for 70cm, 1.25m etc, i would put money on it being the rm, not the 5g+, further more under the item spec i would dare say it very plainly lays out the rx and tx frequencies... just because it says gmrs in the title is not "false advertising".... a 5rm radio is capable of transmitting on gmrs... it may not be type approved, and it may not have a legit fcc part whatever cert.... but it will do it... LOL

10-4 on the Kester solder providing you're soldering with a clean 675 degree tip.

I fired a brand new .50 AE in an AMT Automag V once. Just once though because the lever on the safety sheared off and hit me in the forehead. I might have fired it a second time but that seemed like a sign.

If the OP elects to go with a NMO mount, one thought is maybe a NMO lip-mount on the edge of the hood. I sold all my Corvettes last year, except my racecar, so I kinda don't remember if there is a suitable edge on the rear hatch or not to mount a lip-mount. In anycase, whatever type of mounts he uses, he needs to make sure that the mount has continuity to chassis ground.

If you buy 2 handhelds, you'll need to utilize a repeater to communicate at the distance mentioned. That is the easiest, most economic way to start. I have a Baofeng 5RM that fits the bill for this kind of use. At that distance apart, a handheld won't make it that far (from your home to your work). Without having to setup an antenna on the roof, 2 handhelds using a repeater will get you the coverage that you need. I do have a magmount car antenna stuck on a pizza pan that gives me good coverage, but I hit the repeater without it using the 5RM. As long as you can hit the repeater, your TX goes as far as the repeater will take it. If you and your wife can hit the same repeater, the 2 HTs will be all that you need (as long as the repeater is working). I use that handheld in the car with a speaker/mic effectively, and I can hit a repeater that covers from Orange County to the San Fernando Valley successfully. I have not used the external mount up to this time. There may be a repeater in the SFV that covers the entire area that you can use. There are a couple of strong signals on .600, .700, and .725. .600 is primarily Spanish. .700 and .725 seem to be mixed.

I never saw the need to get a .500 S&W. A heavily loaded .45 colt is enough for me, and I can get repeated shots much faster then the .500. Honestly If I need anything more I'm going to a rifle like this.

You can petition your lawmakers / elected officials to change things..... but it's a long shot. petition the fcc with you concerns, yeah......right Get a PO Box or use a service to hide your data....gonna cost a little money. But as others said, you want the best results just go off grid and move back a century. I understand this guy is the guru to start with.....

Kind of comes down to personnel preference and how you plan on using things. Sounds like use of a repeater will be part of your plan. Option 3 is cool because it justifies spending more money and having more toys! LOL Seriously, option 3 seems like pretty good way to go if you want to meet your communications goals and have some flexibility on multiple radios to use without too much hassle. If you want to save some cash initially, and see if you actually like the handhelds you decide on, option two should meet your needs if you have close by and reliable repeaters available to you. Once you figure out what option you will choose consider implementing external / removable antennas. Of course this is not really needed if your handheld "rubber duck" antennas hit the repeater fine. Removable antennas include a vehicle mounted GMRS antenna (Midland, and other manufacturers make lots of them), check Amazon. You can connect a removable antenna to your mobile or handheld and it will almost certainly improve your radio experience in the car . If you want to use your mobile or handheld at home like a base radio. You can connect either radio to a larger external (outside the house on the roof, on a tower, or in the attic) omni-directional antenna. Again Amazon is your friend, and you can find plenty of recommendations here using the search function. You can get a decent entry level external antenna for around $80 to $150. And you would need to calculate cost of your cable run, depending on quality of cable and length of run. This will most certainly improve your simplex, radio to radio, experience and increase you coverage / range overall>

Yup. Any ht cheap or expensive will all tx about the same distance so I’d start with a couple cheap hts with 771 antennas. See how that works out. Then upgrade from there. Ideally you would have a 20-50w base station at home with a big tall antenna such as a comet 712 efc up as high as you could go. 30, 40, 50’…. Then a good 20-50w in the car/truck with a good antenna such as an mxt26 or comet 2x4 installed correctly But you may not need that much to start out.

aside from communicating in that zoo, i would try a couple cheap handhelds first and try to connect through one of the repeaters (of course asking permission to use) My experience using GMRS in your area is hit and miss and very busy.. Good Luck

Hello all, New to GMRS. I decided to go this route because i believe its the best option for my needs. I work approx. 12 linear miles away from home and my wife works from home. I would like some recs on what equipment is best for my scenario: I would like to communicate with her in case of emergencies with a min of 15-20 mile range. I live in the San Fernando Valley (CA) and currently can see a few repeaters I may be able to access. Options I can entertain: (1) 2 handheld units that can easily be utilized by my wife. (2) 1 handheld unit and 1 mobile unit I would install in my car. (3) 1 handheld unit for her and 1 handheld / mobile combo for me. If possible i would prefer Option (3) because I would use the mobile while driving then switch to a handheld when I arrive to my destination and need to bring the handheld along. Please let me know if you need any additional info to assist in recs. Thanks!

Not to be a d*ck, but did you read the manual? Page 5 says: The only issue is that I think you need to have a speaker plugged in to hear it scan.

I fired a S&W 500 revolver ONCE

No, it looks like there is now a GMRS version/flavor of the 5RM.. One is H.A.M.s radios, the other is GMRS.. So my earlier statement stands amended.

If they're any kind of good BN's they'll also take credit for the idea!!!