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GMRS was envisioned as a service for use by the general public for personal use, particularly after the 2017 rule changes that eliminated new business licenses in the band. Since that main target for GMRS was general public use, assumed non technical users, the simpler the radio the better. Less crap for people to mess up, get frustrated, and quit using the radio. I would say if one is a knowledgeable user, then perhaps going with a quality commercial grade radio is a good move. Much more in the way of features and more customization options. All the radios I use for GMRS are mostly used mid to higher end commercial grade radios. Some are even digital enabled, used on the Ham bands in that mode since currently it's not legal for GMRS use.

I agree for sure. Anything under 20m is very hard to get communications out of while mobile. 80m and 100% equal to QRP, for sure. 100w in for less than 2w out. If you are actually moving, that makes it even harder. I have seen some guys spend $2,500 or more for some of these high-power screwdriver antennas, but it's pointless unless they have a mobile 1,000w amp. Even then, the 1,000w to the antenna on 80m would be like 150w-180w to a proper vertical antenna (not even a dipole). That antenna would be hot enough to cook on. LOL

Or your dipstick.

That will get shot dead by some. Beginning to sound more like Ham Lite.

The answer varies depending how far back in time you want to go.

Try to explain it when it's on your undershorts.

So when the 6m band is open propagation is likely the same on 46/49 MHz and people will flock to it just to shoot skip. I've heard stories where Hams see distance TV stations on the old analog channel 2 and knew the 6m band was open and dashed for the shack to rack up a few more QSL cards.

That's why it's called the "Magic Band." If it's open it wakes up from the dead.

Negative Nancy is that weird 3rd cousin that everyone stays far away from at family reunions. Some complain about the price of the RT systems CPS but the cost is worth it for me. Especially now that they are starting to have more MAC versions available.

The HF bands have been bad for the last few weeks, especially 10m and 12m. I've only used 6m on SSB and digital modes as my antenna is not resonant in the FM portion of the band. There is only one 6m FM repeater in Missouri and its status is in limbo right now.

An alternative option would be to build a Allstar node with a RasberryPi, then connect the node to a URIxB, and then make the db25 to db25 cable to the FR4000. Make sure to push the remote button so that the green light is lit for the remote on the front of the FR4000. The node can be programmed however you want for CWID and time. This would also allow you to change to ham frequencies and link your repeater in the future if you decide to change over to ham from GMRS.

Yuck!! That's even worse than my guess on 75/80. It would fair to say using those antennas would be equivalent to a QRP radio with a full sized dipole. The testing you did should be impressed on Hams operating mobile. Some spend a fortune on those antennas to operate on the HF low bands.

I went with the RT Systems programming and solved all issues I was having with the Radioddity software. It's worth the few bucks extra. This is a good radio and only complaint is the display being hard to read in my Jeep. Just can't get the contrast right to see the display. This is mostly because of my eyes being past their prime. SoCal ... or whatever his name is a jackass.

Buy an SDR, problem solved.

The bands have been dead in my area except for night time where 160-20 come alive. 6m is always dead quiet every time I have gotten on there.

GMRS users would be secondary to the US military on 46/49 MHz just like amateur radio is secondary on the 6m band. The US military still uses 30 MHz through 88 MHz for VHF FM radios such as the SINCGARS radios. I can see 46/49 MHz being used to link GMRS repeaters. I know its common to use 1.25m/220 MHz repeaters to link 2m repeaters.

There are 6m repeaters, too. There are a few in my area. Like any repeaters, they get used. Just not 24/7/365.

TBH, I can't imagine hams making much use of the 46/49 MHz band. It has the same disadvantages as 6 meters, and hams hardly use that band. OTOH, if it was added to GMRS, I can imagine lots of people putting it to practical use. Hams (mostly) are all about the distance, and that band doesn't open up for long-distance communication very often. However, it does reliably provide more distance than UHF, and lots of GMRS folks could find a use for that. As I commented above, I doubt there would be an explosion of VHF/UHF GMRS radios, but I suspect the majority of GMRS users have a single use in mind. 46/49 would be excellent for situations where communication is mostly from one base unit to another, or where an HT isn't necessary (think ranches where a vehicle-mounted unit would be perfectly adequate). Heck, with cross-band repeat, you could even use an HT in those situations. If I had a 46/49 MHz radio with AM capability and 50-100 watts, I could talk to my friends in several nearby towns that I can't reach with UHF. I could probably reach the family farm several miles west of my hometown.

You just have to be smarter than the radio. So you should definitely stay away from Midland.

I can remember that in the 1970s, most of the highway patrol and sheriff's department vehicles had CB capability, although I don't know if they were issued or private purchase. I'm sure they'd be a lot less useful today, since almost every vehicle has a cell phone and someone will call in the event of an emergency, so I'm not surprised that they stopped monitoring CB channels. I do have a CB in my truck, and sometimes I hear something useful, but not very often, TBH. As far as I can tell, most people using FRS/GMRS to convoy on the highway are using tones. There have been a couple of times when I heard people who were obviously a mile or so behind me and I tried to warn them about something I was seeing, but they couldn't hear me. It may be that in some parts of the country, the channels are so jammed that you really need a tone, but in Oklahoma and the surrounding states where I do most of my driving, conversation is pretty sparse, and most of the time I'm solo, so I run with no tone. Even if I can't talk to them, I can hear people warning one another of lane closures, etc. and that's useful.

With no display, I'd hate to try to feel my way through 30+ channels. I'm good with 12-16 channels selected by a knob, but I wouldn't want to have more than that. I think of knob-selector radios as being for non-radio people more than for radio dorks. I have some Arcshell AR-5s (similar to Baofeng 888s) that I pass out for US Cavalry Association events, and stuff that seems obvious to us can be a challenge for non-radio people. Getting everyone on the same channel was more difficult than I expected, and that's the only thing besides volume that a user can change. In general, most GMRS radios should be as plug-and-play as possible, IMO. Obviously the 500 is marketed toward the more advanced user, but I kind of wonder how many advanced users would go for this instead of some of the less expensive options which have a screen. I suspect anyone capable of programming a radio via software will balk at the $90 price tag as opposed to a $14 Baofeng. I certainly would.

@Lscott I tested my screwdriver with a field strength meter and compared it to my dipole and my dedicated whips. On 80m, I only had a 1.8% efficiency rate. On 40m, it was about 30%, and on 20m it was about 50%. I switched over to Diamond mono band 86.6" whips and retested. The dedicated whip was still less that 2% efficiency rate on 80m. However, on 40m, it was 50%+ and 20m was almost 90%.

Maybe instead of thinking of this as a "One band can't do both those frequency ranges" *problem*, it should be looked at as a "maybe GMRS should have cross-band repeaters, and maybe they could be used to build networks or repeaters with not "public network" connections..." *opportunity*.

The 46/49 MHz issue isn't much different than the Ham 6M band. Having it on an HT is sort of a joke. Unless that antenna is a quarter wave long the radiation efficiency is crap, not considering the size of the ground plane required. Connection to an external antenna is another matter. Even Ham VHF, 2M band, HT radios suffer from reduced efficiency. I see typically quoted rubber duck antenna gains from negative 5 to 6 db. That's because they are far less than a quarter wave, at least 19 inches more or less, and a crummy ground plane. At least the UHF HT antennas are close to the ideal quarter wave and the body of the HT provides much more of an effective ground plane. A really inefficient antenna are those so called "screw driver" types with a huge base loading coil. I told a Ham buddy I'll bet around 80 to 90 percent plus of the transmitter power is wasted in the loading coil on the low bands. Using a 100 watt radio likely around 10 watts might be really radiated. The reason why is the loading coil is located at the feed point, which so happens to be where the antenna current is the highest, and the skin effect of the magnet wire results in enough resistance to waste most of the input power, I^2 x R loss. Yeah, they can match up good when adjusted right, but there is a price to be paid for that.

Where were you till 2am? Whose lipstick is on your collar? Why does your phone have a password, are you keeping things from me? Who is Sarah, and why does she keep leaving you messages?