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Sorry to hear about the poison oak. First time I got it was from running a motorcycle off the pavement and ended up under the bike in a ditch full of poison ivy. I had to clear a LOT of poison ivy last weekend and ended up with a piece inside the work gloves I was wearing. 67 years old and it still only gave me a single small blister were I had a repeated hard contact. Doesn't mean I won't break out into a bad rash the next time.

thank you! I emailed BuyTwoWayRadios so I hope to hear from them next week. I also found a roundabout way to fix what appears to be a bug in the "channel wizard": I used the long press on the TDR button to manually change the frequency back to its original state. If I do that manually, the correct frequency is stored. have a great week end!

I hope you're feeling better now. What you are describing is not an intended behavior, and it looks like you have done everything correctly. I do believe that only BuyTwoWayRadios Support can help you - and if its some kind of firmware issue baked into the radio they may not have a fix - but they can probably recommend a workaround like manually programming the channel without the Wizard and/or using the software to program the channel (if you haven't tried that already).

I found out I could get rebuilt Aouye soldering stations cheap.

Separate pricing for dots. I ain't stupid.

Because all they have to do is one enforcement/fine like this once every few years and all the sad-hams will go all over the internet posting things like "For those that don’t think the FCC will enforce anything" ... Often followed up by things like "you're next!!" or.. "its not worth the risk!!!1" ... When in reality, statistically speaking, there is no risk.

I think I have that programmed in my HT but never use it... Haven't checked it in a long time but I thought it was one that (when it does have traffic) was primarily spansh speakers (which I am not) so it was not of much interest to me. (or maybe I am thinking of a different repeater? - not sure)

That's cool. Yeah I can hardly get any of my family interested enough to carry one if we go hiking or anything.

$14,000 and even $25,000 is probably peanuts to the FCC, but you wonder why they don't turn these over to collections or something. Why do they just let them be numbers on a no-no letter and apparently the violator never has any action taken against them to actually enforce and collect the fine. I know the FCC is not an enforcement agency themselves... they have to turn the case over to the legals system or the enforcement agencies... but what? Do the other agencies just ignore the FCC?

With the constant migration of police, fire, and business, Land Mobile radio comms to VHF-Hi, UHF, 700 MHz, and 800 MHz, trunked radio systems, VHF Low Band has been fast becoming a deserted wasteland. Surely there is available spectrum between 42 and 50 MHz. Motorola produces little if any Low Band gear, anymore. Kenwood has been a "go-to" for Low Band gear, but I understand their presence in that market may be dwindling with the demand. The military has always had a presence there AFAIK, at least back to the Vietnam era. Surely they don't need the entire 30-50 MHz all the time. I recall during what was the largest manhunt ever in my state, in February of 1974, National Guard APC's and possibly helicopters were operating on 42 MHz Highway Patrol frequencies to coordinate with them. They had frequency-agile gear and it sounded to be transmitting a broader signal than the HP radios, during the manhunt for 3-4 cop killers who murdered a deputy and seriously wounded another, as well as murdered a town police officer the night before. In the early 1980's, I would hear military aircraft doing practice bombing or missile strikes on local telephone microwave towers on 49 MHz. It has been many years since I heard any such activity. I imagine they too, have moved to higher spectrum. The shorter wavelength of these frequencies would allow for easier antenna placement in mobile or portable applications than with CB. It would also allow for better signal peneration into and out of automobiles, as well as brick and stone buildings. A real plus for rural and mountainous areas would be realized through dense foilage as well as "knife-edge" propagation over and around hills and mountains. Such a band would be far better in rural environs than UHF.

One of my H3 GMRS units is now showing no power to the antenna with an SWR meter. This one's been literally sitting in a bin since I tested them all on May 9, so... this is disappointing. If I can't rely on them to work after sitting untouched for a month, I might have to pony up for different units. On the other hand, the cheap Retevis 628 FRS walkie talkies I bought for my oldest kid have been thrown, dunked in the dog's water bowl, chewed on by my toddlers, and gone down the slide, and they still work just fine.

that would be 4 in a row.

You'll get nowhere with that attitude mister.

that would be 3 useless posts. is that really your best?

You sound very angry.

and neither are your two comments. Is that how you got your "grand master" rank, by posing useless replies?

Well that's not very helpful at all.

I ended up going with an install on forward portion of the rear glass. It gets great reception and no complaints so far about my transmissions. Thank you all for the help in figuring out possible problems prior to installation.

You really have to be causing a lot of problems like jamming and/or interfering with others before the FCC will even think about doing anything about it. The flip side of that is the FCC will be more likely to do something if one interferes with or uses public safety bands without authorization. And this is only if the agencies receiving the interference actually push the issue. I can easily tell when someone is using an illegal amp on CB/11m whenever I get close to them while in my car. I start getting interference on my dual band radio when on 2m. And nothing ever gets done about that.

Where would channels fit in the already crowded bandwidth? The US Military still uses 30 MHz through 80 MHz on a regular basis for the frequency hopping SINCGARS radios. Right below the 2m band is the air band and right above the 2m band you get into business and public safety bands. The same goes for trying to expand the GMRS UHF channels/frequencies. GMRS falls right in between 70cm, business and public safety bands.

they told me that they were off for the week-end. do you now approve of me posting a question here or would you have more questions for me?

And that is why I will always recommend a Part 95 certified GMRS radio for those new to radio. As you said, they work right out of the box and are easy to program.

What did BuyTwoWayRadios Support say about this when you contacted them?

Not to mention that a H.A.M.s radios that has been unlocked to transmit on GMRS does not make it a "GMRS radio" .. You will have to do everything - ALL the programming, EVERYTHING manually, yourself.. For many people this is no big deal.. For many others, it is a dealbreaker.. With a real "GMRS Radio", you take it out of the box, turn it on, pick a channel and talk.. not so with a H.A.M.s radios that is made to transmit on GMRS frequencies..

This enforcement has been going on for years - and my prediction is that he never pays a dime.. Just look up this guy's PREVIOUS fine of $14,000 issued by the FCC in 1999.. Which he has still not paid... BUT - you ARE correct.. that is ONE fine.. out of millions of violations every year... You literally have a greater chance of being hit by lighting .. but, it COULD happen... So.. act accordingly...