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Great idea! That makes sense.

I occasionally hear people on MURS from two different retail operations when passing through a nearby city. Otherwise, I've never heard anyone on MURS. I have MURS programmed into most of my radios, but I haven't even keyed up on it since about 15 years ago when I had a pair of MURS radios. I have no idea now when or how they disappeared.

In the real world, it's difficult to imagine the FCC taking umbrage with someone who used a radio to save lives, regardless of the radio type, frequency, or the operator's license or lack thereof. IMO, the real point is that the FCC (and common sense, TBH) has a definition of an emergency. If your situation meets that definition, you're going to be okay. If not, you may or may not get into trouble, but you're still an a-hole.

Absent a formal agreement, it's very difficult for me to imagine a scenario in which I'd need to talk to a public safety agency on their own frequency. It's certainly not likely enough that I'd go to any significant expense or effort to modify a radio to do it. If I needed to talk to the police, fire, etc., and a cell phone wouldn't work, I could get on the radio and have some ham give me a phone patch or -- even more likely -- the agency could use a GMRS or ham radio they already have to talk directly to me.

Just for clarification: even then, statistically speaking, they wont do anything. and EVEN if you were the unlucky 1 in a million every-ten-year looser, all they would do is send you a mean-letter and tell you to stop.

Most people would point out emergency communications. However there there are some specific requirements that must hold. In the end it's still up to the FCC if they think the transmission was a rule violation or not. So, the safe answer is no. I had a short discussion about this with a VE once. He said it was a question people frequency got wrong. I even thought it was OK. The sections in the Part 97 rules I found makes no mention about unlicensed operators using an amateur stations in an emergency. https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/47/97.403 https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/47/97.405

Oh, yeah, it's an HT. Well, probably nothing, then. But even if nothing happens, you're still an a-hole if you do it. Some people don't care, some are even proud of it, so options are limited.

Here we go with the 'I need to mod my radio so I can talk to the Po Po, just in case." This has been asked and answered many times. That rule means that you as a Novice ham operator can get on the Extra class frequencies if you hear someone there and ask for assistance in the event of an emergency. Hammies think it means they need to MARS mod every radio they have so they can talk to public safety dispatchers. And that's not it. YOU ARE NOT SUPPOSE TO HAVE A RADIO WITH PUBLIC SAFETY CHANNELS IN IT. So regardless of any means, you aren't suppose to posses those means to begin with. Ham radios are NOT Part 90 and are NOT to be modified except for MARS operation. Again, I am agreeing with Randy here. And still can't believe it. What is Joe hammie gonna do when he tracks down that evil deplorable wanna be that's operating on their beloved local hammie repeater? Are they gonna march up to their door and beat on it with their ARES badge and bandoleer of radios so they look like a dork version of Poncho Via? Are they gonna wear their ARES yellow vest and puff out their chest and with all that fake authority tell them to stop doing it? Or are they gonna really take it too far. Pull the guy out of his house and beat the hell out of him on his front lawn? Then find out it was his neighbor doing it as he's sitting in jail for felonious assault? Maybe he will send him an real official looking letter with the ARRL logo and even his local club logo demanding they cease and desist. Cause the FCC ain't gonna do much unless it's pervasive and they get LOTS of complaints

I dont think they can do anything to the handheld radio that OP has.

I assume "nearest" means "nearest to you?" ... If so, who sold you this radio programmed to the 50 nearest to you HAM repeaters, praytell? Did you ask for it to come that way?

Here is what will happen if you break the FCC rules and use a H.A.M.s Radios repeater without a license to talk with your friends. The helpful/socially adjusted licensed operators will likely inform you that you're breaking the rules and politely ask you to stop If you continue, "some people" will become very sad and complain very loudly and make baseless threats If you continue to continue, the local H.A.M. posse could initiate a fox-hunt - either the old fashioned way or by use of something like a KrakenRF which makes it very fast and easy to locate a transmitter Assuming you continue long enough for them to find you, now they know where you were transmitting from They could knock on your door - but this would be very ill-advised for them. At a minimum they would be trespassing if you tell them to STFU and leave as they have zero legal authority to do anything. At worst you could come outside and bitch-slap their fat-asses, call them names, make fun of their clothes, and make them cry. They could pull out the BIG GUNS and file a complaint with the FCC. But based on the FCC's number of enforcements over the last 15 years, there is a 99.9999998% statistical certainty that the FCC will do NOTHING It's a joke how so many of you clowns keep repeating these lies or insinuating that something horrible will happen if an outsider breaks your precious hobby's rules and THIS is exactly why so many normal-people make fun of you and your entire hobby. TL;dr: NOTHING OF CONSEQUENCE WILL HAPPEN.

Usually nothing, but not always. It's possible to do some really nasty things to your radio without ever stepping foot on your property. More likely, though, they'd change the input tone or require a PTT ID or something of the sort.

The AR-5RM is a very nice radio with a lot of capabilities for the price. It was my favorite radio for a long time. However, I recently bought a UV-5RH Pro GPS which does everything the 5RM does with some added features. The one I like best is the ability to arrange my channels into banks and scan only one bank at a time. It's only slightly more expensive than the 5RM on Amazon. If you don't care about the banks or GPS, though, you may as well buy the 5RM and save the $6. You really can't go wrong with either.

"Some people" can be exhausting sometimes.. The funny thing is that whenever I complain about "some people" doing this krap, "some people" claim that nobody ever does this.

Really? Under *ANY* condition? Because I can think of a couple carve outs in the rules... The scare-mongering and disinformation is getting a bit silly.

If it's some sort of digital interference, maybe the opposite would be true. Maybe it can slip through a digital code but not a subaudible tone. I'll try setting a CTCSS receive code on channel 15 on a radio and see if that blocks it.

I'll try it, but it's happened on three different radios. It seems unlikely they'd all be suffering from inadequate squelch. Still, even if it doesn't stop it, it's a piece of information that may help figure out what it is.

Oh my, that sounds serious! Can you tell us what happens after they fox-hunt someone and locate them? Because if you dont, I will.

Interesting that there is, apparently, no limitation on using the HT in foreign ports. Then again, perhaps they have done their homework and know there would be no problems in ports they visit. You have to go to the bridge to get the answer. I once asked a non-officer crew member what frequency was being used for port operations at our next stop. He responded, "We don't use frequencies, we use channels".

They do if there is enough money exchanging hands.

If you and all of your buddies don't have Amateur licenses then NO you can't use the Ham repeaters under any condition. If you and all of your buddies don't have a GMRS license, or operating under the license of a qualifying family member, then NO you can't use any GMRS repeaters either. Messing around on the Ham repeaters will likely get you nailed fairly quickly. Why? Because Hams have a sport they call "Fox Hunting." Some are VERY VERY good at it and have some expensive equipment specifically for direction finding use. It's a popular sport. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transmitter_hunting https://www.arrl.org/direction-finding The guys with the Doppler direction finders can get a directional fix in seconds with a decent signal. It's very similar to the old "LoJack" system used by police. https://radiodirectionfinding.wordpress.com/wat-is-een-amplitude-rdf/

The AR-5RM is, near as I can tell, an unlocked UV-5G Plus (or, really, the other way around, but you get it). A little bigger / more expensive than the UV-5R / 5G, but has some neat features over those (that 1 touch frequency / tone scan is nice, USB-C charger port on the battery, etc)

i ordered one last night off Baofeng.com Also ordered the new DM32.

FYI - one of my friends just purchased a UV5R off the Baofeng web site and out of the box it was programable to 520.. And he got the radio in 5 days delivered to my town https://www.baofengradio.com/collections/online-store/products/uv-5r. I ordered a UV-28Plus from them last night, they show delivery for Monday.

The short answer is YES - you could, and there is nothing stopping you. Any H.A.M.s listening might become very sad and it would be breaking the FCC rules (not laws, but RULES). but beyond that, nothing would happen based on the FCC's current and past 15 years of enforcement policies.