Leaderboard

I think Corey hit the nail on the head. You get what you pay for. I see this in my field for work daily. Customers put in a radio system on cheap then complain. It doesn't matter if it a garage GMRS repeater of a full blown countywide TLMR system. If you cheap out on features, option, subscribers, shelters, etc stuff will not meet your expectations. I have some cheap GMRS mobile radios and use them for what they are, being a cheap radio I can throw out. My go to radios cost over $5000 each but I use them for public safety along with my hobby stuff. There are alot of reasonable priced part 90 radios on the market and with some education can be very nice GMRS rigs.

Well, let's see. If every active GMRS licensee (the FCC says there are 56,338 of us) bought 1 radio at $150 ea. that would net $8.4M. Then, let's assume retailer profit is 40% (66% markup). That leave $100 per radio ($5.4M total) to the manufacturer (we won't worry about any wholesalers, etc. here). Now, I'll take a wild guess and say it would cost $200k to design a radio from scratch (I.e. not base it on any existing product) and another easy $200k to setup the manufacturing capability. That brings the manufacturer's gross income down to an even $5M. Next, let's guess each radio costs $50 to manufacture, and another $10 to box, warehouse and ship. That is a cool $2.8M and the manufacturer is now down to $2.2M. Note that if this was the only product of its type, the manufacturer's costs would be much higher. Next, in order to get 56,000 people to buy this radio you have to advertise. Easily $0.5M and throw in another $0.5M for promotion, trade shows, etc. Now we are down to $1.2M. Taxes, overhead, retirement plans, health insurance would likely add another $2M and we end up with a nice profit of $1,000,000.00 IF every single GMRS licensee actually bought one. The real number is likely to be under 10%. But, let's be generous and say it would be 25%. So, after all this work the net profit is going to be around $200,000 and would result in a totally saturated market for years to come. And, don't forget you have to either pay off your investors or the bank, or have had the cash to finance this on your own. And, THAT is why you do not have the perfect GMRS radio being sold today for $150.

Be on the lookout for a TK-880H (1) if at all possible. The "H" indicates it is a high-power (45 watt) version, and the "1" indicates the band coverage of 450-490 Mhz, which includes all of the GMRS frequencies.

Hey, the two tin cans worked. Hickam AFB, 1964. Had two tree forts. (No, not sissy tree houses) other side of the alley, 150 ft apart. They worked! Dang, tried to get them to bedroom windows, couldn't keep the string tight.

As a side thought, if GMRS is something you enjoy and plan to keep using save you penneys and purchase a new part 90 radio with real features and the ability to program 1000 channels any way you like. Yes these radios can be priced from 300 to 800 but well worth it. I have several HAM rigs in the 800 to 3000 range, an Aeroflex service monitor that costs me many thousands, its my hobby and I invested it. I would love to see anybody find 1 case of the FCC tracking down somebody and issuing a fine for using part 90 gear because its not going to happen. Calls to the FCC will get you a response like, so long as we are not investigating you for other violations your part 90 radio is just fine. I have run into FCC field officers at commercial tower sites and have addressed the question in person showing them my GMRS setup (Motorola XPR5550 with handheld control) and the response was, that's a nice radio. YOU GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR plain and simple, cheap is cheap for a reason.....

Ahh, I knew there was a reason. I was afraid there was a logical reason. I guess i'll have to go back to when I was a kid. Two tin cans, two buttons and a tight string.

You are asking a lot for 150 bucks, quality components and engineering cost money. The small profit margin would require every GMRS license holder in the US to purchase several 150 dollar radios just to recover the engineering costs let alone the rest of the expense of bringing a product to market. Its simple economics and GMRS is to little of a market share to invest in.