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Use of smartphones is way more complex than bubble pack radios. I know plenty of 6 year old kids that can run a smartphone like champs. Adults have no excuses. As far as FRS radio compatibility goes, 100% of all FRS radios are compatible with each other. It is mandatory per federal statute and FCC rule that all protocols must be published before use and strictly adhered to. The original set of continuous signal-controled selective signalling (aka Continuous Tone-Coded Squelch System, CTCSS, Tone Squelch) has been published since 1952 with ten code. The last revision was made in February of 1980, introducing the current 38 codes, which still includes the original ten codes from 1952. Today, you would need a working radio that is within months of being 40 years old, before your tone options start to become limited. Even a radio that is almost 70 years old, CTCSS is still compatible with a radio made today. Given FRS was not even a thing prior to 1996... there is zero compatibility issues with any FRS radios from brand to brand and model to model. Also, Continuous Digital-Coded Squelch System (aka CDCSS, DCS, sub-channels) is in the same boat. It was originally released with 38 digital signals, now has 121, including all original 38 codes.

Its not the tone/CTSS creating the potential issues you mention, it's stupid people that are too lazy to invest 3 minutes of their life to read the directions and learn/understand how their equipment works that are the problem..

Welcome to the new forums! Unfortunately, over the last year or so we've had serious problems with our previous board software (phpBB and vBulletin), so I did some shopping around and decided that Invision Power Board is the way to go. Between vBulletin and this new software, I've had to lay out over $400, so I didn't make the decision lightly. While it's possible to migrate the posts from the previous software, I decided it wasn't worth the effort. I prefer having a clean platform and I will be tying the forum software to your main user accounts, so you no longer need two accounts for the site. This extra step will take some time for me to implement, so I'm going to lock down user registrations so we don't have duplicate accounts everywhere. Keep a look out for an update in the near future! So without further ado, welcome to the new forums! I hope this will be our last migration for many years to come, and donations to help offset the software licenses would be very much appreciated.

The purpose of Digital Private Line (DPL Tone) is so many "user groups" can share the same channel without causing harmful interference to each other. The technology is extremely proficient at its intended purpose. The radio still receives a signal from a radio that doesn't have a matching sub-tone. The radio just discriminates between received signals and only opens the squelch when your selected code is detected. You can literally have 280 groups on one channel, all having different conversations, and not interfering with each other. Go to a major public event (like a Boy Scout Jamboree) and suddenly, 22 channels is no where near enough. Enter DPL on a modern FRS/GMRS combo radio and now you have the ability to have the equivalent of 6,160 channels. Even at a major event, the likelihood of interference due to things like splash, inter-modulation, etc, is almost zero. Especially when you are only using 0.5 watts of power. I see your point, I just disagree. "Familiar" and "intuitive" are words used to describe ease of ability to naturally understand how something works. That understanding ONLY comes with experience and repetition. No one is born familiar with anything and no one is born "intuitively" knowing how to do anything but suck and poop. Everything else is a learn skill. I already answered that question above (my first 2 paragraphs in this post) How you handle any harmful interference you may cause is up to you. If you don't want to use DPL.... don't use DPL. By no means is the feature "ruining" the radio service. It is extremely beneficial to the radio community and has been for 70 years.

iAdams, Not true at all, and if you or others would read the directions, there is always a chart with a list of what number goes to which code. 99% of the bubble pack radios I have used all used the same number and codes, from motorola to cobra to midland, even older radioshack radios use the same frequency's and code lists. Older radios may not have all of the codes available, thus there are times discrepancies exist. This may have changed but I do believe channel 20 with no code/pl is the emergency hailing channel, much like CB channel 9, however this was mostly a courtesy than a rule and should not be relied on. Point is, you should be prepared for the trip. Ensure you have a cell phone, bring your radio (and a way to charge it or spare batteries,) but most of all do research. If you know you are going to hike in a particular area, look up the emergency contact information as 911 may not be able to help locate you and could take longer to deploy SAR. While doing research, look to see if there are any GMRS repeaters in the area, or if people use a particular frequency and code on simplex. Lastly always have a fallback plan with family or friends should they not hear from you by a particular date and time. Be sure they know where you were headed and what your goals were. This helps should you find yourself unable to call for help and unable to make your way to safety. In the end, it works off of common sense. Part of that is understanding that GMRS was not designed with the primary goal of emergency communications, it was designed to keep family members in communication with one another.

Hi, Just a thought about your backpack. Once you get it all packed, take it for a couple of miles through the woods. You might need to rethink your equipment list. I was surprised when I did that and had to adjust my weight limit some. You never know when you might have to leave your vehicle and hoof it. Just a thought.

I can't stress this enough... Radio is not something to do (generally speaking). Radio is a tool you integrate into other aspects of your life to either make those other activities easier, more entertaining or safer. If you are buying a radio as a source of entertainment, you are likely going to be very disappointed unless you're a ham and can find people to chat with around the world. As far as picking a base or a mobile, there are some serious restraints for UHF (GMRS/FRS/70cm Ham/etc.). One is, its a line-of-sight application. If you don't have an antenna that is at least 50 feet higher than the terrain around you... your not talking very far. 100+ would be better. Trees, buildings, hills, etc all cause interference. At ground level, you will get to the horizon line, which is about 3 or 4 miles depending on how tall you are (and what's between you and the other station). As you get higher in elevation, the better your coverage will be. If you're mobile, you can drive to an area where you can get better performance. Some examples would be, at 1200 feet I got a solid 50 miles on GMRS mobile with 40 watts, mobile to mobile. At the same elevation I can also talk to a repeater in northern Virginia with an antenna at ~980 feet, while I am in central Pennsylvania with my 40 watt mobile. Same 40 watt GMRS mobile, but on the blind side of a commercial building, I experience high static mobile to mobile. Normally I can only talk about 2.5 to 5 miles car to car. Just some food for thought. I love GMRS and really enjoy having radio comms as part of my life. I wouldn't discourage anyone from getting into the hobby. You just need to be realistic about expectations.

I can't remember the brand and model, but I bought one to do this (Severe alerts only for 2 counties) and I made sure it had both a relay output and EOM reset. Mine is hooked to a control station (old M100 Motorola mobile on a power supply) via COR from the relay out. The TOT is set to 45 seconds...Not that my MTR2000 repeater would care...but it is nice to have on there when we are farming in the Spring and Fall. There are no competing repeaters on the same channel in my area, so it's never been a problem.

Hi Everyone, Unfortunately, our moderators Gary (PastorGary) and William (spd641) will no longer be volunteering for us. I have reluctantly made the decision to remove their moderator status after some disagreements about how to run the forums resulting in William asking to have his account deleted from myGMRS completely. I appreciate the help they have given over the past few years and I know many of you feel the same as they have become staples of the community. For the time being, all management of the forums will be my responsibility and you're welcome to contact me with any concerns you may have. Thank you for your understanding and I would appreciate everyone's help in ensuring a smooth transition.

A buddy of mine flies drones. Be careful, left- and right-handed polarization are not the same! Edit: Yes, he learned that the crash way.

I'm not trying to endorse any specific battery, and I am not affiliated with the company in any way, but I have had very good luck in the past with Rayovac brand alkaline batteries. I can usually find them at MUCH cheaper prices than the Energizer or Duracell brands, and they work every bit as well. This statement is based on my experience and opinion. As always, YMMV.

Im not sure if that would help the elk as they lack opposable thumbs.

I dont understand why you are so dead set on solid state filters? If it was possible people would have been doing it long ago, that 10W toy repeater you linked to is no better then a couple HT's in a box. Yes it may use some type of solid state filter but i am guessing the loss and electrical efficiency are what limits it to 10W. I would bet it is just a notch filter, this would be like using a "mobile notch duplexer" vs "4 cavity pass reject duplexer" The mobile duplexer is smaller and cheaper but the performance loss of using such a duplexer reduces the repeaters overall effectiveness. The single largest factor with notch type duplexers is the inability to exceed 70dB isolation between the RX and TX. BTW I license part 90 frequency in the 452 range, it took months to get a repeater pair because of the waiting list, no such thing as underused or open spectrum. You want a good preforming repeater, purchase a quality pass / reject duplexer. Just my $.02