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Let me just throw in that even if you're using Part 90 equipment under GMRS, there's nobody making a case that DMR digital operation is legal within the GMRS band. I'm on the side of people who believe that the FCC is aware & acknowledges that people are using Part 90 equipment, and they've done nothing to discourage the use.

It could be a programming issue, or it could be a "privacy" issue. Most of the CCR "radios on a chip" don't have all the extras that Motorola puts into their radios, like Basic or Enhanced Privacy. If the Police have certain departments or talkgroups that are using the Privacy function, you would have trouble picking up those transmissions in the clear. You could also be experiencing a CCR moment, where for no good reason, the radio just decides to stop decoding. If turning the radio off, and turning it back on during one of those missing conversations, gets you decoding the same DMR datastream, you can pretty much blame your radio firmware. I can also tell you that the receive selectivity on most of the CCR radios is nowhere near what most commercial Part 90 radios from Kenwood or Motorola would give you. In other words, expect that the CCR will stop receiving as soon as another decently strong transmitting unit on any nearby frequency keys up. That could be another portable in your immediate vicinity, or a high powered base radio even a half mile away.