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Closing the loop on this now that I have my license (WRKL820) and have registered. I picked up a pair of Midland GXT1000 radios on sale to get us started. They communicate just fine with the old ICOM FRS radios on channels 1-14 as WRAK968 suggested they would. The manual I had downloaded for the IC-4008A must have been for a different geography (?) with all 14 frequencies listed in the 467.5125 to 467.6750 MHz range. The GXT1000s should be just fine for our immediate needs - relatively short range simplex communication when hiking and camping. In the meantime I will investigate what repeaters are available in the places we will be using the radios. Once we decide we need repeater-capable radios (or need more power/range), we will have to decide if a handheld or vehicle mounted radio makes more sense for our use. Thanks again for helping a newbie. -Scott

For the EVX-53x portables (and 5x00 mobiles) , you might need to align the squelch in the radio alignment menu. I set mine on all my EVX radios to open at -129 dBm, and its night and day. Stock is set to open at -116 which might not be ideal for weak signal work. Most earlier Motorolas (non TRBO) can be also aligned with Tuner to get the squelch to open at about noise threshold... the TRBO radios you need to run tone squelch, otherwise they won't open as low as my "aligned" EVX-5xxxx radios. The Moto 6550 and 7550 without tone squelch will only open at around -122 dBm, with tone squelch they will open all the way down at around the same as the EVXs with the squelch set. G.

OK your radio has Total Channels: 256. What I did was go to the repeater channel I wanted do duplicate and copy it. Then set CHRIP to show empty channels and pasted the cut channel line to say space x. Then changed the mane to Macon of the repeater. You may need to contact mfg and ask them. Hope that helps. Was easy for my KG-805G. Jack

Jaycee, what radio do you have? This is a dumb question, in CHRIP software you did go to top menu Radio and select Upload to Radio? Your radio did a reset? Jack Edit: Not all radios allow you to have take up channel slots... CHRIP allows it but not all radios. I have a KG-805G which I have 3 repeater channel slots with different PL codes.

They are legal receivers on all frequencies As yet, its not illegal to own a transmitter of almost any type. If you have the cash you can buy a commercial TV transmitter, you just can't transmit on it without a license. These things may change as the government perceives the populace to be a threat.

I've done that with some radios too

In fairness, I'm going to be base-lining the units to meet advertised factory specs. I don't want these to be some type of "Super" units that have been tweaked beyond what the typical buyer would find in a used unit online. They'll be tested to perform to spec, and guaranteed to be fine examples of what's available out there in the Part 90 world of used radios. They will all have up to date Firmware, and I'll be using standard CPS software with 25 kHz Wideband entitlements. I hope to finish things up this weekend, and I'll ship them out to mbrun early next week.

Depending on the agencies, you may be able to use the uv82 as a scanner. I know ours here are mostly unencrypted, except for the tactical channels. I have a couple of uv5r's (also not 95 certified); one is programmed with tx disabled for use as a scanner. The other can still transmit, but I set it up with offsets on the public safety channels, where if I bump the ptt, the transmit goes to one of the frs frequencies, rather than stepping on public safety channels

Still remember my CB call sign from the 1970's. KBST3418

You're right, 50w max, my mistake. 50 and 65 won't make much of a difference The max allowed power for MURS is 2W, not 5W. G.

That's how it would work. In my case, there is little 220MHz activity to my west, so I will mount the antenna on the east side of the mast. 1/4 wavelength at 220MHz is about 13". I will probably go with 2 feet. Since you're only talking about 6-7 inches for GMRS, personally, I would double that distance and find a "nice" number that is close (12"-14" ... 12" or 18" are nice numbers, a clean 1.0 or 1.5 feet). I think 1/4 wavelengh is minimum, but as we know, having more distance between the radiating element and a ground element is better.

Hummm... "CCR" -> Ceedence Clearwater Revival. Remember them? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Creedence_Clearwater_Revival