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Yes, that is 'the book' on doing it right! That said, NOTHING can guarantee 100% protection from lightening other than perhaps throwing the coax out the window during a storm. However... Lightening and damaging static buildup can occur anytime and under any conditions which is why proper suppression and grounding is a must do if you like your equipment. Just having wind blowing over ones antenna, for example, can generate a static charge/build-up. In some cases, large enough to knock you on your ass. Image what such a charge would do to your equipment! The list of possibilities is long when it comes to noise, static discharge, and lightening. The R56 manual was written as a standard for commercial systems. As such, some of the topics will seem expensive, difficult, and/pr impractical to implement for non-commercial operators. Still, one should strive to get as close to what is recommended for their own system. For example, something as simple as bleeding off static buildup in an antenna system alone, typically improves receiver performance. If nothing else, the R56 is an incredible reference that should be read. Just my opinion.

Here's a link to the R56 standard: https://www.blm.gov/sites/blm.gov/files/Lands_ROW_Motorola_R56_2005_manual.pdf

Yes, but it would render your repeater useless.

Ah, that makes sense, the “desense.” I plan on testing tomorrow with a couple of friends, each of us with a radio. Fingers crossed. Thanks for your help.

Not surprising: .dat files are generic and have no predefined structure. So one particular software's .dat file will probably have no connection to anothers.

In your case the 0.698 w is the power going forward, from the transmitter towards the antenna. You see it also in the FW value at the bottom left of the screen. RW shows the Reflected power, which you want to minimize. On yours that’s shown as 0.000w which makes sense given your low SWR. If you had a high SWR your reflected power would also be high.

WOW! That should be labeled "The BIG Motorola manual"

It’s 10 years. Just got mine.

HAM ...

http://arrl.net/ ARRL -> Amateur Radio Relay League That's how it was done in the very old days of spark gap transmitters that had very limited range. Messages were relayed from station to station across the country. What is old is now new again. It continues to be done as a message passing protocol. The key is getting a system where the format is consistent and EVERYONE uses the same procedures to pass message traffic. Otherwise it ends up being nothing but a mess.

I did! ? I’m not sure how I double posted. I clicked submit once and it took forever but I know better than to click it again. So, I reported the message and asked for it to be deleted. Click on the ellipses and choose Report. Add a note explaining what’s needed.

https://bettersaferadio.com/meet-the-new-wouxun-kg-uv9g-pro-gmrs-two-way-radio-shtf-scanner/

And by "Low" he means 0.5 watts.

To summarize, yes FRS and GMRS can interoperate legally, and yes, the user needs to follow the rules for the service they are using. If you are a licensed GMRS user using a GMRS radio (repeater-capable, higher power), you need to follow the GMRS rules which include having to ID periodically, even if you are talking on a simplex channel to someone using an FRS HT. Now, is anyone going to know or care if you don't ID? Probably not, but the rules do require it. As far as the question about GMRS HTs that can legally be used on channels 8-14, the answer is "absolutely they exist", and the ones I'm familiar with will allow you to change the power and bandwidth for 1-7 and 15-22, but are locked "Low" and "Narrow" for 8-14.

We hear the same thing on the roads.. A lot of nothing and people that dont respond (probably using privacy codes).. When offroading, the official GMRS channel is 16.. This a scientific fact because is "offroading" = "4 X 4" and 4 x 4 = 16 .. so this is the scientific answer to the question - it is explained in more detail in this video made by some Youtube clown:

Is it legal? NO. Has anyone ever been prosecuted? Probably not. My own thought is use of a non certified radio on GMRS is probably not a primary offense. That is, the FCC is extremely unlikely to come after you for this reason alone. In fact, if the radio is operating properly there’s is no way anyone could tell it was not certified just by monitoring it. However, if the FCC had other reasons to go after you, like spurious transmissions, too much power, being a nuisance or other observable violations. Then, they would probably add a charge for use of a non-certified radio to whatever else they were pursuing. That is 100% my personal view and does not reflect this site or, possibly, even my view tomorrow.

@WRFP399Side bar comment: It's "ham", not "HAM". The word is not an acronym, and shouldn't be in all capital letters anymore than RADIO or REPEATER. ? As @BoxCar said, "your family" cannot get "a ham license"; amateur radio licenses are for an individual. Here's the FCC's definition of GMRS: "A mobile two-way voice communication service, with limited data applications, for facilitating activities of individual licensees and their family members, including, but not limited to, voluntary provision of assistance to the public during emergencies and natural disasters." The scenario you describe, where you use GMRS as communication during an emergency or during recreational activities, matches the FCC's stated purpose for the service. People can and do use amateur radio to do the same things, but (at least around here) that would be the exception rather than the rule. Most of the time hams are talking to someone is not a member of their family, and quite often it will be someone they don't even know. A lot of the traffic on the ham bands IS just "simple voice communications". Many hams enjoy rag-chewing, which is just getting on the air and talking to other hams about anything and everything. With a Technician amateur radio license you can use 2m and 70cm (plus some other bands) and that is where most of the repeaters are. There are a lot more frequencies available for repeaters in the 70cm band than there are in GMRS, and as @BoxCar mentioned some repeaters are linked into networks. (Yes, I know that is true of some GMRS repeaters too.) A lot of 70cm ham repeaters have been around for a long time and have great locations and huge footprints, which is not true of most GMRS repeaters. On the VHF side, you can run a lot more power on 2m than you can on MURS (think 80 or 100 watts instead of 2!). MURS also does not allow repeaters. As a general rule, you can talk further on VHF than UHF, and I quite often will talk 2m simplex to someone who is 20 or 30 miles away. If I was using a 5 watt GMRS HT at my house I would be lucky to talk to someone a mile away due to the terrain. As far as range goes, there is a 2m repeater about 30 miles from here that I can hit with an HT (running about 5 watts) and that repeater has a footprint of 40-50 miles in all directions from its location. Hopefully that helps. If not, the takeaway should be "ham" not "HAM"! ?