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You are not allowed to enjoy a GMRS communication; those are limited to FRS ?

Whenever my wife and I go out shopping, we stay on channels 8-14 because 1. 500mw should last all day 2. Even throughout the local shopping mall, we are both nearly full quieting from one end to the other. 3. Radio school taught me to always use the minimum power necessary and the untrained are forced to do this on 8-14, so there is less chance of bumping into other traffic.

Made first contact yesterday with these two Kool guys, i kind of interrupted their conversation (when there was a pause) i tried to be as polite as i could I'm very new to all this, but Mike and Tim were a hoot especially Mike, I'm sure if regulations were somewhat lax that conversation could've gotten a lil crazy. It was quick but fun i just wanted to thank them again and hope the rest of my contacts go the same.

You don't.

All other things being equal (power output, antenna efficiency, location), MURS would go further under most circumstances. And would tend to have better penetration of foliage, walls, etc. We used to use low-band VHF because it worked better in our hills and valleys, but antennas were bigger, radios were more expensive. They switched to high-band VHF, which worked fine but required more tower sites (5) to have effective coverage. Then the state got the bright idea to bring in an 800 MHz system, they were up to over 95 sites in our county and still had poor coverage before they finally pulled the plug on the whole system.

New to GMRS, but I've worked in radio communications most of my life. Got hooked into this by a "certain guy" that makes great videos. I wanted to be able to communicate with friends who will never get a ham license, so here I is. Bought handhelds for everybody, probably end up putting (another) mobile in the car. The War Department is thrilled that we'll now have comms when we're out camping and hiking, so I've got that going for me, which is good. ?

Maybe Radioddity is on the verge of offering a MURS mobile, as they just released their MURS HT, the MU-5

It is reassuring to find out the CHIRP dev's are so responsive. I hope their servers can handle us all downloading the update at the same time now... ? ?

The latest version of CHIRP now has the patch incorporated into the program. Enjoy! Sent from my SM-A125U using Tapatalk

I think this is an interesting idea, an option for a two-way in a new offroad vehicle may be attractive. However, why not install MURS mobiles instead? Granted, these can only talk to other MURS units, but the antenna and power limitations (as well as license by rule) are already built in.

There are some nets I enjoy, and some I do not. I did however, recently find a redeeming element to even the most annoying of nets. The constant traffic was very helpful in finding the best location on my roof to place the antenna. ?

First and foremost, it's not just Hams that do that. GMRS based CERT and REACT team's (who are often not Hams) handle nets and emergencies the same way ARES/RACES does. The reason for this is because emergency communications has been standardized in the US and anyone who want to help is going to do it the formal way. Secondly, I think you are misunderstanding the concept of calling for emergency or priority traffic. If it was EmComm traffic, operators move from local, up to regional/national nets, and then back down to a local net. In a traditional communications blackout, that is how emergency and priority messages get handled. So, that is how they practice. The whole procedure is not for the guy stuck on the side of a mountain... though if no one has been returning your call for help and you know a net is on a specific frequency and day,, you can bet your bottom dollar you will be thrilled they're on the air and they will take your emergency call. Also, it's a good habit to get into in case there is a real emergency. Especially before a net or a bunch of long-winded people getting ready to ha e a BS session. It's a good idea to remind everyone that regardless of what they are talking about, all conversation should stop if someone with an emergency gets in the air. If you don't want to listen to or participate in a net, no big deal. Just turn the radio off.. Don't trash people for caring enough to make sure there is no real emergency and practicing for the day one happens.

I can relate when I "jumped" into the GMRS pool I got the same radio, overwhelming features for me too. I mounted mine in different spot in my JT. But picked up 3 hand held too, but not much GMRS activity near me. But I figured I'd start with a high quality do all radio.