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https://www.miklor.com/COM/UV_Squelch.php

They wont be for sale until the 18th so nobody has one..... I have one, but i cant talk about it until the 18th..

Yes sir. Sorry, I have not checked in here in quite some time. Finally got my base antenna (Diamond V2000a) that is a tri-bander for 6m, 2m and 73cm and Nano VNA scan shows VSWR 1.4 to 1.3 across all the GMRS freqs. I've got it 30 ft up on a flagpole and been chatting a bit on the Sheraton Dallas repeater.

I think you answered your own question. We have "what the FCC rules say", then we have "what people THINK the FCC rules say", and finally "what people think the FCC rules SHOULD say". Hence the ongoing debate. Please provide the section of Part 95e that says that. Oh wait; there isn't one. For a radio to be "legal" on GMRS, it HAS to have a Part 95e certification. Full stop. The rules do allow for a radio to have dual certification (Part 90 and Part 95e) as long as it cannot transmit on frequencies that are part of a service that doesn't require transmitter certification (aka Part 97). But nowhere does it say, "Part 90 radios are automatically certified for Part 95e". Indeed, many Part 90 radios are 400-470 or 400-480 so they can be used for ham radio (which is perfectly legal) but that precludes them from being 95e certified. As far as I know, there are NO currently-produced radios that are both Part 90 and 95e. Not completely accurate. Mobiles cannot be used on the low-power channels; those are restricted to HTs only. Not a matter of "turning down to a legal power output". The bottom line is that the FCC doesn't care if you use a Part 90 radio on GMRS. But that's not what the rules say. It's up to each GMRS licensee to decide how important it is to use a Part 95e certified radio.

Without a written opinion from the FCC the use of a Part 90 radio in Part 95 is strictly conjecture and should be evaluated as a personal opinion only.

I guess the question at this point is WHY is there 5 pages of discussion on a topic that is simple to answer. A radio that is PART 90 certified for commercial radio use is acceptable and legal for use on GMRS. Modified ham radios are NOT PART 90 certified and therefore are NOT allowed to be used on GMRS Although the will 'work'. This applies to repeaters as well as portables and mobiles. We seem to want to beat this stuff into the ground here and I fail to understand why that is. GMRS is in the middle of the UHF PART 90 frequency allocation. So from a technical standpoint, there would be no reason to think they wouldn't be allowed. Keep in mind that a ham radio for UHF (420 to 450Mhz) operated on GMRS is being operated 17Mhz outside of it's design parameters. Where a commercial radio that is PART 90 (450 to 470/512Mhz) is running INSIDE the design bandwidth of the radio. Now of course, there are considerations for power output that have to be followed. Some frequencies are lower power and some mobiles and portables will NOT turn down far enough to be legal to operate on the simplex GMRS frequencies. So you simply set those channels as receive only or don't program them in radios that can't turn down to a legal power output level.

This is also pretty good RF line of sight and topography calculator https://www.scadacore.com/tools/rf-path/rf-line-of-sight/

You setup the radios on different bands. One radio on 70 cm and one on 2 meter and the transmitting radio on low. Specs say one watt but most likely less so there shouldn't be an issue.

Ah, the magic of 3-D printing. We have a 3-D printer in our engineering department. We don't use ordinary plastic thread. Instead, I'm told, it's a more expensive carbon fiber type for extra strength. For things like belt clips you might want to look into that. Also you have to watch out which direction the layers are put down verses the forces applied. Plastic printed parts have failed along the boundaries between layers, they don't bond that well. A few suggestions have been made where people have put the finished part in an oven to get the plastic temperature up where it will bond better at the layer boundaries then let it cool back down.

Great link Lscoctt! This was something I had to figure out for myself when I first started digging around in Chirp. Changing squelch settings in Chirp made a world of difference for my Baofeng UV-9G. Night and day.

Get permission from the owner. Easiest way to do that is right here on the site. Go to Maps, find the repeater near you and see if it requires permission. If so click the request permission button and fill out the forum. You will need a full account to do this. A guest account will not allow you to pake requests for access to repeaters I don't believe.

You turn it off, then turn it on while holding the top button on the left, then select GMRS.

'Fitz. has it cooled off enough for ya? ?

The answer to your question is "NO" .. Weird that after so many words, the question still had not been answered.

It's not HAM, you're right. But people still like to tinker with what they are allowed to. That said, for many people (myself included), the radio hobby starts on GMRS, and expands into HAM rather quickly.

Can you explain how a home brew antenna causes interference/noise/splatter in the business spectrum, and why it should not be used? The type accepance applies to the radio. Other than FRS, I have not seen anything in the regulations that mentions any type of antenna that is permitted or prohibited for GMRS.

For some people it isn’t about the cost. It’s the satisfaction of building something yourself and the knowledge gained doing it. I’ve picked up cheap magnet mounts at swaps along with some generic whip elements that screw in to them. I wanted a cheap and quick 1/4 wave antenna for the Ham 1.25M band. Didn’t take much to trim one down using the antenna analyzer. Also doing some simulations it looks like a 1/4 wave could be made to cover the Ham 2M band and the MURS channels. The same with the Ham 70cm band and GMRS. The later I built using a cheap BNC circuit board socket and stiff bus wire. I can cover the frequency range of 430 MHz to 470 MHz with under a 2:1 SWR with a nearly 1:1 match at 450 MHz. I have one I use at the office on the top of a bookcase. Another one I used tie-wraped on the top of an old baseball type hat at the Dayton Hamvention a few years ago. Worked much better than the rubber duck antenna with the radio hanging on the waist. Sure I could have purchased them, but where’s the fun in that?

gman1971 we are all very aware of your opinion of any radio other than some professional part 90 radio. The problem with your opinion, is that if we all took that route, companies would stop manufacturing new Part 95 radios. Yes, I am very aware of what Superheterodyne is. I grew up in a radio shop, it was my dad's business. The point is though, the radio in question is not a radio on chip radio. That is all I said. The attitude of some on this site is getting to be as bad as the other radio site. It is a shame. All that is accomplished by this type of attitude is to drive new users off. Some people's needs can be very easily met using some of the radios you deem junk. Use what you want, and I am not saying you are wrong when you use a Part 90 radio from Motorola, or Kenwood, they are great radios, I know. Some people however want and nice off the shelf solution, and Midland, Wouxun, and others will fit their needs nicely. The Wouxun radio in question would be great for me, due to its detachable faceplate, which would make mounting in my car possible. I don't have room for a Motorola in my car, there is no good way to mount it. If I can take the largest part and mount it under the seat, then that would work nicely. Too many people here spout off about a radio without ever actually using it, seeing it, or even reading its specs. It's ridiculous and counterproductive. Not everyone needs, or desires, a Part 90 professional radio.