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Some areas are, mostly because GMRS is intended for purpose-use. ie; when you go hiking, off-roading, etc, to talk with others in your group. Its not primarily intended for chatting with strangers.

I have mostly Kenwood stuff. For the most part finding the programming software for the older radios wasn't overly difficult. I've had much better luck with Kenwood verses Motorola. I have a few Motorola radios. It took a bit of searching but I did find the version of the software I needed. The ones I have are more "picky" about building the code plugs. If the version of the radio's firmware changes most likely the the code plug will as well meaning you to have to rebuild it. With Kenwood that seems to be rather rare. Also some of the really old radios you absolutely will require a computer running DOS to load, run and program the radios. I would avoid those. There are several issues with buying used commercial radios. One you're never sure if the radio works. If it looks beat to crap be careful. Even very good looking radios may have failed the output stage resulting in little to no power on TX. I've also had a few with nasty audio issues on RX. Make sure the seller has a return option. A few had even the center pin in the antenna socket busted out. Look over all of the photos VERY closely. Second double check the frequency range of the radio! UHF radios come in a number of frequency ranges. You might find one at a good price but it only covers 400 MHz to 430 MHz, or something like 470 MHz to 520 MHz, as examples, useless for Ham and GMRS. I've seen a lot of sellers get the description wrong. Don't rely on it. The best way to check is look at the photos and get the FCC ID. There are places on the Internet where you can look it up which will show you the FCC "Grant" showing the tested power levels and frequency ranges. Third, another reason to check the FCC ID, a few sellers are trying to dump non US/North American radios, which may not even have the ID! Trying to find software for a non US radio has proven hard to find. If the seller can't or won't show you the tags on the back of the radio showing the FCC ID, serial number and model type stay away from it. I've seen one where the serial number part of the tag was obviously removed, Dah, I wonder why!? Last, and this is a big one, be absolutely sure the radio does NOT have any passwords set!!! There are typically two, one prevents the programming software from reading out the contents, not a big problem, and the second is the write password. It's the write password that will completely block you from ever reprogramming the radio. In that case you have an expensive brick. To guard against this again make sure the seller has a money back policy in this case. Finding the special "Engineer" version of the programming software, which normally only the dealer or the service depot has, may not be easy to find and is some cases not available PERIOD.

Almost forgot: A lot of sad-hams like to slum on GMRS - so turn on your roger beep, then kerchunk the repeater a few times - They'll come at you like The Walking Dead...

OffRoaderX beat me to the punch because I'm a little long-winded today. LOL Unfortunately, it can be, depending on where you live. It's not like CB or Ham radio, as far as the social aspects are concerned. I typically tell people its a "bring your own contacts" type of service. Just my opinion based on anecdotal experience, most people who get into GMRS are either looking for 1 or more of 3 things. 1.) Emergency/backup family communications where cell service is poor. 2.) Communications with family and friends while doing outdoor/adventurous activities. 3.) For community service. Providing repeater service for the community and putting together emergency planning in the event of a disaster. It's not really a rag-chew type of service... though in highly populated areas, there is a little of it.

Another issue is that the more you are scanning, the less you are listening. If you know there is a local repeater, monitor those frequencies. Scanning the entire GMRS channel list (only option for some radios [scan ON/OFF]), means it may miss short transmissions. Many radios allow you to make Scan Lists where selected channels/frequencies can be scanned at a time. This may help too, scanning a few channels at a time.

Some places it’s even deader. In those places, the best way to be able to hear others reaching out to make contact is to get your Technician ham license and a dual band ham radio. There are ham radio repeaters in a lot more places than GMRS and calling CQ (meaning “I want to chat”) is part of the tradition. Steve

Without getting into the debate on Part 90 vs 95 figured I'd list some basic Repeaters for UHF that would be good base units if your shopping for new. Low Power RT97 - List Price - $536 (Sale Price - $371.99) - https://www.retevis.com/rt97-portable-gmrs-repeater-mobile-repeater#A9150CX1 Midland MRX10 - List Price - $ 459.00 - https://midlandusa.com/products/midland-mxr10-repeater Mid Power Bridgecomm BCR-40U - List Price $1499.00 - https://www.bridgecomsystems.com/collections/amateur-radio-repeaters/products/bcr-40u ICOM FR6300H - List Price $1819.00 - https://theantennafarm.com/shop-by-categories/radios/repeater-systems/uhf-repeaters/11680-icom-fr6300h-detail Kenwood NXR-810K - List Price - $1770.00 - https://theantennafarm.com/shop-by-categories/radios/repeater-systems/uhf-repeaters/9640-kenwood-nxr-810k-detail Motorola SLR5700 - List Price $ 3700.00 - https://theantennafarm.com/shop-by-categories/radios/repeater-systems/uhf-repeaters/9581-motorola-slr5700-detail To be noted none of the mid power repeaters come with a duplexer. That will tac on another $300 and up depending on what you purchase. Granted there are many UHF part 90 repeaters used on the market that can be had for way less money than above but wanted to list new prices. If your searching online and someone is advertising a GR1225 on GMRS for $1000 I'd think twice. For mid power I have no experience with the Bridgecomm or the new NRX (however have many of the older Kenwood) units. Just wanted to put some info in one location. The low power units are nice because they basically work out of the box. I also realize the prices on the mid power units look high when your comparing to some of the CCR world but they will outlast pretty much all the home brewed stuff as they are built to do what they are. Some used older stuff that can be had reasonably are the Vertex VXR Series, Motorola GR1225, Motorola MTR2000, Motorola Quantar, Kenwood TKR850, Midland Base Tech II (Was a solid unit), ICOM FR4000 and the Motorola XPR series.

In California, there are government surplus property laws and all local (City and County) and State Agencies must sell their surplus property through public sales, pursuant to the Government Code. Some property must be auctioned and some you can buy on the spot. In California, all State Agencies must transfer their surplus property to the Department of General Services (DGS) Property and Reutilization Division and they sell/auction the state's surplus property. Depending on the property item, there is a replacement schedule the State Agencies must follow in order to get the funding for replacing specific equipment. The CHP would budget for the replacement of radios every 10 years but, I'm not sure if that is the case today. 17 years ago, that was the case.

Yeah I was doing that today check the local repeaters here in my area over near Red Rock Canyon State Park - unfortunately for 99% of the time in the back trails I couldn't hit anything. The day before I was able to hit both repeaters in the California City areas and I did get to chat with the repeater owners which was cool. The really funny part of today I had setup Zello to monitor @OffRoaderX's channel and I DID hear that a couple of times when I had like one bar on my cellphone. I was all excited thinking my GMRS radio was hearing something.

I wish I could help you but, I haven't dived into the XPR series yet. Good luck with your project.

As others have said, commercial radios are really nice, but you have a learning curve. Finding equipment dirt cheap is relatively easy if you take your time. I was able to snag two brand new in the box Vertex VX-4207s for next to nothing. Nice 45w radios with over 500 channels loaded with features. Well built with lots of heat sink that keeps it cool when you get long winded. The software took getting used to and at first had to roll back the computer date so I could program wide band. After playing with the software I was able to get into "developer mode" and no longer have to screw with the computer clock. I was even able to extend the frequency range into the 70CM ham band and program in a bunch of repeaters as well. Just take your time and have fun with it. Oh, and buy a Radiodity DB-20 for less than $100 new and have fun with that till you snag some commercial gear.

There is a lot to working with commercial radios, if you want to program them yourself. It is not like the amateur/GMRS radios with simple programming software, that is nearly plug-n-play. Some models of commercial radios were set up for analog trunking systems, and as such require some odd ways to program them for traditional ham/GMRS use. These radios, such as the Kenwood TK-840, have System and Group functions, so they require a slightly different approach to programming, if you want to put a bunch of GMRS channels in and scan them. Keep in mind that a lot of older radios were from the days of computers running DOS, and the programming software for those older radios need to be run in DOS, and the communications speeds of the serial ports needs to be slow. There are YT videos of people successfully running the older programming software in DOSBox, but I have never had luck with that ( and I didn’t need to spend a lot of time on it, because I have other options). Some software may work in Windows OS, but they may only like up to Windows 98. Newer radio programming software is generally compatible with Win 10. Also note that Motorola is very particular about protecting their programming software, and the official channel to obtain that software can cost you an additional $200-300 (I don’t recall the exact price, but it is up there). I believe Kenwood has recently adopted a licensing scheme as well, for their commercial programming software. As mentioned, you want to take note of the band split of a particular radio. Most commercial radios are tuned to a specific portion of the band, and could not work for your needs unless you are skilled and equipped to do alignments on radios. And even then, some components may require replacement. And many newer (post 2013) radios commercial radios will only do narrow band, unless you purchase an unlock key to allow wide band programming. That generally means spending additional money, or going through the process of Motorola indoctrination. If you want to run commercial radios on GMRS, and don’t have a bench full of electronics test gear and a stack of old computers, you are probably better off with a company such as Used-Radios.com. If you are a general appliance operator on GMRS or amateur radio, you probably want to buy something off the shelf from Midland or Wouxan. If you are a glutton for punishment, by all means buy used radio gear, learn to program and align it yourself, and then realize there is no market for this stuff anymore, thanks to the good folks in China that have flooded the market with inexpensive radios.

I can't speak to the auction part, but I've dealt with used-radios.com a few times, all good, and they were helpful with some questions I had after the sale.

The V2.0 version of TK-880 came in three frequency splits: Type 1, 2 and 3. Only Type 1 has a good split for GMRS and also has Part 95 cert. Brochure is here, look at the last page: https://www.ameradio.com/doc/Kenwood_TK-780(H).pdf On the label on the back of the radio it would say: TK-880H-1 (or -2 or -3) and V2.0. Radio works and can be programmed to both wide band and narrow band per channel basis. I.e some channels may be programmed to narrow and some to wide in the same time. It is not going to be a whole radio switch to wide band. Programming is similar to Chirp in the sense that there is a list of "channels" - memory slots that are configured to frequency, split, RX and TX tone, name and other options. There are also "zones" that a groups of channels. But there are features that are usually not present in Chirp, like Operator Selected Tone, ability to reprogram buttons on the face of the radio. It also can be programmed to listen to LTR trunking systems, if you have them around and so inclined. Label, this is for 880, not 880H, but you'll get the idea:

A pair of brand new Maxon's 8402's radio's, programing cable, software and tether cable can be had for about $800 bucks.. Same radio used in the Bridgecomm for half the cost. Maxon's are very nice commercial radios falling right with Motorola as far as quality ad operation goes.. Maxons are extremely easy to program. Multec Communications has some great deals on commercial radios.

Try saying "Wxxx000 listening" and someone may answer.

I do not have personal experience with TK-890H, just note that it's 100W radio, while max power allowed on GMRS is 50W. Be a good neighbor. Software seems to be available around, KPG-44D. I have personal experience with another radio currently selling on this site, TK-880H. That one is very straight forward to program, and also has Part 95 certification (judging by the published split, it must be "-1", which has Part 95), if it is important to you. Software is KPG-49D, front panel is not remotable. All what was said about passwords and such applies.

There may be others who are also passively scanning. If you’re all waiting for each other it would seem very dead, so someone needs to initiate the conversation. Don’t hesitate to pick up the mike and say “This is WRVZ494. Can I get a repeater check?” Also, don’t shy away from saying “Is there anyone who wants to chat?” It’s not against the rules and you might find out there are quite a few others who are just scanning.

As said using commercial software for the most part go to the manufacturer. Ive used commercial radios for over 30 years. One recommendation would be to use similar to what those around you do if you can. Makes programming and testing a bit easier. I'm a MSI fan and all my gear for them most part is Motorola. I have a couple Kenwood and ICOM radios around that I've ended up with but everything I buy is Motorola. Once you get with a "brand" you'll find most are similar to program in that brand. In the past ICOM was a good unit and software and stuff is pretty easy to get. Alot of our SAR folks standardized on ICOM for cost and benefits. Kenwood also has some good stuff. To be honest the old Midland LMR gear was built like a tank. Biggest issue is alot of old gear is DOS based. Find something newer and you will be good.

If it isn't from an authorized dealer or the manufacture then it's pirated software. The Kenwood stuff isn't too hard to find from various sites without somebody trying to make money off of selling the software they likely got for free elsewhere. You'll have to look around for it. There is one source where a "Ham friendly" dealer doesn't seem to have a problem supplying older versions of Kenwood software if you ask nicely. There is also a lot available in the files section. You do have to register to join the group and there is no cost involved either. You'll likely will need to register first before the following link will work. https://groups.io/g/radioprogramming/files Sample screen shot of top level folders for the above.

I was searching for programming software for commercial radios last week and found a site called Radiosoftware.online (https://https://radiosoftware.online/) that seems to have a vast collection of programming software for most of the manufactures and models. Only problem is it's a $155 annual fee to use it with no monthly or single download fee option available or offered. Have no idea if they are legit or not, maybe someone here can chime in. You can browse the site first to see if they have what you are looking for, you just can't download it without a subscription.

Daniel, I see you are in Corpus, at present time only 1 repeater in the whole place, and it is not operational yet, out in Flour Bluff, when it is online, it May orMayNot coverwhere you live just looking at google maps. First of all, in Corpus there are probably Not going to be many gmrs repeaters up on commercial towers,,So ur HT, is not gonna do a very good job like one will do with amateur radio , with tall towers and 100 watt repeaters. most of the repeaters within 45 miles of you to are 10 watt(5-6watts after duplexer) Retevis RT97 repeaters, with antennas avg height of 30 ft on pushup poles( american tower company owns nearly all the big towers in the rural areas , and they dont want gmrs ot ham on their stuff( I know because I have one of them on my ranch).They still are goid repeaters, we are getting 15-25 mildes coverage with them( we are located in Refugio, Aransas, and San Patricio Counties, 6 repeaters scattered around up here.) So plan on getting a 40 -50 watt mobile radio, either for vehicle,with a midland 6db magnet mount antenna on the center of your roof, or if your lucky enough to live in a house with NO HOA gestapo,a 50 watt radio, a power supply, 50 or so ft of lmr400 coax, a 40 ft pushup pole , good to 30 ft without guying it if attached to eve of house, and a Good gmrs base antenna, i suggest a comet CA712EFC. Now for the bad news. With either of those setups, you may be able to get into the new flour bluff repeater, its antenna will be at 50 ft I believe, but it is one of the low power repeaters.And its owner id am a ateur radio guy brand new to GMRS, and he will have the same learning curve that the rest of us did getting things Just right to squeeze all the distance he can outta a low power system. That said, Chances are slim that you will be able to hit any of the other repeaters ( possibly Ingleside from certain areas of CC), But you still have simplex going for you. Over 110 folks in CC show to be licensed, all u gotta do is find some of em. If you come North of Portland you have much better chance of contacting some of our repeaters oreven catch some of the group on simplex (just about everyday 0500 to 0900 on the Bayside, or ingleside repeaters, and monitor ch19 simplex no tones, and ch 16 simplex no tones. We try to monitor bayside all day.Look up the repeaters in our area, on mygmrs hit the permission button, and you will get a response. If you are an amateur operator several of us monitor 146.500 simplex. We can answer questions you may have . Good luck! WQRJ814/ KF5WTB

I'll speak mostly from my own experience. I've mostly dealt with Vertex Standard stuff, and coming from other radios, the learning curve for the analog only radios isn't horrible. aftermarket cables are available, many of the common software packages are out there, either from the cable seller or other sources, some paid. the help files in the software are pretty decent about explaining the features, sometimes in somewhat technical language. the digital stuff is a level more complicated, but if you're sticking with the analog side, it's not TOO much more complicated than the analog. i have a couple motoTRBO compatible radios, and it's a few extra settings to watch out for setting up for analog. i was trying to get them going on DMR, but haven't fully worked that out. From the forum, kenwood seem reasonably easy to get software and cables for. can't speak to the programming. motorola seems to be more common to see ship-in programming services available. i've been unsuccessful with programming a couple motorola radios i have, and kind of hit a brick wall with motorola, they were being helpful and then stopped. the software i got didn't load at all on one computer, and the other won't see the radio, either with the aftermarket cable or a legit motorola cable. Moto may be the most likely to be accessible through a local two way shop, with Kenwood not far behind.

I was thinking of the same ?

Glad someone picked up what I was putting down. Though, I would've gone with "hams to the left of me, CBs to the right."

Yes, but I cant find anyone to talk to on it.