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I hold an "H" license, my wife doesn't, I do not know everything. She thinks I am a nerd, but I am a good cook and provider so she keeps me. Got my GMRS license this week. I got it because on "H" bands I am a CW operator. I don't even own a VHF or UHF radio at this time. We are going to buy, eventually, 2 decent GMRS HTs and I would like to eventually establish a GMRS base station in our location. I thought I might want to build a repeater, but that urge has passed. I am in the foot print of INDY 600 so we don't really need an open repeater here. Good, saves me money for other toys. I have been monitoring GMRS freqs for about a year, I feel like I know some of you already, and for the most part everyone seems to get along and are very friendly. So I have requested access to a couple repeater systems, and await the reply patiently. I look forward to being on the system, and being able to communicate with my wife when she is not within cell phone reach. I am perfectly happy to be mentored on the proper protocols of GMRS use. I have a child living in Mooresville and one in Decatur Township (Indianapolis) and I plan on getting them to jump on the GMRS bandwagon if this works out well for my wife and I. ?

The antenna will be fine... fair price. I would buy an authentic MXT400 v2 (or newer) over the 115 because if you are going to be talking to repeaters, programming the repeater channels to operate wide band will ensure your audio levels are proper and there will be less noise in your signal. Wouxun KG905g would be my recommendation. The S88g is great, too, but after taxes and shipping it may be over $150.

It’s like speakers for an audio system.

Search for FCC form# 601 ... Watch the LMR part of this video for more infos: https://youtu.be/fuErcUjv_fA Edit/update: I dont know anyone (including myself) that has actually applied for a business license themself - everyone I know paid a company/service to do it for them.

I was always told to first spend the most money you can on the best antenna you can get or build and focus on the transceiver second.

Why not help your friend get his Tech license? Then you could use the existing repeaters to stay in touch.

I agree with that. My first radios were Baofengs and I got them dialed in pretty nice. I now have some Wouxun radios and yes they are better out of the box. I do feel everything is easier in some part from the understanding I gained working my way through the cheaper radios. It can help you decide what you want from a more expensive radio and it's nice to have the cheap ones around, less worry if you think you might be engaging in activities that might damage a radio. Of course I find it rewarding to fight my way through the cheaper radio so yeah I'm broken that way. ?

Yes. Kemp does Motorola repair. To be more specific; they only repair brands that they rep, and Motorola is their main brand if you go to their webpage.

Got my GMRS license last week - WRWF929 Got my first radio in from amazon Downloaded Chirp and uploaded a list of local repeaters. I am a legend in my own bath tub!!! LOL! Still in listen and learn mode. But having a ton of fun!

To the best of my knowledge Yaesu and Elecraft don't make a part 95 approved radio (I'm not telling). Here is a little more on wide vs narrow though it's pretty much as @wayoverthere and @KAF6045 have explained. https://www.ailunce.comhttp//www.ailunce.com/blog/what-is-the-difference-between-narrowband-and-wideband-on-gmrs-radios

Wideband vs narrowband refers to how much spectrum the transmitted signal uses; 20 or 25kHz for wideband, vs 12.5kHz for narrowband. narrowband signals is how the handhelds only FRS channels can squeeze in between the repeater inputs in the 467.xxx range (467.550 and 467.575, with a FRS channel wedged in at 467.5675, etc). As @KAF6045mentions, the big issue is when the settings don't match between stations (one set wideband, the other narrow). When both match, the difference between wide and narrowband in practical use isn't huge.

Bandwidth is the amount of space a single /signal/ is allowed to take up. The MXT-115 uses 12.5kHz NFM -- the same bandwidth as FRS. GMRS is authorized 20kHz (though most rigs these days tend to bluff it at 25kHz -- especially as the modulation mode tends to be 16k, vs 11k for narrowband). It makes for a difference in the audio quality going between the two bandwidths (regular FM will be clipped by an NFM receiver, while an NFM signal won't be using the full dynamics of an FM receiver).

Not through a regular/analog repeater. You would need something like a P25 capable digital repeater. (based on the times my group has tried/tested)

WRUU653....I have been digging into the poop on the KGS88G...the one feature that might be the one that makes me go that way is the fact the radio comes in pink. Yes. My sweetie pie thinks she needs a pink radio.

I hedge my info to bring out "some people" so all the normal people can laugh at them... I'm glad to see that it's still working.

I am aware that it is not legal to use encryption on GMRS. I’m just curious about the different licensing out there. I never felt misled by the video.

The meter arrived today. Stupidly I didn’t order a short (about 18 inches) coax jumper; don’t be me. So, I used a 12 foot ABR 400 cable. It appears to work just fine but I have no reference. My Radioddity DB20G measured 18 watts at 146.940 MHz. At 147.500 it measured a little over 20 watts. A digital meter might’ve reported more figures to the right of the decimal, but I don’t know that it would mean anything. The SWR of my Comet SBB5 antenna measures 1.1 at 146.940. That’s the frequency of our local repeater. Again, that is meaningless as an endorsement of the meter without a reference of some kind. The only negative that occurs to me is that it seems small. I didn’t pay attention to the dimensions.

Hey John, the Baofeng UV-9G only transmits in channel mode. You can save as many GMRS channels as it will hold (127 I think) for different repeaters settings and what not but you can't transmit in frequency mode.

The ARRL is the only lobbying voice for the amateur radio service. I disagree with the ARRL frequently, but I do support them. For the last 5 years I just send them a $50 donation tot he legal defense fund instead of a membership. BUT As a member, you do get access to every issue of QST every printed, online. I have used that feature in the past for digging up articles, projects, parts lists, etc. That was very handy to have. You also get an email address in the arrl.net domain, which can come in very handy. To use the Logbook of the World you do not have to be a member, but if you want the ARRL Worked All State or ARRL DXCC awards, you must be a current paid member, PLUS pay the fee for the printing of your award and the postage. I recommend membership to new hams. LOADS of stuff on the website that is good info to the newer licensee, and QST has usually one or two articles every month that are of interest to most.

Not sure how this has much to do with wanting to install a repeater. Other than maybe buy the property at the top of the 300 foot hill and install a repater there so you can talk on both sides.

That's good advice. But there is value in buying a bunch of junk and learning. If you go straight to the top, you don't know "why" things are better.

Yeah, didn't think of that right off. After looking at the map for distance I noticed it. I will put up an external base antenna at his place and see what happens. The next step will be a couple of 50 watt radios, instead of KG-935 handhelds. (Guess I should've mentioned that too.) I'm so used to picking up my HH Ham radio and talking to Ham repeaters with a rubber duck on it. There are a ton of those repeaters around here. I guess I got spoiled.?

And this site explains what those three characters each mean: http://fcclicenses.blogspot.com/2011/10/fcc-emission-designators-what-do-codes.html TL; DR: So, for instance, F1D means Modulation type: F Angle-modulated, straight FM, Nature of modulating signal: 1 Digital, on-off or quantized, no modulation, Information type: D Data, telemetry, telecommand

Hmmmm..... Don't know what what I'm doing wrong..... I'm hitting 46.4 to 50.8 watts on all high channels.... on a ground plane.... in the attic..... with LMR400 coax.... able to talk good and clear on all high channels and repeaters..... Checked two of the three GMRS-50-V2 units I have, and both get the same watts, etc! I guess I'll have to check the third mobile unit when it gets back, just to be sure..... But, so far, I think they're great. I also have two GMRS-V2 units, and have checked them both for wattage out...... Hmmmm... both doing about 4.3 to 4.9 watts out...... Maybe...... I don't know for sure....just maybe..... all five units that I'm running are great radios that do what they say they'll do........ I'm happy with BTech GMRS-50V2 50 watt units (I have 3 units in use) and the handhelds GMRS-V2 (I have 2 units in sporatic... sometimes use). Anyway, TMO.

Call me old fashioned but I prefer to buy my radios.

I'm going to make a suggestion. Keep GMRS for the reasons you cited. Car to car, simplex kind of stuff. You can't beat the audio quality and antenna compactness of GMRS, especially when you compare it to CB. Get a ham license so you have access to more repeaters and a wider array of bands and frequencies.

You are correct sir… Like people talking on radios, I mean what’s next right? The audacity. ?

thank you so much

Linking is the problem with GMRS. I know many think its great but it does cause a mess in some regards.

When repeaters are linked to 20 others then it almost seems like the intention is to be more social, and not so much only about short comms with family and close friends.

What are Signal Reports? What is an s-unit? Why does this matter? But, Why? First, why does any of this matter? The General Mobile Radio Service was segmented with the concept of being a short-distance two-way communications for licensees and their immediate family members. It doesn’t require any special knowledge, exams or understanding of the science behind the magic. However, you will occasionally hear both professional and amateur radio operators who are also licensed GMRS operators, who may be using lingo more common to other services. One of the most common will be an RST style signal report. I’ve noticed that many new operators will call for a radio check, especially on a repeater. They may get a 'signal report' from a Ham that sounds like this, “I copy you five nine.” Or you may hear “You are full-quiet into the repeater.” While these answers may be true and accurate, for new operators, hearing “Your radio sounds great” or “I can hear you fine, but there is a bunch of static. How far are you from me (or the repeater)” would likely be a lot more helpful. Well, in the event that you come across me or one of my well-seasoned friends and we forget that not everyone knows what we are talking about, this may help you understand what you are hearing with regard to signal reports… and if you would like to use the same method, provide you with the best guidance I can. What are RST and Signal Reports? The RST signal reporting system is primarily used by amateur radio operators and other radio hobbyists to exchange information about the quality of a radio signal being received. The original reporting system was created to be used with Morse Code, and is a three digit number. Each digit is used for conveying an assessment of a signal's Readability, Strength and Tone (RST). Over time, amateurs adopted this reporting scheme for voice communications as well, but it was modified a bit to be more friendly to reports about voice signals. Readability is still used to define how intelligible your voice is; meaning how well can I understand what you are saying. Strength of your signal is also still used, based on the meter on the receiver’s radio. However, Tone was dropped for voice reports. Though on occasion you will hear someone tell an operator, in plain language, if their transmitted signal has too high or too low of a tone, as some radios allow the owner to adjust the tone. Readability – This part of the report is subjective, but still helpful. Readability is used to define how intelligible your words are, on a scale of 1 to 5. A readability value of 1 means that I can tell you are transmitting and talking, but I can’t make out anything you are saying. A readability value of 5 means that, regardless of anything else, I can understand every word you say. A report with 2, 3 or 4 would be some variation between 1 and 5. Some examples on how I personally would rate your readability on GMRS would include a 2, meaning I may be able to hear enough of what you’re saying that in a life or death situation, it may be enough to get help going. With a 3, I may be able to understand 3 or 4 words out of every 5 words. We can talk, but it’s kind of a hassle. A 4 would be I can hear every word but there is static. Pretty straight forward. Strength – With regard to strength in a signal report, there is nothing subjective about it, sort of. Unfortunately, if it is scientific or subjective depends on your radio meter type and if the meter is calibrated. We are actually measuring the voltage of your signal on the receiver’s radio. This voltage is measured in S-units or Signal Units. Where this can get tricky with GMRS is, not every radio has a signal strength meter designed to support the common s-unit scale. You may have a display that shows 9 units on some unknown scale, or 10, or 15. I have even seen some radios that only have 4 or 5. I’ll explain the technical parts of signal strength measurements and if you have a radio that doesn’t use a traditional calibrated s-meter, you may be able to adopt the idea to your personal radio. This meter below is a classic analog meter. The top line measures the received signal strength in s-units. If the needle were to swing to 5, you would give them a 5 as the Strength portion of the report. For example, if you understand every word and the needle stops at 5, you would provide a signal report for their voice signal of “five five” or “5 5”. If you could hear all of the words they are saying with a lot of static and the needle is on the 3, you would report a “four three” or “4 3”. Below is a newer radio with a digital s-meter. It looks a little different, but the same rules apply. In this picture, my meter is showing a signal strength of about 5.5 (almost 6) s-units. If I could hear them perfectly, I would tell them their signal report is “five five plus” or “5 5 Plus”, meaning I understand everything perfectly and their signal strength is never less than 5. Now, the next two images show a radio that I know doesn’t have a properly labeled or calibrated s-meter. This type of meter is the reason I said there is nothing subjective about it, sort of. While an s-unit is a true measurement of voltage, this radio has 10 lines and nothing in the owner’s manual tells me what the increment values are. However, you could still adapt the concept to a signal report, making it a bit subjective. In the first image, the meter is completely full. In this state, it’s very likely that I can hear the person talking perfectly and they almost certainly met or exceeded the voltage requirement of 9 s-units. So, I would tell this person that they are “five nine” (5 9) or they are “full quiet”. In the next image, below, the signal goes to the fifth line. Being familiar with this radio, there is a good possibility that I can hear everything they are saying, but with a lot of static. So, I would be providing a signal report of “four five” or “4 5”, since the meter measurement is half the total scale. In this case, the signal report is 100% based on my interpretation of what I am hearing and seeing, rather than providing a “metered result.” I hope this makes sense. For those of you who are interested in the science behind an s-unit, here is a little history and values. In the 1930s, the industry agreed that 9 s-units would correspond to 50 microvolts (50 μV) at the input of a receiver. However, based on meter design and how the value was sampled, this was not accurately measured from radio to radio because the input impedance of receivers was not standardized. This changed in 1981. The International Amateur Radio Union (IARU) agreed on a technical recommendation for S Meter calibration, separately for HF and VHF/UHF. IARU defines 9 s-units for the HF bands to be a receiver input voltage of 50.2 microvolts and impedance of the receiver of 50 ohms. For VHF and UHF bands, the IARU defines 9 s-units to be a receiver input voltage of 5.01 microvolts and impedance of the receiver of 50 ohms. For both HF and below, as well as everything over HF, the IARU defines that a difference of one S-unit corresponds to a difference of 6 decibels (dB), equivalent to a voltage ratio of two, or power ratio of four. For example, if 9 s-units equals 50.2 μV, than 8 s-units is 25.1 μV, 7 s-units is 12.6 μV, etc. Signals stronger than 9 s-units are given with an additional dB rating. For example, “20 dB over S9” or simply "20 over". You can see these values on the s-meters in the first 2 images. Repeater Caveat There are some important caveats to signal reports for repeater users. The RST style signal report is not a valid reporting method. The voice quality or 'intelligibility' of the transmission is likely not going to be valid. If the reporting operator is receiving the repeater's signal well enough that there is little to no chance that the voice quality is impaired, you may be able to give and get a valid readability report. This condition is often when you will hear signal reports such as "loud and clear" or "full-quiet." These replies indicate that you have a very good radio and voice signal into the repeater, as reported by someone who has a very good signal from the repeater. Additionally, the signal strength is not relevant through the repeater, at all. The receiver's station is going to be seeing the signal strength of the repeater, not the originating station asking for a signal report. It is not possible to know the received signal strength at the repeater site unless you are the repeater owner or admin and have the ability to see the actual repeater's receive meter. Even then, most repeaters do not have any easily visible signal strength meters. The next best method would be if the receiving station listens to the repeater input frequency (assuming the receiving radio has that feature). If the reporting station can hear you directly, they can tell you how strong your signal is at that person's location. It's still not indicative of how strong your signal is at the repeater. I hope this information helps anyone who may hear this lingo out on the General Mobile Radio Service. Quick Reference Chart for S-Units

Man, you have no idea who you're talking to. LOL. I'm independently wealthy. I have owned my own business for decades. I have a wife, kids, grand kids that I love and spend a bunch of time with. Along with a decades of studies in my field, I spent 7 years studying Constitutional Law and the founding and framing of the US. I have dabbled in politics, contributing to State level legislation. I have been an engineer since 1984 and have more licenses and certifications than I know what to do with, including two new certifications in the last 2 months. As an independent consultant, I have 13 years supporting the Department of Homeland Security; another 10 years supporting DoJ as well as DoD and I am currently an engineer working at the Pentagon. I love long-range shooting, have participated in professional level auto racing, 4-wheeling and I have been playing radio for 35 years, including being a licensed Amateur for 2 decades. Oh! I almost forgot, I started ground school recently and I am working on getting my private pilot license. I feel like my range of knowledge, understanding and experience are fairly vast. Though, I guess I can still do more (shrug). Just a quick reminder, you are the one who's very first post in this thread was bringing BS from "the other thread". I am just playing by your rules. See below... Yeah, about that... you're still very, very wrong about s-meter calibration and it's roots. SMDH. Saying the wrong thing over and over again doesn't make it right. I'm missing how it's dishonest to recognize the confusion of the original title (something you pointed out, I may add) correcting it and then literally making a note of what I corrected and why. I really do hope you are done posting in this thread, though. All you are doing is reaffirming your lack of knowledge and derailing a thread that was actually helpful. It's a train wreck now. With any luck, Rich will clean this thread up and lock it.

The official list of changes: NEW UV9GX Features (Upgrades to the UV9G PRO) • 3 New Dark Color Screen Modes (Day 1, Day 2 & Covert) • New Priority Channel Quick-Jump Feature (for instant Emergency or Favorite Channel use) • Extended 1.25m “220 HAM Band” RX Range (down to 219 MHz) • Roger Beep (on all freqs. except the repeater inputs) • Bright Flashlight (new LED Lamp with tighter & brighter beam) • Stiff Knobs (to avoid accidental changes, can be loosened if desired) If none of those are deal-breakers, then the PRO is otherwise the same radio. There is also a slight difference in the L/M/H power levels (see the product page), where the GX has a 2W Mid power, which is a bit more useful when communicating with FRS radios. BTW, I'm going hog-wild here on shipping backorders, so I hope to cut the wait time down in the next month or so.

o/~ If you want to be happy for the rest of your life, Never make a pretty woman your wife; So from my personal point of view, Get an ugly girl to marry you o/~

No disagreement, just a couple things to add... The first, the tone mode column will need to be "dtcs" The second, same again for tone mode, and also need to set the cross mode...can use "dtcs->" for testing with no Rx tone, or "dtcs->dtcs" to use both tones. https://chirp.danplanet.com/projects/chirp/wiki/MemoryEditorColumns

In the first place, we don’t all agree. In my opinion MURS is intended for short distance unlicensed simplex communications. Allowing repeaters drastically changes that and would make it harder to use those five channels for short ranges. The fact that a licensed service like GMRS is permitted repeaters doesn’t justify MURS repeaters. Repeaters aren’t permitted on any unlicensed services that I know of. I’m not sure why anyone would want to spend a couple thousand bucks to put a 2 watt repeater on a tower anyway. I just don’t understand what you’re trying to make MURS into.

I agree with Alex on all points. It's too hard to predict/calculate for all but a chosen few. And to touch a bit more or the reflection idea... think of radio waves like sunlight. There isn't perfect darkness in the shadows because the sunlight, to varying degrees, scatters off of everything around the item creating the shadow. That includes dust and other things in the air. Radio wave literally do the same thing.

I was at a local Ham swap this morning and yup I saw one guy with a couple of radios complete with speaker mics hanging over both shoulders.

Get off my lawn! ?

There are actually 22 GMRS frequencies. How did you even pass the FCC GMRS exam?