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These comments point out an interesting issue if I understand things right. Most, if not all, electronic products are sold with FCC Part 15 compliance. A section in that part basically says the device accepts all interference even if it causes the device to malfunction. If it does then contact the manufacture. Now try to explain that to your neighbor when they says it's YOUR problem to fix. Nope, so long as your radio meets all FCC certifications. Another reason to be sure your radio is Part 95 certified. A case in point. Years back people were experiencing car alarm failures around the I-75 and 14 Mile intersection close to where I work. The FCC was notified. The issue was traced to a Ham ATV transmitter on top of a tall senior apartment building a couple of miles west of the location above. The FCC shut the site down while they did their investigation. They found everything complied with all technical requirements and allowed the site to resume normal operations. The ding-dongs had put the alarm system on the 70cm band. I believe there is a provision in the rules for this were the equipment manufactures can use 433MHz. https://www.edn.com/using-433-mhz-for-wireless-connectivity-in-the-internet-of-things/ The head guy at the alarm company asked one of the site's equipment owners in for a talk. He asked how much power they were running. The answer was about 100 watts. Then he asked the second one. How much CAN they run. The answer was 1500 watts. The owner I was talking to telling me this story said the alarm company guy almost crapped his shorts. Then he proceeded to tell me another story about how Chrysler, as it was known at the time, had their tire pressure sensors malfunction. They were running tests on them and had the problem again in about the same area. In their case they figured out the cause and understood it was their problem to fix.

For MURS it’s very clear: § 95.2733 Prohibited MURS uses. MURS stations must not be operated as repeater stations or signal boosters. This prohibition includes store-and-forward packet operation. For FRS there’s a similar prohibition that says: (d) Packet mode. FRS transmitter types must not be capable of transmitting data in the store-and-forward packet operation mode. Perhaps the reference to packet here only applies to data?

That's not a "requirement" as such. It's in the rules that GMRS radios must use narrow band FM on channels 8-14 and no more than 0.5 watts. This is the exact same technical requirements for FRS radios. The FCC rep likely mentioned the above because the two radio services would be compatible on a technical level. You can legally program your GMRS radio to use narrow band FM on all channels thus you can use any of the 22 to communicate with FRS radios. The radio I use, Kenwood TK-3170, has "zones" which are logical grouping of memory channels. I have one zone programmed for wide band when talking to other GMRS radios, and another zone with the same channels programmed for narrow band to talk with FRS radios. Since the radio can't be turned down to 0.5 watts, minimum is 1 watt, I don't use 8-14 to talk with FRS radios.

I put a spare (Diamond) 1/2 wave 2m/70cm mobile antenna on my Chevy Bolt with a hood lip mount and was surprised and happy to get ~1.3 SWR on GMRS as measured by my fars-o-meter 2000. The way I see it, a mobile antenna with directionality is way better than a rubber ducky antenna inside the car.

Some of the first smart meters PG&E rolled out were on a frequency that tripped early GFI breakers (Zinsco to be specific). Also some of the first generation arc fault breakers were effected as well. I have seen two pump motors that were both grounded from the same source but not bonded together that created enough noise (magnetic field) to keep the flow meters on the water lines from working, once bonded together and all was good. It’s all PFM (pure fn magic).?

That is literally providing a ground plane.

Some or all of my exterior motion lights come on when I key up on 462.700MHz. The motion lights on my garage door openers in the unattached garage are triggered by 462.675MHz. Thankfully the doors don't roll open. This occurs on those frequencies with either my 50 watt KG1000G with roof-mounted antenna or my 5 watt HTs...but I aint never popped a GFI ?.

The good news is that if you call it a private system & try to control access to the codes, you will probably get some polite inquiries from people asking for information. Once people start to use it, you will quickly lose control of access, especially if it offers good coverage. Anyone with about $30 worth of equipment can scan for the repeater output tones. If you make it a split system (different input PL/DPL codes vs. the Repeater's output) you can keep a little more control over access. What do you want to accomplish? Who are your desired users? Do you have any undesired users in the area? Do you have local control capability? ie: can you pull the plug if people are using the repeater in a way you do not want them to? Do you want to be faced with that kind of decision?

My Dad had a CB radio. When he keyed up the neighbor's back yard security light would turn on. ?

^^^ True story!

LOL. No apology neccesary! I can see how I could have done the same thing very easily!! ?

Welcome!

Greetings from the Sonoran desert of Arizona. 65 year old noobie trying to learn as much as I can about this exciting new venture of GMRS radio.

Yes, you misunderstood my point. ? The OP asked Now that FRS devices are no longer limited to 0.5 watts on some channels, is it still correct that we must limit power to 0.5 watts when a conversation involves both licensed GMRS users and unlicensed FRS users? The answer is NO, you aren't limited to .5 watts. Didn't I say that?

I will give the representative the benefit of the doubt and go with "looking at old information". ? Here are the answers to your questions: 1) No. Nowhere in the CURRENT rules does it say that. FRS can use up to 2 watts (depending on the channel). GMRS can use 5 or 50, but in the situation you are describing you're probably better off sticking with 2 or 5 since it probably doesn't do you any good if the FRS users can hear the GMRS users but not talk to them! 2) No idea where "compatible" came from. Out of the box, GMRS radios and FRS radios have the same 22 channels programmed in them. Other than power levels and narrow vs wideband the only difference is that GMRS radios have the repeater channels programmed too (and FRS radios cannot do the offset needed to use a repeater). 3) This one is actually YES. ? Channels 8-14 are limited to .5 watt and in the GMRS world to HT (hand-held) radios only. So just use 1-7 or 15-22 instead. As far as IDing? The rules do seem to say that the licensed GMRS users need to ID. An easy solution? Grab an FRS radio and use that instead. I have never read any FRS rule that says you have to ID on FRS if you have a GMRS license!

GMRS is allocated 30 frequency channels in the range of 462 MHz to 467 MHz, which are divided into 22 simplex channels (where you transmit and receive directly) and 8 repeater channels (where you transmit to a repeater, which receives and re-transmits your signal on a different channel). Generally, when setting up a frequency channel on a radio, we transmit and receive signals on the same frequency. However, for GMRS repeater channels, we set up transmit and receive frequencies differently; the difference between these two frequencies is usually 5 MHz. In some cases, such as yours, these frequencies may already be pre-set. However, most repeaters require that you transmit a specific tone (often called PL, CTCSS, QC or CG) before they listen to your transmission. Therefore, you may need to set the tone value for the repeater channel you want to use.

If you’re talking to each other through a repeater, you will both tune to the same repeater channel (22-30). Each repeater channel is preset with a transmit (uplink)frequency (transmission from your radio to the repeater) which is in the 467 MHz range. You will need to match the CTCSS or DTCSS tone the repeater expects or your transmission will be ignored. The repeater relays what you transmit by transmitting it on a frequency that’s exactly 5 MHz lower, so if your uplink frequency is 467.550 MHz then the downlink will be 462.550 MHz. Using separate frequencies like that is necessary for full duplex operation, which is what a repeater does when relaying a message as it receives it. The repeater channels are already configured for the offset frequencies. Many repeaters list downlink tones, but a tone is not needed to hear them. If you just want to talk to your friend you would both tune to exactly the same frequency in the 462 MHz range (15-22) which are the simplex channels. 15-22 channels receive and transmit on the same frequencies as the receiver channels for repeaters.

My understanding was it only occurred in the vicinity of the ATV site. Once the affected systems were far enough away they were OK. I guess what it came down to the designers didn't do enough research when selecting what frequency, band, to use for their product. The radio spectrum is very complex with the same band being used for different purposes, shared, and sometimes they don't play together very well.

I know you didn't tell us your HT details, but for now; You can just tune (manually enter) your radio to 444.825 Mhz frequency to listen to SARnet (The Statewide Amateur Radio and EOC Network) This is the details of the SARnet repeater in your area, for your info: Name : Brooksville Label : CLMHER Status : On-Air Frequency : 444.825 Mhz Offset : +5 Mhz Tone : 146.2 Hz Type : Repeater (FB2) Built : Yes Latitude : 28.55527 Longitude : -82.38787 County : Hernando Region : Central Grid Zone : 17R 100 km id : LM

I have not. Personally I would stay with a recognized brand, such as Midland, Comet, Diamond, Tram, or for more money, Laird. Are you thinking about putting an antenna in your attic, or on a roof, or what?

I don’t own the 935 but I do have the GMRS PRO, and so far I like it, though I don’t have another radio to compare it to. Programming was easy one I worked through the app. Sounds good, and battery life seems to be good even with the GPS on all day. I did order a KG UV9G pro that should be here tomorrow, then I can see how much I really like the GMRS PRO.

Effort is a gross understatement back story..... not enough room for a fall zone , too much BS to put up a 125' tower. Have ~100' pine trees in strong health condition. Hire tree guy and he thinks I'm nuts but he's getting paid. Put the whole antenna ,pipe and cable attached together on the ground. strain relieved and stressed the cable before having it hoisted and mounted as one piece. My only mistake in the was cheeping out on the antenna. So far it has served me well.

Good point. I guess there are people out there that do things I can't understand. I just don't get what someone gains from saying a repeater is theirs when it's not. I just can't wrap my head around that. One of the many mysteries. ?

That is a good point. Maybe he only had a login for the main site with the repeater directory and not for the forums. I couldn’t find him in the list of forum users and committed assumicide. And I completely agree that the site should not allow a person to assume ownership of a repeater established by someone else without some kind of strict procedural approval, whether accidentally or intentionally.

It says he hasn’t logged on in five days… how is he giving approval? Maybe I’m missing something here but can you approve repeater use without logging in? I’m seriously asking, I don’t have any repeaters myself. @Sshannon he’s not a member of the forum but I don’t know that he ever was. How do we know he was banned? He is a member of mygmrs.com though on the map/repeater page. Look I’m not defending the guy (I don’t even know him) but is it possible this is a honest mistake? He hasn’t been on in five days and only had his license 15 days. How do you even send this guy an email from the repeater page to tell him he f’d up other than using the request? I only know how to do that on the forum. I understand being upset that this happens. It seems if you post a repeater as yours you should be able to lock it down as yours. Why is it so easy to change who says they own it? I appreciate the site that @rdunajewski has created here but this seems like an area that could use improvement.

It goes deeper than that. They're not even watching.