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Is it possible you somehow submitted two applications (or one application twice) and one was granted and the other was canceled due to lack of payments? The letter doesn’t list your call sign, but your call sign (as everyone else has pointed out) is still active.

Yep, they just contacted me. For some reason the first application did not go thru. They told me to disregard. Thanks everyone [emoji122] Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

That’s what happened. Somehow you had two separate applications and of course you only paid one. The other was dismissed:

Unfortunately the typical user thinks that a licensed frequency grants them exclusive use of a frequency. That might be how it was explained to them when they got the radios. Some will be receptive to an explanation. Others, unfortunately, will tell you to go bugger off and quit using "their" frequency/channel. Their learning experience will be longer and more stressful.

Since you can't recall it's just speculation they might have been licensed to use that frequency at the time. I remember having an on-air disagreement with a person using a radio at the now de-funked Troys-R-Us store a mile or so from my old apartment on the MURS service. They said it was a licensed "Private" 900MHz frequency and I had to get off the air. Dah!! 900MHz? They were smoking something. I informed them it wasn't 900MHz, it's a VHF frequency now a part of the MURS service and is shared between users, then bluntly told them I wasn't leaving the frequency. I wasn't interfering with their communications, they apparently didn't like the idea they had to share it. I'm sure there are many other cases where old business users still think they have exclusive use of a particular frequency. For example the local mall by me is still routinely operating under GMRS, they have a repeater in operation (462.575/467.575), but their license expired years ago. They continue to operate unlicensed to this day. Since it expired they can't get it renewed for business use. See attached files from the FCC database. Before anyone gets tied up in a knot I would recommend researching the business/frequency first to see if they are in fact licensed. There could be a few legitimately grandfathered licensed users out there. Lakeside Mall KAB1523 GMRS - Admin.pdf Lakeside Mall KAB1523 GMRS - Main.pdf

Not really. I would be more prone to put money into an antenna first. However, there are some radios that just hear better than others, so you could buy a radio with a better receiver. Some receivers can have their sensitivity increased/tuned. There are also receive pre-amps. And then, of course assuming the antenna and radio are at least working as designed, there is no replacement for elevation. A cheap vertical dipole at 10,000 feet will work better at receiving weak and distant signals, more so than the finest high gain directional antenna only 20 or 30 feet off the ground.

Kay-Gee-Dash-Nine-Three-Five-Gee. ?

All 50 watts vs 5 watts will do is help you talk out. You wont receive them any better. AS others said spend money on antenna before radio. Unless all of you are getting better radios its not worth it

If you need to ask, you should not be doing it.

Thanks for the warm welcome! Yes I’ve created an account here so I can get all the good repeater info.

Comet CA 2X4SR It's advertised as "140-160/435-465 MHz" but I just went out to my truck and swept mine and the SWR is about 1.75:1 on the 467 MHz repeater inputs, which is certainly acceptable. It's a gain antenna, but it's kind of ugly and 40" high, which pretty much rules out drive-thrus for sure! Larsen 150/450/800 I also sometimes use the Larsen 150/450/800 commercial antenna on my truck. I'm probably going to switch to it later this week so I'll sweep it if I get a chance, but it should be fine on 2m/70cm/GMRS too. It's unity gain but it's also only 16.5" high.

BoofWhang

I've given up on that. Ask five people and get five different responses. Most people will recognize the model number. Mentioning the manufacture doesn't convey much information.

That’s true, but while a grandfathered license limits them to a specific frequency it doesn’t grant them exclusive use of the frequency now. I don’t know if it did in the 90’s when the incident occurred.

You probably were in the right. I doubt there are very many state constables who know anything about FCC regulations.

I actually used his FRN and did an Application Search for it. I could have probably looked it up in an application search using the “File No.”

Nor did I, I just checked the call sign. Nice work @Sshannon! Looks like you are good to go @WRWP844, no action needed, let the transmitting continue ?

@Sshannon Good catch! I didn't think to look for the operator's name.

You're in for it now. Constant questions, debate and the pursuit of ever newer and better radios!

Hi Steve, The three categories of either "pending, approved, or denied" seem self explanatory. I would expect a request to immediately go into the "Pending" folder and stay there until the repeater manager makes a decision on it in which case it would move either to the "Approved" or "Denied" folder. However, my requests never show up in any of those folders; they show for a while in the "My Requests" list before disappearing. I can only assume that the website itself is malfunctioning. -Thanks, Doc WRVP203 / NN4II

Correct Phase 2 currently only works in trunking scenarios. Again the APX is like the XTL not all are sold with TDMA. WE have multiple SAR APX radios with FDMA only in the flash code. Our newest radios were ordered with TDMA but we are still not using it. As for encryption modules in the XTL series it was an actual module that could be removed swapped easily. Alot of folks will remove it from a radio before selling. The XTS was a board in the case and not as easy to remove or add. In the APX its a board level component (MACE Board) so all older APX will have the mace and normally included ADP/ARC4. Since 2022 if the radio does not get ordered with the $0.00 ADP option no encryption will work and requires a trip to the depot and a major cost jump from ordering with encryption.

And clowns. They’re terrifying.

That 100 feet of real good wire” that was in the house when you moved in could be the culprit as well. Things can happen to coax that remain unseen but drag the performance way down. A decent antenna analyzer could tell you whether that cable is actually good and what the losses are. And it may be that most of the cable is excellent, but a little bit of the end at the connector has gotten moisture in it. I would want to put an analyzer on your antennas anyway just to see what things look like. I’d want to know cable losses, SWR, and coax length. At GMRS frequencies even 100 feet of LMR400 consumes half of the power before it reaches the antenna. Check out this video by @marcspaz

The idea that anyone thinks they can kick you off FRS channels is pretty ridiculous and bold. Except maybe those carnies… they can be scary ?

They were definitely Walmart bubble pack radios, but if I remember right they were strictly FRS. It's been a while and the old memory isn't that sharp anymore. I have all the respect in the world for law enforcement, but the state constables around here are pretty over the top.

Yeah, they were jerks about it too. But that's typical of my area. And it was an FRS channel to boot. At the time I just let it go. It wasn't like I knew they were on it and deliberately tried to interfere, I just picked a random channel to communicate with my son. They just chose to be ignorant about it. But we're talking about small town fair security and warrant servers that ride around in a golf cart with a mounted shotgun, 3 sets of handcuffs and tasers and guns, and probably is really bummed out because they can't do traffic stops, lol.

They definitely did not have the authority to do that. In the same way only the FAA regulates airspace over the US, the rules of the airwaves are regulated exclusively by the FCC under authority granted by Congress. The rules say that no one owns any frequency, and all operators work on the premise of first come, first serve. There is nothing that says you can't have a conversation in-between conversations, and it's actually pretty common, as long as no one is causing harmful interference and everyone must yield to emergency traffic. I love having that conversation with the idiots that tell me to "get off their frequency". LOL

I'm assuming its a scam. To be frank, I don't trust any text, emails or phone calls, and 100% of "official" letters I have received from the IRS, Social Security Administration, and most other agencies looking for payment or ID turned out to be fake. Scammers pull info out of public database to do targeted emails, hoping you call the number on the letter and give them you info and credit card information, instead of calling the public number of the official government site. Along with still being active in the database, there is nothing listed in the administration section. I would also recommend checking it occasionally and just carry on.

With it showing active, I'd agree too...take a print to prove it was active and run with it till hearing otherwise.

I agree. I would periodically check the data base to see if there are any changes and keep on using your license.

I’d run it for now until they can respond to your email if this is the case.

You bought it for GMRS, why do you need it to transmit outside of that?

Sounds like a use case for MURS, like Walmart. License free not much traffic on it.

Actually, the person requesting to transfer the license only needs to be eligible to hold the license. It does not need to be business to business for 90.35 frequencies. The same is true for Part 90.20 licenses as well. The transferee must be eligible under the rule to hold a public safety class license. The classes of individuals are listed but include veterinarians and disabled persons.

Stupid question.. is a LMR license transferrable to a new user? If a company I work for decided to ditch LMR for cellular could I take over the repeater and transfer the license to my name or maintain the current license and just set it up for me and my buddies?

The KG-S88G is UHF only, it's more basic but uses superheterodyne and has great quality, it's waterproof, and seems rugged in it's build. easy to program in the radio. Chirp is not available for it but if your a windows guy they have their own software. Great for GMRS coms, using on a jeep trip or kayak. No FM, no weather channels. The KG-935G is UHF and VHF receive, FM and weather channels. It's going to be better if you want to scan. Not a superheterodyne but still really good quality sound for TX and RX. It's not waterproof. both the new KG-935G Plus and the KG-S88G have USB charging but you'll have to remove a plate with screws for the KG-S88G because of the waterproof rating. I have both of these and I like them both. I keep the S88G programmed fairly basic and use it for GMRS coms, GMRS scanning and to take out in the world for talking. The 935G Plus is my go to if I want to scan and listen but still be able to communicate but it's not going in the boat with me or in the mud off roading. I hope this helps.

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.

Is that located in Lawrenceville, NJ? It's the only "Mercer County" repeater in the entire database. If so, I have no problem seeing the frequency and CTCSS tone codes. But I did have to login mygmrs.com to allow me to see that data.