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Last radio I had seen from Tid wasn't even allowed to be sold in the US

Those compact "flat pack" duplexers are not really designed for 50 watt applications. I also didn't quite catch who was tuning those duplexers. I've seen some sold on Ebay that are horribly tuned, and others that have been tuned quite well. I would not blindly trust that a CCD (CheapChineseDuplexer?) is actually tuned to the frequencies requested when it was ordered. I would also tell you that the amount of isolation between transmit and receive doesn't really allow you to run 50 watts through one of those flat packs (even when it's properly tuned) without some level of desense. In short - a portion of your transmit signal is going to leak over to the receive side and cause you interference - AKA desense, reducing the performance of your own repeater. And finally - the point I always get back to. Every rookie out there wants to get a full 50 watts, because more power is always more better - right? Well, think about what you're doing. You may get a full 50 watts heading into your duplexer, and if you're lucky, 30 or 35 watts heading out of the duplexer & up to your high gain antenna. But, what are you talking to? Hand held portables at 4 or 5 watts? How far can they talk back in? You just reduced their talk-back performance by leaking some transmit power over to the receive side, probably killing 2 or 3 dB of receiver sensitivity. Now that 4 watt portable is effectively talking in with the same effectiveness as a 2 watt portable, because you're reducing the receive side performance all so you can crank 50 watts into the duplexer. Back the power down to 20 watts, still have ERP to spare, and suddenly your 4 watt portable gets back into the system a bunch better, repeater coverage is balanced between transmit and receive, and as an added bonus, parts live longer due to reduced power. Turn down the power. Improve your system performance.

Good luck to all youtube GMRS content providers - I mean someone - on pursuing and getting their ham license.

A VNA can be purchased for around $75 that will give you all the information you would get from a dedicated antenna analyzer costing over $300.

This is kind of a branch off of another post I made on the general forum. I figure most people who browse this forum would be more knowledgeable and maybe be able to open a discussion on their interpretation. This relates to the FCC rules stating there will be no usage of words used to convey hidden meaning, with the exception of '10-codes' such as 10-4. In this I would like 3 questions to be explored. 1. What constitutes hiding meaning 2. What constitutes a 10 code 3. At what point am i not 'hiding' my code To begin, I will post paste the FCC Rule straight from the website. § 95.1733 Prohibited GMRS uses. (a) In addition to the prohibited uses outlined in § 95.333 of this chapter, GMRS stations must not communicate: (3) Coded messages or messages with hidden meanings (“10 codes” are permissible); So first off, we will discuss what constitutes a hidden meaning. Someone made a decent comment in the other post that really struck my attention. At what point does short talk become hidden meaning? Yes we all know what 10-4 is due to movies, tv shows, and being radio dorks, but theoretically not everyone can know this. Also, if I was telling someone to grab a [Raychem (manufacture) F-81 RG58 (come in a red clip, RG59 come in blue) connectors. I could see how the phrase "Red Raychem" could refer to lots of things, possibly even drugs, if you were not in the trade and even then only if you use Raychem products.]. By this logic, any shorthand talk other than 10 codes are hidden meaning, are they not? 2. What constitutes a 10 code Under the FCC 95.1733 there is no OFFICIAL 10 code list. In fact, another person made a very good point in the other thread as well. There are 10 codes that don't match other departments. [Around here you could ask a LEO for a 10-21 and a Firefighter for a 10-21 ... one would call you, the other bring you a 2 1/2 inch hose.] Which is a very good point. Without an official FCC 10 code, does adding 10 in front of your code make it a 10 code? As another poster said, [If I say I'm 10-365 WTH does that mean? Am I legal because I used a 10 code? Even 10-100 has different meanings to different people. Personally, I think I'm 10-733.] 3. At what point am I no longer hiding my code Furthermore, if I was to publish online my 10 Codes, let's say 10-1 is Unit En Route, 10-2 is Unit Stopped, 10-3 is Unit Broke down, and published it in a public space, is it no longer a hidden meaning? If I publish it online, have the codes readily avaliable to anyone who asks, and have them ready and printed, how are they a hidden code? If willing to give to any LEO, FCC agent, or Public Citizen with the exception of foreign ambassadors, why would it not be permissible? Remember to keep the comments cordial. This is meant to be a productive, fun, and thought provoking conversation. Please enlighten me!

https://www.arrl.org/news/fcc-proposes-record-34-000-fine-for-alleged-interference-and-unauthorized-transmissions-during-idaho Idaho man being fined $34k for transmitting on Rescue and Fire emergency freqs during an actual emergency. Don't be that guy, stick to your approved, licensed frequencies, and definitely don't transmit on unauthorized frequencies during a friggin emergency.

As some of you may know, we have been trying to get myGMRS integrated into CHIRP, a popular open-source radio programming software created by Dan Smith, for several years now. I finally heard back from Dan in December and shared our API (Application Programming Interface) resources to him and test credentials for the website. Given that this was a new feature and a big convenience to users, we wanted to offer it as a perk to Premium Members of the website who support our efforts to be the go-to GMRS community. Dan expressed concerns about having any paid services such as RadioReference.com in his application, because developers would be unable to test unless they had a membership at the website. We agreed to table the discussion until we had a solution for developers to test the myGMRS integration, and he implemented the new feature into CHIRP-next, the next generation of the CHIRP application. Dan released a version of CHIRP-next on December 24th with myGMRS integrated into it. Yesterday, I sent Dan an email letting him know what changes to expect to the API once I require accounts to have a Premium Membership to download repeaters through CHIRP, so he had time to make the required changes to show the appropriate error message rather than a cryptic "Got error code 403 from server" message. Long story short and omitting the gory details, Dan decided it was best to completely remove the myGMRS integration that he had finally added, rather than work with us on how to reach an amicable agreement that makes everyone happy. We offered several solutions to provide developers with Premium Membership so they could test the feature, eliminating the concern from Dan. We are surprised by this but respect his wishes, even though it hurts the GMRS community which utilizes his product for GMRS and/or Amateur Radio. Understandably, I know many people will wonder why this wasn't just a free feature and that be the end of it. However, myGMRS is a small business and it needs to be profitable to survive. myGMRS is a one-person operation (not withstanding all the amazing members who contribute the repeater listings and forum posts) and it takes considerable resources to just to keep the lights on with there being so many users. Since the founding of RepeaterFinder, LLC, the corporate entity behind myGMRS, I have not taken a salary. We intentionally minimize the number of advertisements we show because we hate ads too, but they alone don't cover the cost of running the website for nearly 50,000 users. Very few members have been kind enough to support us by subscribing to a Premium membership, so we're always looking for new perks to add for Premium Members to draw more people to sign up. To those who do support us, I sincerely thank you! If you'd like to utilize the myGMRS lookup feature and are a Premium Member, you can download the last working version of CHIRP-next from 01/09/2023 here: https://trac.chirp.danplanet.com/chirp_next/next-20230109/ If you receive "Got error code 403 from server" when trying to authenticate to myGMRS, it means you do not have an active subscription and you can subscribe by going here: https://mygmrs.com/profile/subscriptions You can see the commit notes from Dan regarding the removal here: https://chirp.danplanet.com/projects/chirp/repository/github/revisions/12301814e238458766f1f7bf06476b39a4e3ab93 Here's the original ticket tracking the feature request: https://chirp.danplanet.com/issues/9169 Thank you for understanding!

Digital and sat are interesting but I got my license last month just because of monitoring a few 2m simplex channels. They sounded like a good group of folks. One of my GMRS friends got his ticket, joined the group and convinced me to do the same after letting my license expire 20 years ago. Kinda cool to do VHF simplex 30 miles but still primarily use GMRS for repeaters - just a bit more relaxed than ham repeaters are. Just got my 4th ARRL letter in the mail today asking to join in a month, that is annoying. They serve their propose I suppose but come on.... To OP (OffRoaderX), you are a smart guy and know your way around radios, probably more so than 95% of other GMRS users. Hit up hamsudy.org and take a sample test and see how you do or just run through the entire test question pool a few times and I'm sure you will ace it.

Omg you were threatened? Here?

...

That seems like a violation of FCC rules... especially since (I believe) there is no certification process for amateur radio equipment. I'm highly suspicious of them making that claim and having it be truthful. Edit: man... that whole write-up is sus. Dude claims it's GMRS and Ham approved, but you're doing a soft-reset and going between modes via a service menu... now I'm really calling BS.

My question is how is this happening. On GMRS the duty cycle should not be enough to melt it down. This is analog correct ? How long are you keyed for to do this damage ?

No Not all the 10 code is used , but is the example and same that I would use . Some are from Law enforcement and only a base of the 10 code for use . I just listed all here for simplicity of copy and paste . Most Law enforcement agencies are using post 911 simply verbiage to communicate now days .

Price of 3 you could have bought a real duplexer.....

If a young person wants brain dead communication the. by all means use their cell phone. If they want a technical challenge then Ham Radio is where it’s at. Even a Tech class license you can get worldwide communications using various digital modes. Set up an internet connected repeater for digital and maintain it. Then there is satellite communications to test skill level, moon bounce etc.

The nature of the thread was a foregone conclusion.

Well, this thread went exactly as I predicted. A very sincere thank you to everyone that posted helpful tips to get licensed, actually answered the question and stayed on topic - you guys give us all hope that ham has a future. But thank you even more for "some people" doing to this thread, which simply asked for some tips, exactly what "some people" do best.. Proving yet another of the things that I say so often, that "some people" keep declaring is not true/I make it up.

Wait. I just looked up the call sign you posted. He has a repeater listed IN Kaufman. The PL isn't listed so I don't know if it matches what you have listed here. That repeater is NOT 70 miles away from Kaufman, It's in Kaufman. I don't see any other repeater in a 70 mile radius on 625, so I am gonna guess you aren't listed. Gonna guess you don't have a lot of footprint either. Not sure what to tell you on this. If he dropped a repeater in place on the freq you are using, running the PL YOU were using, and it has that sort of footprint I am seeing on the map on here. I would turn your repeater off and start using his instead. When he questions it, tell him you were there first and he started interfering and your just turned your stuff off. But you were operating on the freq with that PL in that area before he showed up. He can like it or reprogram his equipment and change his PL. But I can't find your listing. While there is no requirement to have your repeater listed. If you don't list it, then no one else is gonna know it's there when they are in process of putting up other equipment on the frequency.

I am a trucker I run a a stryker 477hpc2 converted to 11meter. Fm is dead . Not a sole on it. Mabe in large city's but for the trucking community they stay on AM .

Here a quick cost rundown on the antenna I put up recently. I just looked up my receipts, total was around $488 if it helps. From DX Enineering: Comet GP-6NC $170 50ft pre-terminated Type-N 400MAX cable $85 Wall Mount Brackets $44.00 From Home Depot: 30ft Aluminum Flagpole $167 Sika Fence Post Mix $14.00 Ground Strap $8.00 (already had a ground rod and wire)

Didn't see this on the forum so if it is apologize for the duplicate post. https://docs.fcc.gov/public/attachments/DOC-394174A1.pdf

This is, i believe, the 4th violation/action the FCC has issued on GMRS/CB radio in the last month - which is more than the last several years combined... I think we are seeing a new dawn in FCC actions in the CB/GMRS world.. 10 years too late, but better late than never.

One other point. Just how many people check to see if they can reliably communicate using simplex? If they can then they should stay off the repeater, use simplex, and let those who REALLY need it the access.

DMR channels do not use 7.6 kHz of spectrum; they each use 12.5 kHz but they use time division multiplexing to share that portion of spectrum. In other words each current GMRS channel would only represent two DMR channels. Gil is correct that this would impact everyone who has an analog GMRS radio. Use of such a radio requires the entire channel, making it unavailable for DMR. Conversely, to those who have analog radios, every DMR transmission sounds like an impact wrench. “Here in California, CERT, neighborhood or fire watch, militia groups, etc. have implemented GMRS because 80-90% of their members have no direct interest in the technical aspects of amateur radio.” I don’t know how true that statistic is, but ruining GMRS for the rest of us isn’t the answer. P.S. People who have no direct interest in the technical aspects of amateur radio might have a tough go when they have to program a codeplug. DMR codeplugs are extremely technical. I guess you could sell the radio with a basic codeplug that’s simplex DMR on 1-22 and duplex on 23-30, but what do you use for talk groups, time slots, and color codes?

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

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

Also, back in the 90s the FCC rules prohibited Government entities to use FRS frequencies for government communications. Today, the rule is no longer in the regulations.

Back at that time the rules were different. It was possible for businesses to get a license for a frequency. Second the FCC F'd up and allowed the sale of combination FRS/GMRS radios too. The manufactures did put a very helpful note in the box warning users that some of the channels, those above 14, were for licensed GMRS use only. Almost universal nobody read that, or if they did, just ignored it. You might have found yourself operating on a frequency you weren't licensed to use in which case being told to leave wouldn't have been unexpected.

Hello, new guy here, first post. Back in the 90s, I was at a local fairground using an FRS channel talking to my son. Turned out the state constables or the fairground operators or somebody was using that channel for their operations, with obviously higher powered radios, and kicked me off of the channel. I didn't argue and went to another channel, but I've always wondered about the legality of that.

It really is perfect for this. The 2 watt power and VHF range, plus simple radios and clear frequencies make MURS ideal.

Well maybe east coast is different than west coast, I hear 10 codes in public safety all day long here. Police, EMS, Fire… https://www.lospadrescounty.net/et/codes.html

Why don't we all just agree to petition the FCC for repeater use while using VHF MURS then we can call that horse dead after that's all said and done but I hardly doubt the FCC will budge on that I've been having numerous discussions on social media about this topic and a lot of them are agreeing that a petition should get sent into the FCC regarding repeater use for this since gmrs obviously allows repeater usage then I think MURS should be allowed to have its own repeater use itself.

Thanks. Most people generally want to follow rules that are reasonable and rational. For example, "this product may cause cancer in California". A warning sticker is cheaper than playing the certification pirates' shakedown game. Other certifications may not be a scams to protect big business from competition or generate revenue. People might be more inclined to be good neighbors if they were told about "spurious emissions" instead of "part 95e". Perhaps there is a YouTube channel that demonstrates how Baofeng is ruining the bands... and not just speculation about potential harm. Other hobbies also cultivate elite fanatics that despise cheap functional versions. Also some hams seem so afraid of an Eternal September... they nearly killed their hobby. Maybe Baofeng is the next America Online floppy. There are more E. coli outbreaks caused by USDA-certified facilities than Amish farms.

@WRKC935 These radios are, AFAIK, all direct conversion receivers. So, there should be no first stage like a classical dual conversion superheterodyne. When the external signals exceed the "bandwidth" it has to reduce gain to fit everything within the bandwidth, otherwise you'll hear a cacophony of intermod mess. A tracking filter that would allow for such DC to daylight listening capabilities would be far more expensive that can be fitted on a $9.95 Baofeng (overpriced to cost x5 times that sadly)... The HF ICOM radios that have these type of sweet tracking filters cost like $3500-$13000... so... there is that. You can help these CCRs with a preselector, or a cavity, it will be good enough, but portability and some sensitivity will be lost... so... that is one tradeoff. G.

It reminds me of the morons who buy the concealed carry weapons badges. Too funny.

Can you please expand on this statement? I have several, and have used them at altitudes from 30 - 3000 feet (mostly listening for satellites), and have never experienced anything I would remotely classify as "going bonkers". Are you saying they can receive more signals at altitude? And if so, why wouldn't that be expected?

Just wear your CERT, RACES and ARES hats. If that doesn't work tell the LEO you won't be making that annual donation to the policeman's association, yeah the one that calls you up several times a year on the phone.

No, no, no. You just have to flash your hambadge then they'll know you outrank them and must stand down.

They both dropped it after I told them "no, that one is ham radio, and this one is gmrs". That scanners don't generally have microphones would sort of support the 'lack of expertise' kind of thinking. that I don't have any public safety stuff in the scan list of either one probably isn't a bad thing either.

Best advise I've heard is ensure the radio(s) are turned OFF when you're stopped. Some Hams have had their legitimate radios confiscated by stupid LEO's that don't know the law, particularly about exemptions for Ham radio license holders. If they can hear public safety traffic audio they could convince a judge they had "reasonable suspicion" a crime was afoot etc. Other than providing the required documents specified by the state's MVD you don't have to answer any of the LEO's questions. They are not trained communication professionals. While they still may take the radio(s) at least in court you can make the claim they had no expertise to make any determination as to the nature of the "device" they saw. Might even have recourse to recover damages.

When I was stopped by LE not too long ago "for the trailer ball obstructing the license plate," both officers separately asked if the radios in my truck were police scanners (icom 2730 and anytone at779uv).

Would that city be located in Virginia? That state has some of the most restrictive monitoring laws I've ever seen. Warren, WRPC505 / WQ1C

Here’s the FCC page that discusses “intercepting and divulging” communications. https://www.fcc.gov/consumers/guides/interception-and-divulgence-radio-communications It’s interesting how it’s written. It appears that the FCC has a very narrow range of options available to them. For instance, listening to cellular conversations isn’t prohibited, but the law prohibits the FCC from authorizing equipment that provides the ability. My search also found that some places do attempt to limit ownership of police scanners. In some cases they prohibit using scanners in the commission of a crime. In other cases they simply prohibit civilian possession. I suspect a good lawyer could defeat those simple possession laws, but of course that costs money.

I wonder if that law has been challenged in court? As I mentioned before you can program a radio for frequencies you're not authorized so long as you don't transmit on them. Back when over the air pay TV was the "thing" a lot of people built decoders to interface to their TV's in my area. I had one, built on a solder less breadboard. One of the services simply transmitted their signal on a microwave band and used a down converter connected to the TV, no scrambling or encryption. People were building simple two transistor converters in coffee cans or put up a simple BBQ grill type antenna on the roof with the simple down converter on the back. Radio Shack was selling the strip-line transistors. You could get the PCB layout and circuit off the fairly new Internet at the time. The company had teams driving around looking for those antennas and taking people to court. I don't believe they were very successful claiming theft of service since they did nothing to protect the signal from interception and use. I think the major legal option was if it's transmitted over the air there is NO expectation of privacy. The two companies using different methods soon went out of business. It was way to easy to get the programming for free.

The key point was “transmit”. You can have a radio programmed for other services which it’s not certified for by the FCC. Just as long as you don’t use the PTT button you should be fine. I believe some countries just having the wrong frequencies programmed in your not licensed to use, just RX only, is a violation of their radio regulations. Some foreign Hams visiting are shocked to discover here in the US it isn’t against the law. I think we’re lucky here, it could be changed by Congress at anytime. ? Ham radios are only certified for Part 15. The FCC’s concern is the ability to intercept cell phone transmissions. They also check for transmitter spurious emissions. There are limits the radios can’t exceed. That’s one of the major complaints about the low end CCR, cheap Chinese radios, like the much hyped UV-5R. The attached file shows a test somebody did on a sample. Also the schematic, source claims it for the above radio but I can’t confirm it, shows just some basic filtering on both the RX and TX paths. Both files are what I have in my technical library folder for this radio. I haven’t taken the time to see if there is anything more recent available. UV-5R VHF Harmonics Test.pdf SCHEMATIC Baofeng UV-5R.pdf