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If the radio is not Part 95 certified it is not certified for use on the GMRS frequencies. As folks will point out, it is not a law, it is a regulation. Will the FCC come looking for you if you use a non Part 95 certified radio on GMRS? Probably not as there is no way to tell by hearing the transmissions. If you are a douche canoe and are using your radio to cause serious and prolonged interference to other users and get caught, the FCC folks may very well add that to your list of regulation violations. If someone is interested in GMRS I will explain licensing and a need for a certified GMRS radio is. What they do after that is up to them.

No. The Output Tone is always optional and is only used to limit what you hear to only that repeater.

That’s nothing to worry about. You can use the antenna full time with that SWR ON GMRS. Most radios don’t start having issues until the SWR is 2:1 or higher.

I wouldn't buy any cable from Amazon. Go with M&P or Times Mirror.

Use your cellphone and download zello. have family download zello. talk on zello.

You won't be able to use multiple repeaters unless they are linked together.

Yes, the link to the Repeater page, shows the tone. Do you know how to program your radio to use that tone? What radio?

The link 709 posted on his reply is to that repeater and has the tone information.

San Fernando Valley: 462.700 repeaters are not very helpful. Try the 462.650 repeater up on Sylmar; you should hit it fine from Reseda and it gets good range and generally have good folk. Sylmar 650; open and permission not needed. Once and a while the scum that used to populate 725 migrate over to 650 and its best to turn off your radio at that point.

I finally mounted the Yaesu FTM-6000R in my car (it's been 30 years since I did an installation!) and I tested the SWR when done. Holy cow, it is awesome. I have it paired with an NMO magnet mount Tram 1181. GMRS (for emergencies) has an SWR of about 1.48. But VHF and UHF were less than 1.1 each! I couldn't be happier.

If you are concerned about cable loss, take a look at the 7th reference table here: https://0f03806ff3d3e74e9602-196c53d60dd8027754ef96352b4703ae.ssl.cf2.rackcdn.com/Magento/Live/Misc/m&p_vs_coax.pdf Not inexpensive, but the M and P cables currently have the lowest loss of the 'flexible' (not hardliine) cables available. As WSAK691 said, the LMR loss for 50 feet would be about 25%, and can be made up with a good gain antenna to actually get you over the initial output power of your radio.

best way to do the Morse Code ID is via a controller. ID O Matic is a pretty good entry level. They come unassembled, (you solder the parts on the board) or you pay a little extra for a complete assembled board. Great entry level controller http://www.hamgadgets.com/ID-O-MATIC-IV ICS make a pretty good full blown controller. A lillll more pricey but worth the extra functions. It uses a PI computer board for the brain. i use this one and love it. https://ics-ctrl.com

1.4 DB loss at 50 ft on a 400 coax. Bit under 25%.. Then do a gain antenna to get it back..

Unfortunately that user doesn't seem to have ever posted to this forum. Is there any other form of contact to reach him? Some repeater owners in my area also usually have a phone number somewhere. Also I'm not at all going to tell you to do this, but there are ways on certain radios to detect CTCSS tones of a repeater that it's hearing. Only other thing I can suggest is finding a way to test that it is still there. With the FCCs more recent... interest in GMRS repeater linking a lot of GMRS repeaters went down, not only off the network but just off in general. Again I don't ever advise or recommend using a repeater that requires permission, however if you've tried all options. One last thing: ask people on other repeaters, it seems like you can view who's authorized on their repeaters on their website, perhaps if you run into another operator who has access, maybe they have more information. I don't personally think this guy has any vendetta against you, especially given that he has never even posted on this forum.

Some people on here don't recognize that their particular situation doesn't extrapolate evenly over the country.. Yes, you would like to have your own repeater, and it looks like you do for your needs. nice work..

I announce mine phonetically just because it's easier to hear it and know what it means. For me, people mumbling in a call like "arshieog8euia4l3serjfa" is really hard to understand for me. Especially when the signal's down in the noise a bit, they're talking fast, and/or have an accent. Whisky Romeo Zulu Yankee 9-4-6 is easy to write down and said slow enough to actually grok it the first time without clogging up air for net control or any listeners trying to ID me.

REACT was big back in the CB days. Many of the teams fell apart in the early 2000's. Our team used GMRS for a few years before they disbanded. Back then a team could license the frequency as well. This is actually how our SAR team got the channel and location we used for a few years also.

Hello! I’m new here. Apologies if my decorum isn’t correct. I have a question. I’m new to two way radios, I received my call sign last month. My radio is a Baofeng UV-9G. Here’s my situation. My job has assigned me for training for two weeks coming up soon in Garden City, NY. I live in York, PA. I was wondering (if it’s possible) how to program my radio to allow me to connect to enough repeaters to communicate all the way from where I’ll be located for work back to my family at home. Any help at all is appreciated. Thank you!

yup funny just found this forum (been on mygmrs.com for a while) Ive been looking for new doods to hit the trails. 93 ZJ full crawler 7" lift lockers more than I can list. I use all channels cause sometimes theres noise. Gorman, rohr flats, kennedy medows, manache medows... Im down to try new places also have rock crawled in BB. Would love to tag along with some people just hit me up.

Yes Part 95 certified GMRS Radios have the 5.0 MHz offset pretty much pre programmed for you. I would still double check though. Now 2m/70cm radios that have been unlocked will normally require you to manually input the offset.

I built mine around this USA made MMDVM Pi Hat. I used a $15 Pi Zero W and a $10 OLED board, but I'm ruminating on replacing the OLED board with a Nextion display. https://www.store.n5boc.com/product-page/mmdvm-simplex-1v8

Don't count out the TIDRadio H3 and H8. They're both pretty decent for the money and IMHO a step up from the UV-82. I really do like the UV-82 though, it gives me a decent power output(not underpowered like the UV-5R) and it has a nice feel to it. You can also get USB-C batteries and a lot of different SMA Female antennas for it. Unlocked you can do MURS, GMRS, HAM and a lot of other frequencies that you'd be licensed for or need to use in an emergency. I really think the TD-H3 is a real sleeper right now and the price will probably go up once people learn how good it really is. FM Broadcast radio, Airbands(108MHz to 135MHz), VHF-136MHz to 174MHz and UHF-400MHz to 600MHz gives you a lot of range.

Although overload is a real thing, after testing LITERALLY every GMRS handheld manufactured in the last 5 years, I have never, EVER, NOT ONCE seen any overload/desense issues unless the radios were closer than about 75 feet, an 90% of the time they had to be closer than 25 feet or so. To claim that overload is an issue at up to a 1/2-mile, on its surface, seems like a preposterous over-exagguration, based on my very extensive testing. But that's just my experience..

So, I am gonna scuttle all the SAD HAM dreams of full phonetic call signs here and now. There is ZERO requirement for a call sign to be said phonetically. It is done when needed to communicate a call sign to a receiving station when signal levels are not great and you are wanting to get that information through. My call sign as assigned by the FCC is WRKC935, NOT Whiskey Romeo Kilo Charlie niner three five. NO WHERE on my FCC license is listed anything similar to that. Or even sort of close. All it says is WRKC935. Ham is the same way. KB8VUL is my ham call,,,, not the phonetic equivalent. Hammie's use phonetics a lot on HF and for good reason. You are trying to communicate great distances at times with less than 100% copy-able signals and are fighting noise (QRM and QRN) to make contacts. We are not using HF, SSB, QRP (weak signal) and typically not using simplex, we are talking through repeaters that provide us solidly copy-able signals. So using ITU phonetics, LEO phonetics, or adhoc Phonetics (crap we make up on the fly) just adds to the syllable count. I know guys that do it, some have a Z at the end of their call sight and can't help but say Zed. Other guys are all phonetics all the time. But there have actually been questions raised by others if ONLY giving your call sign phonetically is actually legally IDing you station at all. Because we come back to what was issued by the FCC. Especially if non-ITU standardized phonetics are used for a call. Consider this. How many radio stations, commercial radio operators, public safety dispatchers or for that matter, ANY other radio user outside of Ham radio use ITU phonetics outside of maybe the military use phonetics for anything outside of reading license plates, VIN numbers and other specifically alphanumeric number/letter groups including their call signs. Phonetics are used to save time when signal degradation is expected, such as in HF or weak signal communications. And it has it's place there. Not on FM repeaters with full quieting signals. Or when someone is copying alphanumeric groups that need to be accurate. If there was a specific requirement for us to log every contact we made with date, time and call sign then it MIGHT apply, but only if you are ask to REPEAT your call because the other party didn't get it accurately. That's my take on it. Of course you know what they say about opinions.

Hi Red Horse, If your radio entry point is some level of "prepping", you might start with a few questions to help flesh out what works for you: Who are you looking to listen to? You can listen to anyone with the right scanner or shortwave radio. Who will you talk to? How far away are they? How do you do this now? Text messaging can work when circuits are busy or in weak signal areas. What are the most likely disaster scenarios in your area? In my area, wind and rain events (severe thunderstorms, tornados, and hurricanes) are most likely to affect us. Are you more concerned with natural disasters that take "the grid down" or are you envisioning "man-made" issues or TEOTWAWKI? How much effort will you put into getting trained, licensed and proficient? For me, my primary radio use is to run around outside (hike, kayak, fish, etc.) as well as I'm interested with technology. I use GMRS with my family (they have no interest in getting licensed for ham). Prepping is a secondary use for me. I have a Technicians license and am considering purchasing a HF rig and at some point upgrading to a General license. For disasters, I will get information from AM/FM radio, text messages from our county services, local ARES nets, and conversations with GMRS users. My family is anywhere from 90 to 800 miles from me. For disaster planning, we don't have a full PACE plan but we will use: phone, email, and text messaging. Radios for us will have only local tactical use. Honestly, I'm more concerned with access to drinking water and heat. I think GMRS will likely give you the best local coms for the cost and effort, but it all depends!

Corgrats I look forward to hearing you on the air... WSAQ406

Congratulations!

This will shed some light on the situation. Shows just how busy the frequency spectrum is: https://www.ntia.doc.gov/files/ntia/publications/2003-allochrt.pdf This is a PDF that can be zoomed into.

Based on my tests of both radios, they absolutely will talk virtually the same fars.

I've gotten to where I say very slowly so I don't have to say it again. Sometimes I even say it phonetically for that very reason. For me, it can be frustrating when people say their call sign so fast I can't even begin to get it all. It's like saying ";alkdsjflsd;kjewl;knf;aej." And I'm like what?

I really like my RT97..Works great for what I need, which is occasional use in the mountains for communications. I can get about a 30 mile circle which is more than enough for my needs.

A couple weeks ago, I mentioned about the performance of my glass-mount antenna and the fact that it is not tunable. Again, I made another second mistake in life by stating incorrect information. I stated that the Larsen Glass-Mount Antenna did not have a pot to adjust/tune the antenna like the yesteryear glass-mount antennae. In fact, it is an adjustable antenna. Since, I didn't notice an adjusting pot screw on the side of the coupler, I assume that it was not tunable. Just the other day, I noticed that the rod was being held by a set screw thus, the rod can be trimmed for better VSWRs. And to my surprise, and after 4 months that my Bird 43 and several slugs were being held hostage by Bird Instruments for recalibration, it appeared on my door step a couple days ago so I decided to trim the antenna this morning. I did notice some difference in the readings before and after the recalibration. Today, as it turned out, the VSWR for a 467 MHz freq was 1.12:1 and for the 462 MHz freq the VSWR was 1.23:1 throwing 57 watts at it. At the lower power setting (24 Watts) the reflected power barely flinched the needle. So, I adjusted the transmitter high power setting and ended up with 49.7 watts. So, I have to say "NOT TOO SHABBY"

Hi, Just inquiring. What would it take to put a GMRS Nationwide NET repeater on top of Mitchell Hill in Shepherdsville, KY? It would serve a lot of KY areas and we could expand to other state HAM clubs in the state. Would like to see an across Commonwealth repeater/link system. I have networking experience and am a ham / gmrs licensed operator. Willing to assist and help in any way I can! Just would like to be involved and don't know how to link up. Thanks in advance. Mike

Since I am in Douglas County, Washington I will also keep an eye on this thread. I did just find a GMRS repeater in East Wenatchee that is up that I requested to use.