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YES! and the FCC has really been cracking-down and issuing more fines lately. If you want to talk that far you should get a H.A.M. license, but if you are willing to take the risk of a major fine, go for it.

Here’s the actual rule the specifically permits traffic reports: 95.1731(b) One-way communications. The operator of a GMRS station may use that station to transmit one-way communications: (1) To call for help or transmit other emergency communications; (2) To provide warnings of hazardous road conditions to travelers; or, (3) To make brief test transmissions.

A licensed and certified H.A.M. radio operator told me that and he's been licensed for over 40 years so it must be true!

Not only is there no rule I've ever heard of prohibiting traffic reports on GMRS (or CB, or MURS, or FRS), traffic reports and other public safety issues are part of personal radio services. CB radio, arguably the granddaddy of Part 95 communications, probably owes its very existence to folks providing traffic reports to each other. In the mid 80s we used to have a guy here in Orange County, CA who went by "Quiet Man". He took traffic incidents every day from all of us on our CBs and called them in to the CHP and told us where the wrecks were. Unless someone can cite an actual rule, they can, as my dad used to say, go pound sand.

How do the first responders feel about your cell phone policies? Curious since guidelines from Homeland Security and FBI for Active Shooter situations urge calling 911 if it is safe to do so and reporting locations, or, if you cannot speak (or don’t feel it’s safe to do so) to just leave the line open. You have effectively removed your students ability to reach out in an emergency situation. Never engage in a battle of wits with an unarmed person.

I’m thinking I’ll be better with something like a Yaesu ftm300. But I already have these two DB20G radios that are great go box radios. I just need to pay closer attention before I start building a configuration file.

I bet the teachers don't have to give up their phones during the day.

NotABOOMphang!

Only on a radio forum would you have guys asking what radio they used before they were "blowed up"

I'm planning to get my HAM license sometime soon, anyway, haha.

Rockland, Bangor, Portland. Many of the lobstermen use GMRS to talk home and other boats in the area.

I have to agree with what the others have said. Get yourself at least a 50 AH LIPO4 battery along with a way to keep it charged up. And if done right, you can also use a solar panel setup to charge your HT batteries. Because there is a good chance that you will have to recharge them too. And having an adaptor to hook a HT to your base station antenna is also a good idea. I know my situation is a little different since I have my amateur license and participate in Sky Warn nets. But I still have to have some type of battery backup and a way to charge my HT batteries. The closest repeaters to me are 21.5 miles away. We had a bas storm with 50 MPH + winds that kicked out power for several hours. I would not have been able to participate in the Sky Warn Net nor contacted any local family and friends without having a battery in my shack. I can't always get into the GMRS repeater with a HT and I can't get into the 70cm at all with a HT. I can normally get into the 2m repeater with a HT. But even that was difficult during that bad storm. I have a couple of LIPO4 batteries along with a deep cycle lead acid battery. I had to hook up an inverter to charge some of my HT batteries during that storm. It was a bad one that covered a large area with tornadoes along with high shear winds. All of my spare HT's were handed out to neighbors and family. Moral of the story is; One is none and two is one. Always be prepared and have plenty of backups.

Interesting how so many are talking about how repeaters are dead and not much simplex use because modern tech such as cell phones has become the norm. The school I teach at has gone completely cell phone-free. Meaning the kids can not have their cell phones from the time the morning bell rings to the last bell of the day. We have issued to all students Yondr Pouches, which are little bags the students have to put their cell phones in when the morning bell rings they magnetically lock and the kids can not get them open until we put the "keys" out at the end of the day. With that being said, I have been able to use that to recruit more kids to ham radio. I have been showing the kids all the ways that radio can be used like a cell phone, such as text messaging, sharing pictures, and emails, and just plain ol talking with each other. Most of these kids all live in the same neighborhood or close enough to do simplex. The big thing when telling the kids this is that cell phones may be banned, but the principal never said anything about ham radio lol. I know there are caveats to all of these, but generally speaking as some of you already know these things are not difficult to do. I told them that even if they are grounded from their cell phones at home they can still use their radios to communicate with their friends and even share each other's locations etc. lol. Teaching these things to the younger generation has been a big hit and the school admin is all for it and super supportive of the kids using radio tech instead of their cell phones. Please guys, and gals, don't give up on our younger generation. These kids are smart and catch on quickly, they just need more people showing them how to properly utilize ham radio and all the benefits it has. Man, I can go on all day on this subject as I have been working hard integrating ham radio into our school. The ham club I started at the school has been a big success to my surprise and has fired me up to know that ham radio is not dead and is alive and well in our kids, as long as WE do the work to show them. Sorry, rant over lol.

Get a LiFePO4 battery for the base station to keep that up and running for a while. Or put solar on it and let it self charge to keep it up and running longer.

I recently reread the FCC rules regarding certain communications allowed. One example is that I gave a warning of a motorcycle accident. one person tried to tell me that it was a violation of the FCC rules. as it would be, I read to them what it says and that I was in right plus I called the FCC to have them verify that I was in the right. FCC said that I actually prevented someone from arriving to a hazardous situation and to have them rerouted for safety So this ruling of what I did was legal

I live near Elgin, IL, and I overheard a conversation on the Devil's Head repeater 160 miles away. I want to ask: is it illegal for me to use the GMRS repeater 150 miles away from it? Thanks! WRYP550

I can certainly understand that. Wasn’t necessarily questioning the policy - was questioning whether it was developed in conjunction with local law enforcement. There are still districts that want no LE involvement. Appreciate the article - hadn’t seen that one. Never engage in a battle of wits with an unarmed person.u

I don't have a better idea, but the IC-V85 looks too short and squat to me. That’s what I thought too. Need a good photo reference collection to look through for potential better matches.

Glad I have Yaesus.

I actually wish there was more general chat going on. It is usually quiet in my area but sometimes, the channels get going. I enjoy it. Just got my friend on GMRS, so my activity should become more. We also use the radios for off roading.

Figured they were mostly used to cheat on tests.

I can't begin to tell you how disappointed I was to find out the exploding ray-diddy-o's weren't Baofeng or Quansheng...

Rule of thumb is to have 3 days reserve when it comes to solar. I myself would start out with 100Ah LiFePO4 battery and see how that works in the next emergency. Hopefully it'll sit there unused for years.

They didn't go the landline Fax machine method like Osama? One reason it was a lengthy hunt for that cat!

Ah, so THIS is what the CH. 15 bug was all about.

If you like the KG-905G, why not go for the very similar mobile radio, KG-1000G Plus? https://www.buytwowayradios.com/wouxun-kg-1000g-plus.html?matchtype=e&keyword=wouxun kg 1000g plus&device=c&adposition=&network=g&gad_source=1&gclid=Cj0KCQjw9Km3BhDjARIsAGUb4nyeVD_7vY7JbkTyrL0bOLmAsSJt8TEKNsQVoN96mQeTHgcCsM7yG2EaAjqGEALw_wcB

Gonna have to second and third that! I absolutely enjoy his content, because I'm a human who knows how to laugh, even at myself! Give him a few views at least!

I'll keep looking. Do you live in an area where the battery temperature might drop to +40°F?

Repurpose a part 90 radio for those conditions but any radio meeting FCC requirements is all you need in Asheville.

A 50 AH battery is overkill. Use the 80/20 rule that 80% of the on time is receive only. Calculate the amps used for an hour of on time and multiply that by the expected number of hours of operation. That will give you the size (in AH) battery needed. The excess power supplied by the solar system deep charges the battery providing even more operating cushion.

The small 20 watt mobiles are nice for go boxes. I have a Wouxun KG-XS20G that I might put into a go box if it doesn't go in the wife's car.

Yeah, for two days I’ve been chortling. I’m pretty sure I’m going to hell.

@SteveShannon sounds like you would be better off with the AnyTone AT 778 UV. Cost just a little more but it's a nice radio.

Not at all. Just remember just because you can hear it doesn't mean you can access it. But @WRXP381 and @WRYZ926 nailed it.

I have two of the db20g radios. I like almost everything about it: small, easy to use, powerful enough. What I don’t like is the fact that you cannot use Chirp or RT Systems, and the software provided by Radioddity doesn’t allow imports, and copying and pasting doesn’t work the way I want. Also, this is probably the most frustrating: once you have a configuration file created, you cannot change the frequency range in the CPS to another, even if all of the channels you’ve programmed are well within both of the ranges. There’s a range of channels that goes up to 470 MHz. There’s another range that’s higher in the list of available ranges that goes to 490 MHz. A program file written for one range cannot be used for the other and changing the range in the settings wipes out all the channels you’ve created.

Here’s the frequency table in Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Mobile_Radio_Service#Frequency_table Note that channels 15-22 are used for simplex communications (meaning that transmission and reception is done on the same frequency, taking turns to talk). Channels 15-22 are also used for duplex communications by the repeater. The repeater receives a transmission on one of the frequencies marked 15R through 22R and simultaneously retransmits it on a frequency that is 5 MHz lower, marked 15-22 (no ‘R’).

I stole this.

Good job figuring it out. What brand of LMR400 and connectors were they?

Problem solved! It was the LMR400 cable! More specifically the connectors. When I was reattaching the LMR400 coming from the attic to the radio this morning I noticed that the connection seemed a little loose, even though it was finger tightened. Nonetheless we proceeded with our test from base to car and got the same results.....not very far. So once again I set up the kitchen antenna and, just like before, we were talking from base to car for miles. So I thought what the he** and I ran the shorter, RG58 cable ( which I was using in the kitchen) from the radio to the attic and connected it to the Sirio Antenna, which was just leaning against a board. With that setup we went 19.6 miles as the crow flies using only simplex, and that was with hills and trees. Obviously it got a little fuzzy and stat-icky when the car was in dense foliage or in a valley but we were ecstatic!

Keep up the good work. After seeing me participate in the local net and serve as net control my wife seems to take a greater interest in it. I wouldn’t say she’s chomping at the bit, but she has enough of an interest to ask questions and offer to help support my activities. It can’t be forced though.

General Mobile Radio Service (GMRS). A mobile two-way voice communication service, with limited data applications, for facilitating activities of individual licensees and their family members, including, but not limited to, voluntary provision of assistance to the public during emergencies and natural disasters.

Lets keep this thread going.

No, not at all.

Some radios have S-meters which display the signal strength. For most people there is a somewhat noticeable audible difference between each number. Although radio S-meters are not precisely calibrated, generally speaking (and a question on the ham test ) one unit difference on an S meter correlates to 6 dB. What that means is that if 40 watts gets to S9, 10 watts gets to S8.

You need to get out more. I don't know you, but maybe you're just naturally unlikable? Join the amateur radio service if you want. Free test study here: https://hamstudy.org my 12 yr old grandkids passed the test on the first try.

You fotgot the most important PRO: $99-$109! I bought a second one for use in my home with a rooftop antenna and irrespective of what output a wattmeter may claim; my range simplex and to distant repeaters far surpasses my expectations There is a large user base of the Radioddity DB20-G a/k/a Anytone AT-779UV on this Forum.

@marcspaz I lived in Arlington, VA for 17 years before retiring to the sticks in PA I was a CERT member there too. I found most of the members who did get a tech license rarely used the radios except for the weekly net......kinda sad......If only GMRS was popular then, I would have recommended it instead.

- Part 2 continued - Once this is complete, click Continue. The next step is to answer the following question, then click Continue again: The next step will show you a summary of the application. Verify all the information supplied is correct, and click “Continue to Certify.” Step 4: Submit the application The final step before submitting application is reading all the certification statements, which summarize the rules you are agreeing to follow as a GMRS license holder. Electronically sign the application and submit: When you submit the application, you will be prompted to complete payment. After that, all you can do is wait! Applications will appear in ULS Application Search in about one or two businesses days after the application is filed. If you made an error in the application – don’t worry! You can file an amendment to the application. See the Applying for a New License in the Universal Licensing System FAQ for more information about the application process for FCC licenses. I have read posts online where people have reported getting their license within a day, and I’ve read posts where people said it took three weeks, so I can’t give an accurate answer to the “how long until I receive my call sign?” question. I applied for my GMRS license around the holidays and it took two weeks to receive my call sign. Step 5: Receive call sign and download authorization documents Check back to the Universal Licensing System daily, and when you see the call sign under “My Licenses” you are ready to get on the air! To download or print a paper copy of the license authorization, click Download Electronic Authorizations: Select your GMRS call sign from the “Filter by Radio Service” box and add it to the “Authorizations to Download” box then click Download: The GMRS Authorization looks like this: