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This really isn’t ambiguous: Plain language voice communications. Voice communications without codes or coded messages intended to provide a hidden meaning. Foreign languages and commonly known radio operating words and phrases, such as “ten four” and “roger,” not intended to provide a hidden meaning, are not considered codes or coded messages.

There aren't really any good ones out there.

Hundreds of thousands of members logged off just before you came on, they will be back. While you are waiting watch this video:

I purchased one of the Larsen Electronics 3rd brake light mounts for my 2016 F-150. I do have a NMO mount in the center of the roof that held a quarter wave Browning CB antenna, that sucker whistled terribly probably from accidentally placing it in the exact spot where the air comes over the roof and hit the antenna. I now use the NMO mount for a dual band antenna and moved the CB antenna to the brake light mount. The most important part of installing it is to evenly tighten the screws on the mount to spread the pressure evenly on the gasket. Thus far, in the spring rain season of Michigan I have not had any leaks coming in through the mount. It is a very rigid mount and I have not had any concerns as yet about holding up to the daily drive and/or vibrations. As to the headliner, at least on my Ford it was very easy to run the coax. I just reached up behind the headliner and grabbed the coax connector and pulled it into the truck until all the slack was gone. Then just pushed it back up into the headliner area as I worked my way over to the side and was able to get it behind the trim piece until it was all the way to the floor. Popped off the bottom moulding and ran it over to where the front passenger seat is and fed it under the carpet to a seat mound hole in the carpet and to my radio. Pretty easy install, at least on my truck.

I have added a channel that uses CTCSS but have not had a chance to do any real-world testing. The few "across the room" tests have been successful but I try to limit conversations with myself to a few short phrases. I suspected that switching to CTCSS was the answer but wanted to ask those that have more experience with radios than I. Also, it affords me the opportunity to meet new, interesting, kind and sometimes sarcastic people on the inter-webs. Thank you and @OffRoaderX for the responses.

i've got mine set up in Zones. i.e. GMRS Rptr - GMRS Smplx - WIN - HAM-1 - HAM-2 - Crowley - Sac - Ariz1 - Ariz 2 - Bullhead - Garlock.. etc..

I set up my channels in separate radio zones by creating Regions i.e. Arizona East, Arizona South, Arizona West, Arizona Phoenix and I do the same thing for California, Nevada, New Mexico Texas, and Utah. The regions will be grouped together within a State group. When I am traveling in that particular region, I switch my radio to that Region zone for the channels in that Region. If I am traveling to or in other states that I didn't list, I will create a different codeplug file for those States accordingly. My radios are programmed with almost 40 separate zones. Some Regions will have anywhere from about 20 to almost 40 channels programmed for the respective Region.

Wow really!!! All he did was asking to confirm the rules that's all. If you had to do that I rather you didn't answer or give your 2 cents worth

I just joined this "MyGMRS.com" a half hour ago. There are hundreds of thousands of both FRS, and GMRS radios, and licenses nationwide. There are only 30 members active here. I am looking at the dates of posts, and responses. Very OLD. I was under the impression, I was joining something that was growing, as more, and more people find this great communication system for friends, family, hunting, camping, and even emergency use where there is no cell coverage. I guess, I was wrong. Please let me know if im lost, or if this is what is actually here. I'm not impressed, especially since my computer had an attack from an advertiser. Where is this websites security protection. It just cost me $50.00 to unlock my computer from windows, because of this site.

Ain't that the truth. We did a road trip from Calif to Minnesota two years ago.. I would say our cell service was was hit and miss about 60 percent good and even though we had cell service didn't mean we could connect to internet most of the time.. We learned there is actually two levels of service, Cell and Internet. And even now i believe some cellular companies are teaming up with Starlink to expand cell coverage but not Internet. We now have Starlink and use it on Roaming when on the road and never been without internet connectvity since.

No not yet. Either Tuesday or Friday I think I'll be doing the swap out. Borrowing a bucket truck and I will be swapping out the antenna from a generic 7.2dBi to the Comet CA712EFC and the 25' run of M&P Hyperflex 13 to 1/2" Heliax. Also going to be putting up some guy wires because I'm always worried when the wind whips up. I have 15' of mast with a 5' antenna and now I'll be putting a 10' antenna up there so more torque. And I don't want to go through all that work only to have it blown down. Not sure what will become of that cable. Not even sure that's the problem, could be the antenna itself.

Just looked at mine and no such restrictions are in place. Interestingly the form 605-G has a date of 2007. So one would think they haven't put any restrictions on the license since that form was issued. Bue we are dealing with the federal government.

The Jeep CANbus is also known to have this problem. Heat gun can solve it, but I keep a spare in the glove box in case it happens on the road. Usually just makes flaky display notifications on the dash because the different sub-modules stop talking to each other.

Well it sure is on my license. Here is a photos of mine.

upon reflection - it probably is common because the FCC website is such a dumpster-fire that a lot of people may create an FRN for a license then are never able to log back in/recover it for an additional license, so they end up having to create a new FRN... This happened to me..

While i think you are very antagonist/disrespectful in a vast majority of your posts, and have a tendency to be wrong in a lot of your posts about tech and rules, I actually agree with the general sentiment of your comment. However, cell coverage is far from 99% of the US. They fudge the numbers by saying 99%+ of the population... not 99% of the land mass. It's closer to to 3.5%-4% of the total square miles of the US having (somewhat) continuous coverage, and only about 53% (which includes that 3.5%-4%) of square miles has a 70% reliability rate of cell service. Things like two-way radios and satellite communications are critical in about 47%+ of the country.

Well..... Sorry You're Not Impressed - This Site Is Outstanding You Are Unfortunately Wrong - There Are Many Daily Posts Containing Great Info & Discussions And It's Too Bad You Don't Have An Adequate Security Subscription In Place To Guard Against Possibly Some Of Your Previously Scrupulous Websites You Have Visited. Don't Throw Blame That You Cannot Confirm. Rich & His Staff Has Done One Hell Of A Job On This Site & It's Offensive That You Post This Type Of BS Be That As It May: Maybe GMRS Radio / Forums - Are Not For You At All.....

Sir, this is a Wendy's. OK, stupid jokes aside... I, too, am a noob and freshly-minted licensee, and I have explored this site over the past couple of weeks to find out if I want to spend time here. You posted this a half hour after joining. Have you noticed the wealth of information accumulated on this site over more than a decade? If topic views are any indication, there is a ton of lurkers on here who search their questions, find their answers, and go on their merry way without posting. There are regulars on here who continue to share their knowledge and make this place a small but helpful community. Be the change you want to see in the world and participate if you're looking for more laid-back interaction, or hit up Reddit if you want high volume (and topic repetition). As for the ads, yeah they're annoying, but do you have an ad blocker and/or security software installed? That might help! I'm sorry you had to go through that. Welcome aboard, in all sincerity. I, too, hope to see this forum gain popularity.

Maybe that guy with the so-so You Tube channel can do a video on suggested ways to set up channel configurations in a GMRS radio.

Sound advice. At least avoid arguing.

That's what I'm using at home M&P Hyperflex 13. It's been water infiltrated.

I have said this before, but will mention it again in case someone new to the forum might find it useful. Whether a frequency agile ham/business radio, or a dedicated GMRS radio with channels 1-30 already programmed from the factory, I follow this pattern. (Note: This frequently can not be done with Midland, Radioddity, Retevis, and other brands where the design engineers figured you don't need any or many channels beyond the basic 1 thru 30. For that reason, I avoid those brands. This works well with Wouxuns and similar channel schemes.) On the installed channels 1 thru 30, or if adding them to a non- GMRS specific radio, still in channels 1 thru 30, I have GMRS Channels 1 thru 22 labeled as "GMRS-01, GMRS-02, GMRS-03, etc, coinciding with the channel number in the radio. Each channel is set up to encode only, a 141.3 CTCSS tone. Each channel also has no tone in its decoder, or is in carrier squelch (CSQ) mode. Since 141.3 is the most commonly found tone used across the USA (aka the "travel tone") having it encoded may improve your chances of being heard at any given location, at least a little. If you are running a GMRS Specific base or mobile radio, you can skip this process on channels 8 thru 14 as it will not transmit on them, anyway. Having the receive decoder turned off will allow you to hear and converse with others who might be around, via simplex, the same as if you never added the tones in your encoder (or transmit). Channels 23 thru 30, I label as RPT 15 thru RPT 22, respectively. If using a non GMRS specific radio, you will need to ensure that you program each channel to receive its 462 MHz frequency same as its simplex counter part, and transmit on 467 MHz with the 141.3 PL also encoded only with Carrier Squelch (CSQ) on receive. For instance: GMRS-15 transmits and receives on 462.550 MHz. RPT-15 will have to receive on 462.550 MHz with no tone on its decoder (or CSQ). RPT-15 must transmit on 467.550 MHz and encode a 141.3 CTCSS tone. It is important to leave the tone off on receive because for whatever reason, (too) many repeater owners out there just did not have the extra thirty seconds it would have taken them, to set their repeater up to encode a CTCSS tone on its output. If you are hitting a repeater and keying it up, if it does not encode a tone on its output and your decoder is turned on, you will not be able to hear the repeater or anyone talking on it. With your decoder off (or in CSQ mode), you will hear anything on the channel that is in range. After Channel 30, feel free to put in whatever repeaters you use or anticipate using and if a repeater encodes a tone on its output, by all means feel free to set your radio's decoder for that repeater's tone. The steps I described on channels 1 thru 30 do not guarantee you will hit a repeater or make a simplex contact everywhere you go, but they will statistically improve your odds of making contact should you need directions, help, or just conversation.

Some people have concerns about the mixed metals in the shield of LMR 400 for actual full duplex use. They claim that the contact points between the two different metals become a semiconductor material that causes problems. I don’t know whether that’s true or not but one simple solution is to use M&P Broadcom 10 or some other cable that doesn’t use mixed metals in its shield. The size and performance is almost identical to LMR400 in terms of attenuation but all of the shielding and the center conductor is copper. They also have even larger cables, such as their 13 mm cable.

I have had a few radios that did this with DTCS tones.. Switched to CTCSS and the problem went away on all of them.

The price difference between LMR400 and 1/2" Heliax isn't really that large. The dB loss between the two is pretty significant. Going up to 7/8" is a big jump in price and the gain in signal isn't that huge in shorter runs. But pretty significant when distances grow.

Not exactly true. In order to pump the same amount of water you need to increase the flow rate through the 1/2" pipe. As you do this the friction loss increases and eventually regardless of how high the pressure the flow rate will actually decrease.

A lot of people make that common mistake of assuming one can overcome the loss of using that crappy coax by brute force and throwing more watts at the problem. The main issue they overlook, whether intentional or ignorance, is how much the receive is attenuated. You can pump the same amount of water through a 1/2" pipe compared to a 2" pipe by turning up the pressure on the pump. A wasteful exercise in futility.

Hello @JHENRY, as mentioned already it’s permitted. Repeaters are privately owned so there’s that. As for our resident idiot petulant child SoCalgmrs that feels the need to chastise people, tell them their radios are junk and profess to getting 250 miles on his very fine radios in the desert. Feel free to ignore him. This info really should be part of the welcome packet. One last thing, some people view all caps as a form of yelling. Thought I’d mention it in case you were not aware. ️

For GMRS, the FCC allows plain language voice communications: 95.1731 Permissible GMRS uses. The operator of a GMRS station may use that station for two-way plain language voice communications with other GMRS stations and with FRS units concerning personal or business activities. Earlier, in the overarching Personal Radio Services definitions (which apply to all of the personal radio services) the FCC tells us what is meant by plain language voice communications: 95.303 Plain language voice communications. Voice communications without codes or coded messages intended to provide a hidden meaning. Foreign languages and commonly known radio operating words and phrases, such as “ten four” and “roger,” not intended to provide a hidden meaning, are not considered codes or coded messages. Even with an executive order to establish English as our official language changes to the above rules would need to be made if the government determined that radio communication must be done in English. Of course legislation could do it, assuming it withstood a constitutional challenge.

Maybe not any more. https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/03/designating-english-as-the-official-language-of-the-united-states/

You thought wrong. The only requirement regarding language is that your callsign be announced in English, and even if there was a requirement that you use only English on repeaters, it wouldn't matter because the FCC does not enforce the rules (ie; they dont care). Welcome to the exciting and dynamic world of GMRS in the L.A. area!

Hi Frank, I can understand your frustration but try to not get discouraged and stay excited. Things will get resolved. A random consideration: In many areas, depending upon the number of GMRS / FRS users in the area, communicating via simplex can be a real challenge. The 462Mhz/467Mhz frequencies used for GMRS channels are typically only capable of line-of-sight communications. Factor in buildings, trees, foliage, terrain and other things that tend to absorb signals in that frequency range and distance for 2 respective ground stations becomes quite limited. Obviously, this is why so many GMRS users tend to focus a lot on mountain/tower/building top repeaters. But in terms of getting an accurate signal check and test of your equipment, you are, IMHO, probably better off using simplex because when you do, people will be hearing your radio signal directly and not the signal of some presumably higher-powered, elevated repeater. If you can hear people talking on the non-repeater channels 1 thru 14 then you are almost certainly hearing simplex radio transmissions and chances may be good that if you are in range to hear them, they would be in range to hear you! If you hear someone on a simplex channel and attempt to communicate with them but do not get a response (assuming they are not just ignoring you!) the issue may be the other operators are using CTCSS or DCS sub-tones. IOW, it may not be your radio that is the issue, it may be the other person's radio that is the issue. The use of these sub-tones or "privacy codes" as they are often improperly called, restrict the user's radio to only hearing (breaking squelch) when that specific matching sub-tone is detected by the receiving radio. This creates the illusion that the conversation is private because unless the transmitting radio is sending out the correct matching sub-tone the receiving radio won't open squelch and play any audio. The majority of repeaters require a specific CTCSS or DCS sub-tone. So, your radio may be transmitting just fine in terms of distance, but the other GMRS users are not hearing you because of a specific setting on their respective radio. While the use of CTCSS or DCS codes on simplex is routinely discouraged many people do use them because they think it makes their conversation private. Additionally, some radios ship from the factory with CTCSS or DCS codes pre-programmed, so people just take the radios out of the box and start using them having no idea that these sub-tone codes are in use. So don't get discouraged too quickly. Some GMRS radios or scanners have the ability to display if a CTCSS or DCS tone is being transmitted by another radio and if you can detect this, it may allow you to set your radio to use the same sub-tone and make it "heard" by others. Doing tests of your mobile equipment with another handheld radio and a friend where you control the settings is the easiest path to take. If you need to rely on the assistance of other random people, then you must consider how the other person's radio might be configured. Good Luck! BTW, there is nothing wrong with talking to random people via GMRS! A random person may turn out to be a friend you just haven't met yet.

The Tid H8 is supposedly a 10w HT radio. I don't have equipment to measure that claim (I forget what that meter is called). But I will say that I get better "mileage" out of my h8 over my h3. What I mean by mileage is that the radio doesn't heat up as fast. And the difference is ABSOLUTELY noticeable. Even when transmitting on high power. That said, I don't have difference hitting my preferred repeaters (gallatin, brentwood, brentwood grasslands, & lebanon) with either the H3 or H8. But the H8 just seems to "go for longer" -- that's what she said -- before my signal starts to degrade. I'll say this. The tone of the speaker on the H8 is MUCH more pleasant than the H3 also, if that matters to you. It's a bit more full and not so thin and sharp. So there's that.

Just for the sake of correctness. It is not + .5 MHz ; it’s + 5.0 MHz. That’s a big difference. Some repeaters continue to transmit for a short period of time after a person lets up on the PTT. You might be hearing that.

Well,.. the whole "money back" thing is if you're foolish enough to get the second mortgage to let a company do a pro roof install. I'm not trying to replace my mains power with off-grid solar that runs the house entirely. I'm more of the mind of having some field deployable solar kit that can get set out in the yard to be a supplement, or bare bones sustenance level capability in the event it would come to it. But I'll tell you what, I've dug into this stuff enough just as a personal interest that I probably COULD extrapolate what I already know how to do and accomplish a setup robust enough to power a small home entirely.. I wouldn't need to spend 100k to do it either...

indoors transmitting on my HT raised the readings on my Co detector I had placed mid height in living room. after a day or two of casual transmitting on GMRS this raised the level to the point the detector went off. I have since moved the detector lower and seems to have solved this. it took a couple of times before I figured out what was going on and all the while were were checking pellet stove for leaks. lol good times with RF

Wow. I've never had that happen before. Although it used to be the TIG welder in my basement shop would cause my wife's computer upstairs to screech like a wounded banshee whenever I would start an arc with the torch. The high frequency of the arc start found it's way back through the welder mains wiring into our electrical service panel and then up into the upstairs wiring. Crazy stuff. I put a couple of large ferrite beads on the wiring to the welder receptacle and it seems to be choking out the HF from the mains now.

Those that push using channel 19 haven't looked at their license I guess. The frequencies for channel 19, simplex and repeater, are prohibited north of "Line A" and East of "Line C". That cuts out a LOT of population centers. That's why it's a dumb idea.

The repeater frequency pairs are: 462.550 - 467.550 462.575 - 467.575 462.600 - 467.600 462.625 - 467.625 462.650 - 467.650 462.675 - 467.675 462.700 - 467.700 462.725 - 467.725 These frequency pairs repeat over and over for as many repeater channels as you have. These typically start at channel 23 on a GMRS radio.

@Lscott at this point in my life, I have come to distrust anything electronic. There is a good chance that if electricity can flow through it, someone can use it improperly against you, without your knowledge.

Based on my subjective and nerdy calculations, there are a little over 10,000 licensed GMRS users that are affected by this, which works out to about 7% of the United States licensed GMRS users. I say we (the 93%) use channel 19 anyway hahaha