Durake

Considering the FCC accepts audio recordings, when making a compliant of interference or illegal operation. We have used audio recordings of illegal operation to obtain information on the individuals involved. A major convenience to review than to sit and listen the whole day.  

Most police, fire, EMS, local government agencies record all of their radio traffic. So do many businesses. Absent encryption (not legal on GMRS anyway), there is no expectation of privacy on two-way radio traffic; cell phone frequencies excepted.  
I'm not sure what value recording silent transmissions might be, but only you can decide that.

I don't believe so. I know some states have something called the "wiretap law" but I'm too lazy to look it up and it probably varies by state. Here in Texas I've recorded (and uploaded) plenty of illegal transmissions and activity on both GMRS and Amateur. No issues thus far.

Thank you so much for sharing this information, Greg. 
 
Mod, is this thread worthy enough to be pinned?

If your asking about GMRS/UHF, then once you get the antenna cut to specification, is should make no difference if you move the magnet mount to the top of a car, truck, train, or Maytag washer, it should be about the same SWR, since the quarter wave ground-plane is only about 6 inches.
 
If you use a mag mount, it just won't matter that much which vehicle it is on, it is a compromise, sure; but it should get the job done just fine in most cases.
 
If you want a great mobile antenna, I would suggest a quality permanent NMO mount type antenna, but most mag-mounts will do a very respectable job... with no need to re-tune after changing cars.
 
Basic unwritten rule of magnetic mount antennas:  --  Have at least a quarter-wave of metal all around the magnetic base for the ground plane.
 
This means:
 
About 6 inches (in radius) on UHF.
About 18-20 inches (again, radius) on MURS, VHF, 2-Meters
and about 8 feet on CB antennas,which is why mag-mounts don't work well there.  (hahaha.. Partial joke, partial truth)

But they can still vote...

I was looking online to see what I needed to listen to my local police. I use an Android scanner app that has some area police, but not mine. So I wanted to see what equipment I would need.
 
I found they are using 155.43. I realized that should be in the TR-505 range.   I decided to see if I could program that frequency into the Tera, and it accepted it along with the PL code. It picked up traffic just fine. I then went back and programed the transmit on that channel to a GMRS frequency to be safe in case someone keyed the mic. It is working great. Not the intended use for it, but it is nice to having to buy new equipment. 
 

Post some pics of yours when it's complete! What vehicle are you installing the radio(s) in?

I can't thank you enough for attaching all the pictures, I'm planning on doing the same thing next week, just waiting for the coax and mount to come in the mail. 
Good install!

Welcome to the hobby Steve!
 
I'm guessing by you mentioning radios in the 25 dollar range your suggesting portables radios for your family. I myself only use Motorola, but that wouldn't fit the 250 price range. I was looking around and can't seem to find any that you could get 4 of and not go above 250 that I consider "decent" radios.
 
Baofeng may be your only choice unless someone can chime in with another brand I may have missed. Good luck! Maybe I'll hear ya on the air one day.

Yep - here's a better picture of the radios as I was programming the scanner:
 

 
That is one benefit of the center console armrest install - the radios are out of sight, and they don't attract any unwanted attention.  That's kind of the theme/look I'm going for with my install.  I'm not really trying to advertise the radios anywhere on the truck.  The all black antennas are barely noticeable at a distance, blending into the background or the black color of the truck itself, and no radios are visible from the outside looking in.

I built the mount myself with 3/4" plywood and 1x2 pine.  The base drops into the center console, and I attach each radio at the base with some bolts and wingnuts.  Here's a pic before I painted it black
 

Being one of the last cool Saturdays left before summer hits here in Phoenix, I finally got around to drilling and mounting some antennas on the roof of my 2013 crew cab F-150 4x4, 3.5 EcoBoost.  The truck has a sun roof which significantly limits antenna placement. With the sun roof fully open, I was able to place both antennas 12" from the rear of the roof to clear everything. Not ideal, but it works MUCH better than the mag mount I had been using.  Stretches of highway on my commute that were completely deaf to our local repeater when using the mag mount antenna I can now hit easily.
 
Here's the final result:
 

 
I picked up a Laird X-ACT hole saw from a local radio shop and it worked great.
 

 
Holes marked and masked - measure twice, cut once!
 

 
I got a great tip from a fellow AGRC member which was to put down a protective layer above the headliner when it was dropped down in order to catch all the mess from drilling and sanding; I laid down an old towel on top of the headliner before I got started. I used gorilla tape to keep the coax from flopping around, and ran both cables behind the rear passenger side airbag (super important!), down the rear pillar and under the door trim up to the center console.
 

 
Antennas installed - in the photo is a Laird QWD144 1/4 wave 2m on the right and a Larid BB4502N 1/2 wave UHF for GMRS on the left:
 

 
I also have a Larsen 150/450/800 on the front fender for my scanner:
 

 
I currently have a Uniden BCD996P2 and a Motorla CDM1250 installed in the truck; an Kenwood 2M rig will be in there soon:
 

 
Action shot!
 

Welcome to the hobby Steve!
 
I'm guessing by you mentioning radios in the 25 dollar range your suggesting portables radios for your family. I myself only use Motorola, but that wouldn't fit the 250 price range. I was looking around and can't seem to find any that you could get 4 of and not go above 250 that I consider "decent" radios.
 
Baofeng may be your only choice unless someone can chime in with another brand I may have missed. Good luck! Maybe I'll hear ya on the air one day.

I guess I like stuff to much, gosh, I wish there was a "dislike" button now...................lol jk.. Works for me now

I guess I like stuff to much, gosh, I wish there was a "dislike" button now...................lol jk.. Works for me now

I guess I like stuff to much, gosh, I wish there was a "dislike" button now...................lol jk.. Works for me now

Time for me to chastise Logan with a wet noodle once again I see, it has been a while...William

lol

All I can suggest is to PM Rich at his administrative user ID of "WQEJ577".
 
The Moderator staff at the forum has no access to Administrative details.
 

I have received that message as well.......................

I logged on today and attempted to "Like" someones post on a thread and it popped up with an error saying
 
"You have reached your quota of positive votes for the day"
 
This is my first time logging in today, any ideas?

Getting back to the original post.... broke.......between gmrs, gmrs repeater, ham, and all the toys there..... naw it isn’t really that bad...but...
Now I need an amp, antenna, new radio......

Actually, depending on how you program them, they may be almost legal on FRS. You'd have to set the FRS frequencies in simplex mode and at low power. The main variance from the FRS rules would be the removable antenna. On the other hand, if you get a GMRS license, your grandson would also be covered by your license. However, since the 888 is not FCC accepted for GMRS, you would still technically be in violation of the rules. 
I would not suggest you violate the rules (it is against the policy to do so on MyGMRS anyway). But, you might goggle around a bit and see what the risks are of using improper equipment are on FRS or GMRS

Hey man, I get turned around on regulations, rules, and laws all the time. No sweat. It's all good.