Durake

I climbed a 40ish foot Rohn tower, not like that's really impressive but I enjoyed it lol. It had a 10 foot UHF antenna for the GMRS repeater at the very tip top, then had 2, 180 degree antennas on both sides for internet. If I remember I'll post the pic here when I climbed it.

Since none of my radios has MDC, I simply make the noise myself (I am amused easily)...

I agree with Matt on the ARRL issue, but to answer your question.. Hans provides good information, my group doesn't really have a structure or ranking or anything, aside from the owner, trustee, and admin of our repeater. We pay a small yearly fee that we all agree on and then when a need or want arises we meet up and discuss what it is, how much it'll cost, and then vote on if we want to spend money on it, so having a club or group of friends and put money together can help get things going.
 
We call ourselfs (not legally of course) the "Motorola Professional Radio Club of Garland" that was our thought but we don't want to get into the legal aspect of using Motorola in our name, but we all only use Motorola radios.
 
So, I guess we are just a "Unincorporated Association" which I had no idea that was even a thing. So, thanks Hans for that.

Hahaha, my buddies and I use it all the time on GMRS lol..

When we were starting a repeater/GMRS special interest group, I ran across "Unincorporated Associations" under state law. We did not end up starting a group so, this information may or may not help you as a starting point.
 
https://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/what-an-unincorporated-nonprofit-association.html
 
"What happens, legally speaking, when a group of people get together and decide to perform some task without filing any legal paperwork or establishing any formal legal structure? Whether they know it or not, they have formed an unincorporated association. “Unincorporated association" means an unincorporated group of two or more persons joined by mutual consent for a common lawful purpose, whether organized for profit or not."

Teeeeeeen four...*squawk* (MDC1200)

Hellooo, I've been using GMRS since about mid 2016. Absolutely love it. 
 
Radios I use for GMRS are as follow:
Motorola PM400 (mobile)
Motorola Maxtrac (base)
Icom F6021 (base)
Motorola XTS3000 (portable)
Motorola XPR3500e (portable)
Motorola HT1000 (portable)
Motorola CDR700 (repeater)
 
I've always been a fan of Motorola, just the strong build quality and how durable the radios are. I do have a couple Baofeng portables in my car and use them from time to time. 
 
I use GMRS to talk to mainly friends, occasionally family as well. 

Another example, I listed mine and a repeater owner contacted me the next day letting me know I'm on the same pair and tone as him, so I changed tone and if it gets bad I'll change frequency.
 
Had his repeater been listed I wouldn't have had to go through all of that, so it is very helpful as far as frequency coordination goes.

Another example, I listed mine and a repeater owner contacted me the next day letting me know I'm on the same pair and tone as him, so I changed tone and if it gets bad I'll change frequency.
 
Had his repeater been listed I wouldn't have had to go through all of that, so it is very helpful as far as frequency coordination goes.

Another example, I listed mine and a repeater owner contacted me the next day letting me know I'm on the same pair and tone as him, so I changed tone and if it gets bad I'll change frequency.
 
Had his repeater been listed I wouldn't have had to go through all of that, so it is very helpful as far as frequency coordination goes.

I did this on a motorcycle once. Not down I-95, though. I didn't want to go through a u-turn a drive all the way around a curve, so, I drove the wrong lane. All of the other drivers were far off (it was night). I don't know if anyone noticed. I only did that once, though. I try to follow rules.
 
Edit: Did I just admit to a crime?

An elderly man with a GMRS radio in the car was going down the interstate when suddenly his radio crackled his call sign.  Answering...he heard a fellow GMRS operator's urgent warning....."Hey, just heard on the news that there's a car going down I-95 the wrong way, please be careful"!!    The elderly driver replied, "Well, now, it's not just one.......
there's hundreds of them'!!!!!!!!!

I bought a Zastone D9000 Mobile radio for mt truck and my HAM problem. lol. But it has a same band and cross band repeat function i was wondering if anyone had used this or something like it to make a GMRS repeater? i would mostly want to use it while on camping trips and ATV outings. Im pretty sure i need a Duplexer but im just looking for someone else who had done it before i drop the money.
 

If all you want is great, quality communications, check your local Craigslist for used Motorola radios.  I've seen Motorola UHF radios for sale as little as $50.  Tx and Rx is crystal clear, but it's not something you can program on the fly and has no options other than communications.  If you want something with more features and don't want to go really cheap, a good place to start your search is with Yaesu and Icon, but you'll likely have to modify your radio for GMRS frequencies. 

Check out some Motorola gm300's good solid radio and cheap. I've used them for over 30 hard to kill. Easy to program up to 40- 45 watts all day

I started out with the MXT100.  Great little radio.  Now you can get them cheap on ebay.  I bought the MXT400 as soon as they were available.  40 watts is nice and it's FCC approved.  I agree with buying used.  You don't really know if there are any problems or not with the radio.  IF the radio is cheap enough then maybe it's worth a risk.  One thing I enjoy with Midland is their warranty.  There is a one year on the MXT400.  I recently returned a GXT5000, three years into a five year warranty and they send me a brand new one. 
Whatever you go with, make sure that you get a decent antenna.The magnetic mounts are good in a pinch but won't let you use the full potential of your radio.  If possible, get an NMO mount and get an antenna that you can trim to GMRS frequencies.  Tram, Comet, Larsen all make good ones..  Some people have their preferences.  They are all reasonably priced too.  Check ebay.

That's what I use right now, absolutely love it. I agree with zap.

Mine wasn't set to expire until mid-July, however I renewed it a couple of days ago, just prior to reading WT Docket No. 10-119.
 
I suspect that the proposed doubling of the license period from five years to ten years will be approved and go into effect about 90 days subsequent to the approval date, but I would also expect that the fee will also be doubled - from $70 to $140 - so I don't think, at least at this time, that I missed out on a potential $70 saving.
 
If one wishes to keep their currently-assigned call sign, I would think that it might be best to not allow their license to lapse.
 
Frank.
 
P.S. I do hope that everyone here has read the FCC Report and Order document by now. MyGMRS.com is mentioned several times therein!

I for the like of me couldn't see a 15 minute rag chew......

Depending on what permissions you have set. In my case its only being used by me and my buddy if either of us are out of range or don't have a reliable signal. The repeater we're on is about 15 miles away in a rough spot putting out 40 watts, its not the highest spot in the area. I'm within range most of the time, but for those rare times him or I am not, we still have a way to communicate with the users on it. The Zello Channel is passworded as well as Zelect+ were only Admins, Mods, or Trusted Users can talk and listen. So its pretty secure as far as that goes. 

Zello has its purpose but its in that legal gray area. My argument against it is the waste of a repeater frequency when 90% of the time the people on the repeater are not in range via RF and now this signal is sitting there eating a channel.  

Well, there is a risk of an unlicensed person getting on the zello channel and using the repeater.  
AntiSquid Disclaimer: All posted content is personal opinion only and may not imply fact or accusation.

Thanks for putting the first sentence in there.. Lol.. Alright, appreciate the cents.

You might check out https://hamfiles.co.uk I have heard they have some Motorola software there, though you probably have to register first.

The only way you can legitimately acquire any Motorola programming software is to purchase it from Motorola. However, this product was End of Life'd last year, but the software is still listed on their website as available. The part number is HVN9025 and the most recent revision is R06.12.09. You must have an established account with them to purchase it. The software is called CPS (Customer Programming Software) and this radio series is known as the Professional Series. It's also known as the Waris series. Current price on the software is $265. That would normally be a 3 year subscription entitling you to free updates as they are released. Since the radios are EOL, there won't be any future updates to the CPS.
 
There are no alternative programming options. You've got to use the Motorola CPS.
 
If you are running Win 7 or newer, you should use R06.12..05 or newer. Older versions are not stable on Win 7 64 bit.
 
It also requires a specific cable for use between the radio and the computer. They can be purchased inexpensively on Ebay and elsewhere in the USB version.
 
There's a steep learning curve to programming these radios correctly. Since you only have two of them and may only reprogram them a few times, it may be more cost effective to find someone locally who can do them.
 
Depending on the exact model of CDM1550, you may only have 16 conventional channels available to you. Post the full model number of the radio and I'll look it up for you. (I am responsible for a half dozen of the radios in our ambulance squad plus I also have several of my own, both VHF and UHF. The county where I live is 100% CDM radios for the fire service.)
 
You may already know this, but the CDM's are not type accepted for GMRS use. That's not a criticism, just tossing out the info.
 
You have the "S" split radios there (450 to 512). They can be hacked down to the 440 range for ham use, but it's a bit of trick involving some hex editing. The "R" split (403 to 470) models are easily found on the used market. My UHF CDM's are all the "R" split version and can do amateur, GRMS, and much of the Part 90 block.
 
Especially for the car, get yourself a Motorola external speaker. It will improve the sound quality dramatically. They're on Ebay all the time. Let me know if you need a part number or two. Several different ones will work just fine with the CDM. I have some tan ones here now. If you're interested, drop me a PM.