WRXB215

Chances are pretty good that all those people you hear are using FRS radios, and traffic of that nature is explicitly permitted by Part 95B.  FRS is licensed-by-rule, so no call signs.
As of 2017, there are no "FRS" channels, since GMRS and FRS share the same frequencies with different max power and (in some cases) bandwidth.  The only exception is that FRS radios cannot transmit on the repeater inputs since repeaters are not allowed on FRS.
If the schools, construction workers, bus company and nursing homes are using FRS radios (on any channel 1-22) there is nothing to "enforce".

Being the south end of a north bound donkey?

No, it's a "me" thing. I've had issues in the past where I've had two identical radios and uploaded an image from one to the other and had that one not operate correctly.

You need to ascertain the tuned center frequency of the Antenna. Your antenna requires tuning. If your VSWR is 1.2 at 462 Megs and 1.8 at 467 megs it is obviously that your antenna needs to be snipped some more if your desire is only talk to repeaters. If you desire to transmit to both mobiles and repeaters you might want to consider tuning for 465 megs.

I’ll correct my explanation to emphasize that the SWR is not actually going up, your measurement of reflected power is becoming more accurate.  As a result the SWR value calculated at your radio will become higher, but in reality it has been the actual SWR hasn’t changed. You’re just seeing a more nearly accurate calculation.  
In other words, your SWR is higher than what you’re seeing and changing to the better cable will reveal that.

One thing to be aware of is that SWR will appear to go up, possibly by quite a bit. Here’s why:
SWR is calculated using forward transmitted power and reflected power.  At your radio the forward transmitted power is the maximum.  Attenuation in your cable reduces it as it travels along the cable until it finally arrives at the antenna. There, any mismatch in impedance causes a portion of the power to be reflected back towards your radio.  Again, attenuation robs power from the reflected power as it travels back towards your antenna. Your radio or a SWR/wattmeter measures the forward and reflected power wherever it’s inserted into the feedline. So, any power measurement done at the radio will measure the lowest possible reflected power and utmost forward power, which results in a calculation of SWR that’s not accurate.  
Let me emphasize that the actual SWR of the antenna doesn’t change, but because forward and reflected power are being measured at the radio, the calculated value of SWR is incorrect.
Replacing the lossy 7 mm cable with less lossy 10 mm cable will result in less attenuation both ways which will result in a higher (but more nearly accurate) calculation of SWR.  
Of course the most accurate place to measure power is right at the feedpoint of the antenna, where the actual forward power delivered to the antenna and the actual power reflected by the antenna can be measured most accurately, but it’s almost always inconvenient to do so.

May sound silly but there is a fifth reason, the volume could be turned down. It happens to the best of us. The back of the RA87 also has two plug ins, one for speaker and one for data. Is there anything plugged into the back of the radio? Are you using the radios speaker or an external one?

Have you ever received anything on the RA-87? There are only four reasons your RA87 wouldn’t receive from your HT and MXT500: wrong tone, desense, wrong frequency, or broken receiver.
You undid setting Tone Mode to Tone when you set the RX Tone to 123.00. Set Tone Mode to Tone and leave the RX tone clear.  Setting the RX tone to something is the same as setting TSQL and filters your incoming signals. Leaving your RX tone clear and setting Tone Mode to Tone tells your radio not to filter on tones but to allow everything through.Red redemption.
 When you’re troubleshooting reception problems you want to start by let everything in.  Setting Tone Mode to Tone tells your radio to send a tone on transmit, but to let everything through on receive. Most times when someone cannot hear transmissions from another transmitter it’s because they have the wrong tone set for RX.
Another common reason not to receive from another radio is because you’re too close to the transmitting radio and your receiver is desensing. Make sure your transmitting radio and receiving radio have some distance between them.
Finally, if you’re not too close and you’re not filtering on tones and you still don’t receive things on your RA-87 maybe the RA-87 doesn’t receive.  Have you ever received anything on the RA-87?

The information is found on the University of YouTube.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GsXFtMe_-Eo

NO! Because I have trees, so it's not fair!
🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

Aluminum works but if the mount is on some king or skinny rail, it won't work as well. You need to have about 6" of surface if I remember correctly.

NO! Because I have trees, so it's not fair!
🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

Actually in 95.303 it is for business usage:
 
Family Radio Service (FRS). A short-distance two-way voice communication service, with limited data applications, between low power hand-held radios, for facilitating individual, family, group, recreational and business activities.
So FRS can be used for business purposes, but the limited range may render it less than usable for all scenarios...
 
MURS is a License by Rule service. No fees, no callsigns
As in 95.2703
MURS. A two-way, short distance voice or data communication service for facilitating personal or business activities of the general public.
 
 

MTC in TX has the DJ-G46T on Black Friday pricing for $69.90
https://www.mtcradio.com/black-friday-alinco-dj-g46t-portable-5w-gmrs-ht/

2. Yes, the repeater owner. Unfortunately, there is no formal coordination in GMRS so coordination relies on repeater owners being proactive and considerate.
3. No, and unfortunately when it does happen this can cause issues for people who are within range of both.  There are eight different repeater channels.  Unless all eight are taken one of these repeater owners probably should have chosen something else.

If they’re now considered FRS radios then you don’t need to ID, even though you have a license. And you can communicate with someone who has a GMRS radio and they are required to ID but you don’t have to as long as you’re using an FRS radio. 

The SBB2 is my favorite mobile dual band antenna. But after me snapping one off on the garage door and my wife snapping one off when she raised the tailgate of my van when I had the thing laid down, I didn't want to throw down for a third one. I run this one now, which has a spring. I've been happy with it. 
https://www.dxengineering.com/parts/dmn-az504sp?seid=dxese1&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIh6jprOKWigMV5CpECB0VjS8uEAQYASABEgKQNfD_BwE

I understand your confusion. The FCC messed up. Once upon a time companies were allowed to make dual service radios (FRS and GMRS) but now the regulations do not allow authorization of the combination. At that time there were FRS channels and GMRS channels. 
95.1761(d)
(d) Effective December 27, 2017, the Commission will no longer issue a grant of equipment authorization for hand-held portable unit transmitter types under both this subpart (GMRS) and subpart B of this part (FRS).
 

I passed the Technician test Thursday and I'm just waiting for the FCC. I need a good dual-band antenna for the top of my small car. It needs to be NMO compatible so I can use the mag mount I already have and not more than about 2 feet tall. For now, I'm going to use it with a Baofeng AR-5RM while I ponder exactly what I want as a permanent installation. So, what do you recommend? 

Who you calling a freak? 😆

Who you calling a freak? 😆

Especially if you get your radio from the Mossad...

To be fair that only happens in one region of the world regardless of the SWR...

Uh...have you looked at the map. There's loads of repeaters around there. Three should be easily reachable. Depending where in St. Clair county Mayville 550 or Macomb 675. Actually there's two in Mayville the 600 which used to be Michigamme network and the 550.
 
Usually plenty of traffic on the Mayville and Macomb. Throw your call out someone will respond.
 
 

Although the situation you describe certainly does happen, verify your testing method. Often times voice is getting through the repeater but the person's test method is faulty and they think they aren't getting through. The most common problem in this is the transmit radio and the receive radio being too close together creating desence on the receive radio essentially causing it to "go deaf" to the repeater.