Jones

If I am understanding the original poster correctly, he was asking about GMRS radios, not Ham. Neither of those rigs is GMRS type accepted, and DMR digital capable will do him no good at all, since that mode is illegal on GMRS.

You're right couger37, (binary?) at UHF frequencies, 9913 has slightly less loss than 213. I see you were even talking about Free 9913. I just had 213 on my brain the other day, since I had just replaced a chunk of it at an AM broadcast station. Free is still the right price, regardless of coax type. Yes, a 12 foot RG-213 jumper will eventually burn out when you're running 500 Watts at 1.39 MHz. (Keep in mind that AM radio stations use 125% peak positive modulation, so 500 Watts is actually 2500 Watts PEP, continuous keydown, 24/7 classic rock. Cable eventually melts and arcs through. I might need to move that jumper up to half inch Heliax.

Free is ALWAYS the right price. ...and if your 213 is free, then you can afford to buy a slightly better antenna to make up for the loss.

Try the BTECH GMRS-V1

Expanding on my previous post... So, you already have a GMRS license, but you are not sure if you have an FRN? You do. Easy way to find it: Go to the FCC Universal Licensing System Search page... HERE>> http://wireless2.fcc.gov/UlsApp/UlsSearch/searchLicense.jsp in the middle of the page, do a license search by call sign, and enter you own call sign, whether it be GMRS, GROL, Amateur, Business, Whatever... Your name as it is on your license, and your FRN number will pop right up. Click on the call sign to see the actual license information. While you're there, make sure your address is correct and things like that. Errors? Problems? == Form 605... change of information.

Form 605 "Quick Form" is not just for new license use. It is a general-purpose form used for applications or updates for many different services. For a new license application, leave that callsign box blank. If you are upgrading your existing license, renewing, or changing your address, that's when you put in your current ham (or other) call sign. Never use your GROL, IG, or GMRS call sign on an "Amateur Radio" FCC form filing. Likewise, never use your ham callsign on a form 605 used for GROL address change. They are totally separate services. The only thing that your GMRS license and your HAM license will have in common (along with any other FCC licenses you might have) is your personal Federal Registration Number (FRN). Your FRN will be the same on all of your license holdings. If not, then you need to do some re-filing.... NOTE TO GMRS, or GROL LICENSE HOLDERS: If you are not a HAM, but wish to take the test and get your ticket, be sure to take your requested forms of ID into the VE session, along with your FRN number that is already associated with your GMRS or GROL license. If you already have an FRN, this will save you from having to fill out the Social Security number and 'CORES' forms at the VE session.

That's likely a GMRS repeater identifying itself with Morse Code. It wouldn't be SOS.

Best bang for the buck* on coax for a VHF or UHF base station is Times Microwave LMR-400. ...just don't use it for a repeater. (reasons discussed elsewhere on this site) Also, watch out for fake Chinese LMR-400 "Type" coax, as some of it is sub-standard, or just re-badged RG-8u. If it isn't from Times Microwave, then it isn't true LMR cable, which is a registered trademark. For repeater use, you really need to use Commscope AVA5-50 or larger, depending on length. (NOTE: This is the new part number for what we all call 7/8" Heliax, also a trademark.) If you want to go cheap, and still get good results, check out the less costly RFS Cellflex LCF78-50JA. This is a 7/8" line very similar to "Heliax", but not... kind of like grocery store facial tissues are very similar to "Kleenex", but not. *NOTE: The above is my personal professional opinion. The views and opinions of others may vary.

The FCC has already made it clear that they will not accept that kind of call-sign slang. "Charlie triple 3" is a tactical call - such as a unit number, not a legal ID call sign, so that is exempt. I was once (about 25 years ago) Chief Engineer for the 5,000 Watt AM radio station in Colby Kansas. For years, they would say at the top of every hour: "The voice of the great high plains. 790 K Triple X, Colby Kansas" They got a nasty-gram from the FCC informing them that their legal ID was "K X X X Colby" and that "K-Triple-X" was considered a logo, not a legal ID, and would not be accepted. I do not believe a fine was issued in that case, just a warning, but from that point on they do it correctly at the top of the hour. Another instance, back in the 80s and 90s, was KUUY in Cheyenne Wyoming. They did a word-play on the 2-letter abbreviation for their state by calling themselves "K - Double-U - Y". The FCC sent them a nasty-gram (and a fine) telling them there is no such station as KWY, and they must not use that call sign. They gave up on that logo/ID in 96, and became KMRZ, and now KGAB.

No, RickRod is an Extra Class license holder, and has been licensed for almost 50 years. I don't agree with the ARRL's recent actions either, but let's not get the facts wrong. I have been an ARRL member for over 25 years myself, and threatened to quit this year if they didn't change a few things, but at the January meeting, they did; so I'm still going to renew this year.

As long as your neighbors are running type-accepted low-powered FRS radios with non-removable antennas, they can use channels 1-14 without a license. You may use the shared channels also, (1-7) but having a GMRS license allows you to use higher power levels, and wider bandwidth. Channels 8-14 are FRS only, which means no license is required, but you can use them only on FRS type accepted narrow-band radios with a non-removable antenna. Your Midland base station for instance, will not be allowed to transmit on 8-14. Note, this is a VERY simplified explanation, but should answer your son's question... your neighbors are not doing anything wrong on channel 1. By the way, it sounds as if someone in your area has a local repeater set up on channel 16R. The repeater's ID is the Morse code you are hearing. Here is a good free resource for your son to learn code: http://w5nor.org/morse/

The way the FCC has this latest rule written is very poorly worded, and confusing. This is not what the original ruling meant, and I am going to contact the FCC about having the wording modified a bit to clear things up. (However, they seem to very much like muddy wording.) Let me try to make the Fixed vs. Base station thing a bit more clear for beginners on the forum.... A repeater system is an un-attended automatic signal relaying device that picks up a communication on one channel, and relays it on another channel. A Fixed station is a low-powered stationary device that is used to communicate with other units in its group through the one single repeater system which it is set up for. A Base station is a high-powered station, likely using an omni-directional antenna at a high elevation, that can be used to communicate via repeaters, or directly with mobile and portable units, or other base stations. A Control station is either a fixed, base, or mobile station that has the necessary tone generators or other signalling device to control the repeater system, as in turn it on and off remotely, without having to travel to the repeater site. All of this terminology is left over from the business radio service. Typical UHF Business mobiles have 2 channels, "Main", which is through the repeater, and "Talkaround" which is simplex on the repeater's output frequency. The business office/secretary likely has a "Fixed Station" on her desk, which is a 1 or 2 Watt radio with a small directional antenna on the roof pointed to hit the repeater. In a typical VHF business system, all radios would be simplex, and the "Base Station" would need to have a tall tower on site to communicate with the mobiles.

One thing about "Fixed Stations" that no one is taking into consideration is that they must use directional antennas. Fixed stations are not used for talking to either one another, or mobile units directly. A Fixed station would be used as a "remote input" device to go into a repeater. A Fixed station could be a small base station set up to talk and hear through the main repeater, not talking directly to mobile units, or it could be a similar setup to what I have in my basement on a Ham service repeater. I have what would be considered a "Fixed Station" set up on an Emergency Alert System decoder box. When weather alerts, Amber alerts, local emergencies, etc. are decoded by the EAS, it keys up a 2 Watt transmitter, going into a 7 element Yagi antenna, that points to the UHF Ham repeater linking hub about 7 miles away from me. This unit doesn't receive anything, it is transmit only, one channel, directly into the repeater... a "Fixed Station".

Keep in mind that MURS, whether hand-held or mobile, is limited to no more than 2 Watts TPO. In a city with tall buildings, this would be a no go for 3 miles, even with 5/8 wave antennas on the roof. In wide-open space, you could do it.

My family uses unit numbers, but not very often. Names work just as good. In my family; my wife and I, and our oldest son are all hams. Our 2 younger sons are not hams. (yet) What's funny is that our youngest son takes this GMRS identification business more seriously than any of the rest of us. I will call him on GMRS as: "Hey Mike, it's Dad, copy?" He will respond with: "This is WQYM-Five Four One, unit 5 to unit 1, go ahead Dad."

Wow! Thanks for the heads-up. 5 of the 8 fire extinguishers in my home and shop must be replaced. My other 3 are professional grade commercial units. No wonder when I had them last serviced, the technician was joking in a fake-Italian accent; "you gotta be kidde me!" They were cheap, and I thought it would be great to have them around as extra safety, but hey, if they might or might not work, then it's just another potential hazard.

Those new Midlands are not bad radios for this task. If you are looking to talk from house to house, as in base stations, then 15 Watts with a good outside antenna would do the job just fine. If you want to talk from car to base, then that would work too. From car to car, you would be better off to get the 40 Watts radios, and it still might be tough in the Dallas/Fort Worth area, however there are good repeaters in the area that you may ask to use. For emergency communications, don't rely on repeaters. 40 Watt radios with good antennas will have no problem doing 20 Miles from base to base, or car to base. At your base stations, you might want to keep a spare 12 Volt gel battery around, charged up ready to use in case of power failure, then you will still have communications. Don't forget, your GMRS license already covers your whole extended family.

Make sure you do not have that frequency programmed to transmit in "Narrow-FM" mode.

All of the Walmart stores in Nebraska, and most in Kansas use 154.600, also known as the "Green Dot" channel, or MURS-5. Walmart at one time had several hundred different part-90 "IG" class licenses for this frequency under the FRN of 0008627473, but all have expired, and the frequency has been re-assigned to the MURS service, so they (and anyone else) can now legally use this frequency for business purposes without a license anyway. Walmart still holds licenses for many other frequencies. Many of the larger locations are using UHF, and have private repeaters. I have never been to any Walmart that is using an illegal radio system.

If that LMR-400 cable is brand-new, it will work great for about a year, then it will start playing havoc with your receive signal. The foil and the braid will start to oxidize in some areas, and loosen-up in other areas of the cable, causing white noise to be generated by the feedline itself by the transmitted signal. You will then experience terrible de-sense in your receiver due to the white noise. LMR-400 is great for two-way communications, but only one way at a time. When you are using a coaxial cable in a repeater installation, where it has to send a transmit signal, and still receive at the same time... that's where you run into trouble with LMR series cables, or any other brand of foil-plus-braid cables. RG-213 with full-braid shield and no foil overlay would be better for this application. The BEST solution for a 50 or 75 foot run would be 1/2" Heliax. For longer runs at UHF frequencies, I'd go with 7/8" Heliax or larger for best results. -- As for IDs, Ham station operators and repeaters are required to ID at the beginning of a contact, then end of the contact, and every 10 minutes during an ongoing contact. For GMRS users, it is the same, only 15 minute intervals. GMRS repeaters MAY send an ID using voice or modulated Morse code, (not CW), but are not required to ID at all. However, GMRS USERS must ID themselves using the 15 minute rule, whether using a repeater or not. That's my interpretation of the rules, and I have read them all very carefully.

Cool. I have a UVD-1P. I'll check this out. Thanks.

Pastor Gary is right: "...City Government already has an FRN for licensing other agencies, so a Part 90 license for a few 5 watt handi-talkies might be best" The shelter group does not need to use the counties radios, or share the public safety channel. The group, as a division of the local government, needs to apply for their own VHF frequency, and get some 5 Watt HTs, or perhaps even 5 Watt base VHF stations with outside antennas. Even UHF at 5 Watts would be fine with outside antennas. Part 95 is NOT designed for this purpose, and is not to be used by government agencies other than in a true emergency, which warming shelter coordination is on the very thin edge of that. If I were the FCC, I would kick that out, and make you apply for part 90. Yes, the radios will be more expensive than bubble packs, but professional part 90 radios on a coordinated frequency are the right tool for the job in this case.

OK, let me make this more clear... NO. No, they will not transmit on 6 or 10 meters. Not even the 1411. According to the Tram manual, the 1411 will transmit on the 26 and 27 MHz band (CB), the 46 and 49 MHz bands (old cordless phones and baby monitors band), 72 MHz band (European 4 Meter band, and Russian FM broadcast band), and from 144-1290 MHz. I still think the transmit top end should be 930, as they don't work on the 950-960 MHz broadcast link band... I've tried them there, and they don't work- terrible SWR. So again, the 1410 is a great scanner antenna that works fairly well as a 2 meter, MURS, 1.25 Meter, 70 CM, GMRS, and 33 CM transmit antenna. With the top element added (1411), it becomes an over-glorified, under-performing CB antenna, but it still WON'T do 6 or 10 meters on transmit. If you are looking for a dual-band 6 and 10 meter base antenna, there is only 1 that I know of, and that would be the $250 Diamond CP610. If you are looking for a single antenna to cover all bands from DC to Daylight with perfectly flat SWR, and don't care about gain, then a dummy load is what you are looking for.

The Tram 1410 is a standard discone antenna. It has no gain, but it will provide flat response coverage from 2 Meters through 930 MHz. Yes, it can receive higher and lower, but it is truly only good for about 130-950 MHz. Remember, it is broad-band and omni-directional, but has ZERO GAIN over a dipole. The Tram 1411 adds an additional vertical element, giving it better receive in the 6 and 10 meter bands, but it doesn't transmit there well at all, don't be fooled. In short, these are great scanner antennas, but are limited in usefulness as a transmitting antenna. Disclaimer: I am a Tram/Browning dealer. I don't even bother to stock the 1411, because the 6, 10, and 11 meter, along with the 46-49MHz baby-monitor band transmit claims are totally bogus. I don't sell them because I don't want upset customers.

"They said no residential 110v AC power could be affixed directly to the tower." The reason they won't let you run direct household 120 volts up a tower is because one side is HOT in reference to ground. If you are working on the tower, and you short yourself out to that wire, well... you get the idea. The way around that is to use an isolation transformer, just like they use on professional towers that have beacon lights, only on a smaller scale. Use a 1:1 isolation transformer inside the house. Put a 5 amp fuse on each leg of the output line, and run it up the tower as a twisted pair of 14 gauge wires. It will still be 120 Volts AC at the top, with enough current to run a 40 Amp 12 Volt power supply, but it will NOT be "directly affixed" to household power, it is connected to an inside, fuse protected, isolated "Power Supply" just like your rotor. If it falls down, it will also be safe, as neither side is in any way referenced to ground.