Jones

If his Fox News is on Cable channel 64, then you can't do anything about it.  CATV Hyperband channel 64, no matter whether it's NTSC analog or ATSC QAM Digital, covers a 6MHz wide bandwidth between 462 and 468MHz.  If you transmit anywhere in there, (GMRS) it will overload the TV or converter box.
 
Likewise, if you are transmitting in the 70cm ham band, depending on what frequency you are using, you will wipe out Cable channel 59, 60, or 61. the 2-Meter ham band rides on the same band as Cable channel 18, and MURS will wipe out channel 19.
 
NOTE: Cable channels above 14 are NOT the same frequencies as over-the-air TV channels above 14.  Also note that with digital TV, the station can display whatever "virtual channel" they want you to see.  Perhaps your local CBS affiliate still advertises themselves as "News-4", even though they switched to RF channel 27 over 19 years ago.  Cable systems like to call digital channels much higher numbers such as "Hyper-tier 653" because it makes them sound bigger than they actually are - makes you think they have more channels out there that you just don't pay enough to get.
 
Here is a list of actual frequencies vs. channel numbers for Standard, IRC, and HRC type cable systems, along with standard over-the-air broadcast.
 
https://www.jneuhaus.com/fccindex/cablech.html
 
The visual carrier frequency is shown in this chart. TV is transmitted in Vestigial Sideband mode, meaning a full carrier and upper sideband, but the lower sideband is rolled off 1MHz below the carrier. The lower edge of the channel is 1.25 MHz below the visual carrier and the upper edge is 4.75 MHz above the visual carrier.

Needs more cowbell.

If it can work a repeater, it is not FRS. This thread is under the wrong topic.

I think this thread has run its course.

First of all, repeaters are neither allowed nor possible on FRS. There is no provision for repeater inputs in a separate band segment. There might be operators in other radio services using FRS as an input to a cross-band repeater. But, that is distinctly and strictly prohibited by the rules. As to ham operators who do not have GMRS licenses. If they are talking on the GMRS frequencies, they are doing so illegaly. Otherwise, there is nothing compelling a ham operator to have a GMRS license. And, yes, there are no doubt hams operating on GMRS using ham equipment. However, they typically do not go around announcing that is what they are doing, and they certainly do not claim that they have some special need or right to do so. But, regardless of examples of others who might be flouting the rules, their indiscretions do not in any way change the licensing requirements you agreed to to get your GMRS license.
 
And, to be blunt. If someone is unwilling or incapable, regardless of age or other reason, of correctly operating under your GMRS license. Then you, as the license holder are responsible and you must prevent them from using the station. If your grand children cannot comply with the rules, they cannot use a radio operating under the GMRS rules. Period.
 
By and large, the people on this forum support the GMRS service and want to see it remain useful and relevant. Arguing publicly that the rules do not apply to this or that special case is counter to those ends. If you still think you know better, or that your needs are special, or whatever, then go ahead and do whatever you want. Nobody will ever know anyway. But, please do not claim that your special needs come first and expect others to support you.
 
And, please have a little more faith is your grand-children and children in general. They learn quickly and like to do things right.

I hope to have a valid answer to this very soon.  I have sent an inquiry email to the offices of Fletcher Heald & Hildreth, who are THE experts in the field of communication law.
 
I hope they will respond.

Wow... this is perfect!  I couldn't agree more, with all of this.  I can't understand for the life of me, why the FCC would have two distinctively different services, sharing frequencies.  They didn't even bother setting a primary and secondary service.

You have some good points marcspaz.
 
About it being market driven, wide band verses narrow band, could get a boost by the manufactures. If they are already narrow band compliant it would be a marketing incentive for them to point it out to customers. Second any wide band equipment only, mostly used, would be eliminated from the market. Now users are pushed into buying more from the narrow band new equipment market and less from now smaller compliant used equipment market.
 
On the regulation front manufactures could point out to the FCC they have good sales of their narrow band radios and few requests for wide band equipment. The FCC could then infer the consumer has a preference for narrow band equipment, or at least don't find it a limiting factor in how they use their radios. Making a decision to go narrow band for GMRS would be an easy one I suspect for the FCC.
 
On the engineering side of things it's rather a screwy situation where you have two different radio services assigned the same spectrum but with different technical specifications for bandwidth. If the goal was really to allow the two to interoperate the FCC screwed it up. Having one station on frequency running wide band and another running narrow band results in some annoying messing around with the volume control. It's either to loud or too soft depending on who is doing the RX'ing and the TX'ing. By the way this happens with DMR when people don't get their audio levels set right. One minute i can hardly hear one station and the other station blows be out of the chair.

Once again, for some reason the original post has been edited, but in this case, the subject line sums up the original question, and several posts agreed on a valid answer.
 
There is already a well established "Highway" or "Travel Channel" for GMRS, and it is 462.675 with a CTCSS Tone of 141.3Hz.
 
Again, on a Midland MicroMobile, (and many other GMRS or Combo radios) that would be channel 20 with a "Privacy Code" of 22. (However, check your radio's owner's manual for the privacy or quiet code that matches 141.3 Hz.  Not all radios are mapped the same for these codes.)
 
This frequency can be used in repeater mode, or simplex if a repeater is not available in the area.
 
...and if you don't want to miss any possible action, then use WRAF233's suggestion, and just set the radio to "SCAN".
 
Also of note, just yesterday, I was traveling on US HWY 81 in North Central Kansas, and heard 2 truckers using channel 20-22.

The Trailblazer I drive has virtually no dash mounting options and the floor console mounting would have been hitting my legs or whomever was in the passenger seat if I mounted it there. That and having to take my eyes off the road more than I would like to adjust volume or change the channel, etc. almost had me ordering the MXT275.
 
But I discovered the Kenwood KRK-10 remote conversion kit for the TK-8180.
 
  
 
I was lucky enough to find a listing on Ebay that had the TK-8180 with the KRK-10 kit together for a good price (Still less than what the MXT275 would have cost so I grabbed it.) and popped it in the Trailblazer. The main unit sits under the passenger seat which make the run to power fairly easy since the Trailblazer fuse panel is under the rear seat.
 
The last piece I added to this was 16 key mic that Kenwood offered. Well it was a clone of the TK-686 mic. It's keys can be programmed for any function that is available on the front panel. It did not take long for muscle memory to kick in and now I can change/adjust anything I want and my eyes never leave the road for more than an instant IF I want to verify the change on the display.

i was browsing midland's site last night, and stumbled across the fact that the mxt275 control head accepts the same headset plug as their handhelds.  while that's not such a thing in a car/truck (though, an interesting idea), it would be rather cool installed on a motorcycle with their in-helmet speakers and mic, and have a lot better range than most of the other motorcycle options on the market.

Once again, for some reason the original post has been edited, but in this case, the subject line sums up the original question, and several posts agreed on a valid answer.
 
There is already a well established "Highway" or "Travel Channel" for GMRS, and it is 462.675 with a CTCSS Tone of 141.3Hz.
 
Again, on a Midland MicroMobile, (and many other GMRS or Combo radios) that would be channel 20 with a "Privacy Code" of 22. (However, check your radio's owner's manual for the privacy or quiet code that matches 141.3 Hz.  Not all radios are mapped the same for these codes.)
 
This frequency can be used in repeater mode, or simplex if a repeater is not available in the area.
 
...and if you don't want to miss any possible action, then use WRAF233's suggestion, and just set the radio to "SCAN".
 
Also of note, just yesterday, I was traveling on US HWY 81 in North Central Kansas, and heard 2 truckers using channel 20-22.

Topic locked for the greater good.

Once again, for some reason the original post has been edited, but in this case, the subject line sums up the original question, and several posts agreed on a valid answer.
 
There is already a well established "Highway" or "Travel Channel" for GMRS, and it is 462.675 with a CTCSS Tone of 141.3Hz.
 
Again, on a Midland MicroMobile, (and many other GMRS or Combo radios) that would be channel 20 with a "Privacy Code" of 22. (However, check your radio's owner's manual for the privacy or quiet code that matches 141.3 Hz.  Not all radios are mapped the same for these codes.)
 
This frequency can be used in repeater mode, or simplex if a repeater is not available in the area.
 
...and if you don't want to miss any possible action, then use WRAF233's suggestion, and just set the radio to "SCAN".
 
Also of note, just yesterday, I was traveling on US HWY 81 in North Central Kansas, and heard 2 truckers using channel 20-22.

Once again, for some reason the original post has been edited, but in this case, the subject line sums up the original question, and several posts agreed on a valid answer.
 
There is already a well established "Highway" or "Travel Channel" for GMRS, and it is 462.675 with a CTCSS Tone of 141.3Hz.
 
Again, on a Midland MicroMobile, (and many other GMRS or Combo radios) that would be channel 20 with a "Privacy Code" of 22. (However, check your radio's owner's manual for the privacy or quiet code that matches 141.3 Hz.  Not all radios are mapped the same for these codes.)
 
This frequency can be used in repeater mode, or simplex if a repeater is not available in the area.
 
...and if you don't want to miss any possible action, then use WRAF233's suggestion, and just set the radio to "SCAN".
 
Also of note, just yesterday, I was traveling on US HWY 81 in North Central Kansas, and heard 2 truckers using channel 20-22.

Just do as the rest of us do, and program one good radio with channels 1-7 for low power narrow-band at 5 Watts, and channels 15-22 for high power wide-band at whatever the radio can do - 25-50 Watts.  Don't even bother to put 8-14 in your radio... those are the low-power FRS channels, and should stay that way. (Those frequencies should have never been assigned in the first place, and should have been left as guard-band space between repeater inputs.)
 
You do not need more channels.  If the band is that crowded in your area, and you don't want to hear others, use CTCSS, or better yet, DCS.

Great points!  I forgot to mention that most of my VHF DX stuff is upper side band.  Its a great mode.  The transceivers don't run as hot, have a higher duty cycle and are much more efficient than FM or AM.

One thing that VHF and UHF ham radio has over GMRS is the ability to use modes other than FM.
 
Keep in mind that it is a whole different world on 2-meter and 70cm when you start playing with CW, (Morse code), TV, (yes, Television), Data, (Packet, APRS), FAX imaging, AM, and single-sideband phone modes.  You will find that there are thousands of other hams playing with those modes also.

One thing that VHF and UHF ham radio has over GMRS is the ability to use modes other than FM.
 
Keep in mind that it is a whole different world on 2-meter and 70cm when you start playing with CW, (Morse code), TV, (yes, Television), Data, (Packet, APRS), FAX imaging, AM, and single-sideband phone modes.  You will find that there are thousands of other hams playing with those modes also.

Just do as the rest of us do, and program one good radio with channels 1-7 for low power narrow-band at 5 Watts, and channels 15-22 for high power wide-band at whatever the radio can do - 25-50 Watts.  Don't even bother to put 8-14 in your radio... those are the low-power FRS channels, and should stay that way. (Those frequencies should have never been assigned in the first place, and should have been left as guard-band space between repeater inputs.)
 
You do not need more channels.  If the band is that crowded in your area, and you don't want to hear others, use CTCSS, or better yet, DCS.

Just do as the rest of us do, and program one good radio with channels 1-7 for low power narrow-band at 5 Watts, and channels 15-22 for high power wide-band at whatever the radio can do - 25-50 Watts.  Don't even bother to put 8-14 in your radio... those are the low-power FRS channels, and should stay that way. (Those frequencies should have never been assigned in the first place, and should have been left as guard-band space between repeater inputs.)
 
You do not need more channels.  If the band is that crowded in your area, and you don't want to hear others, use CTCSS, or better yet, DCS.

Hell NO!
I need me some nice good wideband.

That is a huge step in the wrong direction, IMHO. We need FRS & GMRS to stop sharing frequencies. Let FRS be low power narrow band and give GMRS operators more wideband frequencies. I'm tired of sharing the channels with 4 and 5 year old kids screaming at their cousin who is only 30 feet away, about how much they love play dough.

The long recognized GMRS "Travel Channel" is 462.675 with a CTCSS Tone of 141.3Hz.
 
On a Midland MicroMobile, that would be channel 20 with a "Privacy Code" of 22.

I like the idea of being able to download a database right into the radio. ...great idea for the (near) future.
 
I just don't know if we will get much cooperation from Midland, as they seem to be more concerned with selling radios to consumers who don't know how to operate radios.  There will be problems with some consumers who want "simply the best", who buy the most expensive radio, even though they do not need it... then complain and write poor reviews over how difficult it is to operate, and they can't get it to talk with their other walkies talkies as promised.
 
I have some midland micromobiles, and they are good for what they are... that is, simple to use. Midland is not really trying to market toward the likes of mygmrs forum users; they are marketing to the lowest common denominator of radio consumer.  Any idiot can take one of these Midlands out of the wrapper, and make it talk.  Add too many Pro-level features, and there will be problems.
 
There will be a company who makes just this kind of feature-rich radio, and there already is... unfortunately, it is Baofeng.  Now, if only there were some company making feature-rich radios with High-Quality and FCC type acceptance as well........