berkinet

And, of course, depending on the license(s) that you hold.

True. However, the 25XX series is not certified for Part15 only and not for Part95A (GMRS),

Answers... 1) No. Your guess is right. A repeater repeats only one frequency at a time. (Well, there are exceptions, but not that would apply to GMRS.) Ham and GMRS are different radio services and cannot interoperate. However, it is quite possible any given piece of equipment could operate on either the ham 440 band or GMRS, but never simultaneously. 2) It all depends. Fixed location, mobile, (car/truck, etc.), handheld? Terrain: line-of-sight, obstructed, vegetation, etc. Post back with more details. 3) You can listen to whatever you can receive. It is only transmissions that the FCC regulates. Well, ok, there are exceptions like for mobile phones etc. and I believe there are, in some cases, rules about repeating what you hear to others. Welcome to GMRS.

#1. Congratulations on getting your ham license! #2. I am not specifically familiar with the GMRS-50X1. But, knowing the GMRS-V1, and the FCC regulations, I would be quite certain that you will not be able to get that radio to transmit on anything except the GMRS frequencies. You could probably program in other frequencies to receive, but not transmit. #3. There is absolutely no way to determine over-the-air if a radio is GMRS certified. I cannot tell you to use a non-GMRS certified radio on the GMRS channels. However, I can tell you that I would not personally be the least bit concerned. I can also tell you that any Part90 radio you find is (very) likely to be a much better radio than most of the currently marketed GMRS certified radios.

You are indeed right. I was thinking of the old regulations (pre-2017). I stand corrected.

GMRS power output limits are specified as power output from the radio (I.e. at the antenna connector) rather than ERP.

That was the case prior to the last rules update in 2017. But now all 22 FRS channels are shared with GMRS. The only GMRS channels not allowed for FRS are the 8 GMRS repeater inputs. Since simplex use on the repeater inputs is now permitted under some circumstances, if you heard unidentified traffic on those channels, then you could assume they were illegal. But, for the 22 other channels, there is no way to know.

Check our this topic... https://forums.mygmrs.com/topic/1136-on-the-air-id-requirements/

Correct. However, as quarterwave previously noted, the problem is determining whether the station is operating under Part95A (GMRS) or Part95B (FRS). So, unless he is able to determine the output power or the bandwidth he won't know if they are legal or not.

Read your own words. If the intent of your transmission is to interfere with the communications of another station, it is prohibited. And, no, the rules do not limit that to properly licensed stations and for good reason. If they allowed you to interfere with improperly licensed stations they would be granting you the power to not only accuse, but also judge and then punish others for violating the rules. That job is reserved for the FCC. However, the rules do give you a way to deal with improper use of the airwaves, If you think someone is violating the rules, then you can report it to the FCC.

Not even in jest. § 95.333 Prohibited uses. No person shall use a Personal Radio Service station: [... ...] (d) To intentionally interfere with the communications of another station; [... ...]

I would suggest an addition to the repeater listings that would allow some degree of crowd sourcing of current status. In other words, let users add something like a QSL card or signal report. It could be simply binary as did or did not work. Or, it could be more detailed. Location at the time of the report, signal strength, etc. Then, "last verified access" could be added to the repeater report page and, possibly, people could search on, reported active in the last: 30, 60, 90 days, etc. In the signal report it might also be possible to report if anything differed from the listing, like Frequency, PL, or location. The specific information would not be given, except in the case of a fully-open repeater. But, at least other users would know there had been a change. And, finally. The owner could receive an, optional, email each time a signal report was received. In any case, the basic point is even if the owners do not update their listings, other users could help a bit.

The OP's call-sign is WREA898, not the repeater he is trying to contact. As to the original problem. It sounds like you have already looked up the repeater listings for Arecibo on MyGMRS. Are you hearing a squelch tail after you unkey? If not, then I can only think of a couple of things: GMRS is always TX high (Rx + 5mHz), and it is possible the PL tones listed have changed. You might try contacting someone on the repeater output frequency/simplex to see if they can help.

Well, it could be a lot of things. However, illegal use of GMRS is not unknown.

The answer to your first question is no. You do not need to set PL on receive to listen. PL is used where there may be more than one station transmitting on a frequency. Through the use of PL you can select which of those multiple station you listen to. This is common on GMRS, especially with repeaters. However, unlike GMRS where a large number of people use a small number of repeater frequencies, and therefore have learned how to share them, like by using PL, HAM repeaters are coordinated so there is almost never more than one repeater transmitting on a frequency, so no need for PL to "tune out" another station. To state it a bit differently: If you did set PL for a HAM repeater and did it right, you'd never know. If you did it wrong, you'd never hear anything. So, there is no point in setting it at all

I know I have posted this before, but I can't seem to find it. So, here it is again. GMRS is a radio service designed for a specific purpose: family communication. A mobile two-way voice communication service, with limited data applications, for facilitating activities of individual licensees and their family members, including, but not limited to, voluntary provision of assistance to the public during emergencies and natural disasters. ​Contrast that with Amateur radio a) Recognition and enhancement of the value of the amateur service to the public as a voluntary noncommercial communication service, particularly with respect to providing emergency communications. Continuation and extension of the amateur's proven ability to contribute to the advancement of the radio art. c) Encouragement and improvement of the amateur service through rules which provide for advancing skills in both the communication and technical phases of the art. d) Expansion of the existing reservoir within the amateur radio service of trained operators, technicians, and electronics experts. e) Continuation and extension of the amateur's unique ability to enhance international goodwill. It sounds like some of what @krvw and others here expect from GMRS is actually found in HAM (Amateur) radio. If you want to try and make GMRS into another HAM like service, you are doomed to failure. My suggestion is, take advantage of GMRS for what it is and don't fret what it is not. If you are looking for a broader hobbyist community, try amateur radio. You will find repeaters everywhere with all-kind of communities (some of which you will love, others which you will hate). An Amateur tech license is not only not hard to get, but in the process of getting the license you will learn a lot about radio in general that will help you with GMRS as well. And, if you become interested and go for your amateur general license, then there is the world of low-band, short-wave...

Everything you have said is true. However, in most cases the practical difference (in effective communications distance) between "cheap coax, a simple antenna and a few adapters" and "super high end coax, hi gain antenna and no adapters" is not going to matter. On the highway it might amount to 1 quarter, or maybe a half mile. However, other factors such as the physical topography are going to make far more difference and will usually limit your effective range long before you reach the maximum possible distance. So, sure, do your best to make a nice clean installation and use good materials. But, don't get obsessed. So, if someone gives you an antenna with a BNC connector, and your radio has a standard PL259, and you don't solder. Don't worry, just get the BNC to PL259 adapter.

In the case of keypad programming, I believe the radio would not ever get Part95 acceptance if it were possible to program non-GMRS transmit frequencies. That is why it is locked out. Though, I am no expert on the subject, Id guess as to programming non-GMRS frequencies using programming software, you are probably right about that not voiding the certification.

What material is the kayak made out of, fiberglass or plastic? If so, think of it as a radome and don't worry. In any case, you can always run a test by supporting the kayak on two sawhorses, have someone get under it with an HT and see how far away you can work them. Then, have them try the same test standing outside the kayak (with the HT at the same height).

It appears the ID of the vertical mast hole is 1.8". So, it won't work with your 2" OD pipe. OTOH, you can get 48' of fiberglass mast (12 x 4') for around $90 that would work quite well with the base. Or, you could make a base section of the mast with a smaller sized pipe and an adapter to 2".

How about a DIY base using something like this http://ham-radio-antenna.net/photos/ANTENNA_RADIO_TOWER_ALUMINUM_ORANGE_TRIPOD_FOR_USE_WITH_MILITARY_48_MAST_POLE_02_gfo.jpg and some pipe or conduit. Take a look at this site or this site for a number of options.

In addition to @marcspaz's questions, I was wondering if you plan of being otherwise active on GMRS, or if the sole intention is to talk between two fixed locations? If you will generally be active on GMRS, and/or if you will be contacting mobile or portable (hand-held) stations, then the Ed Fong antenna is an probably an excellent choice. Though, depending on your needs, you might want to consider a very basic 1/4 wave (6 inch) antenna for rooftop use . It could be mounted on a plumbing vent pipe and would attract very little attention. The difference between the Ed Fong in an attic and the 1/4 wave on the roof will be minimal. However, if your intended use is limited to two fixed stations, you should probably consider two directional antennas like a Yagi. These antennas will be easier to mount in an attic and give you better performance than the Ed Fong.

Cable thickness is not the issue as much as cable quality. In particular, the way the shield is constructed. For example, at UHF frequencies, RG-174u has around 17dB loss per 100ft, while RG58u has around 11dB loss. Take a look at this page and this page for more information. Also, you mention an SL-259 connector. Did you mean PL-259, commonly called a UHF-Connector?

I saw a thread on RadioReference.com a while back that mentioned the DRC200. But, even better, there is a four year old thread right here on MyGMRS I think PastorGary is still around, just not very active. Good Luck.

I am not a Kenwood user, so I can't comment on the differences between v1 and v2 radios. However, as a Mac user I can say I have never found any radio programming task (Motorola, Vertex and a zillion CCRs with native apps) I could do on a real Windows box that I could not do in a Windows VM on a Mac. Since I rarely use Windows, I stick with VirtualBox from Oracle. It works fine and is free. What's not to like. Well, it is a bit less user friendly to setup than the commercial VMs and maybe a bit slower, but not enough to worry about, especially since radio programming is mostly reading and writing to the radio which is essentially the same speed in a VM as on a real machine. In fact, an iMac running Windows XP or 7 is actually faster than the same OS running on machines that were available when those OSs were current. The only real issue is finding a set of Windows CDs. But, that is an issue with any VM software. I'd suggest sticking with XP, it is pretty easy to find, and loads and runs quite well.