berkinet

Nothing wrong with that idea. Who do you propose should take on the responsibility of doing that? A thread was setup for exactly that purpose a few months ago, it went dead after listings for a half-dozen radios or so. I can't even find that topic now.

Could you please note the specific section(s) of the FCC regulations which you believe prohibit linking by Internet.

Depending on the means you use to access the forums, the location information shows up under the user avatar in each post. For example, using Safari on a Mac I see your location is middle of CA. That appears just above your "ask" callsign.

I was referring to not being active users. People with a license who never turn on their radio.

With the caveat that given the number of inactive GMRS licensees, a listing by area can be misleading and provide essentially useless information.

It really sounds like you don't want advice as much as you want someone to agree with your plans. So, have fun I've stopped following this thread.

The profile location does display, though it depends on how you view the forum. In a standard desktop browser, it is visible. I'd post a screenshot, but the image gallery upload does not work.

For those who do not know the URL: https://wireless2.fcc.gov/UlsApp/UlsSearch/searchLicense.jsp

Unless you know of a specific individual or repeater that you are unable to hit with your handheld, I wouldn’t waste time with an amplifier. And, even then I would suggest you just get a better antenna to start. Power is far less important on UHF, which is essentially line of sight, than on the lower bands, like 11m and longer.

You can easily look up someone’s address via their call sign. Presumably, if they don’t list their callsign they don’t wish to have their location known. Also, GMRS is not like ham radio, where simply having a license is an understood implication of interest in making contact.

Sales and marketing. Perhaps they wanted to see if there was a market for a less capable radio at a lower price point. This is a common marketing strategy in many fields of business: start with a broad portfolio of products and remove the slow sellers over time.

It appears they have only dropped the basic model. The standard model is still available at $79.99.

Uh... has this topic been discussed beyond death yet?

I read that a bit differently than you. The only limits specific to hand-helds are for the interstitial channels. In those cases, the limit for all radios is 5 watts on the 462mHz portion of the band and 0.5 watts on the 467 portion. Note also, these are both ERP (effective radiated power) limitations. This may be a significant factor if the radio is at the limit with its stock antenna (regardless of the loss or gain of that antenna). For the main channels, both 462 and 476 mHz, the limit is 50 watts peak output power. There is no power limitation stated for hand-holds on those frequencies. If you assume they are treated as mobiles, then they would be limited to 50 watts. This is probably the case, since the FCC defines a hand-held as 47 CFR § 95.303 A physically small mobile station that can be operated while being held in the operator's hand. For reference for other readers, here is § 95.1767 GMRS transmitting power limits. This section contains transmitting power limits for GMRS stations. The maximum transmitting power depends on which channels are being used and the type of station. a: 462/467 MHz main channels. The limits in this paragraph apply to stations transmitting on any of the 462 MHz main channels or any of the 467 MHz main channels. Each GMRS transmitter type must be capable of operating within the allowable power range. GMRS licensees are responsible for ensuring that their GMRS stations operate in compliance with these limits. (1) The transmitter output power of mobile, repeater and base stations must not exceed 50 Watts. (2) The transmitter output power of fixed stations must not exceed 15 Watts. b: 462 MHz interstitial channels. The effective radiated power (ERP) of mobile, hand-held portable and base stations transmitting on the 462 MHz interstitial channels must not exceed 5 Watts. c: 467 MHz interstitial channels. The effective radiated power (ERP) of hand-held portable units transmitting on the 467 MHz interstitial channels must not exceed 0.5 Watt. Each GMRS transmitter type capable of transmitting on these channels must be designed such that the ERP does not exceed 0.5 Watt.

You touch on an interesting, and IMHO too often overlooked point here. People should buy equipment that is suited for their application. If you run a kid's day camp in a park and everyone is always within 1/2 mile, then the dirt cheap Amazon CCR special of the day may be perfect. They will cover 100% of your terrain, they can get lost, crushed, have lemonade spilled on them, etc with no worries. On the other hand, if you are organizing a search & rescue team you would have to be bat shit crazy to get anything other than high quality Part-90 equipment. Of course, the world is not binary, and there are other applications that require a lot more thought. If you are getting into UHF (GMRS or ham) as a general hobby, and do not know exactly where you will be everyday, or whom you will contact, or how (simplex or repeater) you are going to make contact, you have to look carefully at your budget and priorities before making a decision. And, of course, it is not as simple as Baofeng-888 vs Moto XPR5550e. There are high end CCRS and low end pro equipment, etc, etc. To me the key point in all of this is to learn how radios work and what makes one different from an other. That knowledge, coupled with clarity on your needs will help you make the right decision. And, building on that, the right response to "I am new to GMRS, what radio should I get?", is none, until you understand the differences and how you will use it.

Good question. No such thing. It doesn't exist. Radios like the Baofeng-888 can be programmed to any frequency within the 400-520mHz range supported by the radio. I suspect the OP meant on the channels configured in his Baofeng radio, which may have been how he programmed it, or how it was shipped.

Suite yourself. I was only trying to help you. Just keep in mind, GMRS is not really a stepping stone to ham radio. They are two separate services, each with its own purpose. Many, many people start with ham radio because it provides what they are looking for in a general radio service. GMRS, on the other hand, while usable for local communications with strangers, like ham 440mHz, is historically, and still to a large extent, designed for communications within existing groups, like families. This is apparent from the licensing model. For that reason. it is quite possible that you will find, as you seem to have already noticed, that there may be few to no people to talk to. And, a final point to make all of this clear. There is no GMRS equivalent of "CQ."

Given your physical location and your apparent need, general contact with other users and no immediate personal communications needs, you should seriously consider concentrating on ham radio. There are a universe of options available to you and several are likely to work well. You might even find there are ham repeaters near you. Just search online for ham repeater listings. Here is one such list https://www.repeaterbook.com/repeaters/Display_SS.php?state_id=78&loc=%&call=%&use=%

May not be entirely permitted? It is categorically prohibited. if I had to choose a law to break, I’d much rather operate on GMRS without a license then set up a MURS repeater. But, at only $70 per 10-year GMRS license, there in no need to do that.

Search this forum. You will see that this idea has been proposed, and even started, several times. However, for whatever reason, the effort soon becomes abandoned. Perhaps if someone was willing to actually take on the task, and approach Rich (WQEJ577) it might work. However, as long as the implementation depends on the efforts of others, it is not likely to be sustained.

If you don’t know about it already... http://www.repeater-builder.com

It looks like the offending radios have been removed from their web page. They’ll probably show up on ebay.

https://www.buytwowayradios.com/wouxun-kg-1000g.html

Just, FYI, FCC compliance is binary, You either have it, or you don’t. I.e. there is no partial compliance.

Are you connecting to the correct port?