Davichko5650

Again I was speaking to FRS and MURS, neither service requires a license. The regs. I cited are for those two services and not GMRS.

Yours is more concise and to the point, as befits the Queen!

Well I'm sure those massive fines and years and years in jail, right? From the traffic I hear on channels 1-7 and 15-22, I don't know of any enforcement going on with the schools, const. workers, bus company or nursing homes I hear using them with nary a callsign spoken. But I worry about my own operating, I'm not there to worry about what they're doing. On the FRS channels, more of the same with a few scattered kids playing radio thrown in, but they don't need to ID anyway.

Not for FRS or MURS - no license required. GMRS, yes absolutely must be licensed and they cannot advertise or offer items for sale.

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.

From the article, sounds like they'll be calling CQ, and I'm assuming they'd use the W0ISU callsign. Article doesn't say anything about aprs, only the U/V freqs listed, so I'd say probably not. Only passed along the info as it was posted on the MHR website by Matt K. I'll be hanging at the wrench's place watching a couple oil changes for mine and XYL's vehicle, so may trying to see ig I hear them on the old BooFwang...

To wrap up their semester of activities, the Campus Amateur Radio Club at Iowa State University (W0ISU) will be launching an experimental amateur radio payload on a high altitude balloon in conjunction with the HABET M2I engineering group this Saturday, December 7th, 2024. The payload will consist of an FM voice crossband repeater controller coupled to a set of VHF/UHF handheld radios using a BNC whip antenna, The payload is estimated to be in the air around 8:30 CST (14:30 UTC), but could be delayed at most two hours due to weather conditions. EXPERIMENTAL REPEATER INFORMATION: Uplink TX Frequency: 446.375 (no tone) Downlink TX Frequency: 146.480 (no tone) CARC will operate the payload in a CQ style fashion so that new members can make as many contacts as possible across the Midwest. Please be courteous when responding to their calls. Courtesy of my Friend Matt, K0LWC at Minnesotahamradio.com for this report.

Solid copy! Back in the day, I might have been able to do the gmrs thing in our 501 (c) (3) organization as it was me and my father only. But didn't do gmrs back in the early 2000's.

Deja Vu ?????

What I was gonna say in answer to my "Yes, but..." comment. But you got in here first on that! Yes, but needs to be done within the regulations there in 47 CFR 95 et. seq. I'm thinking the "Marco - Polo" version would be the best. They could do 2 for one if the M & P stations traded off being the fox.

Sounds fun. Up here in the Twin Cities in Minnesota, during Spring-Fall (and one event in Winter out on a frozen lake) we do a thing called "Hams in the Park." A non-POTA, organized unorganized event (not club sanctioned so avoids needing permits, etc.) where we set up portable and mobile stations and have the occasional 2m foxhunt. Talk-in is always on 2m and GMRS Channel 20. One of the regulars has a great Info Table he sets up with Amateur, GMRS, MURS and more info and he always gets a a small crowd there. A real low-key, loose event where we'll have 5-10 operations going, mostly HF, and a lot of Coffee and "Eyeball QSO's" going on.

And we were just discussing GMRS Foxhunts in the Misc Section! We'll send in the LEFT BANK!

Yes, but...

It's been a fun read between actually having to work!

Just the mental picture of a guy at a picnic table in a park surrounded by other guys with UHF Yagi's and step attenuators. People might think it's a POTA convention, or game wardens tracking the wolf population....

This would work I'll bring this:

So using the repeater as Fox would work, people be DF'ing the hunters on the output, the squelch tails or the CW or Voice ID's.

Nor I. The repeater could be the fox. Or one of the users, with the hunters DF'ing the input. Again relies on the Fox not using automatic control. And if a family group under one licensee's call, the repeater would not need to ID itself. Still, not my bag, but does seem feasible.

Only the Fox themselves would need to be licensed as the hunters would not be transmitting. Many of the Radio Orienteering participants are non-licensed people. The Fox would need to manually transmit the calls, be sure they wear that camo to hide as they'll be much larger than the normal "ammo Can" style Fox. But again, I don't see what one way transmission they could emit in concordance with the regs. Hardly a brief test transmission. Again, no real dog in this fight as I don't fox hunt anymore since the taxpayers stopped paying me to do so. Same as with running...

There is also this: 95.347 Operation of Personal Radio Services stations under automatic control is prohibited, unless otherwise allowed for a particular Personal Radio Service by rules in the subpart governing that specific service. The Fox would be automatically periodically transmitting its traffic, normally a CWID Callsign or other brief message. Unless the operator was actually there keying the transmitter, they'd be running afoul of this regulation. No doubt massive fines will ensue (sacasm mode engaged)

This. Now in the amateur bands, the fox would be operating as a beacon subject to 97.203 (g). Used to "foxhunt" as a professional, never felt the desire to do it for free LOL.

My wife actually enjoys using the MP31 vs any of the other GMRS HT's I've given her to use about the spread. No screens or buttons to worry about, just grab and go. The Queen's recommendation was what got me to buy them. 22 bucks delivered and for sure gives us enough Fars to reach anywhere on our larger city lot. Haven't tried them up north as yet, but as the cabin is on a hill overlooking the lake, should have good LOS anywhere the pontoon can get to!.

Others I see are recommending various apps, a good way to start the learning curve for CW. In additon, YouTube has scads of videos on the subject. AS you're working on it, a good suggestion is to listen, if possible, to the W1AW bulletins they send in CW, with increasing word per minute speeds, the frequency and times are listed on their website arrl.org. I learned it many a year ago in the Army starting with A, but the "di-dah is Alfa Sir!" method is a bit dated. Listening for it on the HF bands, try as you're learning to pick out what stations are sending. Contests especially, can be good, but operators are usually sending at pretty hi rates. But picking out callsigns and words being sent like "Test" will tune your ears to the music that is CW... Good luck, don't hesitate to ask more and report back with what you've found works for you.

Jump down to the Amateur Radio section here on the Forum and throw out the questions. For the most part, you'll get good answers!

Made for some good reading over a break at work, so had some redeeming qualities!