Davichko5650

You forgot to add the "been a Ham since I taught Marconi how to use his spark-gap equipment!" But as you are wont to tell people, give me a citation for these enforcements. They usually go after your spelling, grammar or other specious argument to deflect...

In person, very easy to deal with the Aunt IRiS crew (AKA the IRene Simpson people - old fraud case ref.) . Easy on the phone if it was direct dial to specific agents, 27 years as a Corp. & Fiduciary Tax Accountant gave me ample occasion to work with them. Generic calls to the old 800-1040 number were a crap shoot as to how it'd go!

True - although both the incidents I mentioned happened years ago - early 90's and well before I had my GMRS license or cellphone. But there's not many autopatches on these days, at least in my area. Think there's only one still in service hereabouts.

Have used a radio twice in an emergency. Both times it was on 2m using an Autopatch on a repeater. Both before we had cellphones. First instance was when we had a landline phone outage and neighbors wife was having a medical emergency involving her pregnancy. Called 911 on the repeater Autopatch. EMS came, baby and momma saved. Second one, we were up on Lake Wabigoon near Dryden, ON fishing. Motor conked out, wind came up and we were headed into a boulder strewn shoreline. Called the resort on the repeater Autopatch and owner came blasting across the lake to our rescue. Second example was not necessarily a life or death emergency, but definitely was to protect property. Used GMRS once in a minor boating incident; was on a lake in northern MN and ran the pontoon out of gas. Called wifeypoo on the HT and she had the resort owner run me out a 5 gal. gas tank. (small lake only about 3 by 5 miles wide). No cell service in the area, still isn't to date.

People keep saying this. I must be the odd man out here as I've never had any issues using the ULS system for my licenses. Also have found the FCC phone helpline has some very good people on it. Super helpful and knowledgeable. Much better than dealing with my "friends" at a certain Dept. of the Treasury service!

If it were a random contact, I would also like that. More often than not it's my wife, son or the couple friends I converse with locally and we know each other's voices well enough. On group rides, same thing unless there's a new driver who is licensed that we've not spoken with before. Again, as a general rule, I don't answer random callers on the repeaters or simplex freqs. I hear, not why I got GMRS. YMMV of course.

ID with callsign and then the Beep!

Exactly why I didn't bother programming the set I bought. Cheap entertainment for the grandkids and if we're out in the garden at home, or in the mud on the trail, if one gets dropped, damaged, run over, whatever, no big loss!

Slight correction ( and said with love!) It's nice to ID when you start talking, but the requirement is every 15 minutes and at the end of your transmission.

THIS! It's a bit cliche, but the old saying "you get out of it what you put into it" really applies here. Are you looking to explore what the service, as an adjunct to other services you may also be using or as a stand alone, can do for you in reaching out for contacts? Are you looking to keep in touch with family, friends, fellow travelers? Are you looking to explore how the equipment works and assembling the best working station? All this can be part of GMRS. I can't speak for them, but my gut feeling is the FCC won't change, or at least not in a radical sense, the Regs. for the service. The explosion is licenses being granted may reach a peak and level or fall off, but those $35 fess coming in don't hurt them in the least.

As they (FCC Enforcement and Legal) folks pointed out in the "Chinese Buffet" video (sorry can't recall the actual title on YooToob) - complaints are not part of the official records; so other than having an inside source at the Overlords, we would not know the number or nature of the complaints they receive. They did say they get scads of "Jim and I were talking and Bob interrupted us" kinda things very often...

Had a friend with a Pacer - ugly outside, but pretty nice inside. I had an Ambassador - front seat folded down into a massive bed and the 390 V8 was a screamer even in that barge. But also a fan of Bugs. And Bugs are only air cooled, rear engine, anything else is a New Beetle only!!! Then there's the Vega - good styling but man what a Turd, especially up here in Salted Winter Roadland.

Had an Army buddy and a good friend that both had Gremlins. Surprisingly good little cars! And... Mac's Diner in North Saint Paul for a good burger 'round hear.

Saw a lot of that being used on some of the Ice Road Truckers episodes wen they were hauling in MB and NWON into places I've flown into for the walleyes. May have to revisit them as I never looked close enough to see what radios they used, but most seems to have a CB and a VHF rig in their rigs.

What "some people" (nod to Randy) like to refer to as "ham lite". I go with the service to effect commuications with family and a handful of friends/neighbors, but especially when up north where cellphones are spotty at best. Somewhat around town here, mostly on the HT's around the house. I go to other services for talking to strangers and friends in the DX world!

We despeartely need your expertise over on the most excellent FB Group "a group where we all pretend to be amateur radio elmers" Randy would also love it as we really send up the "Some People" crowd!

And your hands and feet dry. BTW, after seeing the video on the new $11 BooFwangs, went ahead and ordered up a pair. Wonder if they can be programmed via Odmaster?

Welcome to the world of GMRS! Sounds like you're on the path of discovery in trying out the radios for range. As far as not getting responses to your radio check calls, understand that, for the most part. Most people use GMRS as a point to point, short range communications service within a small circle of family and/or friends, and are not listening for, nor responding to, other users on the air. If you are receiving the other radio you have, you do know they work. So factors such as terrain, obstructions and antennae come into play for the amount of "Fars" you will get. He gets his share of grief from "Some People", but look up notarubicon on Youtube. Randy is a wealth of knowledge for both GMRS and Off-Roading. Enjoy, check back in often!

I feel left out, I've been getting pretty much zero spam calls of late. I do like that meeting idea, be sure to order up a few pizzas to be delivered at the meeting time!

Twin Cities also did - KEC65 on 162.550 was off the air for a few days

Those I've seen of course. The WQUR589 I had and forgot to renew. Tried to get a waiver to get the call back when I did reapply, but a friendly call to the FCC and they explained I was better off just getting a new call. "It's GMRS, it's not like you're attached to the old call like you are to the Ham one, right? A waiver for a call re-issue is pretty much unobtanium" I must say, the FCC phone helpline is pretty good!!! And maybe I'm the rare one, but I've never had any problems navigating their online system when renewing for HA or ZA...

Not speaking to that here, but in 1976 I was issued KAUO6363 for Class D CB. Up until a few years ago, still had the paper copy I got from the FCC. Wonder how far back, or if it even does, the ULS archive goes for those?

Pretty active around these parts. Lots of stations on the upper channels, mostly LSB, but there's some FM happening as well. I'm close enough to a freeway, so I can get something on 19 most any time up to the wee hours when it'll die off. But there's also a number of locals running on 27.535 just above 40 also on LSB that I can listen in one most evenings. Have an old friend from my previous employer who is a freebander up there on 555. Not once have I bothered with the "you know that's against the FCC regulations" speech. Not my job!

Well as QOATIG will point out - or did, as have a few others on YooToob, the big money in enforcement is in Pirate Radio and Telephones. I'd think FM on the low bands is something they'd have to get complaints about before any action on their part. and that action would probably just be a "knock it off" kinda letter. I can't see them bothering. Based on that video with the FCC Enforcements folks at the chinese restaurant, I imagine their response would be, similar to what the one FCC engineer told a person in the audience who complained about 7.200 - "turn the big knob." Only done FM on 10, but yes my FT-450D could do it from do it from 1.8 - 54 MHz, but I've got too many other modes I'm using at the moment to delve into that much.

It's also still printed right on the License.