Lscott

The issue that's usually NOT discussed is the power dissipation of the radio. Many hand held radios have a power stage that's lucky if it runs better than 50 some percent efficient. So a 10 watt rated radio draws 20 watts from the battery pack, which will die quickly at that rate, with 10 watts getting dumped into the radio's internals. There are Hams who have destroyed their HT's by running at just 5 watts and moderate to high duty cycles from heat build up. Then if the radio doesn't cook up those small palm sized radios end up turning into hand warmers, some times uncomfortably so. Oh, battery packs hate heat too, and being clipped on the back side of the case means it soaks it up, which will shorten the life. If the radio is hanging on your belt with a speaker mic attached you likely won't notice the problem until it's too late.

What sort of screws that all up is the difference in the antenna regulation requirements. FRS uses a fixed antenna while MURS allows one that's detachable. To combine both services the antenna would need to be fixed for both. I don't think that would be a big deal. Many Hams use dual band HT's and never take the rubber duck antenna off either. So, building a combo FRS/MURS radio with a fixed antenna wouldn't be a problem since most users wouldn't bother trying to use an external antenna on such a cheap radio anyway.

Wow! Those dimensions look close to what I used for a simple J-Pole antenna simulation a while back just from trial and error. The performance should be pretty good. Let use know how it works out.

One can also use RAR files. The compression utility allows breaking up large files into user selectable chunks and email them over several messages. https://www.win-rar.com/start.html?&L=0

https://comms.kenwood.com/special/nx_5000/common/pdf/nx_5000_brochure_2016.pdf It's going to cost you, particularly for P25! And even then the radio will only allow you to use two out of the three digital protocols in the same code plug together. You want to use a different combination you have to load another code plug using the alternate pair. https://comms.kenwood.com/special/nx_5000/common/pdf/nx_5000_brochure_2016.pdf These are nice, multi mode and multi band, but they cost about as much as a good used car, in the high 4 figure range with all the goodies. You'll need more than a good tax refund check and that $2000 stimulus payout I keep hearing we might get. https://cms.proteus.co/_resources/dyn/files/77166347z2b1de53d/_fn/Viking VP8000 Product Sheet.pdf

Is it possible to get a copy too? I have the software for the older MD, PD and X1E series, DMR_SW_CPS_V9.02.02.003.iMEM5-1. I don't see the HP series listed. file_listing.txt

I wish you luck with that. People are always happy to use a system for free. However when money gets involved people get real stingy. Particularly for a resource someone rarely uses. You'll likely get some donations, but don't expect much.

This isn't the typical Kenwood software I see for most of the other radios. It's a bit more complex than their usual radio programming software. Effectively you create a "system." You can create more than one system if you want too.Then your memory channels are "Personal", or personalities, you build for everything. You can then create "zones" and assign personalities to each zone. In fact you can assign the same personality to multiple zones. I don't have a TK-5810, or a TK-5120, radio. I do have the software KPG-95DGN V8.30 and a code plug I experimented with building, a long while back, for a TK-5120 radio, just to see what the software does. It took me a bit to get a good feel for how the radio's code plug should be structured. I've attached the code plug I fiddled with if you want to look at it. It gives you some idea how to structure the setup. If you get a good feel for it the code plug design could be very flexible, eliminating duplication that would be required in their other radio programing software. TK-5120 Test.dat

And spend the rest of the time in a desk drawer or on the closet shelf. When they do get used it’s at a park with the kids, camping, hiking or traveling in a small vehicle caravan for a trip.

When the FCC dropped the CW requirement that’s what I did. Passed both.

For a long time Ham and commercial UHF radios on the 400 to 500 MHz range were typically rated at 4 watts while on VHF it was common to see 5 watts. Now you can regularly find new commercial grade UHF radios in the above range rated at 5 watts. I think a major factor was really the power amp stage where the gain, efficiency, on UHF was lower than on VHF. With better devices available I guess it's easier to get 5 watts.

The primary consideration is getting an antenna OUTSIDE of the house. A simple cheap whip type would work at those ranges. The coax would connect to hand held GMRS radio. From my experience even inside of a house the typically rubber duck type antenna will have issues getting out more than a mile or so. The signal gets blocked by the house and or other surrounding property. If they can't, or won't, put up an outside antenna then the next best thing is using a roll-up type hanging near a window. That will work better than the rubber duck antenna at least. A few people have tried a mobile magnet mount type antenna stuck on a small cookie sheet placed by the window too.

Wish you good luck on the exam. It's not as hard as you might think. Once you pass the test, and get your Ham license, I'll bet your next move will be looking for radios that work on both Ham and GMRS. For that use case your option is looking at some good quality used commercial radios. Some of the older models have Part 95 certification, these seem to always be the 450 to 490/512/520 MHz range versions, and some can be pushed to run below 450MHz into the repeater section of the 70cm Ham band. There are some really nice used Part 90 certified radios that will cover the full Ham 70cm band and GMRS, typically those are the 400 to 470 MHz range models. So far the FCC hasn't bothered anyone using such radios, many on this forum have them, and there is a provision in the GMRS rules which seems to allow it. If you're interested just ask here and I'm sure those of us with such radios would be very happy to make recommendations.

It would be a better test to use the same exact radio for the tests and just change the bandwidth and power between GMRS and FRS. The results could be heavily influenced by the quality of the radio's transmitter and receiver if using two different models. I once checked a cheap Motorola FRS radio on my bench frequency counter. I was shocked to see it was off frequency by about 2KHz plus! Considering the bandwidth is only 12.5KHz on FRS that's a huge error. Most of my commercial radios, TK-3170 for example, is spec'd at +/-2.5PPM from -22F to +140F, so at 462MHz that's an error of 1.155KHz over that temperature range. The digital radios are even tighter. The NX-1300DUK5 is spec'd at +/-0.5PPM from -30C to +60C.

These are not completely up to date but should be good enough. ARRL Band Plan.pdf US Amature Band Plan 2020.pdf

All I have his his word on the issue. He seems to be plugged in to what goes on out there so I'll have to believe it for now. How they go about it he never mentioned. It could be just requiring a special code be punched in before placing a call. Just MHO.

Until they don't. People get so use to always having the cell phone handy they forget it only works due to extensive reliance on complex infrastructure. I've traveled a lot on company business. It was infrequent but I ended up in areas where the cell phone service sucks, or non existent. I had my buddy, radio tech for the transportation department in Ann Arbor, told me during football games at the University of Michigan they disable general cell phone service except for certain first responders. I asked him a few times afterwards and he repeated the same comment. I don't know if this is routine or not, but if only occasionally should be enough to get one thinking. Of course if you quit paying the bill the phone quits working, except for maybe 911 calls. With a two-way radio, GMRS, even though it might be short range can communicate directly with another radio on simplex without infrastructure, and also no monthly bills either. Many times that's all you need to keep track of family members traveling together or live close by.

More schools are banning cell phones. Since they haven't done anything about FRS/GMRS/Ham radios they could fill in the gap. Parents give their kids the cell phone "just in case" something happens at the school. The radio might work better in an emergency since more people are likely monitoring the frequencies compared to a person-to-person phone call. And with local repeaters in the area the range is very likely good. Example: https://www.michiganpublic.org/politics-government/2026-01-14/michigan-house-passes-school-cell-phone-ban-names-other-early-2026-priorities

Humm...

Sometimes the hammer works better.

That's the case with many people. However you can't exactly hand somebody a radio, that's never used one before, and expect them to use it effectively. I would schedule some practice sessions so your family members feel comfortable using the radio, AND how to use it! It's really infuriating when people can't even speak properly into the radio. They hold the mic a foot way and the audio is almost non existent, or hold it so close it sounds like a wind storm when they breath etc. Some have even tried talking into the back side!!

Some people have good luck installing a short base antenna, or a mobile whip, in their attic space. Nothing to see.

I got my GMRS license, in addition to the Ham one, just for fun. It's just another tool in the tool box. Plus there are nice people to talk to on GMRS that have no interest in getting a Ham license.

You could be one of the lucky ones. A poster, who used to be a frequent presence here, remarked he had issues with a few CCR's with de-sense. He lived a short distance from a couple of high power TV, or was it AM, transmitters. He claimed the cheap radios couldn't communicate over a mile or two when around those commercial stations. His Motorola XPR7550's seemed to work just fine in the same area. I personally had a 500 watt VHF paging transmitter about 4 to 5 miles from me, where I use to live, and it would mess with my Kenwood dual band HT on 2M. It definitely wasn't a CCR. The paging transmitter was on top of a 30 some story office building. My radio just couldn't deal with the RF signal strength. Fortunately after a year or so that paging system was deactivated, PERMANENTLY. YMMV.

The truckers that buy those "export" radios don't consider the legal aspect. As long as they find a quite spot to talk they really don't care where it's at. I remember many years ago my brother was on 10M talking. He had two local CB'ers talking on the Ham band, who had the balls, to tell him to get off "their frequency". Yeah, they were CB'ers, they NEVER ID'd with a legit call-sign and used stupid sounding handles instead. Really?