Lscott

To get back on topic has anyone heard of or used dPMR here in the US? It's very similar to NXDN, but uses a different protocol, and is used in Europe. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_private_mobile_radio The license free service they have over there, like our old FRS rules, allows them to use narrow band FM, DMR or dPMR, at at 0.5 watts. https://kenwoodcommunications.co.uk/files/file/comms/uk/pmr446/PMR446-White-Paper-V6_18AUG2016_JT_KB.pdf Makes one wonder why the FCC is dragging their feet here over allowing digital voice on GMRS. Also dPMR is allowed for their equivalent of our LMR business service, Part 90, at higher power. https://dpmrassociation.org/dPMR-a-brief-overview.html There is another issue I stumbled across with cheap Chinese digital radios. Apparently they have a habit of using Chinese codecs in many of them that are NOT compatible with the usual AMBE+2 ones that seems to be the standard in many of the higher tier radios from the big name manufactures. https://radiosification.blogspot.com/2019/01/dpmr-vocoders.html

Unless I'm miss reading the waterfall display the frequency is 442.775 MHz which is in the Ham 70cm band. That's not GMRS.

I typically use the handheld radios. A favorite model is the TK-3170 or TK-3173. https://forums.mygmrs.com/gallery/image/263-tk-3170jpg/ A number of those have Part 95 certification. If you don’t care about that there are more models to choose from. If I want to operate GMRS mobile I just use them with an external antenna. The radios also are programmed with Ham frequencies too. https://forums.mygmrs.com/gallery/image/249-934916052_radiocollectionjpg/ I have just one Kenwood mobile which I don’t currently use. https://forums.mygmrs.com/gallery/image/250-nx-820ghjpg/

I think that qualifies them as being cheap, stupid and dumb.

I hear ya. These were really cheap to build too. https://forums.mygmrs.com/gallery/image/264-uhf-antennasjpg/

I've pealed off the Mylar on a bunch of magnet mounts. A good replacement is using some of the aluminum duck tape you can buy at the home improvement store. It sticks like crazy and is easy to trim off using a sharp blade. Also being aluminum it helps couple the antenna to the metal roof.

I think more public service and first responders are going with NXDN since the cost of the SU, Subscriber Units as the radios are called, seem to be cheaper than the P25 stuff, judging from what I see sold used on eBay where I get my stuff. For P25 I think a lot of that is up on 700/800 MHz tied in to large regional trunking systems, and those tend to be encrypted anyway. If you don't need access to those systems I don't see why you need P25. I'm not very knowledgeable on the public safety stuff so I could be way off base on this.

What kind of radio are you using? This could be important. Also have you tried a different model radio and see if you get the same results? You could be experiencing an "image response" where the signal isn't really on the frequency you think it is. I have a nearly full scale signal on my Ham HT, old TH-G71A dual band, set to receive on GMRS/FRS channel 7. NO other radio I have shows anything there when set for the same channel/frequency. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image_response https://www.electronics-notes.com/articles/radio/superheterodyne-receiver/image.php

Used P25 radios are expensive. I can buy 2 or 3 NXDN radios for what some people want for just 1 P25 radio. I'm still looking for an affordable TK-5220 VHF P25. I have 2 of the UHF TK-5320's and 1 of the TK-5220's now that didn't break the bank. In general LMR VHF radios are selling for more than the UHF models. https://forums.mygmrs.com/gallery/image/254-tk-5320-1jpg/

Another local wide area coverage GMRS repeater went up a short while back and was upgraded to a Quantar UHF repeater the last few weeks. My understanding is these are rock solid but finding replacement parts could be difficult. https://www.repeater-builder.com/motorola/quantar/pdfs/quantar-v-u-8-brochure.pdf Most of the traffic seems to be Hams holding GMRS licenses. I recognize the voices from another local Ham 70cm machine. I hope they don't crowd out the GMRS only users. https://mygmrs.com/repeater/6646

I would be right in the intersection of all of the circles. I haven't used CB in years. The last time was when I had to do a lot of business travel for the company and drove to customer sites. The van, I had at the time, looked like something out of the X-Files with the antennas on it. It was fun hearing the truckers on 19 make comments about it as I drove by. I even had a guy driving in circles around it in a parking lot as I came out of a carry out pizza joint one day. Turned out it was a fellow Ham. He couldn't figure out what the small square horizontal loop was for. I explained it was for 2 meter sideband. At the time I had a Icom IC-706MKIIG rig in the van which did FM,AM and sideband on 6M, 2M and 70cm. https://www.icomamerica.com/en/products/amateur/hf/706/specifications.aspx https://www.m2inc.com/FG2MHOLOOP

Just like people who buy an expensive luxury vehicle and when it comes time to replace the tires buy nearly the cheapest ones they can find. Life is full of examples of this sort of things. Hams are no different.

You find out real quick just how serious people are about it when the repeater owner starts asking for money from the users to pay for it all. Not surprisingly most of the interest fades fast at that point.

Cool. And that’s enhanced by the skill of the operator.?

Think about the logical contradiction. And yes there are Hams that do just what I’ve mentioned.

Hams are cheap. They will complain about the cost of the BT remote mic, $150, then go out and spend $10K on a fancy HF rig they use for nothing else but contest work. ?

I find they are irritating but they do serve a purpose. Using a repeater with a long hang time and several participating in a round table discussion the Roger Beep lets everyone know the repeater is available for the next guy to key up to use. Some repeaters use a "courtesy tone" for this but many don't. I've stepped on others and had the same happen to me, you're not sure the other guy is finished talking or just pausing for a few seconds before continuing.

I can understand why some people seem to be put off by Ham radio. It's more of a technical hobby and attracts these type of people. When you have a group like that it's inevitable there will be egos and attitudes on display. It seems to be associated often with people in technical areas. You should sit in some engineering design review meetings if you think the on air stuff is brutal! Hams are also very protective of their "turf". When you consider how much spectrum they have free access to and allowed power they have a lot to loose if the FCC gets a bug up their back side. That's not counting the commercial interests that look at Ham radio spectrum as "easy picking" when they petition the FCC for spectrum for their new service they want to roll out. It's basically a non stop assault. The ARRL even has a special spectrum defense fund, and people, dedicated to just this issue. I agree with your point about GMRS being a middle ground. It's low pressure and the only cost of entry is a cheap radio and $35 for the license. No tests, CW etc. thus nothing to brag about or try to use as a right of passage. Other than the frequent questions about antennas, coax and installation/programming issues one can "buy a box" and setup a functioning system fairly quickly. GMRS is far friendlier for non technical people to use. MURS isn't that popular since not many are aware of it and the lack of extensive equipment to use. Not having access to repeaters doesn't help either. I'm going to guess many people who do use it are employing old Part 90 VHF radios reprogrammed to meet the frequency and bandwidth requirements. I'll also wager those radios are running more than the allowed 2 watts, likely in the 5 watt range since that's typical for Part 90 VHF HT's. CB radio seems to have gotten a bit better since the 70's and early 80's. Even so some people won't turn on the CB if they have their little kids in the car. No licenses, no accountability and mostly no FCC enforcement are mainly responsible for the present state of CB radio. If people aren't careful GMRS could end up the same way.

There are different types and levels of encryption. How much of that is operational with other radios and manufactures?

A lot of Hams, many won’t publicly admit it, have their VHF/UHF Ham rigs with the MARS/CAP mod for the same reason. Oh, on VHF some have the marine channels programmed in too.

I’ve never found them useful. With a radio hanging on the belt the wrist strap has a nasty habit of catching on crap as you walk close by things then rips the radio off your belt.

Is there a lot of Ham P25 activity in your area? You have a ton of equipment for it.

One and the same.

Oh well, call signs nobody cares about, at least some have expressed that opinion. It would have been nice if they did ID. Then one would have a chance to contact them and get the problem resolved.