Lscott

Well it looks like you're stuck with them. Being grandfather in with a current license I think that gives them primary privileges on the frequency. At least they are legally licensed. You can request access and see what happens. The worse is they say no, which is the most likely result. The GMRS repeater by me is owned by the city of Troy Michigan. It was their backup repeater for the fire department. I don't know their current license status for it. In any case all one has to do is request access. I don't think any reasonable request has been denied. There are well over 100 users who have been granted access so far.

You check the FCC database to see if it really is grandfathered? If they let the license lapse, and didn't renew in time, the license is kaput and so is any use of it by the original business that held the expired license.

That's a cool idea. As a new Ham most start off with an HT. The question is which one to buy. This program takes the risk out of spending you money on something you later don't like. This gives the new Ham a chance to get on the air quickly.

Too bad that doesn't apply to FRS radios and their Roger beeps.

I guess you can't beat free.

The match is better than I expected. Looking at the photo the BNC to Banana Jack adapter is a terrible idea. You would have been better off looking for a short coax with a BNC connector on the ends, then cut one off and attach the free end to your Yagi.

We know how 11 meter CB turned into a wasteland. People just didn’t care either and did whatever they felt like. It’s sad to see that attitude spreading through GMRS.

You do understand those FRS type interstitial channels sit between the main repeater input channels? That's why they are limited to narrow band and 0.5 watts. The potential for interference isn't trivial. The main repeater channels are on a 25KHz channel spacing with a 20KHz authorized bandwidth emission. That leaves just 5KHz guard band between the channels. Now stick a narrow band FM signal, which is 11KHz, in there. Now you have some overlap from the low power channel to the high power repeater input channels above and below the low power one. So you have somebody with a 0.5 watt radio a few blocks from the repeater using one of the interstitial channels adjacent to the repeater's input channel at the same time a distance station is trying to use the repeater the results might not turn out so good. FRS-GMRS Channels Layout.pdf

PacParts is good. I've ordered stuff from them to fix a few minor problems with some of my radios and to get missing things like side cover plates. However if it's out of stock it can take weeks. I've wait over a month for an order because it wasn't in stock. In particular I needed the side cover plates for the universal multi pin connectors on the side used by some Kenwood models. One of the pads is a connection to the +5VDC internal supply on the radio. I don't need to accidentally short that out due to the exposed contact pads. All those radios have the side cover plates on unless I'm programming them or have the external microphone/headset installed. Kenwood also has a warning about making sure the radio is off before making any connections to avoid shorts.

I think people totally misunderstand the requirement for call signs and the necessity of ID'ing. It has very little to do with being a rule that is stupid. I'm very sure that people at times have wondered who is that on the air. Without being required to ID, or recognizing the voice, you just don't know. The station maybe jamming, interfering, with other traffic on the frequency and may not be aware it. With a call sign it's fairly easy to look up their address, home, P.O. Box, etc and contact them about the problem so it can be resolved. Otherwise it just a PIA to try and DF them or through other means. I gave a perfect example earlier in this thread about a local mall's house keeping repeater. No ID from it, and the users never ID'ed either. It took weeks to finally figure out who it was and notified the trustees of the GMRS repeater being interfered with who to contact. The whole process would have been so much simpler if a call sign was used. Then is it a bad rule if it can't be detected? Well it's like being pulled over for speeding and the Cop notices you're not wearing a seat belt. So you get a ticket for that too. Same thing with failure to ID. The FCC contacts you about another issue by then they have likely noticed you haven't been ID'ing either so you get screw for that rule violation as well.

You should. Otherwise why have any rules at all, for anything? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tragedy_of_the_commons In our case the “commons” is the limited RF spectrum EVERYONE must share.

Sooner or later the FCC will have to acknowledge the use of various digital voice modes on GMRS. If they don't it means the population of non regulation compliant users will just grow with no formal order to the whole thing. It's better they set the rules before it becomes too chaotic. What digital mode(s) would be allowed, and where, is another whole topic. There are some past threads on the topic. You may find those worth your time to read through.

If one is using a GMRS certified radio one is operating under GMRS rules. It doesn’t make any difference what power level is used. If that weren’t the case nobody would bother to build and sell FRS radios, just make only GMRS certified radios, then instruct the customer to turn the power down with narrow band FM selected. But that’s not what the FCC allowed. They specifically prohibited combo GMRS/FRS radios, which effectively is what is being suggested here.

I did a simple J-Pole simulation a while back. The results I got don't look like the one in the link. However the pattern isn't symmetrical because the antenna isn't symmetrical due to the 1/4 wave matching stub. I wonder just how he modeled the feed line since the software doesn't include it as part of the radiation model that I can see. If it did you should have seen it as some kind of "long" wire segment. Typically the software simply does the impedance transformations and time delay calculations, then applies those to the ends of the transmission line in the model. The line itself is assume to be non radiating. At least that's my understanding in the software I use. J-Poles are difficult to model correctly as it is, and that's mostly because of the 1/4 wave matching section.

Oh, if you want to try your hand at modeling the antenna try this software. It's free now. https://www.eznec.com/

And if it's your careless neighbor down the street jamming your communications and interfering with your repeater, not so victimless. You would be surprised how far a low power radio will reach at times. I had to put up with a local family with kids that get on the air for hours. One night they picked the channel used by the local wide coverage GMRS repeater. That really F'ed up things. No call signs so maybe they were using FRS radios. If they had a GMRS license I could have looked them up on the FCC database, got their address, and sent them a note asking not to use the repeater channel unless they were using the repeater. Then there is the even worse case of a house keeping crew who is using the exact same channel, with their own repeater no less!! The repeater NEVER ID's. It did use a different PL tone. Again no call sign was ever used and it required some effort and detective work on my part to figure out who it was. Discovered it was a local mall. Also discovered their license was expired from 10/2015 no less. They still use their radios. Still have the repeater, and still no license either. When the ding-dong that programmed their radios used a RX tone so they can't hear when there is traffic on the other repeater and just key up jamming it. I'm 4.5 miles LOS from the mall and I can hear them just fine. The GMRS repeater is just about the same distance away from me as well. Every once in a while I hear somebody complain about interference on the GMRS repeater and that happens when the house keeping crew uses theirs. Their is a reason why call signs are required. Use them. ULS_License_-_General_Mobile_Radio__GMRS__License_-_KAB1523_-_LA-job_178.pdf ULS_License_-_General_Mobile_Radio__GMRS__License_-_KAB1523_-_LA-job_252.pdf

Likely may work good enough. You can tell by moving the coax around. If the SWR changes very noticeably it isn't working.