Lscott

My FT-817 and IC-706MKIIG have the MARS/CAP mod. I'm guessing a lot of Hams have their HF mobile radio's opened up for CB. The FM deviation on a modified Ham HF radio might be a bit low for the new FM mode allowed by the FCC on the CB 11M band. For those who may not know but FM is allowed on the Ham 10M band on frequencies above 29.6MHz. The band itself runs from 28MHz to 29.7MHz. There has been some unsuccessful attempts to get a 4M, 70MHz, allocation here. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/4-metre_band US Amature Band Plan 2020.pdf

I wonder what took them so long. The FCC could just can 11M CB completely here and expand GMRS. Australia has a nice nation wide UHF FM CB service. They have up to 80 channels, some reserved and others are for specific uses. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UHF_CB

Now they added FM. Oh joy.

Well I went to a political rally last weekend. My sister wanted to go but her ride wasn't that reliable or fuel efficient so I drove. It was about a 2 hour 40 minute drive on the highway to get there. I've never been to one so it would be a first for me and a unique experience. I took my Kenwood NX-1300DUK5 along to have something to do while waiting in line. It's programmed for Ham and GMRS. The line was insanely long. Got in line around 12 PM and had a few short conversations on the local Ham DMR repeater. Also heard all the chatter from the local parking garages getting people parked and tracking how many empty spaces they had and local surface traffic on GMRS. We finally got inside and sat down by 4 PM. Anyway the instructions sent, by text message, made no mention of two-way radios as a prohibited item, there was a long list of items NOT to take in, so that's why I took mine. Also had a spare battery back too. There were several layers of security at the event. The first was the dudes outside the venue pre-screening people. Their job was to make sure nobody was trying to take prohibited items inside and telling people to clean out their pockets and remove hats before entering the building to make the secondary screening go faster. I got pulled out of the line and quizzed why I had a two-way radio. I explained so I could talk to people, after all what are you going to do standing in line for 3.5 hours anyway? I told him I had a government license to use it AND it wasn't mentioned as being prohibited. At first the security dude was going to get me to go back to the car and drop it off then changed his mind and said he'll let the Secret Service worry about it inside. In all I talked to the guy for 5 minutes. After what happened in Pennsylvania the other weekend they are all on edge and have a tough job to do. Can't take it personally. If I had to take it back to the car, oh well. Inside was no problem. There were at least over a dozen security check-in lines inside. The one security person at the one I was directed to just turned it on, didn't even ask how, they seemed to know. Saw it powered up. I had it programmed to show my callsign on power up too. Never asked me a question about it. Got the "magic wand" scan treatment, front and back, didn't even beep from my knee replacement implant either that I could tell. No questions there and I was on my way to the seating area on the upper level with my sister. All in all the experience was a positive one.

Wait until you look at the price of some of those top end HF base radios. You'll need a part time job to afford the payments on one.

Congratulations on passing your Tech Class exam! Now you get to spend even more money on radios!

Most Hams quit there. The tiny extra sliver of spectrum you get as an Extra Class for many wasn't worth the effort. Nothing wrong with getting it. It might make you feel better.

I could be wrong, but that's what I seem to remember when the ARRL was trying to get more spectrum. There were various articles written on how to EXACTLY dial in the frequency using the radio's VFO. Using SSB the actual side band had to lie in the allocated channel. You simply didn't just spin the VFO knob until the readout showed the channel frequency. That frequency is the "carrier" which isn't transmitted. So if you're using the upper side band then you have to tune below the channel frequency, and the opposite when using the lower side band. Very easy to "F" this up.

What's the difference - money. You can pay a lot of money for a new junky Chinese radio and get a great deal on a nice commercial/industrial grade used radio. It all depends on where you shop. The real question is what is the difference between a poorly performing radio and a good one? Money isn't always a good indication.

This is why some people do the MARS/CAP mod to their older radios. The firmware didn't allow access to that band. Being in the middle of a government band you can't afford to be off frequency on any of the discrete frequencies allowed. My understanding for the allocation was originally due to DX propagation and the use of those channels for emergency communications.

Yup, it's just the cost now days of a couple Micky D's Happy Meals in some places.

From some of the comments here it's more like how to find where to pay the license fee. Since this is "The Government", they're like drug addicts except it money, you'd figure this would the easiest part.

You can try searching the frequency database. If you’re lucky it belongs to a licensed user in your area. https://digitalfrequencysearch.com/index.php

It’s a completely different experience. Programming commercial radios is a lot different. The function reference is a good addition to the software’s help file. The modifications manual is for adding accessories to the radio and the connections for the various ports. TK-2180_3180_7180_8180 MPT Function Reference V2.00.pdf TK2180_3180_7180_8180 Modification Info V1.13.pdf

I think I found that for you. I wanted a copy for my records. I keep a collection of Kenwood radio programming software, even for radio models I don't have. Yup! I had a used TK-3180 once that showed up with the SJ-180 firmware. Lucky for me the firmware update feature was enabled so all I did was load the new firmware in the radio and used KPG-89D to program it. TK2180K_TK3180_7180_8180_V122_035C_Firmware.zip

OK. My collection hasn't grown much lately. Been a bit more selective in what I get. I don't have any of the mobile or base radios listed. https://forums.mygmrs.com/gallery/image/249-my-radio-collection/?context=new

That’s all?

Interesting article about narrow verses wide band. Narrowband vs Wideband.pdf

One more thing. Sometimes these radios are loaded with the "Passport" firmware in place of the regular LTR one. In that case when you try to program the radio using the KPG software the radio display show "USE SJ-180". That's the special "Passport" version. You can fix it by writing the normal LTR firmware to the radio. However the firmware write feature has to be enabled. If not then you need the SJ-180 radio programming software and enable the firmware write feature. I've attached a copy of that too. Unfortunately I don't have a copy of the mobile radios LTR firmware file, just the portables. SJ-180 v2.2.0.6 for TK-7180-7180H-7182-7182H-8180-8180H 2.zip

OK, I'm an engineer, not an English major.

It becomes an addiction, buying radios.

I guess we all will just have to wait and see what happens.

I also though about it could be simply a published code of conduct that anybody using the repeater must adhere to or they will be banded from using the machine. That would cover both open and closed systems.

As pointed out there won't be much of a difference between 30 watts and 45 watts. If you're a long winded talker the 30 watt radio will generate a lot less heat that has to be radiated by the cooling fins in the radio's chassis. If the radio is going to get mounted in an area with restricted air flow that might be a big deal. Sitting on the dash board it's going to "cook" a bit from sun light exposure. One other thing to look out for is which "band split" you get. These radios come in several ranges, 450-520, for the 30 watt radio, 450-512 for the 45 watt version. The 400-470 range is available for the 30 and 45 watt version. Note only the 450-520, and the 450-512, have FCC type 95 certification if that's a concern for you. Otherwise any of the ranges will work for GMRS. You can double check the FCC grants for which FCC parts the radio is certified for by looking up the FCC ID found in the attached brochure at: https://fccid.io/ You'll need a programming cable. I recommend getting one from this site: https://bluemax49ers.com/ The programming software is attached. Use the "engineering" install serial. That one allows you access to a few more features and the all important read/write password bypass. Some used radios have a read/write password set. Without this feature you'll never reprogram the radio if the write password is set. I've used this software to program some TK-2180's and TK-3180's which are the portable versions of the mobiles. TK-7180_8180.pdf KPG-89D V1.61.zip