RCM

§95.333 Prohibited uses. © To transmit messages for hire or provide a common carrier service Source: FCC Radio common carrier means any corporation, company, association, joint stock association, partnership and person, their lessees, trustees or receivers and any town making available facilities to provide radio communications service, radio paging or cellular communications service for hire. Source: https://www.lawinsider.com/dictionary/radio-common-carrier Also, §95.1705 (4) (f) (3) A station may be shared only: (i) Without charge; (ii) On a non-profit basis, with contributions to capital and operating expenses including the cost of mobile stations and paging receivers prorated equitably among all participants; or (iii) On a reciprocal basis, i.e., use of one licensee's stations for the use of another licensee's stations without charge for either capital or operating expenses. Source: FCC

Page 47 in the manual: https://baofengtech.com/usermanual/gmrs-v1-manual.pdf Or use CHIRP.

Update: It wouldn't receive below about 444 MHz. I tweaked the receive VCO and it now receives down to 442.000 or a bit lower. It transmits at full power down to about 442, as well. I now have a V2 that I tweaked the same way, and it also works well on 70cm.

I have version 4.01. At the top just to the right of the "Model" tab is the "Edit" tab. Click that and the drop down menu shows "Operator Selectable Tone" just above "Test Frequency." You have to open that and set it up for what tones you want. You can only enter 16 tones and each can be PL or DPL. Back to the drop down menu, near the top is "Key Assignment." In that menu, each front panel key has a drop down menu to assign a function. One of the options is "function" so if you assign key A (for example) as "Function," pressing the A key brings up DTMF keypad options. You select those options from the submenu "Options 2." I had mine set up where A was "Function," then on the mic DTMF pad * was TA and # was OST. When I first set it up, it seems like I couldn't find OST until I assigned a Function key. Once I determined that this mic wasn't working for me, I looked in the Options 1 menu and foud that I could assign OST to a front panel key. I don't know if it showed up there only after I assigned it under "Function," or if it was there all along and I just missed it. At any rate, you probably have to add some PL tones to the main dropdown selection to enable it, before it will allow you to assign it to a key.

Edit > keypad assignments. The service manual describes it, too. It is called Operator Selectable Tone. Page 5 in the service manual. Most Kenwoods have this feature, including the 880. Btw I did determine that it can be programmed to work without a DTMF pad. It means I give up Talk Around, but that's no biggie: I just programmed additional simplex channels to make up for it.

Thanks Gary. I did option 1 before I got the mic; now I'm trying to figure out a way to enable OST without using a DTMF mic. If I can't find a way, I'll be looking for a KMC 36. Hopefully one that doesn't cost more than the radio itself. I sent the seller an email. So far it's like Phil Collins; "no reply at all." As cheap as it was, I'm thinking about just opening it up and connecting the wire from pin 7 to the hangup button, as it should be. Then maybe see if there is some way I can configure it to work with OST. This thread is not intended to say this mic can't be made to work. I don't know yet if it can or not. But if my mic is typical, be forewarned that it doesn't function properly out of the box.

The clip is grounded. It works fine with an actual Kenwood mic, but doesn't with the Chinese mic. Thanks for your input, though.

I bought one of the cheap ($15-20) DTMF mics for my Kenwood TK-880. I had programmed my radio for user PL selection, which allows you to change the PL tones from the DTMF pad. It was a waste of money, because it doesn't work. It seems to work as a microphone, but it doesn't ground the on-hook line through the mic button. That means the scan function is disabled. Not only that, but while the PL select looks like it's working, what it actually does is turn off receive PL globally. I had to remove power from the radio for a moment to get the PL decode to return. The seller advertised it as suitable for Kenwood commercial radios, including (specifically) the TK-880. Maybe it can be rewired to work; who knows. And maybe it works perfectly on a Kenwood amateur transceiver. I don't have a TM series radio, so I can't test that. But it certainly doesn't work as delivered on my Kenwood commercial rigs.

The rig I just picked up is a TK-981. I have a dual band cellular Yagi that I might be able to use for mountaintopping, if I had any way to check the match. I plan to put a mobile antenna on my van, too. 33cm operation from my home would probably be an exercise in futility.

So I went and got the 33cm rig today. And here's a cool kicker: the guy I bought it from also has an unlisted GMRS repeater, and gave me permission to use it!

I already have 222, and have had for years. I've joined a 33cm discussion group, and buying a Kenwood TK-981 today. We'll see how it does.

I looked at the open repeater before I bought the IDOM. ICS does offer a basic controller that is similar to the IDOM, for $60. https://ics-ctrl.com/Details/2

I built mine as a very basic controller, without the voice ID. That can be added later, if I decide I want it. But it works perfectly for what it is. It was also delivered quickly, all the parts were there, documentation was thorough and it went together without difficulty. It was also easy to program. Most GMRS repeaters that I have heard don't even have ID nor an EOT indicator. Some don't even have a squelch tail. It can be hard to tell if you are even getting into the repeater, or if a listed repeater even actually exists in real life. I have mine programmed to ID (in Morse code) after the first transmission and (if and as long as there are subsequent transmissions) every 15 minutes until the activity is over. I also have it set to beacon every hour. This is to announce its presence to GMRS operators who might be traveling through the area. Another advantage of the beacon mode is it allows me to listen for it when I am out and about, as an aid in gauging its coverage. The ID-O-Matic adds these features to my repeater, and makes interconnection between the receiver and transmitter used in the repeater, for less than $50 shipped. Sure you can get a controller with more features. They start at about $200 and go up rapidly. $300+ is more common for controllers that have more features than the ID-O-Matic offers. But the radios I'm using as receiver and transmitter have PL built in, so I don't need that built into the controller. My repeater is easy for me to access, so I don't need to be able to control it remotely. Nor do I have any need nor desire to have a computer powered up and connected to it 24/7. This little controller does everything I need it to do, and does it at a price that is not much more than those Chinese controller boxes that connect a pair of BF-888s or whatever and use VOX to control the transmit. And it's a much more serious controller than those. It's not a fair comparison to pick it apart based on the features found in a $300+ controller. So that's my review. I give it thumbs up, and I'll probably buy at least one more of them.

Wow. That's centered right where most of the repeater outputs are, too!

Maybe it's intentional. If his business grows too much, he'll have to hire people. And that opens a whole new can of worms!

The reason it keeps flashing is because it is in timing mode. After the timer expires (10 or 15 minutes; whatever you programmed it for) it IDs again and then the LED returns to solid. Exactly as it says in the manual. I give Dan two thumbs up and will continue to support him and his products.

That's not a big deal. Just set it up with a Morse or voice IDer. I don't think digi ID is a legal ID on GMRS, anyway.

Lately I've been perusing some of the 900 MHz commercial radios for sale, and thinking Hmmm... Repeaterbook lists lots of 33cm repeaters, including several in my area. Maybe now's the time to make a move into a new band. Anyone here using the band?

Welcome, Shaine!

Just wishing a merry Christmas to all my friends on the forum.

They work fine with GMRS repeaters. If they are Part 95 approved (most Kenwoods, a few Motorolas, maybe some others) they are legal. If they are just Part 90 approved, FCC has stated that they are aware that folks are using them on GMRS. Fact is, a lot of the repeaters are built from old Part 90 radios. Clear as mud?

Welcome!

Thanks! I just programmed mine with one group of basic GMRS channels, a couple of days ago. I plan to go back in and add more groups soon, and I'll probably include some 70cm test frequencies.

It's not difficult to find an antenna that covers 440-470 with a reasonable swr. I just got a dual band base vhf/uhf antenna that is a half wave on 2M and collinear 5/8 waves on uhf, that covers 440-470 at well under 2:1 swr. And btw, it doesn't necessarily violate FCC regs to have a rig that covers 70cm and GMRS. It can't be frequency agile, but there are no rules I am aware of that prohibit programming ham radio frequencies into a radio that meets type classification for GMRS. Of course, that doesn't mean you can do the MARS/CAP mod on your FT-857 and use it on GMRS!

Thanks. Yeah, I've read about those problems. I definitely wanted T/A, which is reportedly a huge memory hog. But by not pushing the maximum channel count and limiting use of tags I was able to make it work.