BoxCar

Along the Canadian border there are some sites operating for cross-border comms. It's primarily in the NE with Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont doing the bulk of it when I quit coordinating in 2015. The practice had been going on for several years but it required a treaty modification to get it officially sanctioned. The treaty change allowed for US frequencies to be installed in Canada and vice-versa on a non-interference basis. Stations in Canada operate under Canadian rules while stations in the US operate under FCC rules. I forget how wide the band is but 30 kilometers rings a bell. In some little towns along the border it's quite a mess as a responder from one country may have to cross the border in order to respond to a call in their country.

The purpose of narrowbanding was to increase the number of available channels. Narrowbanding yielded (on paper) twice the number of channels but in reality it is a little over 40% because of adjacent channel interference.

The channel is 25 kHz wide with 20 kHz containing the transmission. That leaves 2.5 kHz as a guard band on both sides of the transmission.

What I was referring to was a breakdown of the fine by model. It is very doubtful the FCC will assess the maximum amount allowed by law.

I'll disagree with having to be a business to use LMR. There are specific requirements for who is eligible for a frequency listed in Part 90.20, the Public Safety allocation. The requirements for 90.35, B/ILT or the Commercial portion are the same as the requirements for GMRS. The allocation of frequencies is divided between coordinators representing specific industries, but you don't need to fall into one of those industries to have a frequency assigned.

It'll be interesting to see the breakdown of the penalty. The Part 90 being on Part 95 will be telling.

You are making generalizations you can't back up with actual measurements to claim the new WOXUN is a further example of a CCR. There are a number of Moto radios that fall in the same category of cheap Chinese radios as Moto's Schaumburg facility has been reduced to primarily office space. I don't think Moto even builds a radio in the US anymore.

Here is the official calculator for antenna/tower height. Remember, it's tower height PLUS any part of the antenna above the tower for the total height. TOWAIR Determination (fcc.gov)

You'll need to check the specs for your radio to be certain, but you'll need close to 600W to power the GMRS radio.

If the transmitter is at the antenna along with the necessary power the the transmitter can be coupled with Bluetooth with the GMRS (or other service) transmitter sending the signal. What people are assuming is there needs to be coax involved. The transmitter is part of the antenna. Think cellular BDAs or WiFi range extender.

Gravity hasn't stopped working as of yet. Turn it upside down and then insert the wire. Works every time for me.

If you, or one of your children, can state you heard the conversation then call the local PD and talk to someone in their vice section. They will probably come ot and interview the people that heard the conversation and then take action. They will bring in Federal assistance from the FCC and possibly the FBI. The FCC involvement is unique in that they do not require a warrant to inspect a building looking for radio equipment.

Not directly if your intent is to provide Internet. You need a modem and that limits speed. Then you run up against the reporting requirement along with the limits of your radio's duty cycle.

Personally, I think you are way over engineered. I would look at other supplies such as some of the inexpensive Chinese ones. I'm running a 30A no name that's designed for communications work and paid less than $25 for it. If you want a good Chinese one, look to Mean Well. Their supplies are a little more than what I paid but have a great rep. My little cheapie has millivolts of ripple, so little I can't measure it accurately with my cheap Harbor Freight meter.

Download CHIRP and use it to program your radio. You'll need a programming cable but CHIRP lays all the fields out in a spreadsheet so it is an easy task. The Miklor website has both the links and instructions to make the job easier. www.miklor.com

100W at 12vDC is 5A of current and it is probably a little more than 1/3 of your transmit draw. Your batteries should recover the drawdown from 1 minute of transmit time in about 4 minutes with your panels putting out the full wattage.

If you don't need the meters, this is the model without them. https://www.toboaenergy.com/product/samlex-sec1235-switching-power-supply/?_vsrefdom=adwords&msclkid=7e73c0b058a31f4ec5f49f244919dfc7&utm_source=bing&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=**LP%20Shopping%20-%20Electrical%20Switches&utm_term=4582352148614327&utm_content=woocommerce_gdf_12563%20%7C%20Samlex%2030%20Amp%20120vAC-13.8vDC%20Switching%20Power%20Supply%20%7C%20%24156.8 If you don't need the 100A capacity, you may like this: https://www.toboaenergy.com/product/samlex-bbm-1225-battery-back-up-1224v-25amp-charger/

The in-vehicle repeaters are useful for extending the range of a hand-held and little more. It's what public safety does with them.

Depends on the type of license. For GMRS a license covers the immediate family only.

Morse, while being the "first digital transmissions" is not prohibited as long as the signal sent by the radio is still FM.

Save yourself the grief of trying to tune a dual band antenna and purchase a GMRS antenna. https://www.amazon.com/Laird-Technologies-450-470-Quarterwave-Antenna/dp/B0079555WM/ref=sr_1_5?dchild=1&keywords=laird+antenna&qid=1602764409&sr=8-5 will attach to your existing NMO base.

Fusing the leads gives you protection against a failure that could result in fire.

This supply will meet all your needs. You can buy an inexpensive multimeter at Harbor Freight and have enough left over to get your antenna. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B082TTY3L7/ref=sspa_dk_detail_0?pd_rd_i=B082TN889J&pd_rd_w=aAnjW&pf_rd_p=7d37a48b-2b1a-4373-8c1a-bdcc5da66be9&pd_rd_wg=U3xPt&pf_rd_r=8TN3JZQQQ83GBPR3PBNR&pd_rd_r=c136a1c9-166b-4c81-9433-d7c27f808772&spLa=ZW5jcnlwdGVkUXVhbGlmaWVyPUExODlPQVdDQ1JLTVJLJmVuY3J5cHRlZElkPUEwMTQzNzQ4MTRSRUcxUFNTWUM0QSZlbmNyeXB0ZWRBZElkPUEwMzYzOTU0MkQ3NjJFRDdCWllBQSZ3aWRnZXROYW1lPXNwX2RldGFpbCZhY3Rpb249Y2xpY2tSZWRpcmVjdCZkb05vdExvZ0NsaWNrPXRydWU&th=1

You have many options for a power supply. Get one that outputs between 12 and 15 VDC, 13.8VDC being ideal. Most allow the voltage to be adjusted so you will need a meter. The amperage should be at least 10% greater than the transmit draw of your radio. In watts, that's volts times amps. For an antenna, I would look at a J-pole or one that doesn't need a ground plane for use in your apartment. Once you get in your house, whatever you can both afford and get away with. With radio, height is king so you need your antenna as high as possible as it directly affects the range you will have.

I'm bowing out of this discussion so let it be said we agree to disagree.