WRTC928

So, FM CB should be able to "shoot skip" about as effectively as AM? That's a new thought to me.

So, FM CB should be able to "shoot skip" about as effectively as AM? That's a new thought to me.

It looks like GMRS is limited to 0.5 watts on some channels and 2 watts on others and they aren't allowed to use repeaters. GMRS shares some channels with FRS and it's limited to 0.5 watts on those channels. FRS has 6 channels shared with GMRS and 9 that are FRS only and FRS is limited to 0.5 watts. It makes me wonder why they have two separate services. It seems they could just lump them all together with designated power limits on each channel.

Do owners of these radios call themselves H8ers?

I've read that it was so the manufacturers could sell the same units in the US and Europe. That may be true because the CB I bought a few months ago has a way to set it to different regions.

I'm afraid I have to jump on the "only 8 repeater pairs" bandwagon. In my area, there aren't a whole of repeaters and mostly they don't get a lot of traffic, but when they do, they tie up their associated simplex channel. Amateur radio has exponentially more bandwidth to play with, so that's not a significant issue.

That's the only reason I have one anyway.

I suspect even when it supports a farming operation, it will be quiescent more than it's transmitting. There probably are business operations which could overwhelm it, but even the GMRS repeaters I consider pretty active near me spend a lot more time listening than transmitting.

If it's going to catch on, it will probably gradually grow from something like this -- using it to talk to other people who are part of your group. Eventually, if people hear activity on FM, they may start to use it.

I have AM/FM CB in my truck. My town is on I-35 south of Norman OK, and I do hear some traffic on CB, but none of it has ever been on FM. I suppose some might consider its hypothetically shorter range a detriment, but I think mostly nobody is on it because nobody is on it; i.e., why use FM when there's nobody to talk to? There are a couple of companies (sounds like maybe a gravel company and something else) near me that use CB and for that purpose FM would probably be superior.

You're right. I skipped right over the part where you were only talking about fixed stations.

That's interesting. It doesn't mention fixed stations. Not that it means anything for most of us, because we're unlikely to be operating a station that communicates only with other fixed stations. § 95.1763 GMRS channels. The GMRS is allotted 30 channels—16 main channels and 14 interstitial channels. GMRS stations may transmit on any of the channels as indicated below. (c) 467 MHz main channels. Only mobile, hand-held portable, control and fixed stations may transmit on these 8 channels. Mobile, hand-held portable and control stations may transmit on these channels only when communicating through a repeater station or making brief test transmissions in accordance with § 95.319(c). The channel center frequencies are: 467.5500, 467.5750, 467.6000, 467.6250, 467.6500, 467.6750, 467.7000, and 467.7250 MHz. Out of curiosity, has anyone here seen a true fixed station in operation? What was its purpose?

Okay, I can see why using channel 19 and the repeater channel (however the manufacturer has labeled it) interchangeably could be confusing to some people.

That was why I was puzzled. It's kinda splitting hairs to say 19 isn't a repeater channel when the repeater output is heard on that frequency. But I suppose if you want to be pedantic...

Ummm... What? Since when?