WRTC928

No, but he/she could make the argument that you are in violation of the state law regarding use of radios while driving because you have no authority to operate that radio at all. Would it stick? Who knows? Probably depends on which judge you get. But it would be a nuisance to have to defend it. Do I know some officers who would do it if you were showing your ass? Oh, yes.

At some point, I may swap out the WP-9900 for something that operates on 1.25 meters (220). There's so little traffic on 1.25 that my buddy and I use it as our own private simplex band. There's a repeater in Oklahoma City, but I've never heard anyone on it. However, I'm using an HT and can only listen when I'm closer to the city. My buddy and are on 1.25 enough that I'd get some use out of a unit in the vehicle. Currently, I have a base unit in the house, a mobile in each vehicle, an additional mobile in the truck, and more HTs than anyone with good sense should own.

Probably, but you'd be surprised the esoterica some law enforcement officers know. I once stopped an Army recruiter driving a GSA vehicle and he was dickish about it, so I demanded he cough up a Standard Form 46 (government driver license) before I'd give him the ticket and let him leave. This was a long time ago -- the government driver license hasn't been a thing for decades. A deputy sheriff in the county south of me owns the GMRS repeater in that area. If he was of a mind to be petty, he might demand some kind of documentation of your authorization to operate that radio. If you were operating it while driving, he'd be well with his authority to do so. I'm not saying we should all carry our license(s) on us -- I don't -- but there is a non-zero chance that someday you may wish you had.

If you have one radio for 70cm, 2m, 6m, and 10m, another one for GMRS and MURS, two mikes hanging off the same mount, and dual antennas whipping in the wind (nod to Billy Ray Cyrus), are you overdoing it? I absolutely could not find a single antenna that covered all those bands. 2m/70cm antennas will often work great on GMRS/MURS, but when you add 6m or 10m, GMRS SWR goes stratospheric. It's just too much to ask one antenna to do. The driver side has a TYT TH-9800 under the seat mated to a Comet tri-band or Diamond quad-band as the fancy strikes me. Under the passenger seat is an Anysecu WP-9900 feeding a Nagoya 200C dual-band antenna tuned for GMRS and MURS (not useful on any ham bands). The TYT speaker is on a Lido headrest mount. I have an external speaker for the WP-9900, but I haven't figured out where I want it yet. The speaker for the 9900 has a volume control because it's a PITA to adjust volume on that unit. The NMO connectors on Breedlove mounts are each supplied with 10' of RG8x coax shielded with wire loom and the connections are sealed with waterproof heat-shrink tubing. The coax is fed up through the factory holes in the floor behind the seats. The radios are on quick-connectors, and I can swap one out for something else in a couple of minutes. Maybe overkill, but I figure at my age, I don't have many more years crawling under trucks and I want to install it once and call it complete.

Apparently, you've never been to Denali National Park or Wrangell-St Elias Alaska State Park (you should, BTW). For that matter, Black Mesa Oklahoma State Park would benefit from some boost if you're camping and day hiking. If I only went to Death Valley, I suppose I wouldn't need a repeater.

Hmmm... Yeah, you may be right. But as you point out, it would be pretty difficult to make a profit at it.

I think it would be very hard to prove that someone is profiting by operating a repeater. Not to say it doesn't happen, but it would be hard to prove. For example, if the tower is on his property, he could possibly plausibly argue that he's entitled to some rent. After all, commercial entities rent their towers to repeater owners. I think subscription repeaters is one of those things that we will grumble about, but ultimately, we'll just have to accept it.

Even the FCC doesn't seem to care about type-approval, although technically it's required for a radio to be approved for the frequencies upon which you transmit. What people DO care about is being a good and considerate user of the airwaves. As mentioned, on the "interstitial" frequencies (channels 8-14) you're operating very close to the repeater inputs and could potentially cause interference. Besides, it's a jerk move to jack up the power and walk all over everyone else trying to use the frequency. I set my...err...I mean...if I were programming an AR-5RM to operate on GMRS/FRS frequencies, I'd set channels 8-14 to receive only. If there's a genuine emergency (defined by the FCC as an immediate threat to life or property and no other means of communication is available, it takes only a few seconds to turn on the transmit feature if you know what you're doing. If you don't bring attention to yourself by being a jackwagon, nobody will know and few will care which flavor of 5RM you're using. However, unless you plan to eventually get an amateur radio license, most of the features of the ham variants will mean nothing to you and you'll get no use out of them. The wacky part is that sometimes it's cheaper to buy the ham version than the GMRS version, which is probably why a lot of people do it. Others do it because with some radios, the ham version will store 999 channels and the GMRS version will only store 30, which means you can only have 8 repeaters in the radio at a time. Apparently, the manufacturers think GMRS users don't travel and won't need more than a few repeaters programmed in. However, the UV-5G Plus claims to have the capability for 999 channels just like the AR-5RM. I have a couple of AR-5RMs, and I like them a lot. I'd probably like the GMRS version too. I don't think you could go wrong with it.

Any way you approach it, what you want to do is going to involve a good antenna with a lot of elevation, either your own or a repeater. You simply can't reliably get communication at 12 miles without it. I have occasionally, when all the stars aligned and the radio gods were smiling, gotten ~20 miles HT-to-HT, but we were both on elevated terrain features. Most of the time, you'll be lucky to get more than 3 miles. I have no idea what the terrain is where you want to communicate, but there's no harm in taking two HTs and trying. If it's hilltop-to-hilltop, you might pull it off. If there are good repeaters in your area, that's probably your best bet. I can hit most of the local GMRS repeaters with a handheld from about 15-25 miles away because they're on elevated terrain features and have tall antennas. In CA, you have to expect that repeaters may be extremely busy. That doesn't mean you can't make it work, but you have to be aware that at any given moment, the repeater may be busy. Depending upon the terrain, you might be able to get the distance you need with a base unit and high antenna at your house -- the higher the better. I live on an elevated terrain feature and have a really good antenna on a 30' flagpole at my house, but my repeater's performance is still a bit lackluster. I hope to get another 20' of elevation in the reasonably near future, but as you may guess, there are technical issues to be overcome.

True, but the repeater isn't anywhere near me and it's in a city I'm not likely to go to, so I just deleted it from my radio. Leaving off the Rx tone would be a viable option in Oklahoma, but perhaps not in southern California. We don't get enough GMRS traffic here to create a headache.

SWR isn't really a big deal with HTs because they're not putting out much RF energy. The radio can stand a high SWR without damage. It may get a little warm, but that's about it. If the radio was getting warmer than I thought normal, I'd throw away the antenna and use a different one, but so far, that hasn't happened. Most mobile/base units have a circuit to disable transmit if the SWR is too high. A notable exception is the Anysecu WP-9900. Keying up for even a few seconds on an antenna with an SWR higher than about 4.0:1 will turn your radio into a paperweight. I really like the concept of the WP-9900, I just wish they'd address some of its shortcomings. But for $89, I guess you can't expect too much.

Some radios, even newer ones, won't support cross-mode tones. I was surprised to find that my TYT TH-9800 doesn't. There's only one GMRS repeater in Oklahoma using cross-mode tones, and I've never seen an amateur radio repeater using them, so I guess it doesn't matter much. The one guy using cross tones is probably a goober anyway, and I don't want to use his repeater.

Can you imagine the chaos that would create?

I think that's called FRS.

TBH, in my area, most GMRS users are very polite and respectful.

I very much doubt I'll be in a position where I have to prove I have an amateur or GMRS radio license. I just bought the card because it's cool.

Someone wiser than me once said, "Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old, he will not depart from it." Get them interested in radios, and they'll never have enough money for drugs.

In my experience, that's actually pretty rare, but the few a-holes make a lot of noise. Most of the hams I know have the attitude that different services are for different purposes, but radio is radio. I'll bet at least half of them have GMRS licenses. Many (most?) hams are old enough to have grandchildren, and we help them learn the basics on GMRS. Don't listen to the haters. They're wee todd it.

In medicine, we use the term "necessary but not sufficient" to mean a finding has to be present in order to make a diagnosis, but by itself, it's not enough. I think of an acceptable SWR as necessary but not sufficient to a good antenna. (I'm not going to get into what SWR level is "acceptable"; that's a whole conversation by itself.) The antenna may have very good SWRs but it's just kinda crappy at transmitting. What you know from the SWR is that the antenna isn't likely to damage your radio, but it doesn't prove you can get a good signal out. A higher-gain antenna will typically be resonant on fewer frequencies than a low-gain or no-gain antenna. I have 3 antennas with similar SWR readings to yours (except for marine -- I haven't tested for that), but they're all about 18" high and provide essentially no gain. For my purposes, that doesn't matter because I use them for repeaters in the local area. I have a couple more that knock it out of the park in terms of range, but they're only resonant on 2-3 bands. I have a massive 10' tall GMRS-only antenna that could probably talk to Easter Island, but it's useless outside the GMRS frequencies. You may find that your antenna is just fine for your local area but doesn't provide enough punch for the distances you want to use it for. There may be some instrument for testing that, but the easiest way to find out is to use it and see what you get.

I've only tested the Midland Ghost, but it did provide at least as much range as the UT-72G with a clearer signal. I know you aren't a fan of the UT-72 series, but IME, if you don't need a lot of range, they work just fine. However, I'd still be running the Ghost if I didn't need an antenna that will also be resonant on 70cm and 2m. There are some similar antennas which purportedly are dual-band in a similar form factor to the Midland Ghost, but I'm highly skeptical that a $15 Bingfu or Anina will do the job. My experiences with their antennas haven't been positive, for the most part. However, I've spent more than $15 on dinner, so maybe I will get one and test it.

Be polite. Don't curse or engage in rancor. If someone says something that makes your blood boil, push the "up" or "down" button and change to another channel. Be considerate. Listen for a minute or so to be sure nobody else is using the frequency. This is especially important on a repeater. If your radio is capable of varying power levels, dial it down to the FCC-approved level. Those levels aren't arbitrary -- they were selected to limit the degree to which your transmission will interfere with someone else's signal. Unless your radio can limit transmit power to 0.5 watt (most GMRS-capable radios can't), just stay off channels 8-14 and let the kids with the "bubble pack" radios use them. It's pointless and inconsiderate to step on other people when you could simply change the channel. I program my radio to listen but not transmit on those channels. With most HTs you can quickly enable the transmit function if you hear someone screaming for help; mobiles are more variable. Yes, the FCC does require you to ID yourself by callsign every 15 minutes and at the end of every conversation. There's nobody actually timing you and most people don't consider it a big deal, but it is the rule. I usually ID at the beginning and end of a conversation "just because". It's like introducing myself by name, kind of like what we used to do when we phoned someone and they didn't know who was calling. A lot of people don't, especially when conversing within a group, and I don't consider myself the callsign police. I don't think I've ever had a conversation on GMRS that lasted longer than 15 minutes, but that's probably because I don't have friends. Some repeater owners may be particular about it, so follow their rules. I use phonetic spelling sometimes, typically when someone is having trouble understanding me. I have an unusual name and it's common for someone to be unable to understand me unless I spell it. Otherwise, I sometimes do it anyway just out of habit. Probably nobody will say much if you occasionally tell them to "take exit 14 bravo" or something like that. Just don't get butthurt if someone ribs you about it. Remember that "privacy codes" don't make your conversation private. All they do is keep you from hearing anyone who doesn't have the same tone. Don't say anything with the PL engaged that you wouldn't say on a completely open channel. Conversely, don't automatically engage tones unless you need to. I sometimes hear people traveling in groups on the highway talking to one another about road conditions/hazards and I'm unable to add something useful to the conversation because they have the PL engaged, so consider the situation before you use it. If your radio will allow it, you can have one set of channels with no tones and another with tones. If you want to hear other people, use group A, if you don't want to hear other people, use group B. In general, just don't be a jackwagon. Treat other people as you want them to treat you, and you'll be fine.

I'd give 10:1 odds there's someone in the club who would be glad to help. IME. most hams aren't actually hostile to GMRS, but the ones who are make a lot of noise. Most hams love to share knowledge. I'd be glad to help if I lived close. In exchange for the tone to your repeater, of course.

I really like the Ghost. It performed much better than I expected it to. It does seem like a good choice for heavy equipment.

Once again, if he weren't being an ass and interfering with official operations, he would have never come to the attention of the FCC and they would have never known what kind of radio he was using. Don't be an idiot.

After using the 42" and 18" Abbree "tactical tape measures" for a month, I have to say I'm impressed. The 42" gets as good or better SWRs across MURS, GMRS, 2m, and 70cm than the Comet 2x4 and doesn't need a ground plane. I tested it by hanging it from a rafter, so no ground plane was available. I can't say whether it actually outperforms the Comet in real-world use, because in the areas where I use my radios most, almost any antenna can get through. I can say, though, that with the Abbree and the Comet, I can use a repeater 22 miles away on one watt, which I can't do with any other antenna, but the Abbree is far more convenient to lug around. The 18" Abbree performs as well as the Nagoya and HYS 771s. Again, I can't say for sure that one is better than the other, because I don't have a particularly challenging environment, but it's certainly not worse than the others. Plus, a black AR-152 just looks badass with that antenna on it. I liked the multi-band TTM so much that I bought the GMRS version. I also tested it with a Nano VNA hanging from a rafter with no ground plane, and its SWRs were good enough, approaching 2.0:1 below 462.50000 and getting better from there. It's going into the bag with my portable repeater. I figure if I can get that thing 15'-20' up, I should get pretty good coverage. All in all, I'm quite satisfied with them. As I mentioned in the original post, they seemed a bit gimmicky, maybe more "cool" than practical, but I'm happy to report I was wrong.