BTombaugh

While the information you posted is correct, without any further explanation it might not explain the whole issue of using Certified GMRS equipment. This is especially true for those new to GMRS. So, for their benefit... a quick search of the MyGMRS forum will show that this is a regular, and oft debated topic. I think the major points come down to:
The FCC specifically mandates the use of certified GMRS equipment on the service. Part90 certified equipment exceeds the technical requirements for GMRS, but does allow the user to operate outside the GMRS band, which is not allowed.  BTW, The ICOM F221 is Part90 certified. There is some evidence, though not explicit, that the FCC turns a blind eye to the use of Part90 equipment on GMRS. There is no way anyone can tell if a given signal comes from a certified GMRS radio. (Though, you can tell if it comes from a poor quality transmitter.) There are no recorded cases of anyone ever being cited for operating a non-certified radio on GMRS. Most GMRS repeaters on the air today are not certified. There is some question as to whether older certified GMRS Part95A equipment (I.e. from before the end of combined GMRS/FRS radios in 2017) is still certified for use under the new Part95E.  The FCC has never addressed the question, so, it is assumed it is still certified. But, the certification standards are not the same. Now, I am not going to tell anyone they should not concern themselves with the FCC rules. What I will say, and this just echoes an opinion commonly expressed on this forum, is each person has to decide for themselves what they should do as far as their choice of radio equipment.

Just want to give a thumbs up to the radio and to the seller. I bought an Icom F221 for GMRS from Used-Radios.com about ten days ago. I bought the F221 because I have had the VHF version F121 for over ten years and it's built like a tank. No surprise, the F221 is also a solid rig. Easy to program if you have the cable and software. The radio is pretty tightly enclosed to I think it should stand up to a dusty environment, i.e., SxS's and open vehicles. My F121 lives in my Jeep and works great. This F221 is temp-mounted in my pickup and looking for a home, either in the Jeep or go-box... 
 
Anyway, the people at Used-radios.com were good to buy from. The radio arrived with a brand new factory bracket still in the plastic sleeve with the OEM sticker listing the radios it mates with. Unfortunately the F221 wasn't one of them. I emailed Used-radios and they replied right away and sent the correct bracket immediately. It arrived today and all is well. Good company and good (really good) prices for commercial radios. These are used but come with a 90-day warranty. Fleet trade-ins, etc. You could hardly tell this one was used. Very satisfied.
 
That's it from here. 73.
 
Rick
 
 

The following article may be useful.  The link is elsewhere in this forum.
Midland 400 use 13 for DCS Code 073 and 39 for 265.
Hopefully, others will be able to explain this, but this may be a start.
 
https://www.k0tfu.org/reference/frs-gmrs-privacy-codes-demystified.html

Well, since it is usually better to learn how to fish than to have to buy fish... Try starting with the Wikipedia. Another excellent source for repeater information is Repeater-Builder.com. Here is a page from them on duplexers.
 
But, to get you started... very basically, each cavity performs one of two functions. It either:
Filters out everything except a specific frequency (a notch filter) Filters out just a specific frequency (a band-pass filter) As you add more cavities (I.e. the more times you filter the signal) the effect of the filter becomes more pronounced. The low cost, so-called mobile, duplexers consist of only notch filters - 3 for receive, 3 for transmit. The transmit cavities (attempt to) filter out any signal other than the transmit frequency. The receive cavities do the opposite, filtering out everything except the receive frequency.  Adding a band-pass filter will boost the effectiveness of the duplexer. For example, a receive band-pass cavity would be turned to attenuate the transmit frequency.  Note that most high-end and commercial duplexers consist of both types of cavities.

And... there is another solution that probably deserves its own topic. Remote access to a radio through the use of USB port sharing over Internet. The software I am most familiar with is VirtualHere (not related to VirtualBox). This software would let someone connect a radio to their local machine (Linux, Windows or MacOS) and then share it over the net so someone remote, with the proper software/skills, could program the radio.
 
I have personally used this scheme to program some Motorola radios using the Motorola programming software. We also use this same scheme to access our MTR2000 repeater should we need to make changes. In the case of the repeater, we run VirtualHere on a Raspberry-Pi. Works great.

One word, free solution: VirtualBox
 
But, are you sure the problem is due to running CHIRP on MacOS? CHIRP is written in Python and should be virtually identical on any platform it will run on.  However, the RT27 (FRS/UHF) & RT27V (MURS/VHF) are not listed as supported.  Since the Retevis software will certainly run in VirtualBox, you will be covered in any case.

I bet that was me posting to GMRS Amateurs FB page about split codes. There are repeaters in the Denver/Front Range area that all say they use split codes on their information page on this site. I have spent three evenings reading up on the issue. I already have a Midland MXT100 that's been sitting in the box all year, but when I finally set it up in the truck, I found out that it can't do repeaters, let alone split codes anyway. So I've ordered a 50X1, and I'm hoping it will accomplish the task. 

Sent repeater access request last night, and the radio will show up some time this week.

-Bill
WRDM784

Well, let's see. If every active GMRS licensee  (the FCC says there are 56,338 of us) bought 1 radio at $150 ea. that would net $8.4M. Then, let's assume retailer profit is 40% (66% markup).  That leave $100 per radio ($5.4M total) to the manufacturer (we won't worry about any wholesalers, etc. here).  
 
Now, I'll take a wild guess and say it would cost $200k to design a radio from scratch (I.e. not base it on any existing product) and another easy $200k to setup the manufacturing capability.  That brings the manufacturer's gross income down to an even $5M.
 
Next, let's guess each radio costs $50 to manufacture, and another $10 to box, warehouse and ship.  That is a cool $2.8M and the manufacturer is now down to $2.2M. Note that if this was the only product of its type, the manufacturer's costs would be much higher.
 
Next, in order to get 56,000 people to buy this radio you have to advertise. Easily $0.5M and throw in another $0.5M for promotion, trade shows, etc. Now we are down to $1.2M. Taxes, overhead, retirement plans, health insurance would likely add another $2M and we end up with a nice profit of $1,000,000.00  IF every single GMRS licensee actually bought one. The real number is likely to be under 10%. But, let's be generous and say it would be 25%.  So, after all this work the net profit is going to be around $200,000 and would result in a totally saturated market for years to come. And, don't forget you have to either pay off your investors or the bank, or have had the cash to finance this on your own.
 
And, THAT is why you do not have the perfect GMRS radio being sold today for $150.

I will let these images do the talking... All tests done on Wideband 462.550, High power, 1 min on 5 min off for a total of 10 min TX time over 60 min at 14.7V. I have worse results but these will do. After the 3rd cycle the power output started to drop and the current draw increase. Not sure if poor thermal management is part of it but I am sure most of it is the junk output transistors.   
 
http://mwgmrs.com/mygmrs/50x1/1.jpg
http://mwgmrs.com/mygmrs/50x1/12.jpg
http://mwgmrs.com/mygmrs/50x1/9.jpg
http://mwgmrs.com/mygmrs/50x1/testresults.jpg

I've been working on a new map replacement which will hide old and offline repeaters by default, but still gives you the option of showing them all.
 
https://mygmrs.com/map-new/
 
I still have a lot of things to add to make it ready to replace the current map, but I wanted to share the progress now and get feedback from the community here. Some outstanding issues are:
The label below each icon needs to be styled, so it stands out against a dark background. I'm having trouble getting this to work with the library I've chosen to use on this version of the map, but I'm sure I'll be able to find a way without scrapping anything.
  Clicking on the repeater icon should modify the URL to point to the repeater ID that is selected.
  Repeater details (the description field) aren't visible yet.
  Several repeaters do not have GPS coordinates and show up at 0, 0 which is off the coast of Africa. This is mainly a problem with the database that needs to be fixed, but the map should hide them since it's obviously wrong. At least the performance of loading that many repeaters and toggling the switches on and off seems to be quite good. Let me know if it's slower for you than the current map.
 
I have big plans for a complete site redesign to make it more modern. I've headed down this path several times but got bogged down between work and my personal life, so I never got a complete redesign done. I've been making small changes here and there to support this big effort, so I'm hoping we can get a better site off the ground which will solve some of the pain points like the stale repeaters.

DB-404 in the attic of my 2 story condo, simplex base to base 25 miles and repeaters 45 miles.
 
http://mwgmrs.com/mygmrs/uhfbase2.jpg
 
Fed with 1/2 hardline
 
http://mwgmrs.com/mygmrs/hole.jpg
 
Into a custom wall plate with N female bulkheads. I have a UHF, VHF and Scanner antenna up there.
 
http://mwgmrs.com/mygmrs/wallplate.jpg
 
http://mwgmrs.com/mygmrs/scanner.jpg
 
 
http://mwgmrs.com/mygmrs/vhf.jpg

Do you have a balcony? I’m in an apartment, but have a balcony. I just ran LMR400 (several) and put my antennas out there, lol. I figured it was better to ask for forgiveness than pernission.
 
Landlord did ask what they were and I explained amateur radio and GMRS. (I used angle telling her it’d still work if power and all else lost, which would as I have backup power.) She thought it was neat and even asked if I could setup some wireless bridges on rooftop (two buildings here) for their IP cameras. Easy peasy! Hoping to get brownie points and maybe sweet talk her into letting me set my antennas up there, lol. I’d put them in center roof, where can’t be seen from ground, so nobody could see, else might be seen as “tenant favoritism”.
 
Even though, my landlord loves me, anyway. Mainly because I’m a veteran and she loves all veterans.
 
I’m not complaining. :-)

Addendum:
 
 
 
 
Notice that FRS is nestled between LMRS at the front and GMRS at the end? When I was writing legal notices and might have to argue them (in a previous lifetime), I would put the most important first, the least important in the middle, and the second most important last. The first and last generally stay in the minds of those reading/hearing an argument the most.

Hey folks!  I know I said I was going to wait a few days... possibly a week... before my GMRS-50X1 features review, but I spent hours using this radio today and I had a great time.  I figured I would just go ahead and get it out there.
 
For the features review, I am going to start with the Cons this time.  Since the quasi-tech review ended with the focus on the negatives, I would like to end this review with a positive vibe.  Please keep in mind, this is purely opinion based after using the radio.
 
There are tons of features... I am only going to cover what I believe would be the most common/popular to use among most people.
 
 
Cons -
1.) While talking simplex to a station that is closer than 2 miles, I had to use low power, NFM and turn the mic gain down to 1.  If not, the person I was talking to complained about audio clipping and audible popping sounds.  After 2 miles, I could turn the mic gain back up and use WB FM.
 
2.) The display is going to be both in the Pros and Cons section.  As some are aware, I daily drive a Jeep Wrangler.  For at least 50% of the year, my Jeep has no roof and no doors.  That fact brought out a big drawback for me.
 
The display has no means of adjusting the brightness.  Regardless of what I did, while the sun was out and the roof and doors were off, the display was 100% washed out.  I literally could not tell the radio was on by looking at the display.  At first, I put the soft top on, and the display was still heavily washed out, but was usable.  I had to put on my top and my doors with 20% light transmission tint on the windows, before the display was good to use.
 
Another drawback for the display is, there is a lot of very useful information in a tiny little spot.  It takes a bit of focus to look at the display and get a feel for exactly what is going on.  This is not good if you are driving and want to make a quick change.  I found that I had to pull over to be safe while making minor adjustments.
 
2.) They advertise that it has NOAA radio built-in, but it really doesn't.  The VFO covers a frequency spectrum that includes those frequencies.  Not a big deal, but it is up to you to manually tune to those channels and save them to memory. 
 
3.) You can't add new GMRS saved channels that are capable of transmitting.  On my iCom, I have multiple saved channels for channel 15, for example.  One with no DPL, one with tone coding and one with digital coding.  Depending on who I am with or the group I am talking with, I need to use different values.  With the BTech radio, I will have to manually change it every time.  I am assuming this is so they could get FCC type approval.
 
4.) You can't transmit in VFO mode, at all, not even on GMRS frequencies.  This was probably needed for FCC type approval.  Still a drag that you can't manually dial to a GMRS frequency and use it.
 
5.) There are a lot of unneeded features and unusable functions that are locked out.  Seems pointless to even have them because they will likely add a lot of confusion to new operators.  Examples are Remote Stun which remotely disables transmitting and Remote Kill remotely disables transmit and receive.  These are typically repeater management features that a typical GMRS mobile user just doesn't need. 
 
While the aforementioned features are present and function, there are a ton of other repeater related functions that are still in the menu, but you can't change them.  It almost seems like they took a shortcut and used UV-50Xx software and just tweaked it for this radio. 
 
 
Pros -
1.) Range....  My son and I ran a field test today; both simplex and repeater use.  Anyone who has read my quasi-technical opinion review, knows I was less than impress with what I saw.  That said, going from my BTech mobile to my son's HT inside his car, we easily talked 5.5 miles in rough terrain and while I was on the blind side of a hill, 100 feet+ below the top of a hill and there were lots of trees, buildings, etc. between us.
 
I was pretty impressed that we got that range with my son's radio "inside" his car, while driving, and he was using an HT that has a maximum power of 8 watts.  That was more than twice as far as the results we had with another brand mobile I own... using the same HT.
 
Once we were out of simplex range, we switched to a local repeater.  I am 22 miles from the repeater as the crow flies.  I was using low power (2.5w) WB FM.  My son was 19 miles away from the repeater using the HT, on full power and WB FM.  My son gave me the the same signal report as others.  He said there was some noise on low power, but when I switched to medium power (18w) I was full quite and great audio quality.  Given the RF signal quality I observed with analyzing tools, I am seriously shocked.
 
2.) While the display washed out very easily by the sun light, the display colors are extremely flexible, allowing the user to adjust the color contrast, making it easier to read as well as using font color to further segment the many items displayed on the screen.
 
3.) The owners manual states that the device has a 50% duty cycle.  There is no power level specified, but I assume in low power.  My son and I talked for more than 30 minutes, with most of my transmit time being at medium power and at about 35-40% duty cycle.  During our conversation my son reported that there was no noticeable deviation of carrier or modulation.  My receive quality stayed great the whole time as well.
 
4.) The radio only draws 3.5 amps while using the radio at full power, with the cooling fan running.  The radio came with large gauge power wires.  They are not labeled, but they measure about 2mm.  They are likely 14 gauge, rated for 15 amps.  That's a plus, as you are less likely to have voltage drop over the length of the wire and the fuse will pop long before the wires become a fire risk.
 
5.) While its not very useful for most cars/trucks, it does receive commercial FM Radio.  This is great feature for vehicles that don't have a radio, such as ATV's, older work trucks, construction equipment, etc.
 
6.) You are able to monitor up to 4 frequencies and/or channels at once.  The ability to mix monitoring VFO and Memory channels can be pretty handy.
 
7.) A cool feature that this radio has is, you can sync the displays in pairs of two.  This can be a pretty neat feature.  I set display A (top left) and display B (bottom left) to be in sync.  This means when I change the channel on Channel A, channel B changes as well.  The inverse also occurs.  This allows a user to do things like have the channel Name displayed and the frequency displayed at the same time. You don't have to guess where you are if you are using channel names.
 
8.) This unit displays the DPL code and method on the screen.  This is awesome, because you don't have to guess if your DPL is set or to what value.  Its right there to read.
 
9.) This unit has a feature that is getting more popular; DPL scanning.  If there is a group that is using DPL and you want to be part of the conversation, you can have the radio scan tone squelch and DCS values while the other station is transmitting and the radio will detect the value that the group is using.
 
 
Indifferent -
Something that is not really a pro or con... since we can only transmit on the hard-coded GMRS channels, 225 additional memory channels does not make a lot of sense to me.  I'm sure some will love it.  With the exception of programming the WX channels, I likely wont use any more than that.
 
 
Summary -
Quasi-tech review aside, if you are willing to tolerate some of the technology shortcomings I noticed in my radio (noted in another thread), for a low cost radio, this can be a lot of fun to play with.  Sadly, the display washout is a deal-breaker for me, personally.  However, I think I am in the minority there.
 
In short, I am not going to recommend or condemn the radio.  It's not for me, even with all the cool features.  That said, I leave it to you to use my two threads as a tool to make an informed decision.  I'm just 1 guy with one radio... but there it is.
 
Thanks,
Spaz

Here try this guide  
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://wiki.radioreference.com/images/0/0a/CHIRP_tone_programming.pdf&ved=2ahUKEwj8idSwuoLiAhURKqwKHSlAChQQFjAAegQIAxAB&usg=AOvVaw1WwaQbSsZPbM62mksPtEsr
 
 
 
Sent from my SM-G892A using Tapatalk

Thank you for sharing the link to the Emergency Preparedness series. However, after looking it over, I have to say it seems based on a number of unstated assumptions - many of which I believe are untrue. There also seems to be an implied prejudice towards a hierarchical communications model and the use of amateur radio. 
The fundamental problem with any system that relies on ham radio is the requirement for licensed operators at every operating location. As you noted, getting people to get even the most basic Technicians license is a non-starter. There is also some assumption that Part 97 operations will offer a richer set of communications options. However, in practice. unless you live in some very isolated area, and particularly for the type of system you say you want to create, the only Part 97 options would be VHF (2M) and UHF (0.7M). When you add an uneven terrain, into the mix the difference between VHF and UHF is pretty much nil.
 
Because GMRS allows repeater operations, as far as practical operations go, it is pretty much the same as Part 97 UHF. The main differences lie in the options available for linking repeaters via radio. GMRS is limited to use of the assigned GMRS channels for radio links, amateur is not. However, in a semi-isolated area like the Sierra Foothills that should not be a problem.
 
If you use GMRS you can flatten the model shown in the Emcomm Doc you linked to and allow communications directly between the Community coordinators and the emergency service providers. Though, you may still need to provide staffing for the service provider sites as they will probably be unwilling to manage communications back to the community. At $7 per year ($70 for 10 years) cost is really not an issue. Or, looking at it from another view, if $7 a year is keeping people away from your system, you have some serious issues to deal with before you even think about radio.
 
What I have written above is not simply theoretical. Take a look at BeCERTAINN in Berkeley, CA. This organization which provides pretty much what you describe in your first post, but just within the city of Berkeley, now has over 40 GMRS licensed participants, most of whom got their license for the sole purpose of participating in BeCERTAINN.
 
Hams have a, rather unfortunate, predilection for making things more technically and organizationally complex than they need to be. For immediate response emergency systems that is the opposite of what you want. You want simple and easy with the least amount of equipment and the smallest number of operators and transactions necessary to make the system work. As shown in the emcomm doc, it takes 4 people, two of whom must be licensed hams, to pass a message from a home to a service provider. By basing a system onGMRS, that number drops to two or three and no ham licenses are needed.
 
I strongly suggest that GMRS + maybe one of the following, FRS/CB/MURS/Paper-notes/voice, is what you really need.

Quite honestly - this is the FCC's job, and they should be the ones enforcing the rules & cracking down on mass-marketers with misleading advertising.
 
The FCC doesn't care, because if they did, they would have actually issued fines to some of the more blatant examples. When the FCC doesn't care, it kind of makes it pointless. What will you do? Threaten them with a non-existing enforcement action?

The FCC has incredible budget issues........
 
Wait, I will NOT stand up for a fed agency.
Hmmmm, nevermind.

Amazon is indeed responsible for the misleading descriptions, they would not be allowed to market the uncertified devices to Americans. Should the FCC do anything about it, I'd bet that Amazon would (successfully) try to shift the blame to the sellers, who would then claim they are outside the FCC's jurisdiction; the cycle would continue. The whole situation is a mess, and licensed GMRS and Part 90 (both Public Safety and Industrial/Business pools) users are receiving significant interference from users fully unaware that their radios aren't actually FRS radios. The sellers are desperate for sales and most will say anything to secure a sale. Keep digging around Amazon's site and you will find many sellers saying their radios are legal out-of-the-box and a handful of reviewers upset that they aren't.
 
The FCC already fined one distributor a while back for selling UV-5Rs with an incomplete type certification. The internet was naïvely rejoicing, "The FCC made Baofengs illegal!" Yet this barely scratched the surface of the problems with illegal marketing.
 
Over here, there's more activity on the BF-888S channels than on FRS channels, and a handful of commercial users on amateur simplex channels complete with profanity. Reports go nowhere. Users claim the sellers said the radios were legal, and tone squelch on the default channels makes the users unable to determine they are causing or receiving interference. Where is the Commission when you need them?

" Grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,
  Courage to change the things I can,
  And wisdom to know the difference."
 
Pick one.

I noticed this morning that if you search for "two-way radios" on Amazon, in addition to the product listing, Amazon is also displaying an article from "BestReviews.com" that is recommending several Part 90/97 radios from ArcShell, BaoFeng, and LSeng along with a couple of GMRS radios from Midland and Motorola. The worst recommendation they make is for the BaoFeng BF-F8HP (UV-5R 3rd Gen) 8-Watt Dual Band Two-Way Radio (136-174MHz VHF & 400-520MHz UHF), rather than the GMRS-V1.
 
They fail to mention that the Part 90/97 radios require that the frequencies be programmed for each channel. They fail to mention that these radios are capable of using licensed frequencies that are assigned to business and emergency services organizations. They imply that you only need a license if you are using the GMRS radios, inferring that the other radios do not require a license!
 
While I realize that it's only "tilting at windmills" I did submit a contact from to BestReviews.com to tell them that they are (likely unintentionally) encouraging consumers to break the law by using commercial radios without a license. I also "reported the profile" through Amazon, although the report process doesn't ask for any details. Not sure if they will contact me for details or not.
 
I'm sure that others will agree that these kinds of uninformed recommendations are part of the problem with the marketing of "cheap Chinese radios" to the general public.
 
The question is what can be done about it? While there doesn't seem to be a good way to refute the recommendations in the article through Amazon, maybe if enough others would read the "review" and reply using their contact form we could get them to fix their article.
 
Amazon should have the responsibility for clearly identifying that these amateur and business radios require the appropriate FCC license to be operated legally. They are NOT general consumer products.