gortex2

No reason except for Line A

We go over this topic monthly. Unless a big manufacture goes after the FCC it wont change. None are going to spend the time, research and funding to do this because folks with $20 portables want to use DMR, Fusion, P25 etc. Look at the ham world. Tell me how many manufacturers sell gear that does DMR ? Or P25 ? Fusion is made by Yasue only. DSTAR ICOM. They can't even have a standard there where it would semi work. Never going to happen in GMRS. As said in about 50 different threads on this topic just go use a ham cannel if you want DMR, or license a Part 90 Frequency and do what you want. 

Agree but that was my point. Ham can use digital and can't come up with what's best. I don't see manufacturers building Part95 radios that support a digital format if there isn't one defined specifically. 

We go over this topic monthly. Unless a big manufacture goes after the FCC it wont change. None are going to spend the time, research and funding to do this because folks with $20 portables want to use DMR, Fusion, P25 etc. Look at the ham world. Tell me how many manufacturers sell gear that does DMR ? Or P25 ? Fusion is made by Yasue only. DSTAR ICOM. They can't even have a standard there where it would semi work. Never going to happen in GMRS. As said in about 50 different threads on this topic just go use a ham cannel if you want DMR, or license a Part 90 Frequency and do what you want. 

Agree but that was my point. Ham can use digital and can't come up with what's best. I don't see manufacturers building Part95 radios that support a digital format if there isn't one defined specifically. 

We go over this topic monthly. Unless a big manufacture goes after the FCC it wont change. None are going to spend the time, research and funding to do this because folks with $20 portables want to use DMR, Fusion, P25 etc. Look at the ham world. Tell me how many manufacturers sell gear that does DMR ? Or P25 ? Fusion is made by Yasue only. DSTAR ICOM. They can't even have a standard there where it would semi work. Never going to happen in GMRS. As said in about 50 different threads on this topic just go use a ham cannel if you want DMR, or license a Part 90 Frequency and do what you want. 

Agree but that was my point. Ham can use digital and can't come up with what's best. I don't see manufacturers building Part95 radios that support a digital format if there isn't one defined specifically. 

We go over this topic monthly. Unless a big manufacture goes after the FCC it wont change. None are going to spend the time, research and funding to do this because folks with $20 portables want to use DMR, Fusion, P25 etc. Look at the ham world. Tell me how many manufacturers sell gear that does DMR ? Or P25 ? Fusion is made by Yasue only. DSTAR ICOM. They can't even have a standard there where it would semi work. Never going to happen in GMRS. As said in about 50 different threads on this topic just go use a ham cannel if you want DMR, or license a Part 90 Frequency and do what you want. 

There’s no need. That’s part of being a ham, getting to try different things. 

The problem with digital voice modes is there are so many of them. I have radios for D-Star, DMR, NXDN and P25 Phase 1.  Nothing yet for YSF, or dPMR which is mainly an EU license free service like FRS here but digital. Haven’t seen it in North America yet.
If that wasn’t enough there is a new one, M17.
https://m17project.org
 

Sounds like the perfect reason for a business license. 

Uh....Since my father got his first GMRS license it was repeater. I dont know anyone back in the day that only used simplex. Our first license was 1 repeater license with 6 mobiles. I'd have to dig way back to see when repeaters came to be but it was 40+ years ago. 
Again I go back to there are many services you can use to use digital. Hell get our own part 90 channel and use that if you too lazy to use ham. We did that for SAR stuff for a few years then went back to analog as it worked. And no one could agree on P25 or DMR. I would see that the case with GMRS also. Ham can't even agree on a digital format. 

I will chime in and plainly state: MIXING DIGITAL AND ANALOG RADIOS ON THE SAME FREQUENCIES DOES NOT WORK --  PERIOD. We Part 90 coordinators fought through this issue when Moto introduced MotoTURBO. It reached the point where the 4 Public Safety coordinators froze all applications to either convert existing systems to digital or create new digital coordinations. We were finally able to create guidelines that often resulted in converted systems allowed lower radiated power or antennas being aimed lower on the horizon. New coordinations were also restricted on radiated power, often much lower than originally requested.

You also have the issue that while DMR is a basic digital standard, every manufacturer has their own flavors that they have built on top of the standard to add features for their user base. So when one repeater owner decides to add Restricted Access for Security, and then another one wants to add enhanced Privacy/encryption, another will decide to implement GPS Location. Good luck trying to them all on board with your DMR dream.
As already mentioned before - go get yourself an FB6 Private Carrier license on Part 90 if you want to do DMR. If you're determined that it needs to be done on GMRS frequencies - then go write up a petition for rule change & wait around for 5 or 10 years to see if the FCC responds.
 
 

You must be new here.  50% of the new posters in these forums cannot even figure out how to program an analog repeater into their new GMRS radio.  Do you seriously think that DMR will work for "every man"?
And before you ask, I am *very* familiar with programming a DMR repeater and DMR radios, both Motorola and other brands.  It's orders of magnitude more difficult than programming an offset and a tone or two for an analog repeater.

Because GMRS is for common folks to buy off the Walmart shelf and use fairly informally.  Part 90 radios and location specific rules make sense when commercial radio shops are in charge of configuration and sales.

Another person trying to turn GMRS into "ham radio lite".  If you want to do ham stuff go get your ham license and do ham stuff.  We already have the eight 50W Simplex/Repeater channels clogged up with "networks" and linking by wannabe hams in too many locales.  No need to jam up GMRS with more digital noise.  Or if you really want to play digital mode on simplex, do it on one of the five MURS channels.

There is an 8 page discussion on this topic elsewhere on the board.
It's the same dead horse with a different bridal. 
Here's a thought.  Why don't YOU petition the FCC for a rule change allowing digital modulation on GMRS? 
And I have NO idea where you got the idea that DMR is somehow better suited to deal with analog signals than other analog signals.  Any type of signal getting into a DMR receiver will raise the BER and cause artifacting and digitization of the audio.  That's if it comes through at all.  Public Safety is discouraged by the FCC from using any sort of DMR because of the issues with it not playing well with analog signals and the fact that the public safety frequencies were issued multiple times in an area, sometimes within the same county and the end users would just run different PL's to filter out the other users traffic. 
There is a requirement under part 90 that a user much first monitor the frequency in use to be sure that there isn't another user on it.  That is what the MONITOR button is for, and why there is a 'Hub defeat's PL' that turns off the PL requirement on a mobile radio when you take the mike from the hanger.  Now I don't believe that GMRS has such a requirement.  It's also why there is a channel free and color code free setting in DMR radios.  When using a DMR programmed channel it's suppose to be set for channel free if there is another user close enough that their licensed coverage area overlaps your coverage area.  GMRS doesn't have 'licensed coverage area's.  We are power limited but that's it, as long as your transmitter is 50 watt's or less, the sky's the limit on antenna height and antenna gain.  Yes, if your tower is over 200 feet you have to have it registered and have obstruction lighting, but that's not a height limit, it's an additional requirement by the FAA not the FCC for towers exceeding a certain height. 
You ant DMR, go get a part 90 license, go get a ham license.  DMR is prevalent in both of those services.  It's not allowed on GMRS currently and I really don't see that ever changing.
 

Again, if you want to use DMR for Digital simplex, the FCC already offers you a service for this choice. Go get a part 90 license, talk on DMR simplex all day long. Make sure you license it as an MO6/FB6 Private Carrier, and then all your friends and family (plus anyone else you want to count as a 'subscriber' under your license) can join along for one 10 year term. As a bonus, you can use encryption, run a repeater, and even pump out more than 50 watts.
There are no GMRS  Part 95 radios that will do Digital today, so unless you want to wait for a possible rule change, wait for manufacturers to respond to the changes and build GMRS digital radios, you would end up using Part 90 equipment anyway.
I really don't understand the resistance to using what's already available today. If you want to use DMR, then use DMR - it wasn't like you were going to be using it to talk with existing analog GMRS users anyway.
 

I use a Jackery 300 for dry camping and SAR stuff. So far it has been ideal for this type of situation. I did not get the "Jackery" panel but used a basic Solar panel I had laying around. Just put correct end on it. When we travel from camp site I charge in Jeep but when sitting at site use the solar panel. For years I made my own battery packs but with the new stuff on the market it costs me just as much to build it. Time is money for me now so its easier to buy done. 
For backpacking/SAR stuff I just use a portable with a spare battery. I used to carry my AA battery adapter for my APX but its heavier than a spare battery or 2. I can get 12 hours on a charged battery so normally its more than adequate. 
 

There is no solution. Its not part of the service. There are other services to use if you want to use digital. The service has been around for decades. Many of us have had repeaters for decades for our personal use. I don't know why the huge influx to the service happened but its good and bad. Very few places in the US have issues with congestion so I don't see changing a service because one city or state has an issue. There are threads of arguments over a "travel" channel. Its said we cant use certain channels above Line A and folks say who cars its only one state. So in the end every part of the service has pro's and cons for a particular area. 
JMHO

Duh, #1 Amazon and cheap stuff from China, #2 preppers and offroaders (and off road preppers, LOL).  

There is no solution. Its not part of the service. There are other services to use if you want to use digital. The service has been around for decades. Many of us have had repeaters for decades for our personal use. I don't know why the huge influx to the service happened but its good and bad. Very few places in the US have issues with congestion so I don't see changing a service because one city or state has an issue. There are threads of arguments over a "travel" channel. Its said we cant use certain channels above Line A and folks say who cars its only one state. So in the end every part of the service has pro's and cons for a particular area. 
JMHO

Its a ham radio so maybe ask on a ham site. Sure folks are running them. 

To be fair, NOAA weather channels are VHF, in the vicinity of 162 Mhz. Not all radios are designed to be that wide-banded on receive. It looks like the designers of this radio mayhaps wanted to focus on making a good GMRS radio instead of a Swiss Army radio.