gortex2

In the Astro 25 series mobiles, such as the XTL5000 remote mounts, each control head has their own speaker connection thus, each control head individually controls their respective speaker.

Our firm coordinated many public agencies to allow cross-band repeaters. The fire service is one of the major users of these for fire ground communications. But again, these were all operating in the same service under Part 90.20.

That’s what generally foils the whole idea not to mention repeaters, including cross-band types, are prohibited in MURS.
A variation of the cross-band idea is an in-band spilt frequency operation. Many radios can be programmed to receive on one frequency and transmit on another within the same band using an arbitrarily frequency offset.
The idea would require the GMRS user to transmit on a legal GMRS frequency and receive on a frequency in the Ham 70cm band. 
The Ham radio user would then transmit on a legal 70cm simplex frequency, which is programmed into the above GMRS radio for receive only, and receive on the GMRS transmit frequency programmed in the GMRS radio.
Nether radio requires modifications nor dual band operation. Just the ability to program in spilt UHF frequencies with an arbitrarily offset.
This operation in not legal either for the prior mentioned rules. The Ham station shall only contact other stations in the Amateur service. Also it could fall under the general prohibition to engage in one-way communications since the other station is NOT in the Amateur service. 

I wanted to point this scenario out before somebody dreams this case up and tries a convoluted argument this would pass under the rules. It won’t. 

As a Ham you’re limited to ONLY making contact with other stations which are licensed and operating in the amateur service of the US, or of the country the station is located in. Obviously GMRS is NOT a Part 97 service. As a Ham you should know this. I would recommend you get a copy of Part 97 rules and throughly read it. It’s pointless to waste time on something you can easy research yourself.

My personal opinion, we don't need Ham Radio 2.0 or Ham Lite. 
I think there MUST be a place for people who just want to talk to their family and friends without a bunch of bureaucratic steps and unnecessary roadblocks.  FRS is a wonderful service for exactly that.  For families that may need a bit more (maybe coverage of the family farm, for example), amateur radio may be too strict for the family needs but GMRS is a great next step.  The reduced audience is considered a plus, too.
 
 
Linking repeaters over the internet and tying up limited channel allocation is a bad idea, but I love seeing how far I can reach... radio to radio.

Sounds like what amateur radio is for. I have dual citizenship in amateur radio and GMRS. But I've never had the urge to use GMRS for any longer range than what my local GMRS repeater provides, which is (I'm guessing) maybe 100 miles at most. 

According to the FCCs of these United States, GMRS is intended primarily as a short-range personal type service, however "some people" often feel the uncontrollable urge to do their long-talker 'rag-chew' shenanigans wherever they can - like a dog peeing to mark its territory. Just like the dog-pee, "some people" stink it up for everyone else.
..Can't wait to see "some people" reply here.. You will know them when you see them.

Many folks don't want there repeaters connected. None of mine in NY or Virginia are connected. They are used for what they were intended for. Otherwise I pick up my cell phone. 

Buy an antenna for the service you want. If your using GMRS buying a HAM antenna isn't going to be the best. As said above the TRAM is a good option for cheap antenna. Although for the price f both of these antennas you could have bought the Laird FG4505 and been done at once. Make sure you trim the TRAM per the instructions. Im not convinced the gains they show are remotely accurate but thats another discussion.

I believe if the speaker is hooked to the head and not the deck it will allow individual volume control. Its been some time since I had a 90 series in a vehicle but our ambulances had them and we could control back to no volume while front is talking. 

This is local(ish) to me and i know some folks that are involved in this case. I would love to discuss this in detail, but it's not my story to tell. I will say that I do believe the pendulum is starting to swing the other way.

https://docs.fcc.gov/public/attachments/DOC-396533A1.pdf
 

https://docs.fcc.gov/public/attachments/DOC-396533A1.pdf
 

https://docs.fcc.gov/public/attachments/DOC-396533A1.pdf
 

As Steve & @marcspaz mentioned, GMRS is a "Bring Your Own Contacts" type of service.  Very utilitarian.  If someone is looking for strangers to chat with, I always recommend using the Grindr app. 

Well long time lurker, first time joining.  I have been looking into GMRS heavily for the past 6 month or so before making the leap. Before that I had plans on getting my HAM license but just did not have the motivation to go take the test.  Studied, have a good knowledge with my EE background and previous friends and family that are HAM operators.  For my needs GMRS will do all that I really need.  In the mountains here in Colorado the repeater network is going to be more key I imagine.  

Current Setup
1. Midland MTX-500 - mounted with a 3db Midland Ghost antenna,  Also have the base 2dB antenna and a 6dB Midland whip antenna.
2. Midland MTX-575J - (Wife had to have the Jeep Logo) with same antennas
3. A set of Midland GTX1000 - that I bought on a whim a few years back for some spotting.
4. Wouxun KG-UV6D - mobile unit I bought about 4 yrs back with a different HAM base station, that I have since kicked myself for getting rid of.
 
So far other than install and getting my proper GMRS Callsign, I have not had much time to do to much.  
 
Seems like the extra channels end up being the channels for 15-22 with different DCS codes for TX and RX  for simplex type of channels.   Then some for specific repeaters in your area, again with different combinations of DCS or CTCSC. 
In looking at the sight seems most of the groups are east coast based, Any from the Colorado front range anywhere?
 
Look forward to getting to know everyone, already seen some good tidbits that I am learning as we go.  If you have suggestions or places for information please feel free to post away!!!
 

So if I want to communicate with someone, I need my cell phone and radio tied together somehow?  I was thinking at that point I would just use my radio and ignore my cell phone.

Buy an antenna for the service you want. If your using GMRS buying a HAM antenna isn't going to be the best. As said above the TRAM is a good option for cheap antenna. Although for the price f both of these antennas you could have bought the Laird FG4505 and been done at once. Make sure you trim the TRAM per the instructions. Im not convinced the gains they show are remotely accurate but thats another discussion.

Buy an antenna for the service you want. If your using GMRS buying a HAM antenna isn't going to be the best. As said above the TRAM is a good option for cheap antenna. Although for the price f both of these antennas you could have bought the Laird FG4505 and been done at once. Make sure you trim the TRAM per the instructions. Im not convinced the gains they show are remotely accurate but thats another discussion.

Buy an antenna for the service you want. If your using GMRS buying a HAM antenna isn't going to be the best. As said above the TRAM is a good option for cheap antenna. Although for the price f both of these antennas you could have bought the Laird FG4505 and been done at once. Make sure you trim the TRAM per the instructions. Im not convinced the gains they show are remotely accurate but thats another discussion.

Channel 8-14 aren't supposed to be in mobiles so that's most likely why they didn't put them in. The rules state handhelds only.
The 221 is a much more solid radio than any of the CCR units. I run them for SAR work and have yet to have one go bad. 128 channels and scan works well. 

The high SWR with the Diamond X50A on GMRS isn't surprising, as it is way out of band for what the manufacturer designed it for.  Antenna is made for 2m/70cm, not 64cm, and it's not tunable.  The Tram 1486 is tunable so that the SWRs for GMRS (simplex and repeater inputs) can be significantly lower.  Once properly tuned the Tram 1486 should have an SWR of 1.5:1 or less across a 10 MHz bandwidth.  From what I understand the cutting/trimming chart that is provided with the antenna is quite accurate.

A RT97/Midland with 3' of LMR and antenna is ideal for what you want to do if you have 110V at the top of the silo. 

For 90% of my GMRS use I run the Midland 275 in all my Jeeps with a NMO 1/4 wave antenna. They are mostly used on trails with other jeeps and work well. In my work truck I run multiple APX8500's so will use one of them when needed. All are used on my repeaters and work well. 

A RT97/Midland with 3' of LMR and antenna is ideal for what you want to do if you have 110V at the top of the silo.