gortex2

I'm guilty too. specially when in a group and no one uses their call sign (CS).   We usually have an intro going to trails early in the morn.  Names are mentioned etc.  Would actually be a wonderful time to start the effort and use their CS just to stay in practice (and legal).  Kinda like running through intersections in the woods and not looking both ways for cross-traffic.  It becomes a relaxed atmosphere and no one pays it any mine...  Yes there are those that do not have a license too.  A cool shoulder might be enough to push them in the right direction.
And why can't JJAMUSA require it as a part of their entry requirements?  I'll ask.  I think I know what the answer is all ready.

Thought I'd share my opinion on the MXT115 for various uses. 
I started with the MXT115 for my parents. Simple and cheap. Since then I installed one in our Kubota RTV for around the property as well as on my Kubota BX. I have 10+ acres as well as neighbors etc. I run a GR300 with 25 watts out of the duplexer into a DB404 at 30' at home. It works great for a 5 miles area (way more than needed). 
We are planning a trip to the GC this summer and plan to take the jeep and our new CTC. While setting the trailer up I decided to have GMRS, and WX. Ended up just sticking another MXT115 in the CTC. Small yet perfect for our use. Our CTC runs off a Jackery 300 that gets charged during the day while we drive. Again simple and effective. As with all Midland stuff I threw the supplied antenna in the dumpster and installed a Larsen HF NMO mount in the roof with a 1/4 wave antenna. I can pick up 3 WX channels at home in my driveway on the 1/4 wave so most likely stick with it. I do have a Larsen Triband I plan to bring in case I need better. I run the Tri-Band on the JT for my 8500 anyway.
Our main use for the trip will be to talk to wife or myself when using the MSI talk about we carry also. Mostly campground communications when at bath house or shower. 
Anyway wanted to share. I plan to get a few more when i come home from my trip for our other utility vehicles around the property. Love midland or hate them these are all over in use for stuff like I am using them for. 

Yep, anyone that want the ability to Rag Chew with the Drama BS of 11m CB, GMRS isn't the solution. Amateur Radio is the solution, because GMRS is intended for semi privite communications between family members or organizations, such CERT or Neighborhood Watch Programs. Of course, there are GMRS systems that are design to be what Amateur Radio Systems are.

Very unlikely. If one wants VHF access use MURS. Want HF access use 11M CB radio. Want more channels, power, repeaters and bands get a Ham license. That's going to be their logical response.

I don't think ANYONE was actually talking about repeaters on MURS. 
Michael needs something to comment on in every post he see's.  If he can't find it he will try to make something up. 
We were discussing a different topic all together.  Yes, we hijacked the thread.  Talked about commercial radio stuff, not MURS. 
My advice Michael, go down to the Home Depot, Lowes or whatever home improvement center you prefer,  get some lumber, hammer and nails.  Drag it all home, and build a bridge, so you can GET OVER IT.
If that is too much to handle.  Go to the toy store, find Lincoln Logs.  There were plans for a fine bridge in there.  Knock yourself out.  You can feel some level of accomplishment that you created something worthwhile. 

It's interesting to go back through a thread and see what you missed.
Mark, you are charging 3K for licensing fees BEFORE the 500 for the coordinator.  I guess we need to be charging WAY more for that.  We just charge the 500 plus markup.
Malls with 70 watts ERP.  That is a failure of the vendor pure and simple.  The ERP on the license is a NOT TO EXCEED amount of power.  If they NEED to be running 70 ERP, then you configure the system to do that.  If they only need 10 watts ERP then the vendor should be turning down the power to that level and doing range checks to see that the coverage meets the customer requirements and doesn't go any further.  If you aren't doing that, you really should be.  I come across a BUNCH of that chasing interference issues.  Of course the problems arise when you attempt to talk to a frequency owner that is causing interference by running more than their legal ERP  (happens a BUNCH) or they are excceding their needed coverage area.  The first one is simple enough to deal with.  If you can prove out the excessive power with a field strength vs distance calculation it all gets submitted to the FCC and they put a letter in the mail to the license holder of record.  Vendors RARELY take into account the true ERP when they put up an antenna system.  They will park a DB-420 in the air with 9 dBi of gain and have 40 feet of feed line feeding it with a 100 watt radio. Figuring for cable loss and duplexer loss they are at 70 watts to the base of the antenna and their ERP is actually 560 watts.  Not taking into account HAAT gain.  Which outside of broadcasting, NO ONE does and is NOT required due to antenna height being on the license.  Antenna's Rarely are above the listed max height the license, but that does happen at times as well. 
The other thing no one mentioned here is the radio enthusiasts that have 110 watt radios that they wanted to fill with frequencies.  And the MURS, FRS, GMRS, and Itinerant frequencies ALL go in them at full power.   Can't tel you the number of high power Spectra and Astro Spectra radio's I have seen that had that stuff in them programmed at 100 watts.  Connected to a high gain HAM antenna in their vehicles.  I don't see much of that from vendors, it's typically ham's and other radio guys that are doing it.  And really don't understand they can't or don't care.  They will print off a frequency chart of Itinerant and license-less frequencies and go to town with putting them in their radios. 
 
 

AS BAD A BAOFENG!

My guess is a quality radio may not see that issue either. Granted high power next to any radio can cause issues but a radio with little to no filtering on the recevier doesn't help things.

We use MURS all the time when our jeep club gets together.

Nope. Sorry Im not a fan of nets. They should be on Ham radio in my opinion. A national net just ties up repeaters when no one is listening to them.

I'd like to see NXDN or P25 Phase 1 allowed. NXDN is 6.25kHz (which seems to be the way the FCC is heading anyway), and P25 sounds good. I don't see the attraction for DMR, so that, to me, is out.

I just wonder how well it's going to work since the cable/wires are not shielded. The cable/wires go right through in close proximity to the RF power stage. You might have been better off punching a hole in the bottom or side of the face plate and running the cable through there.
As a side note I have one of these radios and I'm not impressed with the receiver performance. The radio has poor selectivity in the presence of strong in band signals. A few channels I've had to lockout due to fire paging calls, some from 10+ miles away, showing up on channels I'm sure they really don't operate on.  I don't pick these calls up on my other radios. I guess for a $110 CCR ,what I paid, that shouldn't be a big surprise.

My great uncle passed away and his family has a Radio Shack 19-1210 MURS Business Band radio pretty much new in box with all the accessories $65.

Think in terms of driver and passenger/navigator in off road racing or similar...loud environment, hearing protection, probably helmets.
Intercom lets them talk within the vehicle without needing to yell, and also allows interfacing headsets (hearing protective or not, with or without helmet) with the radio to communicate with a base, crew, or chase vehicle.

See that very last line? re-read it. As long as the person using the station(repeater) properly IDs there is no requirement for the repeater to ID. Thank you have a nice day.

It's been discussed way more times then i can count on this site alone and the consensus is that they do not have to ID. If they did have to ID don't you think a crapload of repeater owners would have already been ticketed/fined/ whatever by the FCC for not IDing? And we would have heard about it from them? I think so. Your interpretation of those regs is different than other peoples interpretations of those regs. I trust the explanation/interpretation given by someone else who runs multiple repeaters that are part of this very linked system as it would be in his best interest to have a very good understanding of the issue or not.

Simply put, that can be complied with manually by simply identifying the repeater at the end of a conversation or every fifteen minutes during long conversations. 

It would be just the family under my call sign

Ok, I thought it was saying no tone, From what I have read I do not think I need it to send a call sign if it is private. So that might work.

Do you mean the RT97 won’t do tones for tone squelch, like CTCSS or DCS?  It does both.
Here’s the manual: https://www.retevis.com/Download/mannual/RT97_English_Manual.pdf
The RT97 cannot easily be set up to automatically send a call sign, either in voice or Morse code.  The RT97s has a port that might support it though.

I only live in California, so I can only speak for California. Ask MichaelLAX. He assumes to know everything.

"Was your friend pulled over in California; I doubt it."
Yes, he was.
"Note the bolded statements in your quote..."
I know what I wrote. It was well-thought-out, well-written, and to the point, and I meant every word.

I'll be sure to explain to my friend that it was only pure urban myth when he got pulled over because his ham radio license plate returned nothing until he explained to the cop that he needed to change the vehicle type code to "H". Vanity plates have a  vehicle type code "A" like every other standard-issue passenger car plate, which is generally the default. California ham radio plates are not vanity plates, they're ham radio plates. Thanks for the heads-up though. Good information.

That's sort of strange. Any Ham call plates I've seen from other states were rather distinctive. 
So in California they have to run the call sign plate through the system differently from other types? That seems weird the system can't figure it out on it's own. I would suspect people are telling BS stories.

Its all about how many people will do it. Normally a petition to the DMV will result in a new plate. We tried to get SAR plates in NY and never got enough "wants" for the state to do it.