wrci350

@WROZ250 I'm curious which authorized resellers have raised the prices. I just checked all the ones I've purchased from (Adafruit, Sparkfun, Pishop.US, The Pi Hut) and of course none of them HAVE any RPIs, but they are still showing the MSRP. Interestingly enough, I also checked Mouser and Digikey and while Digikey's prices seem to match MSRP, Mouser's are higher, but only by a few bucks, not double or anything like that. One thing to note is that Amazon is NOT an authorized reseller. If you had looked on Amazon for RPIs a year or two ago, you would have found lots of accessories but no actual boards. Now, you can find LOTS of boards for sale, at tremendously inflated prices. How about an RPi 3B+, which should cost $35, for $239??? I think I'll pass, thanks. But if you look at the listings, they aren't actually being sold by Amazon. The order might ship from an Amazon warehouse, but it's a third-party seller. At lot of them don't even ship from Amazon but directly from the seller.

It's not the authorized resellers that are doing this, so don't blame them. They are still selling them for the official price. Check a few of their websites and you'll see that's the case. These are people who are buying RPis from the authorized resellers (at the MSRP) and turning around and offering them at jacked-up prices. Is that illegal? No. Is it unethical? I would argue that it is, especially when these folks are using things like bots that monitor the authorized reseller websites and as soon as there are any RPis available they buy 100 or 1000. I don't think many hobbyists have those resources available to them. That's why many (hopefully all) of the resellers have taken measures to prevent this. Here's the word from Raspberry Pi: https://www.raspberrypi.com/news/production-and-supply-chain-update/ I didn't mean to take us off into a discussion on the ethics of the free market. Personally I find it disturbing that I can't just order a couple RPis any time I want like I could a year or so ago. Fortunately I have a small stockpile (we're talking 3 or 4, not 3 or 4 hundred!) that I can use for any projects I am working on. I might even be willing to part with one or two. $1500 sounds like a good starting bid. ?

The official price for Raspberry Pi boards has not gone up one cent. Unfortunately, like many other things, they are in short supply due to the ongoing chip shortage and other logistical challenges. There are people out there that are buying them (usually in quantity) from an authorized reseller when they are available and turning around and selling them at rip-off prices. Many of the legit resellers are taking measures to prevent that from happening, but they are still very hard to locate. And yes, Asterisk (including the Allstar flavor) will run on a PC running Linux.

I do not have a DB20-G, but I think I know the answer anyways so I downloaded and installed the Radioddity CPS, which is very similar to the software for a number of other Chinese radios. If you are using the software, hit the ">>" under "More" for the channel you are trying to configure and it will bring up a dialog with all the parameters. Right under the "CTCSS/DCS Decode" and "CTCSS/DCS Encode" boxes, you'll see one called "Squelch Mode". Set it to "CTCSS/DCS". If you are programming by hand, look for the corresponding menu item and change it from "Carrier" to "CTCSS/DCS". Please let us know if that fixes the issue. If you've already done that, then I would say the firmware has a bug, since it's opening squelch for any signal (carrier) rather than only for one with that Decode tone.

Sorry, wasn't trying to be a jerk, I was just genuinely curious. One thing I have found out about GMRS (mostly from this site and other on-line forums, but also from checking out the local situation as far as repeaters and usage) is that it's very much a "YMMV" (Your Mileage May Vary) situation. As one can see by the number of folks that post and say, "I got my license but there are no repeater near me" or "I got my license and programmed the local repeaters but I don't hear anyone" there are many areas of the country where there is little to no GMRS activity. In other areas, there are multiple repeaters on each channel and LOTS of folks talking. The "normal" usage also seems to vary. In some places it seems restricted to family members checking in with each other; in others there are lots of conversations between different license holders, many of whom don't know each other, more like a ham repeater. There are even repeaters where they run a weekly 'net', again, more like a ham repeater. A quick look told me that there are nets on the myGMRS network too, but I'm talking about local nets. I am not personally familiar with the myGMRS linked network since none of the repeaters in western or central NY are linked into it. So you're not going to be talking to me unless you happen to be in my area and hit one of the local repeaters. So please educate me. Is the myGMRS network a good place to make random contacts?

Just curious ... who are you hoping to talk to?

Behave, or the sad hams will haunt your dreams tonight. ? ?? Sorry, I don't see a "ham" emoji.

@WRFP399Side bar comment: It's "ham", not "HAM". The word is not an acronym, and shouldn't be in all capital letters anymore than RADIO or REPEATER. ? As @BoxCar said, "your family" cannot get "a ham license"; amateur radio licenses are for an individual. Here's the FCC's definition of GMRS: "A mobile two-way voice communication service, with limited data applications, for facilitating activities of individual licensees and their family members, including, but not limited to, voluntary provision of assistance to the public during emergencies and natural disasters." The scenario you describe, where you use GMRS as communication during an emergency or during recreational activities, matches the FCC's stated purpose for the service. People can and do use amateur radio to do the same things, but (at least around here) that would be the exception rather than the rule. Most of the time hams are talking to someone is not a member of their family, and quite often it will be someone they don't even know. A lot of the traffic on the ham bands IS just "simple voice communications". Many hams enjoy rag-chewing, which is just getting on the air and talking to other hams about anything and everything. With a Technician amateur radio license you can use 2m and 70cm (plus some other bands) and that is where most of the repeaters are. There are a lot more frequencies available for repeaters in the 70cm band than there are in GMRS, and as @BoxCar mentioned some repeaters are linked into networks. (Yes, I know that is true of some GMRS repeaters too.) A lot of 70cm ham repeaters have been around for a long time and have great locations and huge footprints, which is not true of most GMRS repeaters. On the VHF side, you can run a lot more power on 2m than you can on MURS (think 80 or 100 watts instead of 2!). MURS also does not allow repeaters. As a general rule, you can talk further on VHF than UHF, and I quite often will talk 2m simplex to someone who is 20 or 30 miles away. If I was using a 5 watt GMRS HT at my house I would be lucky to talk to someone a mile away due to the terrain. As far as range goes, there is a 2m repeater about 30 miles from here that I can hit with an HT (running about 5 watts) and that repeater has a footprint of 40-50 miles in all directions from its location. Hopefully that helps. If not, the takeaway should be "ham" not "HAM"! ?

No, they just suck.? They are kept alive due to inertia. They are the "standard" connectors, so everyone continues to use them.

Ah I missed that, thanks. Which makes sense (in a way) since it talks about using the duplexer with two KG-1000G radios, which (of course; see my previous post) have SO-239 connectors too. There is nothing that prohibits one from having a cable with PL-259 on one end and N on the other, but those are probably much less common than jumpers with the same connectors on either end.

I don't see that, but I only gave the listing a quick glance. Perhaps it was referring to the fact that, in spite of their misleading name ("UHF connectors"), PL-259/SO-239 connectors really aren't that great for UHF. N connectors are much better (and are more waterproof). Unfortunately most consumer-grade UHF radios (70cm or dual-band ham, GMRS) and antennas come with SO-239 connectors, probably because the manufacturers don't want to be the odd man out where an adapter is needed if the coax has PL-259s on it. With that said, I *am* a bit surprised that a UHF repeater and duplexer are using UHF connectors. Silly question: Are you sure they aren't N?

Where did you read that? In general, the higher the frequency, the higher the coax loss. While LMR400 is by no means perfect, it's much better for UHF and 800 meg than say, RG-58.

Yes @MichaelLAX is spot on. @Lscott, you quoted the FRS rules. There is no corresponding prohibition on removable antennas anywhere in the GMRS rules, which DO allow transmission (using an HT only) on 8-14 with 0.5 watt and narrow (12.5) bandwidth. As you stated yourself, if you are using an FRS radio, you are under FRS rules and if you have a GMRS license and are using a GMRS radio, you are under GMRS rules. The GMRS rules say nothing about removable antennas.

To summarize, yes FRS and GMRS can interoperate legally, and yes, the user needs to follow the rules for the service they are using. If you are a licensed GMRS user using a GMRS radio (repeater-capable, higher power), you need to follow the GMRS rules which include having to ID periodically, even if you are talking on a simplex channel to someone using an FRS HT. Now, is anyone going to know or care if you don't ID? Probably not, but the rules do require it. As far as the question about GMRS HTs that can legally be used on channels 8-14, the answer is "absolutely they exist", and the ones I'm familiar with will allow you to change the power and bandwidth for 1-7 and 15-22, but are locked "Low" and "Narrow" for 8-14.

Your question was answered in the Guest forum, where you first posted it: https://forums.mygmrs.com/topic/3926-can-a-gmrs-station-talk-to-a-frs/#comment-39147

Good summary except for this. There is no prohibition against a removable antenna for operating on channels 8-14. The only requirement is that the radio must be an HT. So a GMRS-certified HT can have a removable antenna and still transmit on those channels as long as the rest of the rules are followed (narrow bandwidth, low power). (d) 467 MHz interstitial channels. Only hand-held portable units may transmit on these 7 channels. The channel center frequencies are: 467.5625, 467.5875, 467.6125, 467.6375, 467.6625, 467.6875, and 467.7125 MHz. OP, you can read the regulations for FRS and GMRS here: https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-47/chapter-I/subchapter-D/part-95?toc=1

It is almost impossible to accurately measure SWR on an HT antenna. An HT antenna is designed to work while attached to the HT, which is being held in your hand. The radio and your body form the ground plane for the antenna. If you detach the antenna and use jumpers to connect a meter and set the radio on the desk, you won't get accurate SWR readings. So feel free to test out your meter to get familiar with it, but don't be shocked if you get really high readings. Like @OffRoaderX said, SWR readings should NOT vary with power. If they do, then your meter isn't very good.

Sorry, but I fail to see the point you are trying to make. That's not an FRS radio, it's a GMRS radio. Yes, someone can buy it and install it and use it without a license. That's true of any GMRS radio.

My name is not "Allen", but if you would like to call me "Mr. Allen" that would be fine. And which part of your post did I miss?

That's a GMRS radio, not FRS. The only difference is that if someone uses it without a GMRS license then they are in violation of FCC regulations.

No one is going to "do that", since it's not allowed by the FRS rules. So step one would be "petition the FCC to change the rules".

Yes, I said that in an earlier post. ? But with so few channels, I have no idea how widely that happens in the GMRS world.

Those aren't fixed stations. "Base station. A station at a fixed location that communicates directly with mobile stations and other base stations." So two base stations talking to each other are ... base stations. Honestly I cannot think of where a "fixed station" would be used in GMRS. The key difference is that a fixed station talks ONLY to other fixed stations.

§ 95.1767 GMRS transmitting power limits. This section contains transmitting power limits for GMRS stations. The maximum transmitting power depends on which channels are being used and the type of station. (a) 462/467 MHz main channels. The limits in this paragraph apply to stations transmitting on any of the 462 MHz main channels or any of the 467 MHz main channels. Each GMRS transmitter type must be capable of operating within the allowable power range. GMRS licensees are responsible for ensuring that their GMRS stations operate in compliance with these limits. (1) The transmitter output power of mobile, repeater and base stations must not exceed 50 Watts. (2) The transmitter output power of fixed stations must not exceed 15 Watts. A "fixed station" and a "base station" are not the same. You have to dig around to find the definitions, which are here: 47 CFR § 95.303 - Definitions. Base station. A station at a fixed location that communicates directly with mobile stations and other base stations. Fixed station. A station at a fixed location that directly communicates with other fixed stations only. If you have a GMRS mobile connected to a power supply and an external antenna on top of your house, that's a base station. A point-to-point RF link between two repeaters would be an example of fixed stations.

You won't find a dedicated 2M SSB radio either, unless you look for something used (and fairly old).