wrci350

Have you tried activating the keypad lock?

The letter says that the affecting repeaters had to drop to 5W while further investigation was done. The letter (and following thread) was from 2007. I read your "more headaches for 70cm" post and thought this was some "new" problem ... which it is not.

That installation has been there since 1980 I think, so this isn't anything new. Ham radio is secondary on 70cm. I think most hams that operate on 70cm use a mobile radio with a power supply, so they are running less than 50W anyways. Even the shack-in-a-box radios that do 100W on HF only do 45 or 50 on 70cm.

The only place that appears in Part 95 E is where it talks about data transmissions. Otherwise GMRS HTs may have detachable antennas, even if they can transmit on 8-14.

How dare you insert facts into this debate?

There's a huge difference between "some guy who is a ham proposed this" and "hams want this". Apparently A ham wants it; that doesn't mean that ALL hams want it! I am also fortunate to live in an area with a friendly, welcoming, and active ham community. Yes, there are some repeaters that see little or no traffic, but there are others that are quite busy (both 2m and 70cm) and there is at least one informal net every night for those who are into ragchewing. Sure, a lot of local hams are into contesting (some very much so) but that's not universally true. Oh, and there's at least one "ham radio" breakfast or lunch each week. As far as GMRS becoming ham-lite, it seems to me that a lot of the folks setting up all these linked repeaters and holding ragchew nets on GMRS are NOT hams. YMMV, of course.

No need to shout, really. Have you successfully programmed the Cotre ‎‎CO01D with a K-type cable that uses a chip other than the CH-340? If so, then that is different than the model that I purchased (‎CO06D). I always thought that all those cables were interchangeable too. Even though the Amazon listing called out that particular cable, when I ordered the radio I didn't bother ordering it, since I already had several other K-type cables that were known good and working. Much to my surprise and annoyance, none of those cables would work with the CO06D. And yes, I had the proper driver, and could program a different radio with the same cable plugged into the same USB port on the same computer. You don't know me, you don't know my level of technical expertise and experience programming radios, and you weren't here when I tried using other cables to program a Cotre CO06D. I offered that information hoping that I would save someone from the annoyance I experienced. If you think I'm wrong about a particular cable being needed I'm obviously not going to change your mind.

The "big deal" is that if someone already has a Baofeng programming cable it probably won't work, and they will need to buy a new one.

Yeah but that page mentions a cable with the CH-340 cable. Most of the CCR cables do NOT use that chip.

Can't speak directly to that model, but I did buy a different Cotre DMR radio (which is not currently available): https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09TW4CS58/ It's "OK". UHF only, seems to work fine on both analog and DMR repeaters. I haven't used it very much and am actually planning to sell it since I have better DMR radios. Not very polished; for example the software comes as a RAR and you just unpack it and run the executable out of that directory, it doesn't even install on your PC. It also requires a cable with the CH340 chip. I couldn't get it to program using any of the numerous other K-type cables I already had.

@WRYZ926If your post was a reply to mine, I think you missed the point. I'm not talking about Baofeng/Wouxun/Midland radios. The question is specifically about programming old Part 90 radios for use on GMRS. I'll say it again. I fully acknowledge that an old Motorola or Kenwood LMR mobile is a "better" radio than any of the current off-the-shelf GMRS radios. But IMHO the folks who recommend them are not taking into account the barriers that a brand new user will encounter trying to go that route. Let's pretend for a second that I'm a brand new GMRS user who doesn't know anything about radios. First barrier is getting a good working radio at a decent price. I start looking on eBay (because I am unaware of any other sources). Is that the right model number and band split? What does "band split" even mean? Does it come with a microphone and mounting bracket? Is $xxx a good price? Does the thing even WORK??? The second and even higher barrier is programming my new radio. "Gee I've heard lots about this 'CHIRP' thing. Does that work for my radio?" (And of course the answer is 'no'.) OK then what DO I need, and where do I find it? The answer I see all the time is, "Oh it's available on the Internet". That's less than helpful. Where do I look? What am I looking for? What if I subscribe to the "I don't download random software from sketchy locations on the Internet and install it" philosophy? I'll say it once more. Not arguing that a Part 90 radio isn't a "better" solution. Just trying to highlight that telling a new user "Just get a used commercial radio" isn't helpful for most of them.

Thanks for your response, but I wasn't asking you. "Software is free and easily found on the net." So it's pirated? Or on some sketchy website? Can I use Google to find it, or do I have to use some other search engine? I see the recommendation to use a Part 90 radio for GMRS all the time, both in these forums and on other sites. I get it. Some of the old ones actually have Part 95 certification, and they ARE better radios technically (sensitivity/selectivity/etc.). BUT ... the people who make that recommendation either already have the programming software, or they "know a guy" (or "know a site") that has it. The average new GMRS user is not in that category. They want to buy a radio and be able to download the programming software from the vendor's website, or go get CHIRP, and program their radio. They aren't interested in paying $$ for programming software, or "finding it on the net", and then searching for some special programming cable.

YMMV. Here? A few kids during school breaks, a daycare center that is using FRS radios, and once in a while a road crew using them for flag people.

And how did you program it?

Go read it again. It says you cannot use 19 and 21 above Line A in the US (i.e. close to Canada). As others have said, "GMRS" in Canada is more akin to FRS in the US. No repeaters, lower power, etc.

Because they are so close to the repeater input frequencies. It's to minimize potential interference with repeaters. (c) 467 MHz main channels. Only mobile, hand-held portable, control and fixed stations may transmit on these 8 channels. Mobile, hand-held portable and control stations may transmit on these channels only when communicating through a repeater station or making brief test transmissions in accordance with § 95.319(c). The channel center frequencies are: 467.5500, 467.5750, 467.6000, 467.6250, 467.6500, 467.6750, 467.7000, and 467.7250 MHz. (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. They are only .0125 MHz away from the repeater inputs.

Type-accepted GMRS mobiles don't transmit on those channels because they aren't allowed to: 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. Note that it says "hand-help portable" only. Nothing to do with power limits. Probably more a case of "mobile GMRS radios don't go down to .5W because there is no point" rather than "can't transmit there because the minimum power is too high". I'm sure you wouldn't transmit there from a (non type-accepted) mobile, because you dont' want to take a chance of interfering with a repeater on an adjacent frequency.

Except that it's not. "Family" radio service or not, commercial use of FRS radios is OK. https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-47/section-95.503 Not saying that bubble-pack FRS radios would be the best choice for a school although I know there are many that use them. But there are LOTS of commercial entities using FRS radios, and even some government ones. One example? Flaggers for a paving or other road construction crew. Short distance, not emergency services, cheap solution works fine. I know of at least one local town that does this. Sure, their trucks have commercial radios on a DMR frequency, but the two people holding the stop signs on either side of the paving operation are using FRS. The FCC isn't going to hunt them down and impose a 10K fine, not just because enforcement of FRS rules is at the bottom of their list, but because they aren't doing anything against regulations.

If you just want to *listen*, you can have two radios share an antenna. Unless you use a multicoupler (or some other amplified setup) each radio will only get half the signal, which will negatively affect what you can hear. If you want to *transmit* then the short answer is, "NO". You can't transmit through a multicoupler, and if you are just using a T-connector then the second you hit the PTT on one radio you will almost certainly fry the receiver on the other one. You can put in an antenna switch, which connects one radio at a time to the antenna and isolates the other one, but that probably defeats the purpose of having two radios at opposite ends of the house unless you can live with just selecting one of them to be "active" at a time. Maybe have just one radio and turn up the volume?

You're way behind on that one. I think it was the second or third post for me.

Oh really? Did my "You must be new here" comment bother you that much? (BTW ... I knew you weren't new. That was a joke.) All the required digital settings? Really? OK I'll bite. What color code and talkgroup are we going to use on DMR GMRS? What if I don't like those settings, because there is another repeater a few miles away that is using them? Here's my opinion. If someone wants to get into DMR, they need to get their Technician license. I read every day how easy that is, so shouldn't be a significant barrier. One of the FCC rules for GMRS is (to paraphrase) "play nicely with others". A DMR repeater does not play nicely with analog users.

Oh I understood it perfectly, and I understand this one perfectly too. But thanks for making nasty comments about me because I don't agree with you. GMRS is intended to be a "purchase off the shelf" communication service. Sorry that you don't agree with that either. Yes, there are those who use GMRS the way FCC intended it to be used, and those who want to make it another UHF amateur radio service without a license test. I don't think I said anything about what kind of radios would be sold and by whom. What I said was that the average person who was new to GMRS would have a really hard time programming a DMR radio. I'm really happy for you that "your users" didn't have any trouble programming a DMR radio to use your repeater. How many users do you have? 10? 50? 1000? If you think that automatically extends to every GMRS user in the US, you are wrong.

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.

Yeah I have a Wouxun KG-UV7D (2m/6m) that I bought a year or so ago. Because 6m. Every time I grab it off the shelf the battery is dead. Fortunately I have spares so I can just grab another one.

https://www.amazon.com/Radioddity-GM-30-Handheld-Receiving-Overlanding/dp/B08SLR7W7F/ A little bit more, but a better radio IMHO. And Black Friday sale!