wrci350

I installed a gable mount about 2 1/2 years ago with a six foot top rail as a mast. Originally it had a Diamond X50NA dual-band ham antenna on it (about 5.5') and now I have a Comet CX-333 tri-band ham antenna on it, which is about 10' long. This is the one I used: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00UVMDT6E/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

https://www.qsl.net/co8tw/Coax_Calculator.htm Handy if you don't already have one bookmarked. If it were me, I would get 40 or 50 feet of LMR400 and put the antenna on the end of the house. Getting your antenna outside and up higher will more than likely offset any loss of power due to the longer coax run. But get *good* coax.

No need to be defensive ... many posters don't understand that "privacy" codes give you no privacy. Obviously you understand that. As far as 10 codes go, as others have said, think of those as verbal shorthand. The idea is that everyone on the channel understands what they mean. "10-4" is a great example.

https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-47/section-95.1733 In addition to the prohibited uses outlined in § 95.333 of this chapter, GMRS stations must not communicate: Coded messages or messages with hidden meanings (“10 codes” are permissible); I'm not sure if tones work the way you think they do. You're not "drowning out" anyone. If your radio is set with a receive tone and someone transmits with a different tone (or no tone) you won't hear them, but if you happen to transmit at the same time there will be interference. Tones also don't keep anyone from hearing you ... if a radio is set with no recieve tone, all traffic on that frequency will be heard.

I understand your reluctance ... but here's another suggestion. Try *reading* from the radio using each cable. If you can read from it, then chances are pretty good you can write to it as well. Even if the BTECH cable doesn't work, the chances of you hurting your radio are slight (and pretty much zero if you just try reading from it). You'll just get an error message in the programming software.

Where do you get that from? If it meant "control and mobile stations" it would say that. It doesn't. It says "stations". Repeaters are stations. I know that's what you THINK the rules say, or what you think they SHOULD say. That's not what they say.

Well, the cables may *look* the same, but they use different USB-to-serial chips. That may or may not matter ... I have run into programming software that will only work with a particular brand of chip, but most don't seem to care. I'm guessing you have a Wouxun radio but not a 9356? Have you tried programming it with the other cable?

Yes, but you felt the need to post, which implies that you think I am. ? I will be the first to agree that the FCC regulations can be difficult to read and understand. They are obviously written by (or at least edited by) a legion of lawyers. That does not mean they cannot be comprehended, nor does it mean they are full of inconsistencies, although there are certainly some. The fact that there is constant "discussion" of this particular requirement just highlights why I have a new favorite saying. There is nothing self-contradictory in 95.1751. The opening paragraph is: Each GMRS station must be identified by transmission of its FCC-assigned call sign at the end of transmissions and at periodic intervals during transmissions except as provided in paragraph (c) of this section. A unit number may be included after the call sign in the identification. Repeaters are GMRS stations. Therefor they must identify ... except for one case, which is spelled out in paragraph (c). If it is a private repeater (only used by people covered under the repeater owner's license) and the individuals identify correctly themselves, then the repeater doesn't have to ID. If a repeater does not meet the condtions in (c), then it needs to identify.

I agree it doesn't look like a "full redesigned radio board" but I see a lot more changes than that. On the front side of the board, there are a couple areas with multiple new surface-mount components to the right of and below the "2226" on the new board. I'm not too impressed with the big solder "blob" to the left of "2226" though! On the back, it is interesting that the original board is missing the RF shield (but maybe it was removed for the photo). There is also an IC on the old board that has been removed on the new one. Actually the third photo shows another IC that has been removed.

Perhaps I should have added another sentence. "It's called cross-band repeat ... because it's a repeater." So yes, that's fine between 2m and 70cm. But as @Sshannon notes, it's NOT fine between GMRS and MURS.

There are a number of amateur radios that do what you are suggesting but using 2m and 70cm frequencies. Guess what that feature is called? "Cross-band repeat".

OK three things: 1) "Ham" is not an acronym (unlike GMRS), so it's ham, not HAM. ? 2) Part 95 is a set of FCC *rules*, not laws. There is a difference. 3) Your statement about repeaters is incorrect. Why would 95.1751 spell out an exception for when a repeater didn't have to identify, if *no* repeater needs to identify? https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-47/section-95.1751 But that's OK, because I can use my new favorite saying. "There's what the FCC rules say, then there's what people THINK the FCC rules say, and finally there's what people think the FCC rules SHOULD say." ?

I do not have either of those radios so no experience with the RT Systems software for them, but I *do* have their software for pretty much every radio I own (including a Wouxun KG-UV7D), and I highly recommend their programming software. The answer to the second question is easy ... yes, you can buy one package that includes the cable and just buy the software (which can be downloaded) for the second. I think they make about seven or eight cables but they are used for multiple different radios each, so once you have that particular cable you don't have to buy it again. The USB-K4Y cable is used to program any radio with the typical K-type connector.

Ah. So not really "Line A" per se, but "4 out of 6 are in use" (rather than 4 out of 8). Now I get it!

Are they using 462.650/467.650 or 462.700/467.700? If not, then your point is what?

"Last month" like 2 1/2 weeks ago? ? We did. But we must not have solved the problem, since the discussion has come back. I almost weighed in on the other thread, I guess I should have. Definitely YMMV, but as I said in my earlier post, around here the "hams" on the GMRS repeaters ... aren't. It seems to me that there are individuals/organizations/websites/whatever that are advertising GMRS as something that (according to the FCC) it isn't. We see evidence of that almost every day on these forums. "I just got my GMRS license and I can't find any random people to talk to." That is NOT the stated purpose of GMRS. Is that type of usage forbidden? Not that I can see anywhere. But if people get their GMRS license with the thought that they can use GMRS to talk to random people (just like on a ham repeater) without having to take a test, guess what? That's what they are going to do! Again, YMMV. Personally I think it's silly for hams to go hang out on a GMRS repeater as if it were a ham repeater.

We have a number of GMRS repeaters in our area, including at least six that have been stood up in the past year. Of all those repeaters, I can only think of a couple examples of 'family' communications. The first was a small footprint one set up by a friend of mine that he used to check in with his mother-in-law every day. Unfortunately someone else stood up a high power repeater on the same pair that drowned him out, and I think he moved it to his camp. The second is a guy I've heard do a radio check with his (I think) brother-in-law that lives quite a distance away a few times through one of the large footprint repeaters. The rest of the traffic on the repeaters? Radio checks, "nets" or rag-chewing. One thing I've noticed that appears to be different in our area is that a lot of the repeater users are NOT hams. Yes, there are some GMRS users who also have an amateur license, but they appear to be in the minority.

It is highly unlikely that more bandwidth will ever be added to the 70cm ham band or to GMRS.

OK so are you hearing something like this? Or just static?

No. It's an analog radio. Actually, it might "pick up" P25, but all you would hear is a buzzing sound.

Hmmm. That sounds more like interference. Are there street lights at the end of your street? Traffic signals? Transformers?

Part 95 radios were not affected by the narrowbanding mandate. For whatever reason, Midland *was* selling radios that would only do narrow band, but there wasn't any regulatory reason for them to be doing so. I believe they have changed the firmware on all or most of them now so you can use either wide or narrow band. Part 90 radios WERE affected by narrowbanding, and the programming software sold by the big Part 90 radio companies will only allow narrow band out of the box. For Motorola, one can get a free entitlement that enables wideband by taking an online class and signing a pledge that states that wideband will only be allowed where it is permitted (i.e. amateur radio frequencies). I think the other vendors have something similar. I don't have any personal experience with Kenwood radios.

What you are hearing is a digital transmission, probably DMR. DMR is not permitted on GMRS, but that doesn't mean someone isn't using it.

Air is AM. I highly doubt that radio will do AM, even if "unlocked".

Yes, that's true.