SteveShannon

You are wrong. Free means you don’t pay. Open access means you don’t have to ask permission.

A 100 watt radio needs about 23 amps. A 50 watt radio needs about half that, maybe 12-15 amps.

@JoCoBrian deserves full credit. In response to a post decrying the apparent lost of a repeater, I asked the original poster (OP) why he had gotten a GMRS license in the first place. JoCoBrian stepped up and gave a great answer and I realized this might be a good general interest question. I’ve been fascinated with radio as long as I can remember. My parents had one of those tall wooden consoles with a radio and record player and before I was school age I took it apart. Then in the 60s I became interested in two way radios while watching The Man from U.N.C.L.E. Every time a company came out with some kind of small walkie talkie I begged my folks for a set. In eighth grade I became interested in ham radio but I never followed through (a trait I still have). When I got into amateur rocketry a couple decades ago I noticed that people were carrying real radios. Eventually my mentor got a Garmin and I bought a less expensive Motorola Talkabout to talk to him. But neither of us were licensed. I signed up for an FRN in probably 2004 or 2005 but didn’t want to spend the money to buy the license. It took quite a few years but a few years ago (2021 I think) my conscience finally got the better of me. I got a license and started watching Notarubicon videos. Within a few months my interest in ham radio resurrected itself as well and in 2022, I took all three tests. But I still want a Man from U.N.C.L.E. communicator! So, why did you get a GMRS license?

Great answer, and although (as you understood) was really asking the OP, I will take your hint that it might be a good general topic. I’ll start a new thread for it.

Why did you get a GMRS license in the first place?

If you’re using the request function on this site, you’ll hopefully receive an answer that appears in your control panel where it says “My Requests”. Sometimes it takes a while. No secret knock, just your call sign, but in many cases the owner provides you with the input tone needed to access the site. Yes, sometimes, if the repeaters are linked together as part of a network, but most repeaters are not linked together and it’s an ongoing controversy whether it’s permissible under the regulations or even whether it’s something desirable. Keep in mind that if you link two repeaters together and you speak on them, everything you say is heard by folks listening on any of the linked repeaters. You might not like that and they might not either. I have no experience using linked GMRS repeaters. I don’t really even have a strong opinion on the question of compliance. There are none in my area. Also, there’s little to be gained by tagging me individually. I have no special powers or knowledge. I don’t know all the answers and someone who does know the answer to your specific question might not answer if you appear to be limiting your question to an individual member.

That’s usually an inadequate power supply. The voltage sags and the radio reboots.

The MT350R was sold as a combination GMRS and FRS radio before the FCC changed the rules for both services. Some channels at that time were GMRS only and some were FRS only. As such, it was marketed as a combination GMRS/FRS radio. I think I still have a couple Motorola walkie talkies similar to those and a couple similar Midland radios that claim five watts. But it was never programmed to transmit on the repeater input frequencies, the 467 MHz Main Channels, or with an offset, so while you’ll be able to listen to repeaters you’ll not be able transmit to them. They are still usable with your GMRS license or using them as FRS radios, just not on repeaters. The good news is that there has never been a time when more inexpensive GMRS were available.

You’re wrong.

It's possible to be slightly off from 5.000 MHz and still be well within the rules for GMRS. It's nitpicking, but there's nothing in the rules that specify a 5 MHz offset. What is required is that the repeater input frequencies come from the 467 MHz main channels and that repeaters transmit only on the 462 MHz main channels. But, doing that breaks the repeater channels for all certified 95E radios.

I can understand that, but it really is easy to get a technician license. Then the eight channel limit is a thing of the past.

How are linked GMRS repeaters less cumbersome than ham radio? With eight repeater channels in total, and untrained users operating in panic mode on both the repeaters and on the eight simplex channels that share frequencies with those repeaters, linking GMRS repeaters, except on a prearranged published schedule like an amateur radio sked or net, could be useless. You're better off using personal services for proximate communications and get your news from battery powered receivers capable of tuning HF and the broadcast bands.

Collapsed? If one of my friends who worked for an enforcement group called me and gave me a heads up that might keep me out of an enforcement action, I would not argue. I would simply say “Thanks!” And take their advice. An early warning system is nice to have. Why argue with them?

What did you try? Setting the default program?

Customer Programming Software

The default program to open .KG files was somehow set to Notebook. That’s an easy thing to fix but it doesn’t mean that your radio will be damaged. Right click on a kg file, click on open with, choose the name of the Wouxun CPS, and click on “Always use this program “.

What about it? I guess I don’t understand what you’re having trouble with… What is it that you think has changed?

Why? Always read from the radio first, but if it reads from the radio okay you should be able to write to it.

This! If a person only goes where there’s guaranteed cell service (that’s not overlanding!), and only wants to talk to one person at a time (possibly two) and doesn’t want the convenience of pushing one button, and doesn’t need to monitor others in the party, then cell phones are fine.

That’s because you’re trying to write the wrong frequencies. Most likely you have it configured as a ham radio and you’re trying to write GMRS frequencies to it. Or you’re trying to write the frequencies to the wrong channels, such as a repeater frequency to a simplex channel. Please! Give us information we can use to help you, such as receive frequency, transmit frequency, and which channel you’re trying to write to.

Yes

FCC writes the regulations.

I agree.

I suspect that was just a timing thing. After creating the page on Wikipedia and then coming here and posting a link, Wikipedia probably quarantined it while their bots made sure it was Wikipedia worthy.

Yes. Almost all repeaters have either CTCSS (aka PL) or DTCSS (DPL) to prevent being activated by every random transmission.