SteveShannon

#faq This thread has some misinformation. FRS and GMRS have exactly the same channels. GMRS radios are allowed to communicate with FRS radios. The limitation on output power affects certain channels. It cannot be stated more clearly than the following quote from the regulations: Here are the FRS/GMRS shared channels: As far as what types of radios can transmit on which channels, here are those regulations: And here are the power limits:

I don't but there's a Vintage CB and Ham radio antenna group on Facebook that might be able to help you: https://www.facebook.com/groups/152311108969219/

That won't affect your radio stuff at all. Other than your power supply, nothing else plugs into the house service. Also, GFIs are sometimes sensitive to RF, so you don't want your radio power supply plugged into one.

He’s Jonathan.

Not that the 97s would provide more power, but that the transmit and receive filters in the duplexer wouldn’t have as much effect on each other and there would be less losses in the duplexer. But if you did that none of the radios with preprogrammed repeater channels would be able to use your repeater. Besides, if you look at 2 meter repeaters, you’ll see that the transmit and receive frequencies are only 0.6 MHz offset. The duplexer in the RT97s isn’t necessarily designed for the lowest loss. If you really want more power get a more powerful repeater in the first place.

Although lacking in narrative, his post simply seems to compare the cost and losses of LMR400 to those for the same length of 3/8” hardline, based on the calculator at QSL.net.

I spent 23 years working for an electric utility. I knew a lineman who was killed by “just 220”. It’s not the voltage. It only takes 0.10 amps to stop your heart. Hooking the mast to a separate ground is a mistake. If you’re planning to ground the mast, which isn’t a bad idea, you are required to connect that ground to your service ground, which should be right there where your service entrance is anyway. I’ll come back and post a link to a short and easy to understand article, here: https://reeve.com/Documents/Articles Papers/Reeve_AntennaSystemGroundingRequirements.pdf For your antenna feedline, you should ideally bring it into a lightning arrester first before bringing it into your house, but disconnecting it outside whenever it’s not in use will offer protection. Disconnecting it inside the house protects your radio but still gives lightning a path into your house.

Have you tried transmitting to it? Just in case they advertised the wrong output tone, try listening on 462.650 MHz with no receive tone.

GMRS frequencies are very limited and mostly close together and GMRS antennas tend to have wide ranges of low SWR.. As such there’s really no need for a tuner. Tuners are great when antennas must be used across multiple bands, as they frequently are in HF ham radio, but as Randy said, just cut the antenna to the right length according to directions or buy one that is pretuned. That’s true also for most uhf ham radio antennas.

This is a really good deal for a radio that’s small enough for a go-bag. $85 with a magnetic mount, but be sure you get a whip with a pl-259 because the mount is an so-239 (thanks to Fe2O3 for the catch!): https://www.radioddity.com/products/radioddity-db20g

I saw that too, but I’ve seen others do the same, including a lot of new people asking questions here, who make that same mistake. If you were to search for “GRMS” I bet you’d see a lot of examples of it. If it ever gets saved to your spell-check dictionary you’re taost.

I agree, but first someone would have to report the situation to the FCC.

It just so happens that the main site (www.mygmrs.com) has a shopping portal: https://shop.mygmrs.com Other purveyors are: https://www.radioddity.com https://baofengtech.com/shop/?swoof=1&pa_user=gmrs&pa_product-type=radio But as long as you pay attention to which store you’re buying from on Amazon, you should be fine. I buy lots of stuff from Amazon and I very seldom need to return anything but when I do it’s very simple. I usually only buy things that are shipped from Amazon, rather than a storefront I’ve never heard of.

Agreed. Having a radio that is certified for part 90 and part 95e, and could be flipped from a part 90 commercial (non-ham) frequency to a part 95e frequency would not seem to be a problem the way I understand the rules.

That would be fair.

Slow your roll, there, Tonya. What I said was: I agree with you that the regulations say that having the ability to easily configure a radio to transmit on frequencies in ham bands on GMRS radios excludes them from 95E certification. In fact, if you took the time you would see that I posted the same paragraph from the regulations.

We could bring them back here and vote on them?

Apparently, I am an idiot.

Okay, I think many of us recognize that an FAQs thread would have some value. So here’s what I propose. Start a new topic in the Guest forum called FAQs. Whenever we see a good answer to a question we consider an FAQ, we copy the question and it and add it to the FAQs. We ask a Rich to pin it to the top of the Guest forum. I recommend we keep the bickering away from there. For example, Iif I don’t agree with your interpretation of whether repeaters must identify, I should go somewhere else to argue and mark the question as ambiguous in the absence of an official ruling from the FCC. How does that sound? Steve

Not it!

Yeah, a decent FAQ or “Start Here” post could help with several of these questions, or just a referral to Notarubicon videos.

No. Being able to configure legal GMRS channels from external buttons isn’t what the regulations refer to. You can’t interpret a single sentence outside of the context of the entire paragraph.

But those aren’t GMRS radios where cost is king.

That’s pretty common. For the most part GMRS is something you buy to talk to friends or relatives who also have GMRS radios. If you want to meet new friends on the airwaves, ham radio is more fitting.

She isn’t saying that in this particular post; what she posted is the requirement in 95.1761(c). But she’s using it to support an incorrect interpretation. We have to consider the paragraph in its entirety. The buttons on the outside of your 935(g) don’t allow you to program your radio to a frequency capability not listed in 95.1763, so they’re not what this paragraph is talking about: (c) No GMRS transmitter will be certified for use in the GMRS if it is equipped with a frequency capability not listed in § 95.1763, unless such transmitter is also certified for use in another radio service for which the frequency is authorized and for which certification is also required. No GMRS transmitter will be certified for use in the GMRS if it is equipped with the capabilities to operate in services that do not require equipment certification, such as the Amateur Radio Service. All frequency determining circuitry (including crystals) and programming controls in each GMRS transmitter must be internal to the transmitter and must not be accessible from the exterior of the transmitter operating panel or from the exterior of the transmitter enclosure.