SteveC7010

I am not familiar with the Tera's, but if they have standard connector (BNC or similar) for the antenna, you should be able connect to any SWR meter that also measures power and reflected power. It won't be precise since most meters are really designed for mobiles of 10 watts rf or greater. But it will give you a good idea. To do it right, you need a quality watt meter like a Bird or similar. Big bucks for the home hobby person! If there's no connector, just a screw-in antenna, there should be a BNC adapter available somewhere online to do this. I know there is one for my Motorola portables.

I think you've summarized it pretty well. I haven't seen CTCSS (or digital) on simplex at all. CSQ is the way to go unless there is some kind of local interference.

You can pick up an Ed Fong J-Pole kit off Ebay for around $25. You'll need to purchase a piece of pvc pipe locally. Instructions come with the antenna. As for a mast, something like this might be good for you: http://www.ebay.com/itm/13-Foot-Telescoping-Mast-Tripod-For-Portable-Antennas-Elevated-Cameras-WiFi-/191937470658 I did a search on ebay using mast tripod as key words. There were several other good possibilities in the search results. The antenna that Pastor Gary mentioned would work just as well. Really, most any small base station antenna for your frequency range will work fine. The heavier ones will need a sturdier mast and tripod. For your purposes, you're only limited by your ingenuity and imagination. There are lots of good solutions. I suggest you look at some of the setups that hams use for go kits. They're easily found on the web at various amateur radio websites.

You really need to give us a better idea of what you have and how you intend to use it. The antenna itself may not be as critical as how you plan to erect it when you set up. My radio club has a rollup J-pole that they fasten to a 15' extendable post and bungee to one leg of their shelter. It works great, but may not be so useful to others. More info from you means better suggestions from us. And what's your budget?

And that probably is why bubble pack radios are no where near the full wattage allowed, usually by a factor of half or greater.

Why go to all that trouble? You have to be within range of their GMRS radio to hear them, and they have to be within range of your 2M to hear you. If you try to accomplish this through someone's repeater in either or both directions, you'll probably incur the wrath of the owner(s) quite promptly. Like Bill suggests, just use GMRS to communicate with your family members and be done with it.

On that, we are both in total agreement. However, if the user keeps the radio in low power FRS mode, there's no reason they can not use the lower 7 channels. But then that begs the issue of radios being sold to the unknowing and uninformed who don't read the manual and if they did, they'd ignore the limitation anyway.

I didn't say that the absolute rules are contradictory. I said that their two information pages were. And I said I wasn't AR enough to spend time hunting part 95. OK, but still doesn't affect your original claim in post #27 that the bubble pack radios are in violation because they are 25 KHz only. I'm pretty sure that the FCC grant for type acceptance shows 11k3 or 11k0 for FRS freqs and wider for GMS freqs. Not having any bubble packs, I don't have any FCC ID's at my fingertips to go look them up. Perhaps you do. If the radios are properly type accepted (which I suspect they are), there's no way to prove your claim unless they are actually tested with a service monitor. Absent that evidence, I am of the opinion that the bubble pack radios do meet the emission standards for both radio services, otherwise, the FCC would not have allowed sales to continue over many years.

The FCC is contradictory on this. On their info page for FRS all FRS frequencies are narrowband 12.5 KHz.https://www.fcc.gov/general/family-radio-service-frs On their info page for GMRS, all frequencies, including the 7 interstitials are wideband 25 KHz. https://www.fcc.gov/general/general-mobile-radio-service-gmrs I skimmed Part 95, but it is so inconsistent that I could not find clear statements on this. Stuff is buried where you least expect to find it. I gave up looking. Someone far more AR than me might find it. FWIW, I've always set up my gear with the shared channels at 12.5 and the GMRS exclusive channels at 25. It may not be the precise letter of the regulations, but I'm comfortable that it follows the spirit of the regs, and that it will cause the least interference possible in either service. This is also my advice to others and for these same reasons.

A "simplex repeater" uses a simplexor (or store and forward) device which contains a recorder. Some are for a fixed length and others are VOX. I suspect that you've found one with a VOX. The only way to know for sure is to give a 10 count and see if comes back. If you only hear the same 3 second kerchunk, it's likely that it is a regular repeater. I have an older Zetron Model 19 Simplexor on my ambulance squad's base radio. It works fine, although we rarely use it. It is only triggered by a unique Quik-Call II tone set that dispatch uses only when our EMS repeater is off line. The simplexor records the dispatch when activated. Then it sends out our regular pager tones and plays the recorded dispatch. It's not a bad system although we rarely have need of it.

My docs on GMRS/FRS show the 7 interstitial frequencies are all above 462.5500 and below 462.7250 which means that they are included in the FCC Type Acceptance for Part 95A. Or am I missing something?

Double, double check your power setting for each and every channel on all radios.

There are no VHF frequencies that are license free outside of MURS which is limited to approved 2 watt radios and simplex only. Your group may be able to obtain an FCC license for a repeater pair of frequencies. But that will cost several hundred dollars for frequency coordination and license application fees. And you still have to acquire the radios and repeater. Any repeater you might use in any frequency band or radio service has to be portable and battery operated. That will add to the cost of your system. What may be an option is to talk to a local two-way radio shop and see if they can get you pointed in the right direction. You really do need to be using 5 watt VHF portable radios and possibly a low power VHF repeater. Since you operate throughout your local area, the solution needs to be flexible based on distance and terrain. That's why I am urging you to talk to a local professional. Some of these radio dealers have systems available for rent, too.

GMRS rules in the US allow mobiles and bases up 50 watts for licensed users. I run a 50 watt mobile in my truck and a 25 watt unit in my RV. My portables are all commercial grade 4 watt models. You'll want to do some research on mobiles that are Part 95 approved. Lots of discussion threads on that here for the reading. That Midland radio you are looking also is not a full 5 watts but probably 1.5 watts if even that. You are far better off purchasing a radio that can do 4 or 5 watts portable. There are also a number of discussions here on the merits of many of available handheld radios.

Do your unlicensed members know that the price has dropped due to the removal of the regulatory fee? That might be an incentive.

GMRS is wide band. Most (if not all) users will have their radios set to WB.

That only works until someone sits down with a scanner capable of detecting and identifying TPL/TCS and DPL/DCS and goes hunting for the info. All you have to do is be close enough to the transmitting unit in the field and you can immediately ID the DPL/DCS. Zap's method shoul successfully beat the bubble packs because I don't believe that they can do one mode on Tx and another on Rx. But if the interfering person has a commercial portable or mobile, all bets are off.

Very true, but I think the gist of this side conversation is really the need to abandon old amateur radio thinking. The mantra of ham radio for the last umpty-up decades has been to ground to the negative battery terminal. With the advent of today's sophisticated. multi-function on-board computer control systems, grounding to the battery is now proven to cause real problems in the functionality of those computers. And, as you pointed out in another thread on another forum, fusing the ground lead is likely to wreak more havoc than provide protection should the fuse blow. The frustration here is that we have the same discussion over and over, and always leading to the the same conclusion. Then someone who has not read any of the previous discussions pops up chanting the "ground to the negative battery terminal" mantra. Here we go again. (sigh!)

If the repeater power setting is manually adjustable by the end user, lowering the power should not create a problem. But, the only way to know for sure is to have it bench checked by a competent tech with the right equipment.

Another point to consider is that all UHF Part 90 repeater pairs are also in exact 5 Mhz offsets. Since the 8 GMRS pairs fall right in the middle of Part 90 allocations, I suspect that somewhere buried in the FCC regs, there is a clear rule about it. Like I said in my previous post, I am not going to spend any effort on debating the miniscule nuances and contradictions in the FCC regs. Given the allocation of exact 5 MHZ offsets in the UHF spectrum across multiple Parts and Services of the FCC regs, I simply accept that it is correct and proper for GMRS as well regardless of the possible vagueness of some of the wording. Finding the precise rule, for me at least is a waste of time and effort. It's a fool's errand at best.

I'm not going to debate miniscule details of FCC regs. I would simply say the 99.9999999% of GRMS users accept and expect the pairs to be used as defined. If one were to use a mixed pair, it would almost certainly cause interference with other users operating on the normal pairs. It's arguable that one could do it somewhere that no one else operates, i suppose, but as soon as another GMRS operator is present, the argument is deflated. Personally, I would call it intentional disruption of normal GMRS operations. If someone were to actually do it in my sphere of operation, I'd have some very unkind words. I'd also add that I believe the intent of the regs is to clearly define the pairs, even if it's not as crystal clear as one might like. I am certain that a clarification from the FCC would support that. Let's remember that there's a lot stuff in the regs that reads contradictory to each other, and yet, past practice and occasional clarification from the FCC has sorted most out. There's a lot of outhouse lawyers that want endlessly debate this stuff in the forums. I think it's a waste of time and effort to pick at these nits.

That helps, a lot. (You're probably figuring out that it's important to have complete info when having conversations via forums.) The amateur stuff is the kicker because hams are moving into newer technologies like P25, DMR, etc. You'll have to learn what's in use in your area before deciding on a scanner. A good resource is repeaterbook.com. RadioReference.com has some amateur listings, but IMHO it is not as comprehensive as repeaterbook. Your location is a pretty populous area, and that's where the newer technologies are popping up. Scanners now have many features to accommodate these newer technologies, but you have to match the features desired to the scanner.

You need to know what kind of radio systems are in use in your area. I will guarantee you that once you have a scanner, you'll want to listen to police, fire, and ems. They are far more interesting than what you listed above. For scanner recommendations and information, I suggest you hop over to radioreference.com and do some reading. Far more info there than here.

Most commercial radio manufacturers recommend grounding to the frame near the battery. Now, with the advent of the super high tech computer systems running everything in our cars and trucks, installers are finding that grounding the radio to the battery negative terminal is causing all kinds of havoc with the vehicle power control systems. Latest and best recommendation now is to ground at the point on the frame where the battery's grounding strap connects. It eliminates potential ground loops and yet satisfies the most finicky computer system. Any recommendations on this subject that are more than a couple of years old are pretty much based on non-computer controlled automotive systems. If doing an install on a new or very recent model year vehicle, the old thinking has to be set aside. I know hams have pushed grounding to the battery negative terminal for many, many years, but it's going to have to change or we'll all be dealing with a new set of problems.

It is already listed in the repeaters database including the operator's email address. Send him a note. If you allows you on his repeater, he'll give you the tone info.