SteveC7010

CCR predates MyGMRS by years. RadioReference and the old P25.ca (now Communication.Support) used the term going back to first wave of CCR’s. I’m pretty sure the old Yahoo groups did too.

It’s been discussed here many times before in other threads. And many of the GMRS frequency charts that can be found with an internet search show this info for Channel 20, both simplex and repeater.

They’re all over Ebay. $350 and up.

The new Part 95 specifically authorizes communications between FRS and GMRS users subject to the power and bandwidth rules for each channel.

The first critical rule of radio programming is to immediately save a copy of the codeplug to your hard drive or a flash drive after you have read the radio for the first time. That way, you can always go back to a working codeplug if things go sour. If you create a good working codeplug, save that, too. I maintain an inventory of over 50 radios. I meticulously save codeplugs as I update or change them.

You don’t even need sheet metal. Window screen material (aluminum or other Electrically conductive), chicken wire, or similar works just fine as long as you insure proper grounding at the NMO mount point. I’ve even had good luck using aluminum HVAC tape to create ground plane on the underside of non-conductive roofs. I prefer to use 3/8” thick surface NMO mounts when dealing with fiberglass or similar materials.

We used a variation of the police phonetic alphabet: Adam, Baker, Charlie, etc. But I always told my students that they weren’t wrong to substitute another easily understandable word if they had a minor brain fart in the middle of a transmission Better to deliver the message smoothly without stumbling given the high volume of traffic our people dealt with all day long. And don’t get me started on EMCOMM, ARES, RACES, etc. The cockeyed notion that hams are the only saviors in case of disaster just doesn’t cut it any more. Very few of them have the knowledge, skills, and abilities to operate under real emergency circumstances. You don’t develop that with weekly check-in net. You develop it with hundreds of hours of training and then thousands of hours real, continuous operations. I’ve held a tech ticket for a few years now, but am not really accepted by the locals. At a public event, one of them popped up on a public safety channel using his ham call. I told the club president to get him off the channel and that if he did that again, I would have him escorted from the event. I think you understand my position. Like I said, in GMRS land we’re kinda laid-back about these things.

I was a police dispatcher and dispatch instructor for nearly 30 years In a large city/county combined dispatch center. We used a more common phonetic alphabet and taught it and its use to every new dispatcher In all three areas: police, fire, and ems. I am well aware of the value of the phonetic alphabet and its use under highly stressful conditions way beyond anything most hams will ever experience first hand. I never said that a phonetic alphabet is useless. I did say that I disagree with the uselessly rigid behavior of some hams. What I am not pleased with is the anal attitude of some hams regarding the whole issue. In their world, there’s only one phonetic alphabet and anyone who strays, even just a bit or accidentally, is ostracized and labelled a blasphemer.

You are unnecessarily applying overly zealous ham etiquette to GMRS. Some hams tend to be a bit anal about using phonetics on callsigns and then only the Blessed ARRL approved phonetic list. Amateur radio is the only place you find this uselessly rigid behavior. In GMRS, phonetic spelling isn’t required or expected. If someone has a hard time understanding your words or callsign, by all means, use phonetics. But if you say Tom instead of Tango or Apple instead of Alpha, nobody in GMRS land Is gonna bite your head off. We’re kinda laid-back and easy going about these things.

Are the CP200’s 4 or 16 channel? And are they R or S split? 16 channel R split radios are what I might be interested in purchasing.

Yes, but very easy to fish through from the inside. Certainly no more difficult than fishing the coax from the 3/4” hole towards its destination. No matter which type you use, you still have to fish something from or to the mounting hole.

You have all cited some of the reasons that I now prefer 3/8” NMO’s. I can drill accurately from the outside with a drill stop on the drill bit so that the bit does even come close to touching the head liner. If the sheet metal is too thin, I can position a thin 3/8” fender washer on the inside to add strength and stability. It’s increasingly rare that a headliner needs to be dropped. I just pull some the rubber seal around a door and there’s more than enough room to snake the coax to the B or C post. On most cars and trucks, I usually slip my hand between the headliner snd the roof. Food for thought: On the Jeep Grand Cherokees and Dodge Durangos, the headliner is one piece. They install it through the front window opening long before they mount the front window. I am sure that other vehicles are built in a similar fashion these days. Dropping the headliner becomes less and less of an option. Regardless of how one chooses to drill an antenna mount, It is imperative that coax (and any other upfitting wiring) not block an airbag. It is generally OK to slip your coax between the airbag and the body of the vehicle. Think twice; route once.

I picked up a Diamond SX-200 SWR meter for about $100. It measures SWR, forward, and reflected power just fine my needs. It covers both VHF and UHF so I can use it for ham, commercial, and GMRS I did have to add some adapters to use it with my particular radios, but that is a normal and expected expense.

Lowes carries the Schedule 20 thin wall PVC pipe. You may have Better luck asking for it this way instead of by PSI rating.

I’ve had a run in or two with him myself. He runs a Facebook page which is a fun read but don’t believe any of what he says. He’s on RadioRefetence as amphibian. He behaves for a while and then his behavior goes off the rails. They ban him for a while and then let him back. He occasionally has a decent tech tip to offer, but it’s value get lost in his BS.

You don’t need sheet metal. That ultra-sticky aluminum HVAC tape fastened to the underside of roof works well. Just use an NMO mount that has teeth on the inside mount that will bite into the tape. That will give a decent rf ground through the coax to the body of the radio. You don’t need a complete circle either. Just an X or * of about 13” diameter is fine. We did a lot to fiberglassed roofs on ambulances and RV’s. . You’ll find the tape at any hardware or home improvement store. Another possibility, if there’s a headliner under the non-conductive roof, is to fasten steel or aluminum window screen or even chicken wire to the underside of the roof. If I doing a UTV like yours, I’d use a 6” quarter wave UHF antenna with the HVAC tape ground plane. It’s small enough to survive most tree branch problems, can be easily straightened if bent, and $10 each, you can keep a spare or two in your tool box for peace of mind. Add a commercial grade radio like the Motorola M1225 properly installed and shock mounted, and you’ve got a nearly bulletproof rig.

You are mixing apples and oranges. A 32” UHF antenna is almost certainly a high gain antenna and requires a ground plane. A 15” UHF spike would more likely be a half wave, no ground plane antenna with low gain, probably 2.4 db or so. A quarter wave, unity gain spike at GMRS freqs is about 6” and requires a ground plane of about 6” in all directions. You easily find an NMO base adapter with trimmable radials. Personally, I’d put my first effort into the very low profile quarter wave option due to best survival of tree branches. Hint: read the full description and specs for each antenna to avoid inappropriate comparisons.

MURS is authorized some data and signaling transmissions. It could an alarm system, data monitoring, or any of a number of possibilities.

Just a comment.... the M1225 20 channel model can actually do 24 channels if programmed without channel names and preferably without Talk-Around. That may be of use to some and others may may not like it.

We have a similar dipole antenna on our ambulance station. It's been there for at least 15 years. It works fine in the wind and snow and ice of the Adirondack mountains.

This gets asked a lot. Travel tones are 141.3. If used, they’re the same everywhere. The Search function will turn up dozens of threads discussing this in great detail.

I’ll add my two cents for Motorola. The M-1225 is exactly as described above. They just keep on working. The CDM-1550 is a good choice but has a lot of bells and whistles that most GMRS users won’t care about. But, the right model 1550 can hold 160 channels. Its little brother, the CDM-1250 is limited to 64 channels which may or may not be a consideration. The CDM’s are programmed with fixed PL or DPL. They all use the same CPS and programming cable. Even the 4 channel CDM-750 can be a good choice if you need very few frequencies. A lot of folks like the 750’s in repeaters because of their low cost, high reliability, and simple programming. Some models of the CM-300 and PM-400 can be set up for selectable PL. quite handy when you are traveling.

Neither has priority. That said, your letter to the business was pretty well stated.

There are also several apps for smartphones that use the actual question pool to run you through practice exams. I passed on the first try and then used the app to pick up much of the knowledge I was missing.

I thought that question was just answered in another very recent thread, perhaps within the last two weeks. OPEN REPEATER INITIATIVE