KAF6045

I believe there ARE studies on converting/adding digital modes to the Marine Service. Won't happen for Air Service -- Air craft use AM as it allows other calls to be heard through an active communication... Emergency calls, etc. aren't blocked by FM's capture effect.

Uhm? Did you try the Repeater Search feature on this site? I see three listed for "Bellevue" though two are marked "offline" and the third, "Omaha 600", requires one to apply for permission (and thence the PL tones to access it). I would hope "Omaha 600" would cover Omaha area This site shows 11 total for the state, though many show a last status update of two years ago. Five listed as "Open" (though two are the aforesaid "offline", and one says tones are unlisted -- so not that "open").

Minor comment: it is General Mobile Radio Service (GMRS); GRMS is Global Risk Management Solutions ? And in some areas, you may find REACT monitoring GMRS besides CB. {addition} There are Amateur groups associated with Red Cross, ARES/RACES -- all associations that require the members to undergo certification and training to partake in... Skywarn is under NWS purview and has its own training sessions. How many of your GMRS users are willing to consider these conditions: ARES and RACES are Amateur only, CERT may not be, nor the local government EOC. But look at the second and third bullets! We aren't talking about a community watch program or holing up on the upper floors of a hotel and making reports on the movement of rioters... We are talking about actual field deployments -- bring a tent and a supply of MREs type activity. CERT requirements are based on local Civil Defense organization, RACES is an FCC Part 97 services. In all cases, activation comes from above... some government agency -- even SkyWarn is typically at the request of the NWS. This isn't the purpose originally conceived of for GMRS -- which was intra-family communications in spread out areas (large farms, with a base at the house and mobiles/HTs for those working the fields; the rules used to have a clause that the "immediate family" had to RESIDE in the licensee's household -- that clause has been dropped) or in isolated locales (camping or just living out of normal communication means; no phone, maybe generator for electricity); and for small businesses (these are no longer issued but existing licenses can be renewed). Talking from one licensee to another licensee was a RARE situation (and base stations were prohibited from talking to other base stations)!

Unfortunately (if I'm finding the proper specifications) Icom lists sensitivity in different units, so a direct comparison is not feasible: F2821D IC-2730A (and the web page has red notices that specifications are only guaranteed for 2m/70cm bands)

In one respect, I think that is true of all digital modes given equal ERP. Digital tends to stay "pure" until you reach the distance where bit loss starts to occur, and then just drop off. Analog at distance tends to slowly degrade (more "hiss", less fidelity, but none-the-less legible) until you are basically out of the transmitter area of coverage.

"Wiscom"??? Google finds a "WECOMM" system (? Wisconsin Emergency Communications I'm guessing) which is an Amateur Radio linked network. It will never be bridged to GMRS as they are two separate categories, operating under two separate sets of rules (Part 97 vs Part 95 E). There is a "Wisconsin Association of Repeaters", but that is the organization that coordinates what frequencies Amateur repeaters will use in a given area to avoid conflicts with other repeaters. I doubt WECOMM will add a separate overlapping GMRS repeater network. Their web page is already asking for donations to maintain the Amateur repeaters -- which were mostly built with "9/11" grant money -- just operating the network is (per their page) $17000 ($1400 per repeater). Parallel GMRS repeaters will no doubt increase operating costs by 50-100%, and that doesn't include the initial purchase of repeater, duplexer, antenna, RF Exposure computations (since they will likely be putting the proposed GMRS repeaters on the same towers as the Amateur gear they need to run multi-emitter RF calculations to determine safe distances around the tower -- 5W gear tends to get away from all that, but for my HF transmitters I have to model the emission pattern of my off-center-fed dipole to ensure the radiation is below limits for "uncontrolled" area [ie: the neighbors, whose 2nd floor bedrooms are about 10ft from the end of my dipole]). LMR-400 coax is over $1/foot, without connectors on the ends (assume 75ft for a 50ft tower to "equipment shack" per repeater - $900 in coax before labor to install connectors).

License information is public information -- anyone can scan the ULS to find call signs, names, and addresses of licensees. When using the radio, you are required to ID... So anyone monitoring/scanning GMRS channels living in your vicinity can easily record your ID from the air and then use ULS to find that information. They are more likely to be a threat than people living states away using this forum.

Yes to antenna, yes to cable. You'll probably also need a suitable mast pipe and mounting brackets to hold the mast. (Boy, some translations really need work: https://www.amazon.com/UAYESOK-Vertical-390-470MHZ-Connector-Transceiver/dp/B08P58FSCX If one trusts that this one is relatively easy to tune for the band having graduated scales on each half) https://www.amazon.com/Skywalker-Signature-38in-Pipe-Antenna/dp/B01MSFGZIW (on the light-weight side, in my mind, and not much height) Outside would be better -- your effective distance will be influenced by the height of the antenna, and given the low power of the repeater. Top end of the roof line, and a 6-10 foot mast... Determine the length of cable you need, and determine how much cable loss you can live with. https://www.universal-radio.com/catalog/cable/coaxperf.html The chart assumes a 100ft length, for 50 ft, you can halve the attenuation numbers. Use the 450MHz column (actual will be a tad higher loss, since you are looking at 462/467MHz frequencies). 3dB means HALF your power is sucked up by the cable. For any decent length, you are likely looking at LMR400 or 9913. In contrast, 11m CB could get by with cheap RG-58! Remember: That repeater does not have a built-in IDer; to be legal it will have to be used only by you and immediate family using your license/call (so set up CTCSS or DCS that is unlikely to be in use in your neighborhood/frequency); that way when THEY ID with the call, it covers the repeater too. Others, with different calls, would not count as they are not the repeater licensee.

Given your license was only issued yesterday it may be too new to be in the database used for validation.

Time Operated (scan resumes after n-seconds, regardless) Carrier Operated (scan resume when carrier signal is lost) Not sure what SE stands for, but it acts as: Scan stops on signal, must be manually restarted (Hmmm, Scan Ends?)

Unmentioned is that some radios may not allow for split tones. For those, Tx CTCSS ("tone") may be the only viable option as Tx/Rx CTCSS ("tsql") would use the same tone for both directions.

Off the cuff (emphasis is mine): Most DMR radios are NOT transmitting through repeaters (the base station providing timing) at distances of 150km (93 miles)! Even a 25 mile radius seems to be doing well for the DMR repeaters in my area (the MI5/CMEN system has THREE repeaters near me: Lowell, Grand Rapids, Byron Center -- Byron Center to Lowell is just 20 miles as the radio waves fly; an HT accessing Byron Center [from Metro Chemo Center] has no reach to GR or Lowell]) HT to HT (or other simplex combinations) are probably synching to each other, and at much shorter distances than most repeaters. Other than repeaters (which have to handle both time slots to justify TDMA) I suspect mobile to mobile rigs only handle one time slot at once and don't have to really synchronize enough to let "many" units into the signal stream (What, your group outing has two radios on time slot 1 and another two on time slot 2, but on the same frequency, and you expect simplex to /not/ interfere when there is a distinct lack of a master time source?)

Probably better to just forget about that feature. ? They probably tie into menu entry 43-45 (in the manual -- my unit shows a "SIM-RX" entry in the menu that is not in the manual). I'm hypothesizing here (I only have one unit so can't cross test, and the feature is likely specific to the model/maker so has no applicability in going to my BTech units). In the programming software one can set up to 20 independent 3-6 digit codes. One also specifies which code (aka group) is considered active. One would also, it appears, need to assign "SELEC CALL" to either PF1-long or PF2-long. Pressing that button may then send the group code (noisy DTMF) -- and any nearby units with the same group code selected would then "ring".

Minor etiquette point for WRTK920: in most internet forums posting in ALL CAPITALS is considered to be SHOUTING. If you can, please undo your caps lock. That said... Anything going simplex will be affected by terrain -- and foliage as part of that terrain. UHF frequencies (and the 800/900MHz stuff) tend to work short range, but the wavelength is capable of getting through doors and windows in urban settings, making it useful for on-site fire command. It doesn't do as well going through water filled leaves and trees. That can actually make low-power MURS HTs a preferred alternative to GMRS (especially if using HTs). Both still qualify for line-of-sight -- if you can see the intended recipient (telescope allowed <G>) you can usually reach them... with 1-5W of power! UHF and VHF pass through the troposphere and ionosphere and out into space (ignoring the rare tropo-ducting, when VHF signals can get routed between Hawaii and California [as an example]). 11m CB is refracted by the ionosphere and, when conditions are right, bounce back down to earth hundreds of miles away.

462.5625 predates FRS. It is one of the original GMRS interstitial frequencies (so called because they fall into the "gap" between the GMRS primary frequencies). As such, even back then, it was limited to 5W power to be legal and not interfere with the primary channels. 467.5625 was an FRS frequency, and limited to 0.5W as the frequency is an interstitial of the repeater input channels. Furthermore, back then, GMRS licenses could belong to an organization or business. They could have legally obtained a license for two of the primary channels (one had to specify which two channels [pairs for repeater usage] they wished to be licensed for -- most radios only supplied a toggle switch for "a" or "b" channel). Using a primary channel they'd have been legal at up to 50W output at the radio -- and with good antennas maybe achieve 200W ERP.

If you mean for general reading -- check your browser configuration for a Minimum Font Size override. Unfortunately, you can only size change text you write in comments you make.

It will "work" for some definition of "work"... But if I may quote the grail knight from the Indiana Jones movie "... he chose poorly" ? I've bootlegged my Tyt DMR HTs with GMRS frequencies (and MURS/Marine in the case of the VHF/UHF unit] (a few cycles taken for that as 1) decision on bandwidth confused with channel spacing -- they have 20kHz options [Hmm, just checked, and found about half were still at 25kHz]; 2) reserved for emergency usage as I have BTech GMRS-V1, GMRS-V2 HTs, and the aforementioned Midland MXT-115 -- and have a Wouxun (sp?) GMRS HT in shipment (not to mention Midland and Motorola bubble-pack radios that are now classified as GMRS after the 2017 restructuring [Power >2W and/or Repeater channel access; may still be 12.5kHz bandwidth though]. I'd like to bootleg the much more capable Anytone D878UVII DMR unit -- but it only offers 25kHz and 12.5kHz options, and is locked to transmit only on 2m/70cm (even setting the code plug from "amateur" [allows front panel programming of radio] to "professional" [programming only via software] doesn't unlock it -- I've not seen a secret key I'd be willing to trust to get it unlocked. Since most documents show the 25kHz bandwidth is still using a 16kxxx deviation mode, they may still be save at 25kHz.

I would note that the chart doesn't (or I didn't see it) specify how the cable was connected to the test equipment (or was created from manufacturer specifications). I mention this as the type of connector (and number of connectors) impose their own losses on top of the bare cable. (Which is why I just ordered custom cables: LMR-400 with PL-259 on one end and N at the other -- my window passthrough provides one N connector (each side), but the 2m/70cm diplexer combining the outputs from a TS-2000 and the MFJ 1/4 wave ground-plane I am finally getting around to installing are SO-239 sockets -- I didn't want the added loss of going through SO-239 pair at the passthrough). The ubiquitous "UHF" (PL-259/SO-239) is, perversely, TERRIBLE at UHF frequencies, and even poor at VHF.Usable to 300MHz https://donsnotes.com/tech/connectors/BNC_N.html though it is already getting poor above 100MHz https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UHF_connector (apparently named before the industry standardized on "octaves": 3-30MHz HF, 30-300MHz VHF, 300-3000 UHF, etc.; back when >30MHz was "ultra high" and likely considered barely usable) (I haven't located part-1 https://www.mwrf.com/technologies/cables-connectors/article/21846749/whats-the-difference-between-coaxial-connectors-part-2). Confusing text as the image captions show up in-line with the main text and not under the image; which means an unrelated connector mention appears sandwiched between paragraphs for a different connector. BNC usable to 4GHz, TNC (B-bayonet, T-threaded) usable to 11GHz. No mention of losses however. N usable to 11GHz SMA usable to 18GHz

{Wow... what a tangled chain. I have (somewhere) an old Standard Radio 2m/70cm mobile rig made by Marantz. Standard Radio was acquired by Yaesu and became part of their business line under the Vertex Standard name (if one looks closely at the Vertex Standard logo seen on the Motorola https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&ved=2ahUKEwjz69SkkZj5AhUFk2oFHXyLDewQFnoECBgQAQ&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.motorolasolutions.com%2Fcontent%2Fdam%2Fmsi%2Fdocs%2Fvertex-standard%2Flegacy-products%2Fvx_everge_evx5300_5400_spec_sheet_en.pdf&usg=AOvVaw2bFOFQbkU_JcHMiNdZ_fuC {UGH -- Google bloody tracking junk} and compares it to the Yaesu logo on the VX-8R manual https://www.yaesu.com/downloadFile.cfm?FileID=5500&FileCatID=151&FileName=VX-8R_OM_ENG_EH028M101.pdf&FileContentType=application%2Fpdf one will see it is identical -- and could be interpreted as a stylized Y). Appears they sold the business line to Motorola.} Now, with regards to your question. While the unit does cover GMRS frequencies and does have analog capability, not just DMR digital, there are a few problems. GMRS uses a 20kHz bandwidth (though I recall primary channels are spaced 25kHz apart). Old models of this radio supported 25kHz bandwidth. Footnote states that units sold after January 1 2013 (ten years ago, for all practical counting) only support 12.5kHz bandwidth -- the FCC mandate for Land Mobile/Business systems to convert to "narrow band" operations. 12.5kHz is traditional FRS bandwidth -- audio is at nearly half of GMRS deviation, so will sound weaker (at best) on true GMRS equipment. The 50W model on UHF has a LOW power of 10W. Original GMRS interstitial channels ("1" to "7" in the new consolidated number scheme) are limited to 5W max. That would leave you with legal access only to the 8 primary channels ("15" to "22", and their repeater pairs). The 25W model has a low power of 5W so just squeaks by for the interstitial "1"-"7". You have NO legal access to "8"-"14" which are limited to 0.5W (and maybe 12.5kHz) So... If you have the 25W variant, you might squeeze it into service, taking into account the difference between 20kHz and 25kHz deviations... And you'd have a radio whose only advantage over a Midland MXT-115 (5W Low, 15W high -- "1"-"7" fixed low, "15"-"22" and repeater pairs 5 or 15W, no "8"-"14") is that you have available channels to duplicate frequencies with different CTCSS codes (going from one repeater to another on the same channel but with different codes requires navigating the MXT-115 menu system to change CTCSS code).

In a way, CB has had that problem for half a century. Most CB units are 4W carrier AM-only. But the higher end units supported 12W PEP SSB. SSB is just noise on an AM unit. I believe (before it was taken over by southern rednecks with no information to transmit, just talking with barely any gap for anyone else to get in, and running illegal amplifiers [I'm fairly certain the sunspot cycle isn't quite to the stage where 11m skip is going from Georgia to Michigan]) a convention had developed that SSB users would stick to channels 34-40 (or something in that range). And now the FCC is considering allowing FM signals in those 40 CB channels. Which, again, will be noise to AM and SSB users, just as AM and SSB will be noise to FM users.

Don't confuse "channel" for "frequency". A radio set up for a repeater channel ALWAYS transmits on 467.xxx and receives on 462.xxx -- two frequencies, but only one "channel" (before the FRS/GMRS kerfuffle GMRS channels were NOT identified by number; your channel 1 (out of the two you were authorized in those days) might have been my channel 2 (or not even one of the frequencies I was authorized to use). "Channels" were identified by the .xxx in frequency. Radio to Radio (simplex) transmits on the 462.xxx frequency, which the other radio is set to receive. One frequency. (The MXT-115 uses a menu entry to toggle "15"-"22" from simplex (Tx and Rx on 462.xxx) to duplex (repeater mode, Tx on 467.xxx, Rx on 462.xxx). The "channel number" does not change in this radio -- just a little display marker off to the side "15" vs "15 R". 20220729 Retraction: closer examination shows that the MXT repeater switch doesn't toggle 15-22 from simplex to duplex, but rather activates/deactivates 8 repeater "channels" numbered 15-22, in addition to the simplex 15-22.

Have you tried running the software in "compatibility mode" (Not that the MD390 needs it on my Win10 Pro core-i7 system)

DMR, P25, and Yaesu System Fusion (maybe NXDN) use the /same/ AMBE vocoder; they just wrap the digital voice packet with different control header/footer. This is why many of the hotspots are capable of doing cross-mode operations: they strip off the source control header/footer and wrap the voice data with a header/footer compatible with the target system. D-STAR uses a different AMBE vocoder -- doing cross-mode with D-STAR requires one to have AMBE chips that understand both formats, and (in essense, reality may stay digital realm) are converting one digital stream to analog, feeding that analog to the other vocoder to create the required AMBE format for the mode. The cost difference between an OpenSpot 4 and an OpenSpot 4 Pro is the AMBE chip/license.

"Whatever is out there..." May not be as much as one would like -- depending upon one's taste in "whatever". The state of Michigan basically finished converting all government (city/county/state) systems over to a single P25 TRUNKED system. That wouldn't be so bad -- my ancient GRE scanner does trunking in something like three schemes. BUT -- essentially ALL law enforcement "talk groups" are also encrypted. What is left in the clear is things like: the local city zoo, animal control, maybe sewer and water line services. Oh -- Fire dispatch is still simulcast on analog FM. I suspect the government didn't want to provide volunteer firefighters with new radios programmed for the encrypted channels; the volunteers probably (in the past) had to provide their own scanner for the dispatch calls. My GRE basically sits scanning empty channels except for the rare fire call, while doing checks on the NOAA weather channels for a SAME alert, when it transfers over to sounding the alert message. I understand the Peoples Republic of CA had also done encrypted -- but there seems to be a law-suit or proposal going through to require them to put the traffic in the clear (freedom of information act, or some such "open government" charges). Analog trunking capable scanners are around $200 (these do not handle P25 or other digital voice encodings) https://www.bearcatscanner.com/uniden-bct15x/ Analog NON-trunking a bit over $100 https://www.bearcatscanner.com/uniden-bc355n/ Digital trunking starts in the $420 and up range https://www.bearcatscanner.com/bcd996p2-base-scanner/ Top end model is $750 -- but you have to pay more to activate digital modes beyond P25 and base Motorola/EDACS/LTR modes (DMR, NXDN, etc. are $$)

Then all the Amateur radio studies that suggest wrapping a length of wire around the base of the antenna to act as a counterpoise must be nonsense (for 2m, I believe a 19" wire dangling from the connector shell is the recommendation -- 19" is about half of a dipole; the common Rubber Duck coils the equivalent length to create a shorter antenna [of course, said coiling requires some modelling as it begins to act as an inductor, one has to cancel out the inductance, possibly with a capacitive section]). Counterpoise wires aren't used with dipoles, but are used with quarter wave antennas. https://ham.stackexchange.com/questions/644/handheld-dipoles https://ham.stackexchange.com/questions/495/how-do-handheld-antennas-work-without-ground