WRTT642

If they add or even replace MURS with UHF FRS/GMRS, I will buy these for sure. I do have stock in Garmin though, as I own a lot of their products, and have for a long time. The Rino series radios are awesome! I am not even scared off with the $2k price tag for the power switch and 10" display package. 
I like that they are making products like this. And OP, thank you for sharing the links.

The slick part about it is it does use a external antenna connection. It talks about installing the external antenna. The rubber duck would probably work in one mile but I think a standard VHF quarter wave on a NMO mount would double its performance. It appears to be an SMA connection but they don't specify. I'm trying to decide if I'll order one or not. I just replaced my overlander in the Jeep but adding MURS in the same unit and not worry about another radio seems slick.
 

I was referring to the "Typical 1 mile range" in the specs. Much better than the typical "up to 25 mile range" I'm used to seeing.

That is the first time I've seen a manufacturer not largely embellish the specs (range).

Garmin released the new Tread Off Road GPS with Ride Talk. It operates on MURS.
https://www.garmin.com/en-US/p/702373/pn/010-02406-00
https://www8.garmin.com/manuals/webhelp/GUID-16B1D74D-857B-4FFB-8DE2-A0960FE0D090/EN-US/GUID-1C57D760-1BD2-46F6-B0CE-BC46503AEDBC.html
 
Water resistance
IEC 60529 IPX71
Operating temperature range
From -20° to 55°C (from -4° to 131°F)
Wireless frequencies (United States)
From 151.82 to 154.6 MHz @ 31.7 dBm
 

When it comes to communities... GMRS by far has the best. I've only seen pleasant and helpful people in the GMRS community. It's more easy going than Ham, MURS only has a few channels and basically no one in it, and FRS is basically incorporated into GMRS. The HAM community seems focused on keeping certain people out and creating contacts with people. Also the stereotype is there. Ham is very clipboard and khaki, where GMRS is jeans and TShirts. 
CB is a whole different world where basically anything goes. And as good and fun as it sounds, not as many people use it as they used to, and the equipment can be clunky. Murs dosent really have a community outside of farm use and hiking. 
Basically in my opinion, GMRS is a great middle ground between all the services, and has a community of people who care.
If anyone disagrees I would love to know why, just because I like listening to all forms of radio. 

Well, then, I guess I'll just have to become a paid subscriber....this site is VERY useful for me.
Now I have a little star on my profile icon. 
Thanks Rich, this is a site that gets more useful every day. 

 
 

Every repeater in a given state, for now. Later on I will add a zip code radius search so you can narrow it down further. 

It's available and the license he has is very open, it's GPL 3.0. But then keeping up to date with CHIRP's changes is a lot of work for little return. 
It's a possibility, but it's also more work for me to keep up with on any regular basis. Volunteers always welcome! ?

Just an update that Premium Members can now export a CSV file compatible with CHIRP from the myGMRS Reports page:  https://mygmrs.com/reports
Note that there was a bug in CHIRP that prevented cross-tone DCS codes from importing properly, but this has been fixed with today's latest update of CHIRP-next.
 

 

As some of you may know, we have been trying to get myGMRS integrated into CHIRP, a popular open-source radio programming software created by Dan Smith, for several years now. I finally heard back from Dan in December and shared our API (Application Programming Interface) resources to him and test credentials for the website.
Given that this was a new feature and a big convenience to users, we wanted to offer it as a perk to Premium Members of the website who support our efforts to be the go-to GMRS community. Dan expressed concerns about having any paid services such as RadioReference.com in his application, because developers would be unable to test unless they had a membership at the website. We agreed to table the discussion until we had a solution for developers to test the myGMRS integration, and he implemented the new feature into CHIRP-next, the next generation of the CHIRP application. Dan released a version of CHIRP-next on December 24th with myGMRS integrated into it.
Yesterday, I sent Dan an email letting him know what changes to expect to the API once I require accounts to have a Premium Membership to download repeaters through CHIRP, so he had time to make the required changes to show the appropriate error message rather than a cryptic "Got error code 403 from server" message.
Long story short and omitting the gory details, Dan decided it was best to completely remove the myGMRS integration that he had finally added, rather than work with us on how to reach an amicable agreement that makes everyone happy. We offered several solutions to provide developers with Premium Membership so they could test the feature, eliminating the concern from Dan. We are surprised by this but respect his wishes, even though it hurts the GMRS community which utilizes his product for GMRS and/or Amateur Radio.
Understandably, I know many people will wonder why this wasn't just a free feature and that be the end of it. However, myGMRS is a small business and it needs to be profitable to survive. myGMRS is a one-person operation (not withstanding all the amazing members who contribute the repeater listings and forum posts) and it takes considerable resources to just to keep the lights on with there being so many users. Since the founding of RepeaterFinder, LLC, the corporate entity behind myGMRS, I have not taken a salary.
We intentionally minimize the number of advertisements we show because we hate ads too, but they alone don't cover the cost of running the website for nearly 50,000 users. Very few members have been kind enough to support us by subscribing to a Premium membership, so we're always looking for new perks to add for Premium Members to draw more people to sign up. To those who do support us, I sincerely thank you!
If you'd like to utilize the myGMRS lookup feature and are a Premium Member, you can download the last working version of CHIRP-next from 01/09/2023 here:
https://trac.chirp.danplanet.com/chirp_next/next-20230109/
If you receive "Got error code 403 from server" when trying to authenticate to myGMRS, it means you do not have an active subscription and you can subscribe by going here:  https://mygmrs.com/profile/subscriptions
 
You can see the commit notes from Dan regarding the removal here:
https://chirp.danplanet.com/projects/chirp/repository/github/revisions/12301814e238458766f1f7bf06476b39a4e3ab93
 
Here's the original ticket tracking the feature request:
https://chirp.danplanet.com/issues/9169
 
Thank you for understanding!

Hey all.
I am in the process of adding repeaters in the valley area.  So far we have one up in Palmer.  It's not got the coverage I was expecting yet, but when the weather improves we will be fixing it up some.  It's on Ch 29, 467.7000 and tone is 141.3.  I will be putting up two more repeaters, one in mid valley and one on the west end, later this year as the weather and access conditions improve.  Please be respectful of its use as there is already one user group (Golden Eagle) in Palmer that is accessing that repeater.  If you plan to access it, just drop me a request and I am good with it.  Much appreciated.
I am a commercially licensed radio tech and had my own business a long time ago.  Now I have a very different career so this is just a thing.  I am not a Ham and have no need to get that license, just a guy with a lot of knowledge and experience who didn't want it to go to waste anymore.  As I get geared back up, I will get more into this stuff.  The repeaters are refurbed Motorola GR 1225s.

I am cool with that, not sure if there are other arrangements with other users, anybody is welcomed to chime in on their thoughts or ideas on this.

Good info! So, I have heard rumors of one being out on Flat Top, but I have not been able to confirm that personally. Getting something out on JBER would be great, but umm yeah good luck with that I guess lol. 
We have one the has recently popped up in Palmer and another member here is going to get one up out in the KGB area more towards Wasilla, so hopefully we can get something going to connect the Valley together. I am trying to work on getting one up and running for out here in the Big Lake/Houston area, but the only I problem I see trying to connect Anchorage to the Valley is that Baldy is kinda in the way lol. That is unless getting one up on top of Baldy, but again good luck with that lol. Maybe getting something out on the hay flats are connecting something down KGB towards Point Mac and we can jump Knik Arm, but I'm not sure how powerful it would need to be, but if we could get something like that then we can bypass Eagle River and connect Anchorage and the Valley. 

I am cool with that, not sure if there are other arrangements with other users, anybody is welcomed to chime in on their thoughts or ideas on this.

Hmmm, good catch. Thank you for the info. I do not have Facebook so that is helpful information. Did anyone make mention of any repeaters that are up in Anchorage that are active that IS NOT on my list of repeaters? There should be one up in Eagle River, but not sure what you are using for radio or how far south you are in Anchorage. I live in the Valley and do not go to Anchorage all that often so I do not know for sure. I am planning on driving around here soon and trying out all the repeaters that I do know of to double check their statues. If you can give some updates on Anchorage that would be great.

I'm in the Turnagain area just north from Lake Hood/ANC Airport. And unfortunately no mention of any other repeaters in the Anchorage area that I could find besides the outdated one. I've been occasionally getting weak transmissions from my area where I am but it's hit or miss on signal strength (running a UV-9G handheld at the moment until I put in a mobile in my vehicle).
I think the main problem with Anchorage is that coverage is very difficult even with one repeater unless in a high enough location by Rabbit Creek, Flat Top, JBER which HAM operators have done already but nothing with GMRS from what is publically listed.
I'll keep an eye out if something pops up but having a repeater service Anchorage would help bridge the gap between here and Eagle River and out to the Valley.

I hear garbage all the time, amazing how one or two clicks on the channel and the problems are gone.   

Figured starting a topic to start an area of discussion on getting connected to one another around Anchorage.
The current listed repeater in Anchorage (WRCA670) on mygmrs hasn't been updated in over 4 years and doing some research that I could find on another Alaska GMRS FB group that the repeater hasn't been heard in a long while. So my conclusion is that it no longer exists unless someone can give a different answer.
I'm going to ask if anyone here has a definitive GMRS Channel that Anchorage uses as an open contact usage or have one agreed upon our group to be made public for others to make contact or for emergency (thinking from what happened in December 2022 with 50% of our annual snow in a week and everyone getting stuck)
I suggest maybe using CB Channel guides (Channel 9 for during city wide emergencies; Channel 19/17 for driving) but maybe using Channel 1 as an open bridge for contact?

I get on GMRS because I like to talk to some people who are only on GMRS and not on amateur radio...  
 

Alex,
I think you read way too much into his previous posts. He wasn’t arguing against licensing. I felt that he was pointing out the same thing I was: that only a small minority of GMRS users get licensed and that it’s a waste of time and energy to lose sleep over it, I.e. Let it Go. It was a comment on the status quo, not a post advocating anarchy. 
And I like Frozen as well, and the song. Watching my grandkids enjoy it and sing the song is great. ?
Happy New Year, my friend!
Steve

Thanks for the answer, although two last paragraphs are way off the mark. But anyway, you answered.

I bet it did.  Some discussions are just lightning rods for uncivil behavior.  It’s really a shame, too, because our civilization needs civil discussions of politics.

It’s a violation of part 97 requirements to interfere with transmissions of another, so the jammers are in the wrong. Nothing else that I say should be interpreted as justification for their actions.
Freedom of speech is limited with ham radio. There are authorized transmissions (97.111), prohibited transmissions (97.113) and there are rules set by the repeater owners/control operators.
Many repeater owners/operators/clubs prohibit political discussions.  That’s their right.
Each repeater has a single channel and it’s the only channel available to anyone using that repeater (some digital repeaters might have two channels). Monopolizing that one channel to discuss politics could be seen as inconsiderate by other users; political discussions force everyone waiting for the repeater to listen to political views which could be very divisive. Rag chewing on simplex channels is another matter.  
But it’s still a violation of part 97 requirements to interfere with transmissions of another, so the jammers are in the wrong, regardless of their motives.
 

i found it interesting yesterday when i was in a conversation with someone and the conversation was somewhat political about the recent classified document scandals.   A person whom i know to be a Ham suddenly pings in and tells us  the radio waves is not the place to discuss politics..  Well,,  I guess this Ham forgot about freedom of speech and the fact that there are basically no GMRS equitecy  rules you commonly find on Ham bands,.   We didn't budge and continued on with conversation only to listen to an idiot trying to 'Jam' the repeater..   Hmmmm,,  I wonder if this malicious 'jammer' was the Hammer.      Pretty sure it was -  LMAO