WRTT642

Thanks for the welcome guys. I promise to not ask goofy questions like "what's the best radio", or "how far will my radio work". I'm not that big of a newb. 😂😂

@Rulander welcome to GMRS.

Welcome to the forum Vince 👋😀

Hello everyone. Just wanted to come here and say hello from Hood County Texas. I'm just getting started in this hobby. So far, I only have 3 HT's. I will be looking to get a mobile unit when I figure out which one I want. Anyways, I wanted to say thanks in advance for any future help I may need to advance my knowledge. And thanks to the ones here that are on YouTube. You have already helped me out tons!!
 
Vince
WRWB752

Welcome, Vince!

I love GMRS and I am also a "HAMster". My name is Will nice to meet you, I have started a ham radio club at the jr high school I work at and I have already led one student to earn his technician license and have about 10 more in the works. I have about a total of 20 kids that I brought into the hobby. Check out the blog that Bridgecom Systems put out on the ham club that I created for these kids. 
With that being said, please do not assume that all amateur radio operators are a bunch of hermits that keep to themselves and do not share this hobby with others, because there are a lot of teachers like myself out there that are doing the same at their schools. As well as countless hams that teach their family and friends. I am sorry that you may have had a bad experience with some people. I hope we can talk more sir, I am always up for a good chat   

I have a 5RM which adds the WX channels and can copy a VHF/UHF frequency from a  radio transmitting next to you. Also has Rx on AM Aircraft freqs & FM radio. It has 999 channels too. I load mine up with tower & tracon freqs for the local airports and railroad channels!

Might be meeting the wrong people, just about everyone I have ever talked to about radio has been very welcoming to the hobby. 

I love GMRS and I am also a "HAMster". My name is Will nice to meet you, I have started a ham radio club at the jr high school I work at and I have already led one student to earn his technician license and have about 10 more in the works. I have about a total of 20 kids that I brought into the hobby. Check out the blog that Bridgecom Systems put out on the ham club that I created for these kids. 
With that being said, please do not assume that all amateur radio operators are a bunch of hermits that keep to themselves and do not share this hobby with others, because there are a lot of teachers like myself out there that are doing the same at their schools. As well as countless hams that teach their family and friends. I am sorry that you may have had a bad experience with some people. I hope we can talk more sir, I am always up for a good chat   

it already has in many parts of the country,  most notably in bigger cities like the LA Zoo

I love GMRS and I am also a "HAMster". My name is Will nice to meet you, I have started a ham radio club at the jr high school I work at and I have already led one student to earn his technician license and have about 10 more in the works. I have about a total of 20 kids that I brought into the hobby. Check out the blog that Bridgecom Systems put out on the ham club that I created for these kids. 
With that being said, please do not assume that all amateur radio operators are a bunch of hermits that keep to themselves and do not share this hobby with others, because there are a lot of teachers like myself out there that are doing the same at their schools. As well as countless hams that teach their family and friends. I am sorry that you may have had a bad experience with some people. I hope we can talk more sir, I am always up for a good chat   

*The NotARubcion has entered the chat-room* 
 
   ...your radio, your choice....
 
*The NotARubcion has left the chat* 

Is this complete yet,  I just got 4 new radios I want to try out 
 

Howdy all, new to GMRS, planning on adding a mobile/base that doubles as a repeater. Going up near urgent care/Wasilla high, sometimes this August. :)

Heard about the new Kenwood TH-D75A and saw it posted on gigaparts. Was curious about your guy's thoughts on it. I am seriously considering getting it as I always wanted the D74, but was unwilling to pay the inflated prices for a used HT. What say you all?

This sounds like the way to do it. Thank you so much for the info!

Hello all,
I am a teacher at my local middle school and I am in the process of starting a ham radio club for the kids. It has piqued the interest of students, parents, and staff alike. In doing this the principal has been asking me questions about the radios that the staff use for the building. They typically use them for communications in locating kids, lunchtime duties, bus duty, etc. The principal has told me that the radios they currently use are horrible and that they have a hard time reaching across the school. 
The radio that the school is using is the Hytera PD362i, and we have about 8 of them along with some no-frill, basic Motorolas. When I asked him about who runs all the radios for the district and his experience he stated that the individual is IT guy and his knowledge of radios is very limited. The principal does not know why they use these radios specifically, but that was what was given to them. He has made complaints to the district about the radio not being able to reach all around the school and even within closer proximities. When he asked me to find out what radios would be good to have for the school and brought a couple of Baofeng UV-9g's to school and ran a couple of tests to gauge the distance and sound on them. I was very surprised that the UV9g's could be heard loud and clear on FRS frequencies everywhere in the school as well as outside of the building yet the Hytera's could not even make half those distances. I am not a professional in this field and my knowledge in doing such things in this capacity is almost nonexistent. I did tell the principal I would look into it and see what I can find out, I am a history major so business comms is not in my wheelhouse of expertise in any way. So I come to all of you who are experts in such things and know way more than I do in this subject. Any feedback or help would be greatly appreciated. The answers the principal got was that they were going to need to set up a repeater in the school and for some reason was going to cost them $10,000!!!! So as you can see this has been a touchy subject with admin because of the cost, yet these radios are vital for communications around the school. If anyone is willing to help us out and give us some info or if anyone is willing to volunteer their time for a consult over the phone with the principal or just point me in the right direction it would be greatly appreciated. Thank you. 
 

I agree. I don't think Baofeng is a suitable replacement. I only used it to get an idea of what could possibly work. It is the only set of radios that I have on hand that we can transmit in the building to see a comparison. I'm not sure of the exact size or square footage of the building, but it is a decent-sized building and one of the bigger ones in our district. The entire building is pretty much made of brick, which I suspect is the cause for the interference, but it still doesn't make sense to me as to why the Baofengs worked so well, but the Hyteras don't. There is one location specifically that the principal has concerns for and that is the location where the students who are in I.S.S. (in-school suspension) as well as students who are being sent out of class for disruptive behavior. The room gets very poor reception even with cell phones and the Hytera just sends static, but again when I tested the Baofengs from that room to the front office and cafeteria, etc, they were loud and clear. Anyway, I do appreciate the help and information, I will compile all this info to give to the principal and continue to do more research on the recommendations you have all given. Thank you very much! 

In Soviet Russia, radio monitors you.

So the first issue that they may be having is the fact the radios they have are in the Part 90 allocation.  And do you know what frequency they are on?  Could be VHF. could be UHF.  Hard to say.  All this has to do with the noise floor of the area around the facility.  Rural area noise floors are typically going to be lower than urban areas.  The type of license they have is also a consideration.  If they are saddled with an itinerant license, their neighbors across the street may have the same frequencies as they do further limiting their ability to talk.  Lastly, the squelch level of the radios they have, which is programmable only and not user adjustable may have a hand in the lack luster coverage they are experiencing.  GMRS and HAM UHF frequencies are typically fairly quiet and the noise floor there is very low typically.  Much lower than the noise floor in the part 90 allocated frequencies.
But what I can tell you is this.  There are a number of different radio services out there that are for different applications and users.  FRS radios that are sold in a big box store in bubble packs are meant by the service they are attached to to NOT be used for commercial / government entity applications.  Just because you can buy them across the counter doesn't mean they are for every application you can imagine.  FRS specifically stands for FAMILY radio service.  Meaning they are for family use in a similar way that a child's walkie-talkie is meant for that application and NOT as a radio system for public safety.  Could you use kids walkie-talkies in a public safety situation?  Sure, if the range was limited, and the interference was minimal, police could use them to communicate.  But that's not what they are for, and if a police department was to use them for law enforcement activities and the FCC caught wind of it there would be some fall out over it.  Same goes for FRS radios being used for school communications.  It's not what that service was intended for.  And improper use of a radio service is technically against the regulations.  Now, mind you seeing any sort of enforcement with this is pretty far fetched, BUT if the FCC were to get wind of it and decide to levy fines to the schools for using the FRS service as their communications system, those fines could reach over 10K in short order.  So messing about with things of this nature, not being aware of the regulations could get them in hot water.  And while the FCC can't really come for you for violations, the school could seek to create a civil case against you for sending them that direction.
 

This could be it.

Schools can't be licensed for Part 95 or 97. They can license under both 90.20 and 90.37.

I have no idea of the legalities of using a gmrs repeater in a school/business scenario, but something like a Motorola GR1225 centralized in the school,  with a good antenna seems like it would do the trick and they can be found for a few hundred dollars. Even the lower power r1225 (1w-11w) would probably work for that small of an area. 

My only guess on those Hyteras (and it's totally a guess) would be that they are programmed for low power with either .5 or 1 watt on FRS channels. If your school does not have a specific frequency licensed with the FCC, some radio shops and dealers would just plug in some low power random FRS channels as a workaround instead of bothering with Licensing issues.