Hans

In the 1970s in our city it wasn't so kosher; especially at night. It sounded similar to today but less impolite between individuals. Still there were a lot of shenanigans, keying over others, illegal wattage, sexual content, etc.

Things certainly got worse but it was pretty wild when we had a license. Then again, I am no fan of Uncle Charlie. Funding and influence always corrupt regulatory agencies. It's unavoidable.

If I took that path in the city, I would spend all of my waking hours rampaging. The inner city is very annoying. Fortunately, I am easier going with age. ?

A few years ago, I moved to the inner city of my hometown after many years of farm life in the country. I saw these gigantic antennae with spiral bases on these cars and vans around the hood. Naive me got excited and asked if they were amateur operators, innocently hoping to strike up a conversation about their rigs. They got downright mean, vulgar, and in some cases threatening for simply asking that one question. After a while, I realized these were chowder-heads running high wattage on CB. Mornings and sometimes in the evenings, their ear raping interference comes through my computer speakers and my headset when playing video games. It is super annoying. ETA: These guys know they are causing massive interference. They simply don't care for anyone but themselves.

FWIW, I have ran into that quite a bit over the past 10 years or so. However, all of them were ad hoc and small scale.

At one time, I was against DMR on GMRS. I have since changed my stance. Your ideas are good and valid but ignore the situations where one band is going to propagate better than the other. I ran into that surprisingly more often than I expected over the years. Additionally, there are situations where cross band is cheap and easy (ex. handheld <-> mobile <-> handheld). Instead of VHF or DMR, why not both? (Insert WhyNotBoth.jpg meme here.)

Exactly. Even just basic cross-banding through a vehicle's mobile would be a plus. Also, there have been situations where VHF would propagate better than UHF. 2M was propagating much better for me but not everyone had an amateur license. We used MURS but the radios were not part certified for it. I doubt the FCC will ever include VHF in GMRS but hope springs eternal.

If reckless redneckitude was a primary offense, I would be doing life by now. ?

Thanks for the update. ?

You seriously underestimate just how cheap I am, friend.

IIRC, as a federal regulatory agency, it will be 30 days after they officially announce the change that it will go into effect. They said that in their response as well. Unless I missed it, I don't believe they have officially announced the change yet so my renewal would pass by and I have too much set up with our call sign to let that happen.

I'm right there with you. I missed the 10 year rule change and it looks like I will miss the fee reduction because mine expires in February 2021.

Look back and read a page or two in this very thread.

Yep, I am aware. However, it was made perfectly clear by local hamsters that the ostracization and the intentional QRM that would follow on any amateur repeater that I put up without coordination would make it annoying and mostly unused and unusable. It's like that in my AO. Then, there is the limitation on work traffic and the individual license factor for family members and friends' families. GMRS solves all of those problems for us here.