MarkInTampa

I had my ham license back in 1996 but let it expire. Doing a search on my old callsign (still unassigned) shows it was issued in 1996, expired in 2006 and cancelled by FCC 2008. I didn't remember anything about a FRN when I got my license or if it even existed. When I got my GMRS license in Oct, the FCC site said something about a existing FRN in my name but was tied to a email address from my old dial up provider, phone that doesn't exist anymore and a address long gone but let me create a new one so I guess I now have two FRN's. I clicked on the link you provided and searched my last name and it shows the FRN RegDate was 5/22/2001 (when I wasn't even active anymore) and the same RegDate for my dad who got his license a year or so after me in another state. If I had to guess, FRN wasn't really a thing until 2001 and they moved everyone over to that system but I could be or am probably wrong....

You can download the 935G programming software even if you don't have a programming cable and just open it. It will be the default settings of the radio including the factory channel presets. If it looks OK to you, then reset the radio (menu 57) to factory default.

What would be cool is to steal 1Mhz of band (.5Mhz with an additional .5Mhz +/- 5Mhz for repeater split) from 70cm and have it be cross licensed for both Ham and GMRS digital voice use. Ham folks could use their existing rigs to legally talk to GMRS users and vice versa. Would be great for emergency use as well. And it would open up 50% more available bandwidth as well over existing GMRS. This would allow for more repeaters. Also would allow for things like APRS type services or heck even digital hotspots on GMRS for the entire family to use.

I would think that the modulation levels of digital voice would destroy any analog communication on the same frequency. Setup a nice strong 50watt GMRS DMR repeater on 462.700 and I could almost guarantee that it would wipe out receive on two analog HT's talking a block apart 5 miles away from the repeater on the same frequency. We have a nice strong GMRS repeater in my area on 575 that also does P25. 99% of use is analog but when P25 is used once or twice a week and you are monitoring on analog radio it's so loud it will make you jump out of your seat. I stumbled across this article "DMR Association Responds to TDMA Interference Allegations" (granted it's for VHF) (https://www.rrmediagroup.com/Features/FeaturesDetails/FID/325) and from an obviously bias organization that were complaining about: PSCC coordinators said they will only certify TDMA coordinations at power levels that are 3 dB or more below the currently licensed analog effective radiated power (ERP), or at least 3 dB or more below the values indicated in 90.205, the safe harbor tables. "We believe what is happening with the 3 dB reduction is an unfair treatment of DMR that penalizes system coverage,” Princen said. “If we would have a technical problem, we would understand it, but this is a design problem. If the system is designed properly, you can avoid this. Digital voice would be nice on GMRS but due to the VERY limited number of repeater frequencies available on GMRS I just don't see how it could be done (at least on repeater frequencies) without causing interference to existing users and repeaters on the band, at least when running 50 watts. What would be cool is to open up a new band for something like "DGMRS" (Digital GMRS) for only digital use but if it only has a handful of channels like GMRS then I'd think the FCC would have to also have to determine a standard (DMR, dPMR, P25, whatever) for digital voice as well and only license radios with that standard. Or maybe allow for digital voice limited to .5 watt on the .5 watt GMRS frequencies for simplex communications that shouldn't interfere that much with existing radios.

Your reading it right, tested in the early morning and there was no activity at the time on 462.xxx. There was on 442

On the 935 on the radio the DPL tones are not listed as an option on CTCSS (leave it off for DPL). DPL has its own menu item called TX-DCS (menu 12) for setting the transmit tone and RX-DCS (menu 11) for the receive tone. If you are using the Wouxun software it's under the CTCSS/DCS option, same place in the software but not the radio itself - go figure.

I get a lot of spikes (and interference) on UHF that is caused by a mistuned or cheap antenna. See example below taken this morning about 1 minute apart (time it took to swap coax). I also have someone around here running DMR simplex on 462.700 that hardly breaks the squelch and almost sounds like static not DMR on a HT and causes slight interference with the area .700 repeater (fixed the squelch issue by enabling CTCSS on receive) but I can still use it. On my base station the DMR comes through almost full power and makes the repeater useless because of how strong the signal is. Good antenna Cheaper antenna

I questioned the 10dBi antenna as well so ran the numbers for 3 Comet antennas to see how realistic that number should be against a known company. GP-3 7.2 dBi, 6ft tall GP-6nc 9.0 dBi, 10ft tall GP-9nc 11.9 dBi, 16.5ft tall I guess the Midland could have a loading coil or something similar built into the antenna to up the gain but highly doubt that it would outperform a GP-6nc.

That's exactly what it does and was designed for. Using different bands of course (VHF/UHF).

TYT TH-9800, $210.00. 50watt VHF, 40watt UHF radio. Does quad band (10m, 6m, 2m and 70cm but only two at a time) as well. Almost half the price of a KG-1000G+

Even easier (but definitely NOT LEGAL) would be to slap up something like a Comet GP6-NC (Dual band MURS/GMRS antenna) and MARS/CAP modify any number of dual band ham radio transceivers that do VHF/UHF cross-band repeat out of the box and run MURS HT's crossbanding to GMRS through the base station. One antenna, one radio and done. That's why I was questioning the legality of using a off the shelf, legal and certified MURS and GMRS radios doing the same basic thing using the headphone/mic repeater controller between them. You cold also install a UHF/VHF combiner and use one antenna. Isn't this basically what a Bluetooth headset would do, but on the MURS frequencies instead of Bluetooth? Would both radios would be legal for the band with a simple earphone/mic cable connecting the two?

Range if he wants to use it more than 50 yards around the cabin. MURS should get a heck of a lot more range than Bluetooth. And another stupid question - A few posts above states: Would Bluetooth not violate this rule?

I was thinking more along the lines (in OP's case) of having a nice GMRS base station at the cabin along side a MURS radio with a $40 HT style cross band repeater controller (https://www.amazon.com/Serounder-Repeater-Two-Way-Controller-Communication/dp/B07QXYJRBN) that connects between the earphone and mic plugs off Amazon. Then use a MURS HT for mobile use around the cabin back to GMRS.

Stupid question - Would cross-band repeating between MURS and GMRS be legal? Legally I know you cant have a repeater on MURS, but you would not be repeating within the same band so would it still be called a repeater? I'm sure it is but just wondering....

Saw this on YouTube this morning, Crazy Old Men On The Ham Radio - Most Craziest Fight Ever Part Two: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tw0b6aC4Q8U

Mixed feelings on this. Used to hold a tech license but let it lapse years ago. I might have upgraded to other classes but at the time code was required for any advancement and I sure as hell didn't want to learn morse code. I didn't mind code, listened to it all the time through a Cantronics interface on a Vic-20 and could send through the computer just as well if I was licensed to do so. Just figured why learn what a computer can do for me with a keystroke. It also decoded RTTY and other modes as well, and this was back in the late 80's. At least the FCC did away with code requirements. I got into GMRS 5 months ago after a 20+ year absence of any kind of radio. Also got into SDR radio and really enjoy listening to some of the very active 70cm repeaters running DMR repeaters that are connected across the country and world through SDR# and DMR and Fusion plugins. There is by far more activity on my local 70cm DMR and Fusion repeaters than GMRS but it is still only 3 or so DMR/Fusion repeaters out of dozens around here that carry 95% of 70cm traffic but I want to get on them. Last week I took the sample test and passed without a problem but to be fair it was because a lot of the questions were what I remembered from 25 years ago, using ohm's law at least weekly in my work life and common knowledge of radio operation. I'll still order up a flash card kit or something similar just to make sure it wasn't a fluke when I took the sample test before actually taking it. I have no idea what questions have really changed in the 25 years since last taking the tech test. What does bother me about allowing a user on the 70cm/2m bands without knowledge of operation is just that. 2m and 70cm bands allow for all sorts of modes- DStar, Fusion, DMR, APRS, SSB and more not allowed on GMRS. More things like the ability to do cross band repeat, where the simplex/SSB/repeater preferred frequency are, etc. And again this is coming from a former ham that just got back into radio with GMRS. Passing a test doesn't mean I know more, less or am a moron for taking the test over somebody that doesn't want to or think its stupid, it just broadens what I'm allowed to do. I do believe there does need to be some type of test - simplify it to just what is needed for 2m/70cm but folks do need to know some of the basics of how these bands operate. A legal GMRS radio locks everything down for you, things like legal power limits on FRS channels and FM only. User knowledge isn't really required on GMRS but it gets a bit more complicated on 2m/70cm.

If you have deep pockets, a Icom IC-F6330D would work but it's way overkill. The control head/mic runs POE to the base unit, the diagrams show the head as being able to go though a network switch. Pop a wireless bridge on the base unit setup to your existing WiFi and a POE adapter on the head with another wireless bridge or cat cable to your internal network. It will probably cost ya $2k though. https://www.icomjapan.com/lineup/products/IC-F5330D/

I was a licensed ham 25-30 years ago and it was fun at first, then a lot of drama between two clubs. If I got caught talking to one person from one of the clubs the other would disown you. Reminded me of a bunch of high school girls. When I moved out of state I sold it all off and let my license expire. Fast forward to a few months ago and decided to get my GMRS license and give radio another shot. GMRS has been fun, no drama yet. Also got into SDR (software defined radio) and have really been enjoying listening to a couple of very active nationally linked 70cm DMR repeaters in the area. Now thinking of getting my ham license back just to play around with DMR. 2 meter is pretty much dead and 90% of non DMR traffic on 70cm are the weekly net's in my area. I took the sample test a few days ago and passed with a 85% score on a whim without looking at any kind of study guide since I took my last test 28 years ago. I'll probably go ahead and get my amateur license back one of these days but I'll still have a GMRS radio running next to it.

Had to lock out GMRS channel 3 from scan because a Nursery & Landscaping company less than a block from me has a bunch of users (traffic) on it. Channel 14 is very active with the road crews around here and you can bank on channel 5 being really active from 3:30 to 4:30 during school hours, a local school uses it for student pickup. Right now (for the past week or two) the most used repeater frequency is being used by some a-hole's that are running DMR simplex on 462.700 that happens to be where my favorite repeater is. Don't have a way to transmit DMR but can receive it using a RTL dongle using SDR-Sharp with a DMR plugin. They appear to be speaking Portuguese and I'd guess they are a foreign ship sitting in the Port of Tampa and hopefully will be gone soon, it's ticking me off. We have had issues with foreign ships causing interference on our local repeaters before but this is the first time DMR has been blasting through.

There really isn't anything local on the 462.725 frequency or it's uplink of 467.725 (the alt input of our 462.575 repeater) so it usually works out. When the conditions are really good I can hit the repeater in Perry Fl on 462.725, a 168 mile trip but it's rare.

Sorry dude, didn't see the date of your post.

GMRS repeater are NOT always 5 MHz UP. The primary repeater in my area (462.575) has two input frequencies. The standard 467.575 input with a CTCSS tone input sometimes gets a bunch of interference from foreign ship traffic when they are in port and has to be shut down for sometimes days at a time. The other input is on 467.725 with a DCS instead of CTCSS. It's also the only repeater around that uses DCS (at least on one input). Both run at the same time.

I should have clarified that point. But they are digital modes. Sorry about that. We have 3 or 4 active but seldom used D-Star repeaters and 10 or so pretty active C4FM repeaters in my area. I probably should have got a Yaesu as it's more popular in my area but too late now.

Guess it depends on what you want to do. If 20 watts gets what and where you want that's great. The Yaesu and Icom both have DMR modes, great since your a HAM. I've got a KG-1000G+ as well as a Icom ID-5100a and do a LOT of scanning both in the GMRS and HAM bands. The Icom scans memory channels AT LEAST 5 times and entire band scans at least 10 times faster than the KG-1000 does. I also like the large screen (don't need reading glasses to see it). Pop a SD memory card in it and record everything if you want. It also costs $100+ (or $200+ than the OP has his listed for) more than the KG-1000.

After MARS/CAP mods on the three listed above: The FTM-400XDR does 136-174Mhz RX/TX and 400-480Mhz RX/TX The ID-5100A does 137-174Mhz TX and 400-470Mhz on RX/TX The TM-V71A does 136-174Mhz RX/TX and 400-470Mhz RX/TX It's not hard to find how to modify them, YouTube is your friend.