UncleYoda

Nagoya UT-72G mag mount: Nagoya UT-72G High Gain Magnet Mount GMRS Antenna (462-467 MHz) Nagoya 771G for attaching to radio in handheld carry mode also better than stock antenna: Authentic Nagoya NA-771G Handheld GMRS Antenna (15.3 Inch) (both also avail on Amazon if you want to support Bezos instead of a small business :) Amazon does offer free shipping but I like supporting the other guys)

But they're still receive only on those channels, right? (barring some unlock trick which breaks compliance).

Yes, it's that "designed" wording. There are other unrelated products that put an American flag on their package based on American design/engineering (or sometimes "assembled") but are made in China. Edit: Also see "American-owned" like that. It's all intended to make it seem better.

BTech has, at least in the past, had worse quality (or quality control) than Baofeng. BTech sold knock-offs that were responsible for many of the older bad reports for Baofeng radios. They were not made in America then AFAIK, don't know now because I won't buy one of their radios. The only one I ever got was an "8W" that only did the same 4.5W on 2m and 0.5W on 440 (paid double for less). Another similar brand I don't trust for radios is Abbree. These companies may improve over time but most start out selling unreliable junk. I may risk it for accessories like charging cables if there's no other vendor.

They've been introducing bills like this for many years. They never pass. Better to just not live in a HOA neighborhood.

Not specifically referencing power limits, but this is wording I got in a response from the folks in charge, if it helps: Handheld portables are a subset of mobile stations and must comply with any applicable mobile station requirements and any additional requirements for handheld portable units.

No, don't have one; seems way overpriced. BTWR has a Melowave NMO mag mount base with better quality cable. And they have a 6DB gain stacked 5/8 wave Tram antenna that should fit (no flex tab on antenna like I am used to but seems to mate OK). I just got both and so far have only tested the SWR (1.1:1) but haven't had time to test transmission or reception yet.

Why are individual Guests listed in Online Users? Most forums just list the count of guests. FWIW, the main reason for asking is it would be less to browse through if it was just members listed.

Well, I was looking forward to it at first, but even before I got all the gear I needed, I was told about the obscure limitation by omission that base stations aren't allowed to use repeaters. That mostly dulled my interest for now due to lack of mobile-ing around but maybe your interests/needs are different. I agree the licensed GMRS repeater users I hear are well behaved. I do hear foreign language users on the repeater outputs sometime but can't tell for sure that they are local on simplex. I rarely hear anyone on the shared FRS channels other than little giggly kids (I guess I should set tones to block those, or disable scanning). I may try shifting my interest in GMRS to some kind of neighborhood comms that don't need a repeater but would benefit from a base station. But that probably won't be used until the grid and regular comms are down long term. 2m isn't quite as dead here as it is for you. Hear more if you know when to listen rather than monitoring throughout the day. I think HAMs are making a mistake by veering off into so many different formats - 2m analog should be the focus. But heck, people don't even agree on what HAM's primary purpose is.

The "Licenses" section is not visible (to me, logged in or not) on other members' profiles. If you see it, I guess it's shown only to older long-term members.

I'm glad you distinguish 15W transmitter output from ERP. That is how I see it as well. That means the 6dbi antenna I got is good to use with up to 50W output (30 something more likely) because both of those items in 95.1767(a) are worded similarly. ?

But those are just what you and the other guys think it may mean. There is no authority to it. If FCC gave examples, then we'd have something. Yes, base station is the main concern because it's obvious mobile and handheld portable in normal operation are not fixed stations. And I had already come to that conclusion myself from reading the regs (if you want, look back where I said so and Sshannon asked me to explain that but I didn't bother). There are lots of places on the internet where guys are claiming base stations can't have more than 15W because of misinterpreting the rule for fixed stations. Amazon reviews is one place I saw recently, in the reviews or posted questions for a 20W mobile, somebody answered and told the prospective buyer he could not use it for a base station. These kinds of comments are common. So, yea, a 20W mobile is fine to set up as a base and if I get one I would probably swap back and forth between that and the vehicle. BUT!... This leads to another hitch which would be best handled in another thread, however with the reactions I've gotten here I doubt I will bother. If I'm overthinking it, it's my business and the rest of y'all here who aren't interested are free to ignore what I post. So far, I see a few users who dominate all the conversations here as if they are experts and they attack and criticize anybody who dares doubt their wisdom. Well, I won't even bother debating with them anymore. And if you want to continue criticizing how I think I'll treat you the same. Really, I don't even need this forum to just use the radios.

The main benefit in my experience (HAM not GMRS but doesn't matter) is that the tone allows someone to respond without letting the repeater drop every time. You still want to leave a gap every so often for others to join in, but don't necessarily need to do that after every short transmission. Actually, like I said above, it's more the opposite in my experience. It means you don't need to wait. I asked one repeater owner about why he had it setup to use a courtesy tone, and he confirmed it was to allow transmit without letting the repeater drop to keep the repeater from cycling on and off so much.

Nobody has actually said anything meaningful. I already knew what the regs said. And all these nutty opinions people post on here mean nothing. The title and original post were what does it mean to FCC, not what Joe Blow thinks it means. But if everybody will leave it alone I will too because it's clear nobody knows.

The question is valid, and still unanswered. Anybody who can't respond seriously goes on ignore.

That's what they should have said (you make regulations explicit). But even that would still not tell us what a fixed station is. They could say a base station may only transmit between 7am and 10 am on Tuesdays but that wouldn't tell me what a base station is. Can you not see the difference between specifying limits on usage and actually defining/describing what something is? (rhetorical, I don't need an answer)

Thanks for making the point I've been trying to get across and most of the guys here don't understand (and probably never will). Yea, that reference to something that used to be different may explain why it is not clear. I don't know what the PRSG website is, but looking at outdated information is not the best option for interpreting current rules. The current rules need to stand on their own with sufficient detail and proper wording for clarity and consistent interpretation (which it's obvious we don't have here).

No, he's right, he needs SMA Male on the antenna for UV-5G. The connections are the opposite of UV-5R (they did that just to make us buy more I guess). The one you show in the picture is the standard UV-5R SMA Male connector (threads inside just like PL-259). Neither the UV-5G nor UV-5R radios I have have Reversed SMA. But if you think that is confusing, I just had to order an N-type connector and it was really hard to figure out male vs female [female has a center pin but it's hollow and very hard to see that].

I think I got it. Well, I hate to complicate things more since this topic is about fixed station. But, there is a glaring problem with that definition. Control station, as I'm familiar with it, does not have to be "at a fixed location". Mobiles and HTs can be control stations if they can exercise control. And for that matter, control stations can communicate with base stations and portable, not just mobile (they don't control them necessarily but do communicate). So this is another crappy definition. I don't know how fine-grained they define it. But the linking I mentioned was part of normal use. There was something for HAM that was referenced in the test questions about what constituted a control station but I can't recall it exactly. What about portables? You really think they don't allow bases to talk with portables? Seems ridiculous. That's a conclusion in your words, not their wording, right? My understanding (from the HAM side of things) from memory is that a control station has the ability to turn off or disable the repeater if it's causing a problem. Normal users doing linking do not have that ability, just unlinking. I don't know of a test case about this though. I know but the GMRS regs leave out a lot that's needed for clarity. So, what do we do, call FCC? It definitely should not be this complicated for a simple pay your fee license.

Sorry, I haven't yet figured out how to break a quote into multiple parts here. A control station is a remotely located station that exercises (or has the ability to) control over another station. [my wording not quoting regs] DTMF is the main way I know of but I believe there are others including through an interface with a computer. Mounted on a desk with rooftop antenna is a base station to most folks. Simply being able to send DTMF does not make you a control station the same way being able to post here doesn't make you a moderator. In my state, we have a statewide linking network of 2m and 440 HAM repeaters and when the statewide link is not already activated ordinary users can send DTMF codes to link two repeaters and to unlink. We are not control stations in doing so, which becomes obvious when there is a problem like noise interference on the linked system. I know that's a HAM example but I'm sure the technology is similar on GMRS. Regarding your last paragraph about the FCC, yes they may not come after us but for some of us the point is we're trying to follow the rules. We just want them to make their meaning clear.

Religious and political statements are not, and cannot be, legally prohibited. It's just HAM tradition to not talk about anything meaningful other than your equipment.

But if they gave a good enough definition and description then you would know why and what their function is.

I'm allowed to comment on whatever I please, especially in my own topic. But I won't need to comment on yours anymore!

Yea, that's one example of what they might be referring to, along the lines I was thinking. But it needs to be better defined by them. MURS has driveway alarms and remote radios for talking to a base at the house. But MURS is limited in wattage. 15W sounds kind of high if that's all they meant for GMRS fixed stations..

That's the "definition" (so they call it) that I referred to in the original post. It does not define what a fixed station is. I don't feel like going through all the references in the regs, at least right now. Maybe I'll do it later but the point of asking a question here was not to defend my interpretation of the regs; it was to see if someone knew the answer. As it stands, I still don't know the answer and it seems no one else does either.