Newbie questions

[Pappaw]

First post on this site !  To start off, I know very little, to nothing about radio. I purchased a

 , just due to cheap price to listen on. Saw right off it was above my skill level. Watched some YouTube videos and got a set of Midland GXT 1000 handhelds, then was explained I was not legal without a Gershwin lic on channels above 14 on it . Did play around with them some and actually communicated from work to my house ( about 2.5 miles) on the FRS channels. This was my main purpose for this adventure. In case I get sequestered at work, and cell phones go down, ET can call home. Have not tried a gmrs channel on the handhelds yet, but the extra 3.5watts should do nicely. (BTW, procured the gmrs lic)

 meow my question, will baofeung work with the midland gxt1000 channels? Thinking about a mobile set in my truck as well, that 40 watt midland set. Will I be legal with it, and baofeung ? I saw some speak about fixed antennas on handheld, but the baofeung is removable. Do I need ham lic to operate it .

 Thanks in advance. Looking forward to learning more.

[BoxCar]

Well Pappaw, welcome to the forum. Different brands of radios are compatible as long as they are using the same modes of transmission. In plain American that generally means analog FM. The other requirement (but not quite a requirement in many instances) is the signal occupies the same amount of bandwidth or spectrum. GMRS is wideband or a 20 KHz signal and FRS is a narrowband or 12.5 KHz signal. Narrowband signals typically sound weak on wide band radios as the occupy only a portion of the band. A wideband signal sounds loud on a narrowband radio but the two can talk to each other over less distance because of the narrow signal on one.

[kipandlee]

welcome to the forum

[WRAK968]

Welcome Pappaw, I'd like to add onto what Boxcar already said, One thing with GMRS is that you should make sure any radio you use is part 90/95 certified. The midland radios are part 95, however not many baofengs are. In-fact, a year or two ago the FCC pulled baofengs certification because they were not meeting the requirements of part 95. This is important as other radio users, such as fire, police, and EMS, use frequencies around the GMRS lineup and having a radio that transmits off frequency, or too wide a bandwidth, can cause interference to those operations.

I've always recommended Kenwood 880's as a starting radio. The software for them is easy to get, and you can usually get the high power version (40W) for around $75-80. The down side is that they are used, but the fact that they are emergency service radios means they will last a lot longer than any Chinese radio. The kenwoods are also part 90/95 rated which makes them legal on GMRS, and to my knowledge, if you have your GMRS license you can have a removable antenna on your radio as long as the power output is not amplified however I could be wrong.

[sufer714]

Bummer I just got a Baofeng UV 82 as a gift. But it looks like they should have gotten me a Kenwood and it is to late to return it.

[gman1971]

Get a Kenwood LMR radio, and I would just keep the UV82, its inexpensive enough and you have a spare radio.

 

G.

[mainehazmt]

Bummer I just got a Baofeng UV 82 as a gift. But it looks like they should have gotten me a Kenwood and it is to late to return it.

The military had a saying about that....”Don’t ask, Don’t tell.

[wayoverthere]

Depending on the agencies, you may be able to use the uv82 as a scanner.

 

I know ours here are mostly unencrypted, except for the tactical channels. I have a couple of uv5r's (also not 95 certified); one is programmed with tx disabled for use as a scanner. The other can still transmit, but I set it up with offsets on the public safety channels, where if I bump the ptt, the transmit goes to one of the frs frequencies, rather than stepping on public safety channels

[AdmiralCochrane]

Depending on the agencies, you may be able to use the uv82 as a scanner.

 

I know ours here are mostly unencrypted, except for the tactical channels. I have a couple of uv5r's (also not 95 certified); one is programmed with tx disabled for use as a scanner. The other can still transmit, but I set it up with offsets on the public safety channels, where if I bump the ptt, the transmit goes to one of the frs frequencies, rather than stepping on public safety channels

 

I've done that with some radios too