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New 2022 GMRS/FRS Band Plan


russwbrill

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And let's get rid of the ERP limits on GMRS.  I'm struggling now with building the best station that I can under the current restrictions.  As the rules are now, I have to have two base radios and two base antennas to build a high performance GMRS station that allows me to operate on all frequencies.  I need one radio, 1-10 watts with a unity gain antenna and feedline cut to a length to ensure proper attenuation to maintain legal ERP for channels 1-14.  I need another radio, 45w, with a high performance antenna to get the best performance on channels 15-22.

By getting rid of the ERP limits, I could run one radio, 5-45w, and one gain antenna for everything.  

 

Edit my former opinion above to say, I'm still very new to this whole GMRS thing and I can see now that the frequencies for channels 8-14 are so close to the repeater inputs that higher radiated power would likely cause trouble for repeaters.  Let's just eliminate those pesky channels completely.  

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And let's get rid of the ERP limits on GMRS.  I'm struggling now with building the best station that I can under the current restrictions.  As the rules are now, I have to have two base radios and two base antennas to build a high performance GMRS station that allows me to operate on all frequencies.  I need one radio, 1-10 watts with a unity gain antenna and feedline cut to a length to ensure proper attenuation to maintain legal ERP for channels 1-14.  I need another radio, 45w, with a high performance antenna to get the best performance on channels 15-22.

 

By getting rid of the ERP limits, I could run one radio, 5-45w, and one gain antenna for everything.  

 

Edit my former opinion above to say, I'm still very new to this whole GMRS thing and I can see now that the frequencies for channels 8-14 are so close to the repeater inputs that higher radiated power would likely cause trouble for repeaters.  Let's just eliminate those pesky channels completely.  

 

I'll second that... I believe ERP limits won't be necessary if Narrow Band standards are adopted...

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That is a huge step in the wrong direction, IMHO. We need FRS & GMRS to stop sharing frequencies. Let FRS be low power narrow band and give GMRS operators more wideband frequencies. I'm tired of sharing the channels with 4 and 5 year old kids screaming at their cousin who is only 30 feet away, about how much they love play dough.

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And let's get rid of the ERP limits on GMRS.  I'm struggling now with building the best station that I can under the current restrictions.  As the rules are now, I have to have two base radios and two base antennas to build a high performance GMRS station that allows me to operate on all frequencies.  I need one radio, 1-10 watts with a unity gain antenna and feedline cut to a length to ensure proper attenuation to maintain legal ERP for channels 1-14.  I need another radio, 45w, with a high performance antenna to get the best performance on channels 15-22.

 

By getting rid of the ERP limits, I could run one radio, 5-45w, and one gain antenna for everything.  

 

Edit my former opinion above to say, I'm still very new to this whole GMRS thing and I can see now that the frequencies for channels 8-14 are so close to the repeater inputs that higher radiated power would likely cause trouble for repeaters.  Let's just eliminate those pesky channels completely.  

Just do as the rest of us do, and program one good radio with channels 1-7 for low power narrow-band at 5 Watts, and channels 15-22 for high power wide-band at whatever the radio can do - 25-50 Watts.  Don't even bother to put 8-14 in your radio... those are the low-power FRS channels, and should stay that way. (Those frequencies should have never been assigned in the first place, and should have been left as guard-band space between repeater inputs.)

 

You do not need more channels.  If the band is that crowded in your area, and you don't want to hear others, use CTCSS, or better yet, DCS.

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That is a huge step in the wrong direction, IMHO. We need FRS & GMRS to stop sharing frequencies. Let FRS be low power narrow band and give GMRS operators more wideband frequencies. I'm tired of sharing the channels with 4 and 5 year old kids screaming at their cousin who is only 30 feet away, about how much they love play dough.

And I am sure you have much more interesting things to discuss...LOL!!

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Sorry, Did I miss something. EIRP? Yes I know what this means. I was told it was 50 watts out of you radio. That was the power limit.

No limit on antenna height and no limit on EIRP on GMRS Channels 15-22.

My repeater's EIRP is a little over 350 watts by calculators I found online.

I know the FRS stuff is non-removable antennas and they do have a EIRP limit. Channels 8-14.

 

WRCW870

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Hmmm. Was the first post in this topic edited?  When major edits are made, it is usually a good idea to add a comment as to why the edit was made, even better is to add a note below the original text (You can always mark the original text as strikethrough). That way people who find this thread in the future will have a context for the conversation.

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It seems to me that some of the fine fellows on this forum just get unnerved about the idea that their GMRS radio should skip channel numbers.  (Even though GMRS didn't have channel numbers in the first place - that was an FRS/Combo marketing thing from the likes of Motorola, Cobra, and Midland.)

 

They just can't accept that you should go from 7 to 15 in one jump.   -   There is a medical name for that.

 

Sorry guys, but your O.C.D. annoys my A.D.D.   :) 

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Being as sincere as I can be, this is a discussion forum and we like to talk about this stuff. Just because a bunch of people disagree with your opinion, that doesn't mean the conversation doesn't have value.

 

You have to understand, though.  It's not a question of facing change, but rather the change you suggest is not an improvement.  It was the technical equivalent of telling people that cars pollute too much, so your solution is to got back to horse drawn carts.  You have to expect a nation full of personal automobile owners would think its a terrible idea, regardless of any potential perceived benefits. 

 

The more narrow the signal, the less data you can move.  In the voice service, that translates to loss of signal and voice fidelity.  That translates to less range and a voice service that has less potential, not more.

 

So, in the same way I made a valid technical point of fact to support my opinion, I would recommend you continuing the conversation in the same way.  Having the adult equivalent response of, taking your ball and going home, isn't going to win people over.

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That was painful. I saw his posts on QRZ... but I haven't seen this one.

 

Not really... These forums provide some laughs from time to time, and it's always the same actors.. Some call me a troll because I float some different ideas about the RF Spectrum... And as soon as I float something all the Nay Sayers come out of the woodwork. It's the same BULLS**T Mindset that said Ham Radio would become CB because of the No-Code License. Of course, they were wrong, there was an influx of some really nice people, it was refreshing and a lot nicer to hear decent people using the Spectrum instead of bunch of old crabs... 

 

As far as the GMRS crowd goes, there's changes coming like or not, you all dodged a regulatory bullet in 2017, but you're almost out of lives :)

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Not really... These forums provide some laughs from time to time, and it's always the same actors.. Some call me a troll because I float some different ideas about the RF Spectrum... And as soon as I float something all the Nay Sayers come out of the woodwork. It's the same BULLS**T Mindset that said Ham Radio would become CB because of the No-Code License. Of course, they were wrong, there was an influx of some really nice people, it was refreshing and a lot nicer to hear decent people using the Spectrum instead of bunch of old crabs... 

 

As far as the GMRS crowd goes, there's changes coming like or not, you all dodged a regulatory bullet in 2017, but you're almost out of lives :)

I'm honestly a little annoyed you deleted the first post, because we're still having a discussion, and I missed the beginning.

 

CB is useless and nobody operates (here) any more, ham has told me to get new friends with ham licenses, and all I wanted was a way to keep in touch with my nerd friends at ren faires with no cell coverage.  My weirdest requests here have been in service to this singular goal, too.  I just want to solve a boring practical problem.

 

What the heck is this about dodging bullets and out of lives?  Be courteous and don't redact our history, please.

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Not really... These forums provide some laughs from time to time, and it's always the same actors.. Some call me a troll because I float some different ideas about the RF Spectrum... And as soon as I float something all the Nay Sayers come out of the woodwork. It's the same BULLS**T Mindset that said Ham Radio would become CB because of the No-Code License. Of course, they were wrong, there was an influx of some really nice people, it was refreshing and a lot nicer to hear decent people using the Spectrum instead of bunch of old crabs...

 

As far as the GMRS crowd goes, there's changes coming like or not, you all dodged a regulatory bullet in 2017, but you're almost out of lives :)

 

So we went from childish to vague ominous threats that are as empty as space, as if you have some kind of control or insight as to what the future holds for the spectrum and its users. Nice!

 

So, here's a little secret about how many of our laws are made and regulatory agencies plan. Big business polls the people to find the largest marketable demographic that is likely to buy something. Then they look at likelihood and expense to deliver in a specific timeframe, estimate time to profitability and anticipated duration of product or service lifetime. If they think the can make a lot of money soon, the companies bribe/lobby/make campaign contributions to whomever they need to (in the order of hundreds of millions) until they get their way.

 

You aren't going to change anything. You don't have any insight or insider knowledge. You're talking out your butt.. and if anything does change (I'm sure one day it will) regardless of how much you will claim it was you, you would have had nothing to do with it.

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I think you guys (Ian and Mark) are reading too much in Russ' posts. It's all figure of speech, about regulatory bullet and our miserable lives, which we are almost out of. And the radioreference thread was fun to read!

 

The whole proposal seemed to me as in: if it ain't broken fix it till it is. If somebody wants to go narrowband, because of interference on repeater input or lack of wideband gear or whatever the reason, feel free to do so, it's allowed today.

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So we went from childish to vague ominous threats that are as empty as space, as if you have some kind of control or insight as to what the future holds for the spectrum and its users. Nice!

 

So, here's a little secret about how many of our laws are made and regulatory agencies plan. Big business polls the people to find the largest marketable demographic that is likely to buy something. Then they look at likelihood and expense to deliver in a specific timeframe, estimate time to profitability and anticipated duration of product or service lifetime. If they think the can make a lot of money soon, the companies bribe/lobby/make campaign contributions to whomever they need to (in the order of hundreds of millions) until they get their way.

 

You aren't going to change anything. You don't have any insight or insider knowledge. You're talking out your butt.. and if anything does change (I'm sure one day it will) regardless of how much you will claim it was you, you would have had nothing to do with it.

 

Marc,

 

I thought you were a little smarter than that... I never said I had insider information, the writing is on the wall, you just gotta open your eyes after you pull your head out of the sand :)

 

Hint: FRS Radios can now transmit on the Repeater Outputs!!! The FCC Folks know there are lots of Hams playing radio on GMRS, and trying to HOG spectrum.. GMRS is referred to as the "73 centimeter" ham band... NO One here is fooling anyone..

 

73,

Russ 

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Marc,

 

I thought you were a little smarter than that... I never said I had insider information, the writing is on the wall, you just gotta open your eyes after you pull your head out of the sand :)

 

Hint: FRS Radios can now transmit on the Repeater Outputs!!! The FCC Folks know there are lots of Hams playing radio on GMRS, and trying to HOG spectrum.. GMRS is referred to as the "73 centimeter" ham band... NO One here is fooling anyone..

 

73,

Russ 

 

Next!!!

 

Anyone else have comments for baby Russ :)

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