How many people really use the VHF radio MURS service?

[Ian]

I use it pretty frequently, although recently I've enjoyed using my "unicorn" radios more often since my Motorola ni-cad batteries are shitting the bed.

[SWSDOG]

We use MURS all the time when our jeep club gets together.

[WRKC935]

It's interesting to go back through a thread and see what you missed.

Mark, you are charging 3K for licensing fees BEFORE the 500 for the coordinator.  I guess we need to be charging WAY more for that.  We just charge the 500 plus markup.

Malls with 70 watts ERP.  That is a failure of the vendor pure and simple.  The ERP on the license is a NOT TO EXCEED amount of power.  If they NEED to be running 70 ERP, then you configure the system to do that.  If they only need 10 watts ERP then the vendor should be turning down the power to that level and doing range checks to see that the coverage meets the customer requirements and doesn't go any further.  If you aren't doing that, you really should be.  I come across a BUNCH of that chasing interference issues.  Of course the problems arise when you attempt to talk to a frequency owner that is causing interference by running more than their legal ERP  (happens a BUNCH) or they are excceding their needed coverage area.  The first one is simple enough to deal with.  If you can prove out the excessive power with a field strength vs distance calculation it all gets submitted to the FCC and they put a letter in the mail to the license holder of record.  Vendors RARELY take into account the true ERP when they put up an antenna system.  They will park a DB-420 in the air with 9 dBi of gain and have 40 feet of feed line feeding it with a 100 watt radio. Figuring for cable loss and duplexer loss they are at 70 watts to the base of the antenna and their ERP is actually 560 watts.  Not taking into account HAAT gain.  Which outside of broadcasting, NO ONE does and is NOT required due to antenna height being on the license.  Antenna's Rarely are above the listed max height the license, but that does happen at times as well. 

The other thing no one mentioned here is the radio enthusiasts that have 110 watt radios that they wanted to fill with frequencies.  And the MURS, FRS, GMRS, and Itinerant frequencies ALL go in them at full power.   Can't tel you the number of high power Spectra and Astro Spectra radio's I have seen that had that stuff in them programmed at 100 watts.  Connected to a high gain HAM antenna in their vehicles.  I don't see much of that from vendors, it's typically ham's and other radio guys that are doing it.  And really don't understand they can't or don't care.  They will print off a frequency chart of Itinerant and license-less frequencies and go to town with putting them in their radios. 

 

 

[marcspaz]

46 minutes ago, WRKC935 said:

Mark, you are charging 3K for licensing fees BEFORE the 500 for the coordinator.  I guess we need to be charging WAY more for that.  We just charge the 500 plus markup.

 

There is zero chance my team and I are doing all the different site surveys, designing a system, creating all of those plot maps, and proof of concept for $500. At $3,000, we were losing money and finally stopped doing them completely. 

 

Now I only assist with Ham club and ARES stuff as part of the hobby. 

[WRKC935]

6 hours ago, marcspaz said:

 

There is zero chance my team and I are doing all the different site surveys, designing a system, creating all of those plot maps, and proof of concept for $500. At $3,000, we were losing money and finally stopped doing them completely. 

 

Now I only assist with Ham club and ARES stuff as part of the hobby. 

That makes more sense.  We just issue a request for frequencies for the site, go monitor what the coordinator gives us back as possibles and pick one.  But we RARELY are building systems like that anymore.  95% of what we are doing is public safety on a state wide system, the other parts are repeater systems for small and medium business typically warehouses for coverage inside the fence, malls and stuff like that. 

I guess having a state wide system for public safety has made us lazy. 

 

[MichaelLAX]

More discussions about repeaters on MURS!!! 

[marcspaz]

51 minutes ago, MichaelLAX said:

More discussions about repeaters on MURS!!! 

 

Everyone loves a good MURS repeater.  Oh.... wait.... never mind. 

[Lscott]

2 hours ago, MichaelLAX said:

More discussions about repeaters on MURS!!! 

Given the frequency split between the 151 MHz and 154 MHz frequencies that wouldn't be too hard. Of course it isn't legal.

[gortex2]

hmm...I didn't read anything about murs and repeaters. I read alot about other services. 

[marcspaz]

16 hours ago, WRKC935 said:

the other parts are repeater systems for small and medium business

 

4 hours ago, gortex2 said:

hmm...I didn't read anything about murs and repeaters. I read alot about other services. 

 

I think he picked up on this...

[SteveShannon]

5 hours ago, gortex2 said:

hmm...I didn't read anything about murs and repeaters. I read alot about other services. 

The first page had a post which seemed to indicate that there was a MURS repeater somewhere. 

[MichaelLAX]

6 hours ago, gortex2 said:

hmm...I didn't read anything...

Exactly! 

[WQAI363]

Beside commercial esblishments, I'm really not sure of how many individuals that use MURS other than for occupational use. Than again, NARCOA [ North America Rail Car Operators Association ) alreay 3 VHF frequencies near the MURS portion. Yes they licensed to use : WPHT745

1. 151.625
2. 151.505
3. 158.400

Who knows maybe some members may have programmed MURS as extra channels to use, since they aren't allowed to use AAR Channels.

 

Edited November 1, 2022 by Adamdaj
I wanted to make my post sound better than when I originally posted it.

[Lscott]

I did a search on the FCC site for the exact frequency of 151.625 just to see what pops up, a HUGE number of hits. Only a few look like they have anything to do with railroads.

2187	WREJ974	RAILROAD CONSTRUCTION CO OF SOUTH JERSEY, INC.	0028698892	IG	Active	10/17/2029
2188	WRFR834	RAILSERVE INC	0028619906	IG	Active	04/20/2030
2189	WQVF999	Railworks Track Systems	0024232860	IG	Active	01/30/2025

[marcspaz]

11 hours ago, gortex2 said:

hmm...I didn't read anything about murs and repeaters.

 

4 hours ago, MichaelLAX said:

Exactly! 

 

 

Fine, I'll do it.

 

I'm just saying, you aren't living until you used an amateur cross-band repeater to connect a MURS handheld to a GMRS repeater.... allegedly....

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now we see who has a sense of humor. LoL 

[WRKC935]

I don't think ANYONE was actually talking about repeaters on MURS. 

Michael needs something to comment on in every post he see's.  If he can't find it he will try to make something up. 

We were discussing a different topic all together.  Yes, we hijacked the thread.  Talked about commercial radio stuff, not MURS. 

My advice Michael, go down to the Home Depot, Lowes or whatever home improvement center you prefer,  get some lumber, hammer and nails.  Drag it all home, and build a bridge, so you can GET OVER IT.

If that is too much to handle.  Go to the toy store, find Lincoln Logs.  There were plans for a fine bridge in there.  Knock yourself out.  You can feel some level of accomplishment that you created something worthwhile. 

[marcspaz]

And.... now we know. LOL 

[MichaelLAX]

16 hours ago, WRKC935 said:

I don't think ANYONE was actually talking about repeaters on MURS...

NEVER say never, Keith; it only takes one example to disprove an absolute statement:

Concept: Dual HT Repeater using MURS Bridge

And, indeed, you did hijack this thread about MURS to talk about Repeaters!

To which I replied:

On 10/29/2022 at 6:45 PM, MichaelLAX said:

More discussions about repeaters on MURS!!! 

Or was it bridge building?!? 

[WRKC935]

2 hours ago, MichaelLAX said:

NEVER say never, Keith; it only takes one example to disprove an absolute statement:

Concept: Dual HT Repeater using MURS Bridge

And, indeed, you did hijack this thread about MURS to talk about Repeaters!

To which I replied:

Or was it bridge building?!? 

Well, like I was saying.  I was THINKING. which of course means I wasn't sure.  So not sure where you came up with it being an ABSOLUTE STATEMENT.  Only a thought.  Speaking of thoughts, you should try it some time.  I know getting in here, taking the words of others, twisting them in your mind to mean something different and then attempting to ridicule them based on your interpretation or what you THINK was said keeps you fairly busy.  And it's ok,,, I know it takes a good amount of creativity or bad drugs to get your mind to twist that far.  But what ever floats your boat man.  As I have said before, if you are pointing this nonsense at me, and not someone else that might take it to heart, then I am fine with it.  It keeps them from being bothered by the nonsense.  I just go back and see what I actually said.  Question WTF is he (you) on, and point out your continued failure to get anything out of me that could be truly seen as negative. So keep smiling,  it's a beautiful day. 

 

[MichaelLAX]

42 minutes ago, WRKC935 said:

Well, like I was saying.  I was THINKING. which of course means I wasn't sure.  So not sure where you came up with it being an ABSOLUTE STATEMENT.  Only a thought. 

The other possible interpretation of:

20 hours ago, WRKC935 said:

I don't think ANYONE was actually talking about repeaters on MURS.

Is that you just don't think... 

Insults are easy to hurl; doesn't take much thinking at all!

Put in other words, you thought wrong!

It is indisputable that you took a thread about MURS and went off on a repeater tangent.

I chose to point it out with a joke (and yes, jokes don't always have to be funny; sometimes they make fun of the person joked about) and you are going off writing volumes about it!

I'll let you have the last word on this point...

[WQAI363]

On 10/30/2022 at 3:14 PM, Lscott said:

I did a search on the FCC site for the exact frequency of 151.625 just to see what pops up, a HUGE number of hits. Only a few look like they have anything to do with railroads.

2187	WREJ974	RAILROAD CONSTRUCTION CO OF SOUTH JERSEY, INC.	0028698892	IG	Active	10/17/2029
2188	WRFR834	RAILSERVE INC	0028619906	IG	Active	04/20/2030
2189	WQVF999	Railworks Track Systems	0024232860	IG	Active	01/30/2025

Your Post made it sound as if I said that NARCOA was the Only licensed user of (151.625). I sicerely apologize if I sounded like a person that write posts with out knowing some about the subject or topic. Maybe you have a point, I probably should do research before posting anything regardless of topic. 

[Lscott]

21 minutes ago, Adamdaj said:

Your Post made it sound as if I said that NARCOA was the Only licensed user of (151.625). I sicerely apologize if I sounded like a person that write posts with out knowing some about the subject or topic. Maybe you have a point, I probably should do research before posting anything regardless of topic. 

I looked it up since the official RR frequency list can be found in the attached file and the ones you listed didn't look like what I expected. Of course there could be additional ones assigned by the FCC  for special uses. Got curious and had to check.

I have a code plug written with all of the official VHF FM and NXDN digital railroad channels for a Kenwood NX-200 radio. The portable radios used mostly by the railroads are from Kenwood and Icom.

https://comms.kenwood.com/common/pdf/download/02_NX-200G&300GBrochure.pdf

I haven't really tried it yet. If anyone is interested I've attached a copy. It also has some of the Ham 2M simplex  channels, MURS and the VHF NOAA weather frequencies too. With 512 available channels it wasn't much of a squeeze.

Railroad - Scanner Frequencies and Radio Frequency Reference.pdf NX-200 Railroad 20220422.dat

[WRNC809]

I have a few RT81Vs that I need to get a business license for.  In the meantime, I could use MURS freqs to "test" them out. I include MURS on my scans and I NEVER hear anyone in my neighborhood so I'd probably be safe bending the rules, short-term.

[MichaelLAX]

Go drive over to your local Walmart parking lot and you will hear them; I think it is MURS 4 or 5.

[marcspaz]

6 hours ago, WRNC809 said:

I have a few RT81Vs that I need to get a business license for.  In the meantime, I could use MURS freqs to "test" them out. I include MURS on my scans and I NEVER hear anyone in my neighborhood so I'd probably be safe bending the rules, short-term.

 

Perfectly legal for business use. No need to test boundaries. You will be inside them.

 

 

§ 95.2703 Definitions, MURS. 

 

MURS. A two-way, short distance voice or data communication service for facilitating personal or business activities of the general public.