Started a new radio society

[deputycrawford]

     Hey all, just wanted to tell the world that a close friend of mine, WQTT-240, and I, have started a new radio club called the Black Swamp Radio Society.  We are looking into being a non-profit organization so I have a lot of PDF files to go through about by-laws and charter rules.  Anybody have any ideas?

 

     We already have two repeaters on the air, and plan to have a two more on the air within two months.  They will be in Toledo, Sandusky, Paulding, and are getting parts together for a New Regal, Ohio repeater.  He plans to find a legal linking system so they can be linked in emergencies.  I have posted before that he wants to be linked so we can help because we are far enough away from a storm situation that we are unaffected and can travel to help because we aren't cleaning up our own area.

 

Lots of plans, and he has worked for a radio company for a living for many years so he has the resources. We are moving fast on this because we are starting our storm season and want to be ready.

 

     What do you all think?  Hopefully this will start a good long post of ideas.

 

Jerry 

[deputycrawford]

     Hey everyone.  We have about 30 registered possible users on our repeater.  There are between 22 and 25 licenses registered in the area and some have family members that use the radio service.  We have had about 8 to 9 users on the system at once, with everyone taking their turn and using it correctly.  The repeater is in use not much longer than 30 mins at a time before it goes silent for awhile.  It is working well and we are teaching new people how to smooth up their operation all the time.  We have created a monster here.  We have everyone with a license checking into this website for information and reading the posts to learn more.  I am co-founding member, and the second repeater could go back on line again and keep my call sign.  Everything is going well here. 

 

     Thanks to Pastor Gary and all who have put information here, as well as any posts that keep this site going.  I am having a great time in this radio service and hope to keep it going for a long time with positive results all the time.  Pastor Gary, I give people this site, and your screen name, all the time so that they can learn more and stay interested in the radio service.  I hope you are O.K. with this.  All of your positive words keep many of us going in the right direction, if I may put words in some people's mouths.  That's what I get from everyone's posts anyway.  Thanks to everyone who keep this site interesting and the radio service growing. 

 

     On a side note, WQTT-240 has been doing a lot of research, and found out that around 850 radios have part 95A certification.  He even told me that all Kenwood's have Part 95 certs.  He might post the info here soon to let us all know that we can stay legal by getting the right radios.  I know we all try hard to stay on the honest side.  WQTT-240, Tim, also said he contacted the Detroit Office of the FCC and has the correct form to certify the Baofeng 888 radios so that they will be certified soon. 

 

     I have said before that I am an Extra class Ham that can do many things, but I have more fun starting something new, and found a new home in the GMRS radio service, and this website. I monitor our area repeater every minute of the day, and welcome everyone that keys up. 

 

     Just an update.  I hope to have more updates soon.  Someone post with ideas.  I will help this grow in our area as much as I can.  Our repeater is believed to be the first one in our area, and hope to add possibly four more, because we have the sites and equipment to do it.

 

Jerry

[PastorGary]

Jerry - Thanks for the kind words, but I'm just doing my job here at MyGMRS in helping out with info as called upon and providing members and viewers with links, info and suggestions to make the GMRS radio service something to be proud of.

 

Rich (WQEJ577), William (spd641) and I are always glad to assist, as we can, and if we don't have the info that a member asks about, we will research that topic and provide any helpful information that we can locate.

 

Please keep us posted on the developments in your area and thanks again.

 

P-G

 

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[Dutch]

I'm following your post with interest, thank you.

Is there a list of those 850 part 95A radios?

 

What is the BaoFeng 888 radios (or do you mean all BaoFengs).

 

New guy here, thanks in advance.

 

Dutch

[deputycrawford]

     Pastor Gary, I know that many here help out a lot.  Thanks for mentioning them because I tend to forget screen names or call signs. Dutch, I will try to forward a list of the radios, or Tim, WQTT-240, can post them here.  He lives to research radio info.  I know he found the list on an FCC website, so I will check on a link or something also. I believe Tim's form should be for his 888's, but not for everyone's.  Any radio that is direct entry capable is not eligible for Part 95 certification. 

 

     Tim is rocking up his bat wing 2000 repeater, and possibly putting it up on the big site as a second repeater.  That way we can chat on one and leave the other for more neighborhood watch kind of things.  Just talking about it, but it would be nice to have two repeaters with this kind of coverage and saturation.  His 2000 will be battery back up also, but I think the building is on generator backup anyway. 

 

     I will post updates as things happen.  This is still fun and growing.

 

Jerry  

[deputycrawford]

     I heard from Tim that if he turns in the FCC form, takes it to the Detroit Office and has it tested for emissions, it will certify all Baofeng 888 radios for use in GMRS.  We just don't know how much the fee is to do it. If it's a bunch we won't do it but if we can swing it then I will let everyone know when it is complete.

 

 

Jerry

[PastorGary]

Thanks, Jerry - please keep us posted on progress... that would mean a lot to many persons.

[deputycrawford]

     I figured it would. I also found a guy today that is a ham operator, but is also a certified K-9 search and rescue operator.  He has a 30 foot trailer that is full of computers, radios, generator for power, and screens that capture his 2 K-9 dogs GPS locators, and the Go Pros they wear on their collars.  He volunteers for the southern Michigan Police, Fire, Sheriff, and the area office feds.  I told him about the GMRS repeater and society we started and he is jumping on board with a license within the next week. 

 

     I flagged him down while passing me at a traffic stop.  We talked for quite awhile.  He is with Skywarn, A.R.E.S., Red Cross etc.  His wife even runs the other dog as they are both certified to run operations.  His trailer has things tied to an automatic radio logging system that records every transmission, area in which they are searching, what they found, and prints it out so he can hand it to the Officer in charge of the search.

 

     His name is Ernie and we exchanged information so we can contact each other about setting up training secessions to start Community Emergency Response teams in the area. I have been monitoring the radio system every minute of the day I can and live to get people involved.  It looks like we might bring a couple of big wigs on board now.  I'll keep posting.

 

Jerry

[PastorGary]

[Tim]

you can go to the FCC OET search page at https://apps.fcc.gov/oetcf/eas/repor...ericSearch.cfm

Under Application Information: Application Status: select Grant Issued
Under Equipment Information: Rule Parts (up to three): select 95A
Under Formatting Options: Show results in You can select HTML to view it on the web site
or select Microsoft Excel or XML to generate a spread sheet. I haven't tried those so I don't know how they work.

Doing that returned 850 radios that are certified for GMRS (Part 95A).

[PastorGary]

Tim - Thanks for that information and Welcome to MyGMRS Forums. Looks as if we missed your first post back in April. 

 

Please check the link that you supplied - it seems that several members here are getting a 404 error message stating that the page as requested does not exist.

 

To be clear, the radios that were listed on the form are the ONLY one's that are certified (???)  As we understand it, the manufacturer would have to submit an entire model production run for certification for ALL radios of that model to carry a Part 95 cert.

 

Please clarify and thank you.

[Tim]

I think anyone can apply to have radio certification modfied I'm checking on the process the link should work but most are listed by fcc id number all kenwood part 90 radios also carry certification in parts 95a, 22 and 72 https://apps.fcc.gov/oetcf/eas/reports/GenericSearch.cfm

[PastorGary]

Thanks, Tim.

 

If anyone has questions about the procedure, check the web link provided first and then, if there are questions, I'm sure that Tim might be able to furnish pointers.

[Tim]

https://www.facebook.com/blackswampradiosociety