What radios do people use for MURS?

[Lscott]

On 12/20/2021 at 1:07 AM, MichaelLAX said:

What, me worry? 

Alfred E Newman.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_E._Neuman

[mitzvah]

I went cheap and got a Retevis RB38V and learn a lesson. Out of the box the radio is a paper weight. You need to buy a programming cable and get the program off of the company website. 

[Lscott]

33 minutes ago, mitzvah said:

I went cheap and got a Retevis RB38V and learn a lesson. Out of the box the radio is a paper weight. You need to buy a programming cable and get the program off of the company website. 

Most radios are like that. Nothing new.

[mitzvah]

Cheap one maybe yes, sure not with my Wouxun 906G

[Ian]

Motorola Spirit VHF with 2 watts on "green dot" and "blue dot", selected via toggle switch

Motorola Radius with two watts on one channel of the latter two

Motorola Radius with two channels selected by a rotary switch, and support for CTCSS unlike the two-channel Spirit units

Dakota Alert handhelds, which feel a lot jankier than the Motos, but take AA batteries.  I feed them Eneloop 2000 mAh NiMH LSD cells.  They also interoperate with Dakoda Alert's proprietary signaling and perimeter sensors, which I haven't had opportunity to fuck with yet.

Anytone TERMN-8R

And I listen to wal-mart on ham radios whenever I'm bored and in the vicinity.

[KAF6045]

Don't really use MURS -- have three radios. More likely, if the family gathers, to hand out GMRS (have 5 assorted HTs, not counting some flaky pre-reorganization bubble packs that are now GMRS [one has repeater channels, other has three power levels, and I'm sure H is >2W]) and have them operate under my license ("immediate family" clause in the regulations).

MURS: a pair of, essentially, bubble-pack. No makers name on it, just a model on the FCC label and that just reads "MURS 2". Only thing I find using the FCC ID is: Columbia Telecommunications Group. Even the user manual has no name. FCC accepted in 2001.

BTech MURS-V1 (which claims "15 channels" -- basically three sets of five configured with different CTCSS/DCS tones -- though one can modify the tones. Haven't checked if one can duplicate frequencies within a set...

 

[blazehaze]

Motorola Radius P10...

[WRUI365]

I have MURS programmed in on My Harris XG100P set for 2 watts along with GMRS, 2m, 70cm ham bands and doing some non affiliate trunking with it too.

[jwilkers]

Btech Murs2

Sent from my SM-A136U using Tapatalk

[WRPE755]

I know this is an old thread, but just in case someone is still reading it:

- there are a LOT of MURS radios out there now. Radioddity has a good one that goes for around $30

- as with any 2 watt vhf radio, any discussion of range is meaningless. The range of a MURS HT is somewhere between 1/10 of a mile and 10-12 miles. It all depends on a multitude of factors. But my personal experience is that the rubber ducky antennas are good for about 1-2 miles over water, up 3 miles with external mag mount antennas. 
- being able to use external mag mount antennas makes MURS far better than FRS when it comes to vehicle to vehicle communication. It is great for maintaining group comms when traveling in a “pack”. 

[LJMac59]

I have a Radioddity MU-5 and a Motorola RDM- 2070d as primary radios. We use channel 5 when traveling. 

[Lscott]

4 hours ago, LJMac59 said:

I have a Radioddity MU-5 and a Motorola RDM- 2070d as primary radios. We use channel 5 when traveling. 

The RDM models seem to be the favorite at Walmart. When traveling do you use an external antenna?

There is a dual band magnet mount specifiy for MURS and GMRS.

https://dpdproductions.com/products/dual-band-gmrs-murs-mobile-antenna

If you use a duplexer, some adapters and a couple of short jumper cables, you can have both a MURS and a GMRS radio connected to the above antenna at the same time. The duplexer will isolate the two radios so they won’t get damaged during transmission.

https://www.dxengineering.com/parts/cma-cf-4160j

[WRCZ387]

Alinco DJ-MD5T programmed for GMRS, MURS, NOAA receive, rail receive

Alinco DJ-500TB programmed for GMRS, MURS, NOAA receive

Alinco DJ-A10T programmed for MURS, NOAA receive, rail receive

Icom IC-F50IS programmed for MURS, NOAA receive, rail receive [this is the h-t that I use at work]

[nokones]

Motorola XTS1500 Type 2 & XTS5000 Type 3, and of course set for low power at 1 watt.

[Jaay]

TID H-8 and a XTS2500

[WRYZ926]

I received a Quansheng UV-K5 (8) recently that worked on 2m, 70cm, MURS, and GMRS right out of the box. I tested it on MURS and it works. And the Baofeng GT-5R that I modified for the 1.25m band that also works on MURS. 

I really have no use for MURS since no one else uses that band except Walmart. I could have some fun sending Walmart workers on goose chases around the store.

[Willie]

I have a couple of Dakota Alert handhelds that are used in conjunction with one of their driveway motion sensors, but I have it set up over my front door to alert me to people on the walkway approaching my front porch/door. That way I'm alerted to delivery drivers dropping off packages but don't bother to knock on the door or ring the doorbell. I can't afford to leave packages sitting on my front porch unattended for very long due to the porch pirate trend.

I happen to have a Walmart located at the end of my block and I've also thought about the possibilities that presents as well.

 

[WRQC527]

7 hours ago, Willie said:

I have a couple of Dakota Alert handhelds that are used in conjunction with one of their driveway motion sensors, but I have it set up over my front door to alert me to people on the walkway approaching my front porch/door. That way I'm alerted to delivery drivers dropping off packages but don't bother to knock on the door or ring the doorbell. I can't afford to leave packages sitting on my front porch unattended for very long due to the porch pirate trend.

I happen to have a Walmart located at the end of my block and I've also thought about the possibilities that presents as well.

 

This is roughly the same  setup I use to monitor my two garages that I can't see from my condo. Basically two MURS radios that transmit to a base unit in the house when the doors are open. 

[Willie]

50 minutes ago, WRQC527 said:

This is roughly the same  setup I use to monitor my two garages that I can't see from my condo. Basically two MURS radios that transmit to a base unit in the house when the doors are open. 

Yes, I like how you can set up multiple zones with multiple transmitters and get the all the alerts on a single receiver. We went with the handhelds so we can be in the back yard and still know when someone shows up at the front door. Plus being able to use them for personal coms between us if we end up in different areas.

[FishinGary]

I have a Radioddity MU-5 that I like so far. I might get a Smiley Stick for it. I had a Btech MURS V2 that I returned, because I just wasn't happy with it. It was actually not a bad radio, but I just didn't care for the lack of a dedicated WX mode and the fact that you had to turn it off and on to switch between channel and VFO mode. The lack of scanning in VFO mode was the deal-breaker for me. These aren't really reasons you buy a MURS radio, but I like having them and when they aren't present or they don't function the way I think they could I can't help but think there are better options.

[WRCZ387]

10 hours ago, FishinGary said:

I have a Radioddity MU-5 that I like so far. I might get a Smiley Stick for it.

I'm using a Smiley 5/8 Slim Duck 155 MHz on an Icom IC-F50, & I've had good luck with it

https://bettersaferadio.com/smiley-antenna-slim-duck-murs-mms-marine-noaa-155mhz-5-8-wave-sma-m/

[FishinGary]

14 hours ago, WRCZ387 said:

I'm using a Smiley 5/8 Slim Duck 155 MHz on an Icom IC-F50, & I've had good luck with it

https://bettersaferadio.com/smiley-antenna-slim-duck-murs-mms-marine-noaa-155mhz-5-8-wave-sma-m/

That's the one I had in mind. I'll need to pick up their SMA-F connector base, as well. Probably not a bad thing to have on hand. 

[WRTC928]

I wish you could get something like this in VHF for use on MURS. They're 2 watts, reasonably reliable, and so cheap as to be almost disposable. It seems like there are no really inexpensive options for MURS like there are for FRS. You could buy a 6-pack or a 10-pack and pass them out at a gathering or event. Perhaps it's a chicken/egg thing -- they're not available because MURS doesn't get much use and MURS doesn't get much use because cheap equipment isn't available.

[WRYS709]

19 minutes ago, WRTC928 said:

I wish you could get something like this in VHF for use on MURS. They're 2 watts, reasonably reliable, and so cheap as to be almost disposable. It seems like there are no really inexpensive options for MURS like there are for FRS. You could buy a 6-pack or a 10-pack and pass them out at a gathering or event. Perhaps it's a chicken/egg thing -- they're not available because MURS doesn't get much use and MURS doesn't get much use because cheap equipment isn't available.

Are there any similar VHF 2 watt HTs that you could just program the MURS channels into?

[SteveShannon]

38 minutes ago, WRTC928 said:

I wish you could get something like this in VHF for use on MURS. They're 2 watts, reasonably reliable, and so cheap as to be almost disposable. It seems like there are no really inexpensive options for MURS like there are for FRS. You could buy a 6-pack or a 10-pack and pass them out at a gathering or event. Perhaps it's a chicken/egg thing -- they're not available because MURS doesn't get much use and MURS doesn't get much use because cheap equipment isn't available.

Well, there are these:

https://a.co/d/cMKWCeq