Is this typical for a GMRS radio?

[SvenMarbles]

20 minutes ago, WRQC527 said:

I guess he's not "following along". 

I stand corrected. I was sure it was input power. 

[WRQC527]

6 minutes ago, SvenMarbles said:

I stand corrected. I was sure it was input power. 

OK that's good. But here's the deal. In the very first post I made to contribute an answer your question, I quoted the FCC rule that stated ERP. So to sort of quote a previous post, follow along. FCC Part 95 is often the best place to answer many questions, so if I know there is an answer to a question that resides in Part 95, I (and others here too) will quote them. That's not to say we obey them, but the answers are there. As for obeying them, I don't own a certified GMRS radio. But I am still active on GMRS.

[dosw]

12 hours ago, SvenMarbles said:

The rule isn’t ERP.. 

(d) 467 MHz interstitial channels. Only hand-held portable units may transmit on these 7 channels. The channel center frequencies are: 467.5625, 467.5875, 467.6125, 467.6375, 467.6625, 467.6875, and 467.7125 MHz.

(c) 467 MHz interstitial channels. The effective radiated power (ERP) of hand-held portable units transmitting on the 467 MHz interstitial channels must not exceed 0.5 Watt. Each GMRS transmitter type capable of transmitting on these channels must be designed such that the ERP does not exceed 0.5 Watt.

 

Putting that aside (because if I had been following along I would have seen that others already posted the rule), you are 100% correct that it is lazy if the manufacturer has simply designated *memory slots* 8-14 to not transmit, but hasn't placed restrictions on transmitting on *frequencies*.

If the mobile radio can transmit on the 467 interstitials just by placing one of those frequencies in a different memory slot, the radio probably shouldn't have been approved. And it clearly is rather braindead for the manufacturer to simply block transmitting on any frequency that has been programmed into memory slots 8-14. It sounds like the embedded system firmware developers didn't understand the assignment.

 

I can see how that can happen, since I work in the software industry. Somewhere some product person heard from legal that they need to prevent transmitting on the 467 interstitial frequencies. And by the time that got from legal to product to a Jira story to a developer, the "why" was forgotten, and the developer just delivered what he was asked: Make it so this radio can't transmit on 8-14.

[SvenMarbles]

2 hours ago, WRQW589 said:

(d) 467 MHz interstitial channels. Only hand-held portable units may transmit on these 7 channels. The channel center frequencies are: 467.5625, 467.5875, 467.6125, 467.6375, 467.6625, 467.6875, and 467.7125 MHz.

(c) 467 MHz interstitial channels. The effective radiated power (ERP) of hand-held portable units transmitting on the 467 MHz interstitial channels must not exceed 0.5 Watt. Each GMRS transmitter type capable of transmitting on these channels must be designed such that the ERP does not exceed 0.5 Watt.

 

Putting that aside (because if I had been following along I would have seen that others already posted the rule), you are 100% correct that it is lazy if the manufacturer has simply designated *memory slots* 8-14 to not transmit, but hasn't placed restrictions on transmitting on *frequencies*.

If the mobile radio can transmit on the 467 interstitials just by placing one of those frequencies in a different memory slot, the radio probably shouldn't have been approved. And it clearly is rather braindead for the manufacturer to simply block transmitting on any frequency that has been programmed into memory slots 8-14. It sounds like the embedded system firmware developers didn't understand the assignment.

 

I can see how that can happen, since I work in the software industry. Somewhere some product person heard from legal that they need to prevent transmitting on the 467 interstitial frequencies. And by the time that got from legal to product to a Jira story to a developer, the "why" was forgotten, and the developer just delivered what he was asked: Make it so this radio can't transmit on 8-14.

Well I’m not even complaining about that really. I actually appreciate it when the “work around” of tyranny is plainly provided. In the CB days it was “as long as you don’t snip this arbitrarily provided jumper wire to convert this into a 10 meter radio ”. 
 

Look. We’re all pretty well filled-in radio people. If we’ve come this far we know where the PS frequencies are. As long as nobody is being silly there, we’re fine to just carry on with our hobby.. The FCC knows that… The surface level measures to stop the ACTUAL dum dums who just plug things in and yell are adequate. 

[amaff]

3 hours ago, WRQW589 said:

I can see how that can happen, since I work in the software industry. Somewhere some product person heard from legal that they need to prevent transmitting on the 467 interstitial frequencies. And by the time that got from legal to product to a Jira story to a developer, the "why" was forgotten, and the developer just delivered what he was asked: Make it so this radio can't transmit on 8-14.

100% that. That's why I'm curious if it'll let him transmit on the interstitials if he puts them somewhere other than those 8-14 memory slots.

[AdmiralCochrane]

9 hours ago, amaff said:

100% that. That's why I'm curious if it'll let him transmit on the interstitials if he puts them somewhere other than those 8-14 memory slots.

Usually not.  It's the frequencies that are blocked, not the memory addresses.

[WRUU653]

On 5/23/2024 at 11:04 AM, SvenMarbles said:

The RA87 doesn’t currently have Chirp support

Check again. It’s supported by Chirp.

[amaff]

10 hours ago, AdmiralCochrane said:

Usually not.  It's the frequencies that are blocked, not the memory addresses.

Clearly that's how it should be. But with the way this thing's set up...

[SvenMarbles]

12 hours ago, WRUU653 said:

Check again. It’s supported by Chirp.

Oh really?! Maybe I gotta update my version. It wasn’t there when I scrolled the list!

That’s a major win if it’s on there.. I’ll check it out.

::edit:: I see it listed there on the webpage list of radios.