GMRS on HAM radio

[WSCA512]

I have a Btech UV-2501+220 VHF/UHF ham radio. First and foremost, i know it’s not part 95 approved for GMRS. I have been licensed in ham for 20 years and recently just got my GMRS license. But I would like to see if this radio can be programmed to hit a GMRS repeater. I have tried to follow the instructions and can’t get the offset frequency to come up on the screen when I key the microphone. Is it possible to program this radio for GMRS? This is mainly for practicing manually programming radios. I don’t transmit much at all (maybe only 50 times in my 20 year journey as a ham), but just trying to figure it out. 

[WRYS709]

Generally speaking, the recently released "Ham Radios" by CCR manufacturers are locked out of GMRS, with many exceptions.

For example, I purchased the Baofeng UV-13Pro Ham Radio from AliExpress for $20 and was quite surprised to discover it will transmit on GMRS and MURS.  I have retired my TYT-88UV with this newer addition to my collection.

Another example, but not as new are the Radioddity DB20-G a/k/a Anytone AT-779UV mini-mobiles: they easily open from GMRS to Ham Radio 2 meters and 440 MHz (in addition to MURS).

[WRQC527]

1 hour ago, WSCA512 said:

I have a Btech UV-2501+220 VHF/UHF ham radio. First and foremost, i know it’s not part 95 approved for GMRS. I have been licensed in ham for 20 years and recently just got my GMRS license. But I would like to see if this radio can be programmed to hit a GMRS repeater. I have tried to follow the instructions and can’t get the offset frequency to come up on the screen when I key the microphone. Is it possible to program this radio for GMRS? This is mainly for practicing manually programming radios. I don’t transmit much at all (maybe only 50 times in my 20 year journey as a ham), but just trying to figure it out. 

I have an old Juentai JT-6188 Plus version of this radio. It was also marketed as a QYT KT-8900, which is what I had to select in CHIRP to program it. Mine was not restricted from the factory to amateur radio frequencies, but that doesn't mean yours isn't. That said, and this is only one suggestion, you can possibly check in CHIRP all the parameters set up in the software to make sure the radio is enabled to transmit in the VHF and UHF ranges you want. In CHIRP, for my version, it's under Settings>Other. Mine is set for 137 - 174 Mhz VHF and 400 - 480 Mhz UHF. Like WRYS709 said, it may not be possible to transmit out of amataur radio frequencies with this radio without unlocking it (if that can be done), but at least check the settings first. I did a quick search for unlocking this radio, but I didn't find anything. You might, though.

[dosw]

The technical aspects are worth considering.

 

For the main channels (15-22, and repeater inputs) in the 462 and 467MHz range, you may configure your radio for wideband or narrowband. The channel spacing is 25kHz. Wideband is 16kHz with a transmitter deviation of +/- 5kHz. You may optionally configure narrowband. Same channel spacing. Bandwidth is 11kHz with transmitter deviation of +/- 2.5kHz. On the mains, you may use power levels up to 50w, though handhelds are rarely more than 5-10w, usually less.

 

For the 462MHz interstitials (1-7), the same rules as above apply, though you are limited to output of 5w.

For the 467MHz interstitials (8-14) you should be using narrowband (11kHz with deviation of +/- 2.5kHz), and no more than 0.5w. This additional power and bandwidth limitation is designed to prevent the interstitials from interfering with the repeater inputs. The 467MHz interstitials also are handheld only.

 

The reason I mention all this is because some handheld radios won't transmit as low as 0.5w. My AR-5RM, on low, transmits at 2.5w, which would be 5x the limit for the 467MHz interstitials. If I were to use that radio for GMRS I would not set up those channels (8-14) for transmit at all, so that I'm not risking causing interference with repeater inputs.

 

Keep in mind that in the actual frequency chronology GMRS is laid out like this:

462.xxxx MHz: 15  01  16  02  17  03  18  04  19  05  20  06  21  07  22
Max Power(w): 50  5   50  5   50  5   50  5   50  5   50  5   50  5   50
Bandwidth:    W   W   W   W   W   W   W   W   W   W   W   W   W   W   W

467.xxxx MHz: R1in  08    R2in  09    R3in  10    R4in  11    R5in  12    R6in  13    R7in  14    R8in
Max Power(w): 50    0.5   50    0.5   50    0.5   50    0.5   50    0.5   50    0.5   50    0.5   50
Bandwidth:    W     N     W     N     W     N     W     N     W     N     W     N     W     N     W

 

You can see that the channels are interleaved. 15-22 and R1-R8 inputs are considered the "main" channels, and 1-7 / 8-14 are the interstitials -- the ones that are scaled back a bit in power to reduce interference with the mains.

If the radio can be set up like this, then it would be working identically to how a type approved GMRS radio would transmit, though it would still be non-compliant in terms of type approval itself. If it can't be set up for <=0.5w on channel 8, for example, it probably shouldn't be transmitting on 8-14 at all.

 

I like the old USPS mail commercial slogan, "If it fits, it ships." I can make channels 1-7, 15-22, and the repeater inputs fit within the permissible limits for power output and bandwidth. With one of my handheld radios, I can't make the radio scale back on power enough to fit in the 8-14 channels. So it gets used on 1-7, 15-22, and repeaters, but does not get used to transmit on 8-14. And I really don't miss being able to transmit on those frequencies, with their 0.5w max.