Baofeng? GMRS that's inexpensive?

[kcox506]

Baofeng dual band radios give you the best bang for your buck and have GMRS/FRS capability. Amazon has them and their programming cables. Download CHIRP for free and enjoy.

[NOTNSUV]

PM sent to the OP.

[WB9YZU]

I know, Zombie thread

The FCC changed the FRS/GMRS rules slightly (last year?) to seemingly make legal the dual power FRS/GMRS radios.
The assignied the FRS channels as .5w channels, and the shared use channels 2w channels.

From the FCC Personal Radio Services page:

Family Radio Service (FRS)
FRS allows two-way voice communications over short distances (generally less than one-half mile on the 0.5 watt channels and up to two miles on the 2 watt channels, depending on conditions).
An FRS unit looks and works much like a walkie-talkie.
There are older, dual-use, FRS-General Mobile Radio Service (GMRS) units, but you may legally use only the FRS channels unless you have a GMRS license. The label on the unit or the operations manual should indicate the service the unit is certified for. FRS-only units transmit at lower power levels and have antennas that are integrated with the unit; GMRS units transmit at higher power levels and may have detachable antennas. Note that dual use FRS-GMRS radios may no longer be sold.
You can operate your FRS unit anywhere in the U.S. and its possessions.

[WB9YZU]

A GRMS license is usable by the members of the licensees household.

https://www.fcc.gov/general-mobile-r...ensed%20system.

I guess it comes down to how you define "Imediate Family"

[devildog0]

The rule change took effect in Oct 2017.

Immediate family covers everyone in your family. Even in laws. That's one of the great advantages of GMRS over HAM. Interoperability with FRS radios is another great advantage when you are bringing new people into the group. The licensed guys with more radio capability can still communicate to those with no license.

Also as easy as the test is many people have zero, zilch, nada, interest in radios but want a little more capability than CB, but still in a mostly turn key package. Our local group has made a push for more GMRS usage in the group. We have the advantage of a GMRS repeater locally that covers the whole county and then some. Makes coordinating events and recoveries a lot easier.

Channel breakdown with the rule change in 2017 has FRS and GRMS sharing all simplex frequencies 1-22.

1-7
FRS
2 WATT LIMIT
NARROWBAND

GRMS
5 WATT LIMIT
WIDEBAND

8-14
BOTH FRS AND GMRS
0.5 WATTS
NARROWNBAND

15-22
FRS
2 WATTS
NARROWBAND

GRMS
50 WATTS
WIDEBAND

Then you have the 8 repeater input frequencies for GMRS that are between the middle low power channels that are also 50 watt.

There are also hardware limits such as FRS radios not being legally able to accept detachable or external antennas.

@kejar I know this is a 3-4 year old thread but any of the Baofengs with exception of a couple of BTech radios (GMRS V1 and GMRS50X2) aren't going to be Part 95E certified so not legal if you care about such things.

I have GMRS V1 which is repeater capable handheld and works quite well. It's basically a UV-82 recertified for GRMS use. I've got a few sets of Midlands that I use for handout trail radios. They work well for what they are and one of the sets is USB rechargeable they aren't repeater capable though so keep that in mind. I also have HAM handhelds that may or may not be programed up for GMRS.

Midland mobile radios are all repeater capable except for the 5 watt mobiles. None of their handhelds will do repeater operation.

The radio nerd option and one I went with as well for some of my radios is surplus commercial radios. Namely Motorola in my case but there are a lot of Kenwood options as well. I have a couple of Motorola Mobiles and handhelds that are built like tanks and work awesome but you have to have some motivation to figure out programing and what not.

For mobiles I may or may not just use my HAM radio programed for GMRS. The chances of ever getting in trouble for this is probably nearly zero but it's something to keep in mind. I also throw in my Motorola PM400 commercial radio quite often. It's a very well built radio. Used to be a forest service radio in it's previous life. I've also got a Radius M1225 that was used as a taxi service radio, My handheld Motorolas HT1000 and a few MTS2000s were fire service radios at one point.

-KK6RBI / WQYH678

[old_man]

Originally Posted by Kejtar

And if he knows so much about radios why is it that he didn't add any value but rathet chose to stir stuff up? Is that indicative of the type of a person he is?

Hell, that's the kind of people most of us are. So you never stirred any crap over on ?

[Kejtar]

Yikes... Meet sleeping zombies sleep.... Someone shoot this thread dead

[Anak]

Originally Posted by Kejtar

Yikes... Meet sleeping zombies sleep.... Someone shoot this thread dead

Pfft.

This one is only 3 years old.

Someone just necroed (izzat a word?) this one from 2007: https://www.naxja.org/forum/showthread.php?t=936584

[Nimrod]

If necroed isn’t a word it should be.