HAM Alternative

I'm also pretty sure everyone still uses them though because they are so darn cheap. That and it is extremely unlikely that you would get in trouble for using them, however, the possibility is that you could get in trouble using those for GMRS.

Have you gone down to your local amateur radio club and talked to them? They might be able to pique your interest in the hobby/help you pass the test and then you get to play with all the fun gear with the rest of us hams (I got licensed in 1993).

I have 2 of those

$18 Baofeng UV-5R VHF/UHF Dual Band Radio 144-148MHz 420-450MHz Transceiver

Baofeng UV-5R radios, I use one as a base (with a roll up j-pole in my attic, and speaker mic) in my office at home and I have one in the center console of my truck. I still haven't mounted the real 2 meter rig I have, in the truck. I just haven't gotten around to it yet.

 

When I looked, I couldn't find any info other than their listing. It's something I'll have to make time to look into. I'm generally only home about 14 days out of every 28 (this time out I haven't seen my house since April 14th) with Sundays being my only days "off", so my time at home is at a premium.

 

Not sure about GMRS, but in the HAM community, there are a lot of salty old dudes with nothing better to do than fire up the DF equipment and hunt your ass down if you are improperly using the equipment. Since HAMs have a lot of privilege on the freq spectrum, they take it pretty seriously.

GMRS is probably a little less so, but since it is a licensed band, I'd wager the FCC would be pretty strict as well.

 

You're 100% on the HAM side. I wouldn't want to mess with the Fox Hunters. And I'm inclined to get a GMRS license, but I wonder about the severity of using a multiband radio. I wonder if their transmissions are dirtier? I'd be interested in finding out what the driver is behind that rule.

 

I'm with you. I wish there was a HAM/CB combo radio. My group is all HAM, but in a mixed group event we did a while back, it was a mess of HAM/CB/Cell/Smoke Signal confusion so you eneded up with some poor guy in an FJ playing relay between the HAMs and the CBs.

 

Good advice for life in general.

 

Maybe that's where I went wrong...

 

Truth be told, if a HAM is monitoring GMRS frequencies and proper protocol is being followed, they'd have no reason to do anything. I could possibly see being spot checked by FCC if they had nothing better to do, so I'd prefer to stay as compliant as possible. Granted, a spot check would likely lead to me tossing them a pocket Constitution and initiating a conversation I won't discuss here. I deal with FDA,CBER, and a multitude of other .gov entities on a regular basis, so my sermon is down pat. lol

 

I have a similar routine I pulled on the CBP guys at the border crossing when I lived in Washington. It involved the Book of Mormon and wanting a minute of their time to discuss...*waves me through*

 

I'm sure you're aware of why this can't exist but just in case people wonder (this comes up all the time) it's because ham radios do not have to be type accepted for Part 97. The FCC tests commercial ham radios for Part 15 (which every electronic device has to be tested for) and for a few specific illegal things. One rule is ham radio amplifiers capable of working on 10 meters can't be modifiable to work on 11m (where the CB spectrum is). This stipulation really precludes any ham radio from working on CB.

 

I wonder how salty a HAM would get if they were reported for transmitting on GMRS frequencies...

 

I knew the "why" was an FCC legality issue re: Part 15 and 97 that you pointed out.

What I am not certain of is the why behind the why. I'm sure the FCC has a reason.

 

I really doubt even the saltiest of hams would really bother looking for illegal GMRS users. Most of the time they're looking for illegal ham users. We do take our allocation seriously and especially unlicensed users causing interference intentionally. The FCC doesn't have the time to police every service, every band, so it's up the users in each service to police themselves. CB users were hand's off in the 1970s and 1980s and it devolved CB into a mess of echo mics and cursing, so hams try to not allow that. It gets a little too serious sometimes but OTOH if people weren't jerks it wouldn't be an issue either. We figure if you want to pick up hookers in truck stop lots the CB service is always there so why dirty up ham radio with it?

 

People modifying ham radio HF amps for CB. So the FCC is just trying to make it harder, not that bringing in "export" 10m radios with a wire you clip to wide band it isn't a quasi-legal end around.

But this is like a lot of things. Who's getting punished? Perfectly legal hams who couldn't care less about CB mostly. The practical result is if you want a decent 10m/12m radio that can do AM and SSB with a VFO it's pretty difficult to find. We can get all mode, all band radios for $800 or $1,000 is all or the sketchy stuff designed as "ham" radios as a thin cover story. They I guess are decent enough CBs but aren't really all that great as ham radios.

 

I for one am shocked, just shocked I tell ya, that laws don't always sync with people's desires or market forces. There's other examples in the FCC rules that are no longer relevant in modern technology and uses. I try to follow the spirit and intention of the FCC rules. Even if it's just a power trip for some bureaucrat protecting his little piece of turf, it sometimes it's easier to play nice and pick your battles.

 

I wouldn't be so sure. In my industry, one of the tests that is required is very time intensive and errors can occur if it is rushed. For decades, the reporting requirement (from time the sample was drawn until results were posted) had always been 21 days, including time to process and ship the samples, testing analysis of results, and reporting back tot he collection site. A few years ago, FDA changed the requirement to 14 days. During the comment period, every member of the industry (including the labs performing the testing) pushed back, saying that 14 days was unreasonable. The FDA gave no clear reason for making the change and the feedback we got was that it was a directive to boost enforcement revenue. The testing labs are now running 24-7 trying to stay in front of the deadline. For ONE day last week, I found anomalies with over 25% of our submitted samples.

 

Subd

 

@mwc273 @dirty deeds @Jibbs @beertimecontinuum we should all get these. Can run dual radios. CBS for large meats. Ham thingies when local group meats

 

GMRS license here. There are some repeater operators out there, but my usage thus far has been simplex. The FRS/GMRS overlap may or may not have proven to be handy on a few occasions. And if you haven't discovered the use of DTCS codes on these radios, I highly recommend it.

UV-25X2 in the truck and a UV-5R handheld. Set up this way:

 

This is about gmrs over ham tho. If we do gmrs I'd buy the license and get one. We'd all need new antennas tho I think