I wonder how picky the FCC would be.
I've been using the word "technically" a lot. It seems to take a pretty good bit of breaking the rules before the FCC comes after a person. BUT. If a person were to get lucky and transmit on a law enforcement frequency...???
but states elsewhere that GMRS use is illegal with it.
FCC has "type acceptance" rules. GMRS is one type number, and HAM is another type number. I tend to ignore type numbers while staying within other rules so as not to draw attention to myself. I mod my HAM radios to transmit on GMRS an other frequencies as necessary.
I’m not sure why but it would be over power at 5 watts in low power mode
GMRS allows 50w on a mobile radio and up to 15w on a stationary station like a "base" station--unless it's repeater transmitting.
Might be they want the radio to automatically limit power on the freqs that need it.
Exactly. They want it to be simple for the user... make it easy to use so the user doesn't have control.... I could easily digress here.
So what would be functional to buy for OCBR? Less than 2 weeks away now! I wouldn't mind buying something with quality and more functionality even if I don't learn to use all the features until next year.
Just get a baofeng and I can try to program it Thursday when I get a chance. I'll be staying in the right side of the duplex across from the office.
From what I've been seeing is GMRS that will go to at least 18-20
If you're standing on one hill top and can see 20 miles to another hill top with your friend standing there, it's likely you will be able to talk. I have friends on the hill at Mena AR today that are talking to repeaters 120 miles away on these cheap baofengs.
I have some cheap Baofengs that have pretty good range and mostly have worked for me, but they don't do sub channels so sometimes it's hard to find a channel without a lot of chatter. I'm going to get something more like Okie posted and relegate the cheap ones to intra family communication.
Just get the baofeng. When I reprogrammed my rugged radio, it is nearly identical. And the baofeng can be as low as one third the price of the rugged.
The PROBLEM with Baofeng radios is they don't have "filters" (another technical term) that prevent it from transmitting on frequencies you don't intend to. What that means is that while you're transmitting on 155.xxx, it might also be putting a signal out on a "harmonic" of that frequency, such as 2x the frequency, 310.yyy. So we're already working outside any band we're licensed for, but now we're transmitting in TWO bands without a license. That's why the Baofengs have a bad wrap and also a lot of why they're so cheap. The FCC doesn't like them and has tried to implement stricter requirements (type acceptance) but they continue to get ignored.