Interesting, are there uhf/vhf that are not illegal to broadcast on gmrs bands?
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What it amounts to is that FCC doesn't think you, as a licensed GMRS user, have enough common sense to program your radios with the right GMRS UHF frequencies..... so they made the rules that GMRS radios must be sold with preprogrammed frequencies and not be capable of transmitting on any other frequencies. You can change the CTCSS/DCS but not the transmitting frequencies. Some radios like the GMRS-V1 made by BTECH (A Baofeng Company) you can add many, many other RECEIVE frequencies for monitoring (use it like a scanner) but not transmit freqs.
By the making of this rule it limits the amount of "Brand New" radios (compared to other frequency bands) available for purchase for GMRS end users that are "Type 95" certified.
Some day soon FCC will realize that when it comes to communications the majority of the Licensed GMRS users are no more smarter or dumber than that of Amateur, Public Safety, Commercial, Marine, Air, Military, etc... radio operators. It's a known fact that many Licensed GMRS operators go on to get their Amateur "ticket" after having their GMRS license and talking on radios for awhile. One might say that now days GMRS has become the front door to Amateur Radio, since not much of anything else of major importance brings them in like did 30 years ago.
As the individual said earlier (kinda of rudely in my opinion), "Like you or anyone else cares. People do it all the time".......and he's correct. Unless you advertise, like you did here, that you are talking on a not type certified radio...me nor anyone else will never know that you are using one when you use your radios. It's not like a non-certified radio blurts out "I'm not 95 certified" when you key it up so no one really knows what your using. Some will try to convince you that they know, but trust me, after 30+ years in the radio business.... they won't.
Just so you know, some of the UV-5r's that came off the production lines had issues. Doing a reset seems to correct it for a period of time. There is a "update" in firmware but you will have to search for it. It seems that the UV-5r-Plus took care of a lot of issues, but like anything else that is mass produced for a cheap price, they too have some other issues at times. I've bought a many, and I mean a many compared to today's numbers, of the UV-5r-Plus (about twenty), and the little UHF 16 channel BF-888s (about 80 or more) Baofeng radios, and out of that many I have only run across two that were defective. Many will say they are made cheap as cheap can get....but this day and time, because of the price compared to other radios on the market, you wouldn't have as many young people getting their Amateur license if it wasn't for them there Baofeng radios. I know of several Ham clubs around that hand out the BF-888s, (UHF, programmable, 16 channel w/scan radio) to new ham operators the day they pass the test. For ten bucks to my front door.... the way I look at it.... if they lose it, drop it or the radio just stops working....throw it away and give'em another one.
Have a great day.
