Can a VX-459 be programmed for GMRS and FRS?

[RonTrevor]

New to radios and recent GMRS hobbyist. I have a VX-459, software and cord. I thought I'd see if I could program it for GMRS/FRS.

Is this even possible? Is this strictly a VHF radio?

I've got my channel list and corresponding details entered but I'm getting "Frequency Band Mismatched" when I try to download to the radio.

 

[KevinC]

If your radio is VHF then you can’t program in UHF frequencies.

ETA…Looking at that model it appears to be UHF.

Actually it appears to come in VHF and UHF models. I’d imagine the programming SW will show what band it is.

I’ll get it right eventually. 😂

 

[RonTrevor]

I came into this radio for free. Hence wanting to repurpose it for GMRS. The specs for it do say it is UHF capable:

Vertex Standard VX-459

Vertex Standard VX-459 two way radios are 5 watts, 512 channels, and waterproof. The VX-459 comes in UHF & VHF models.

www.twowayradiocenter.com

However, it does say that when this radio is purchased to specify if it will be for VHF or UHF. I suspect it was used for VHF before. I don't know if programming can toggle it over to UHF or not.

I got this software for it. It says it covers the VX-450 series but the product type and frequency band clearly don't match what I have. This was the GMRS/FRS channel list I tried to download to the radio and I keep getting this error. I can't find anyplace in the software for toggling the product type or frequency band.

 

[KevinC]

Those are single band radios. The SW shows it to be VHF, so it’s VHF forever.

 

[RonTrevor]

...... I may have it figured out.

When I upload the radio to my pc, I get a completely new Freq.Band and Product type entry and it's matching up with my unit. I'm reentering all the channels and I've saved the config. This might work. My previous entry had been made without uploading the radio first.

(still working on it) (fingers crossed)

 

[RonTrevor]

Got it working!

My problem was not letting the program read the radio before hand. Once it had, the software recognized the radio and allowed for programming in the UHF band. Got it all programmed up for my repeaters.

I've successfully used it on the repeaters, now I need to test it on the Simplex and FRS channels.

 

[radiotweester]

ALWAYS!!!!
Read the radio, save that read file, edit that read file, save that edit with a new name, write that edited file back to the radio.
What I see there is the default VHF file and trying to force that in with UHF freqs is the reason for the message. Sounds like you've got a UHF rig, so continued success.

 

[madrabbitt]

And since you got that figured out, the legality point of it is that radio is not part 95 certified, so its not "legally" allowed on GMRS, and it is not compliant at all with FRS rules.

Software will not let it tune power down to FRS requirements, and it has a detachable antenna.

That being said, assuming you have a GMRS license, the 459 will work on it just fine, as you've found out.

 

[express315]

Remove the battery and look at the label.
Model name - G6 400-470 mhz
Model name -G7 450-520 mhz
Model name -DO-5 134-174 mhz