• To anyone looking to acquire commercial radio programming software:

    Please do not make requests for copies of radio programming software which is sold (or was sold) by the manufacturer for any monetary value. All requests will be deleted and a forum infraction issued. Making a request such as this is attempting to engage in software piracy and this forum cannot be involved or associated with this activity. The same goes for any private transaction via Private Message. Even if you attempt to engage in this activity in PM's we will still enforce the forum rules. Your PM's are not private and the administration has the right to read them if there's a hint to criminal activity.

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    To obtain Motorola software see the Sticky in the Motorola forum.

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    For M/A Com/Harris/GE, etc: there are two software packages that program all current and past radios. One package is for conventional programming and the other for trunked programming. The trunked package is in upwards of $2,500. The conventional package is more reasonable though is still several hundred dollars. The benefit is you do not need multiple versions for each radio (unlike Motorola).

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GMRS Handheld

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mmckenna

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Well, there's lots of options. You can get consumer grade radios from dang near anywhere.
If you want something better, there's FCC Part 95 certified UHF commercial radios available new and used from many radio vendors.

Or you can go the Cheap Chinese Radio route.
 

bill4long

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BTech GMRS-V1 handheld radio

I was thinking of buying one, and I still may. I did find out a friend of mine had one, and I "sat in" with him one morning while he was using it to talk to other local GMRS users. It seems like a decent enough radio for the price.

I have one. They work just fine. They are reprogrammed variants of Baofeng UV-82 (which I also have for ham radio) and are decent radios, much better than, say, UV-5R and variants. They make a MURS variant as well. And the UV-82C is Part 90 certified.
 

spongella

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I have a pair of the BTech GMRS V1's and I concur with bill4long, they are great little handheld radios. You cannot program them but they have all the GMRS frequencies plus they can be used for repeater operation. Got mine from Amazon. Go to the Miklor.com website for more details.
 

bill4long

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I have a pair of the BTech GMRS V1's and I concur with bill4long, they are great little handheld radios. You cannot program them

You can program the PL/CTCSS/DCS and acceptable TX power and bandwidth (narrow vs wide) levels, but yeah, the frequencies are fixed per Part 95. Same for the MURS variant.

If you want a fully programmable radio (illegal to use with GMRS, but hams use them on ham frequencies) you can get the UV-82 or UV-82C. (The C variant is Part 90 certified.) B-Tech actually is the only distributor for these radios, and Amazon is the recommended way to get them, IMO.
 

spongella

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You can program the PL/CTCSS/DCS and acceptable TX power and bandwidth (narrow vs wide) levels, but yeah, the frequencies are fixed per Part 95. Same for the MURS variant.

If you want a fully programmable radio (illegal to use with GMRS, but hams use them on ham frequencies) you can get the UV-82 or UV-82C. (The C variant is Part 90 certified.) B-Tech actually is the only distributor for these radios, and Amazon is the recommended way to get them, IMO.

Sorry for that, yes you can program tones, output power etc. I meant the frequencies cannot be changed, thanks.
 

stingray327

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I have a pair of the BTech GMRS V1's and I concur with bill4long, they are great little handheld radios. You cannot program them but they have all the GMRS frequencies plus they can be used for repeater operation. Got mine from Amazon. Go to the Miklor.com website for more details.
Manually you can enter the freq. you want to listen and transmit on. Very simple and inexpensive.
 

bharvey2

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My personal favs are Kenwoods. I have several TK 380s. They're built like tanks (you could bludgeon someone with one). They outpace the blister back radios in every respect. Accessories are still fairly easy to come but and relatively inexpensive.
 

blackbelter

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I have these RS radios which I believe can transmit ( with License of course) up to 5 Watts on FRS and GMRS bands.
 

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mmckenna

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I have these RS radios which I believe can transmit ( with License of course) up to 5 Watts on FRS and GMRS bands.

Yes, decent little radios when they first came out. They were one of the first of the "real" GMRS radios that came out. My brother has one somewhere. Not a lot of high end features, but pretty good for high end consumer stuff.
 

bharvey2

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what do Kenwoods cost?

Although the Kenwood TK 380 is no longer manufactured, they're plentiful on the used market. You should easily find a complete radio (radio, battery, charger and antenna) for $75-100. You would still need a programming cable and software too. Kenwood makes other radios that are GMRS compatible. Some are new. Prices on those could vary from less that $50 to $500-600 or more (Guessing here but probably low as I'm not in tune with pricing of Kenwood's latest offerings)

Yes, you can get CCR (cheap Chinese radios) for the same price or less but they aren't of the same quality as a commercial radio.

Which route you decide to go will depend upon your budget, intended use, etc. If you're only looking to buy one or two radios and use them a few times a year on family picnics, used commercial radios may not be worth the investment. However, if you intend to use them more frequently, in harsher environments or, your just a fellow radio nerd who likes to spend money on the better stuff, commercial goods may be the way to go.

BTW: Which side of the Bay are you on? I'm not too far from the Oakland airport.
 

DeepBlue

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Be aware that nearly none of the radios mentioned here from the Chinese manufacturers are legal according to the rules on the FCC web site (assumed up to date)

§95.1787 GMRS additional requirements.
Each hand-held portable unit transmitter type submitted for certification under this subpart is subject to the rules in this section.
(a) Digital data transmissions. GMRS hand-held portable units that have the capability to transmit digital data must be designed to meet the following requirements.
(1) Digital data transmissions must only be initiated by a manual action by the operator, except that GMRS units may automatically respond with location data upon receiving an interrogation request from another GMRS or FRS unit.
(2) Digital data transmissions must not exceed one second in duration.
(3) Digital data transmissions must not be sent more frequently than one digital data transmission within a thirty-second period, except that a GMRS unit may automatically respond to more than one interrogation request received within a thirty-second period.
(4) The antenna must be a non-removable integral part of the GMRS unit.
(5) GMRS units must not be capable of transmitting digital data on the 467 MHz main channels.
(b) [Reserved]

And this also talks about the much asked (is digital OK on GMRS questions as well)


S.
 

mmckenna

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Stop using business or amateur radios for GMRS. The Wouxun KG-805G Basic is FCC approved specifically for GMRS use, so its use is completely legal!


Cut-n-paste from the webpage….

Truth is, there's a lot of really good "business" radios that have Part 95e certification and perfectly legal to use on GMRS. Most of them are better quality than the CCR's.
 
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