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MURS in Canada

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pyro424

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I am posting this in this section because I could not find a section for MURS. This seems to be the closest. I know that people have been using MURS radios up in Canada but not "legally". Well a few years ago I heard that Canada would be making MURS radios and the frequencies legal to use in June 2014. It was a transition period required to ensure to get any of the commercial users who were licensed on MURS channels to move elsewhere. We know full well there are likely already plenty of MURS radios in Canada. This is of interest to hunters and others that visit Canada and have MURS. Well now here we are in June 2014. The time they said the transition would be complete. I have not heard anything here on the forums about it. Has Canada now opened up the MURS channels for legal use in Canada? Again I am sorry if I posted this in the wrong section but I could not find a MURS section.
 

Res21cue

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Im willing to bet they completely forgot about it and nothing has been done thus far
 

Res21cue

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That article is over 2 years old and does nothing to confirm this will be a go in Canada this month. I would LOVE for it to happen but if it was even remotely close, we would have heard about it by now and at the very least, seen some frequencies.
 

Res21cue

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Yes in the document it does list 5 possible frequencies but that was published in 2009 as a proposal. I havent been able to find anything that says on XX day in June 2014 this will be legal let alone the fact they are even still working on making it happen in our lifetime lol
 

robertmac

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I'm not interested in MURS, but has anyone searched Industry Canada to see if there is recent information? Lot of speculation unless one really looks in the place that matters.
 

Jay911

Silent Key (April 15th, 2023)
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You need to take anything that comes from Industry Canada with a cinderblock of salt.

I'd be astonished if there were any common VHF allocations available countrywide. There wasn't when I was trying last year to coordinate province/regionwide public safety interop channels.

However, having read that, it seems to imply that the work was all done 5 years ago to pave the way for MURS in the established frequencies. It'd be interesting to see if there are any licensees... edit forthcoming.

151.82: 48 licenses across Canada.
151.88: 455 licenses (many simplex in oilfield/industrial, so they may be using it "as" MURS already).
151.94: 25 licenses.
154.57: 324 licenses (a large amount are drive-thrus).
154.60: 99 licenses (many drive-thrus).
 
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robertmac

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Not really sure why this is needed. Already have CB or FRS [oh I know it may be shorter distances], Lot of people already use unlicensed radios on licensed frequencies. However, it may have helped truckers licensed in BC or another province who need to travel to another province thinking their home license frequency can be used in another province. But if there were enough people already licensed for these frequencies or near frequencies who replied to IC to not go with MURS, then IC may have listened to these licensees.
 

MaxK98

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Not really sure why this is needed. Already have CB or FRS [oh I know it may be shorter distances], Lot of people already use unlicensed radios on licensed frequencies.

One thing I learnt from the Canadian firearms Community is to stand together. We need to quit having the "I don't need it therefore nobody does" attitude. You may not need a VHF MURS radio but I'm sure somebody else does.Oh and CB is pretty much useless and with the size of the HTs and antennas it's even more useless.

I see this attitude way too often with hunters who says we don't need semi-automatic / black rifles or handguns just because they don't target practice with one.

As a matter of fact, I have known one guy (an acquaintance father in-law) who has tried using FRS bubblepack radios for maple syrup harvesting. Naturally this is a heavily wooden area where cell phones has no service and radios are very important for communication. UHF was not very effective in wooden land even if it was quite flat.

After being tired of poor range he decided to get help and this is where my friend came to me. I explained he needed radios in VHF for this kind of job and since there is no VHF license free radios, that he needed to request a license from Industry Canada and buy professionals HT. It kind of killed his plan since it was too much of an hassle.

6 Month later when I bump into my acquaintance I ask what happened with this and turned out he had bought 5 Wouxun off a guy on Kijiji that apparently "were programmed on private vhf channels"


TL;DR : Don't say nobody needs it if you don't and making too much restriction and will only make people take the easy way out, even if it's illegal.

/rant off and out.
 

robertmac

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Well, I know I usually want things now and not go through hassles. However, even with hunting, one must take a course to get a hunting license for the first time. So I'm not sure why people that want to use something other than GMRS/FRS in Canada won't apply to IC for a proper license and frequency and radio for their area of use. We have Air Traffic Controllers to control flight paths, and while air waves may not be as problematic, when one jumps into unknown frequencies you do not know who you are interfering with nor who might interfere with your usage. The argument about which is better, MURS or GMRS has been discussed on these threads over and over. To me, it is similar to a dozen of something or 12 of that. HT use on VHF and UHF have so many variables, in the end there is probably very little difference. Just a comment on the benefits of VHF vs UHF as it differs from the post about poor use in collecting maple syrup. This was with an FRS radio with it's punny 0.5 watts so can't and shouldn't be compared to VHF or UHF with 2 watts of output. UHF is supposed to pass through objects better than VHF frequencies so UHF should be better for treed areas or buildings. VHF is supposed to travel better in open areas so may not be any better in grassy areas. If you or hunting buddies don't want to get an IC proper license, you might want to see if a radio shop in your area will rent radios for your use. You never know, but that radio shop might even offer a repeater which may drastically increase your coverage area.
 

iamjimmy86

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I know this is an old thread but Industry Canada rejected the interest in making MURS available in Canada. They gave business radio users 5 years (clearly more than needed) to move to different frequencies to make room for a license-free band for Canadians as an alternative option to FRS/GMRS. But as with Industry Canada they pretty much back-burnered it and forgot probably and made a statement later saying something along the lines of "We have found that there is not enough interest at this time to implement MURS frequencies in Canada". Totally lame as it would have been nice to have the option!
 

Jay911

Silent Key (April 15th, 2023)
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Actually I was queried late this past summer by IC as to a frequency I have licensed which corresponds to a (proposed) MURS frequency. They are still looking in to the idea.
 

iamjimmy86

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That would be nice if they were, I've been wanting a VHF alternative for personal use when outdoors or up at the lake. Just found it hard to believe that there was "little interest" in bringing MURS to Canada. Seeing as it would be nice to have more U.S. comms/radio options here in Canada.
 
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