Delivers1234
Member
Can I use a murs radio as a school employee? without it being registered etc?
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MURS in public schools
- Thread starter Delivers1234
- Start date
mmckenna
I ♥ Ø
Yes.
Users/radios do not need to be registered. Radios, however, -must- have FCC Part 95J approval, which is not very common. You'll need to be using specific MURS radios to be legal.
Someone will probably bring this up, and it's good to consider:
MURS is monitored by a lot of hobbyists. There are also a lot of legal users of MURS. MURS is limited to those 5 channels, so common to need to share channels with other users.
Consider the type of traffic you'll be passing over the radio and if a radio service that is wide open to the world is suitable. Consider privacy of students and security.
But, yes, totally legal to use.
§ 95.2703 Definitions, MURS.
MURS. A two-way, short distance voice or data communication service for facilitating personal or business activities of the general public.
Users/radios do not need to be registered. Radios, however, -must- have FCC Part 95J approval, which is not very common. You'll need to be using specific MURS radios to be legal.
§ 95.305 Authorization to operate Personal Radio Services stations
Pursuant to 47 U.S.C. 307(e)(1), this rule section authorizes eligible persons to operate part 95 Personal Radio Service stations and part 96 Citizens Broadband Radio Service stations without individual licenses, except as provided in paragraph (a). Such operation must comply with all applicable rules in this part.
(a) Individual licenses. A valid individual license may be required under this part to operate or use stations in a particular service, certain types of stations, stations transmitting on certain channels or frequency bands, or stations transmitting with power above a certain level. Any such requirements applicable to stations in any of the Personal Radio Services are set forth in the subpart governing that specific service. See e.g., § 95.1705. Otherwise, the FCC does not require or accept applications for an individual license to operate any type of Personal Radio Service station.
(b) Operator eligibility. Some of the Personal Radio Services have specific operator eligibility requirements, which are set forth in the subparts governing those services. Otherwise, any person is eligible to operate a Personal Radio Service station, except as stated in paragraphs (c) and (d) of this section.
Someone will probably bring this up, and it's good to consider:
MURS is monitored by a lot of hobbyists. There are also a lot of legal users of MURS. MURS is limited to those 5 channels, so common to need to share channels with other users.
Consider the type of traffic you'll be passing over the radio and if a radio service that is wide open to the world is suitable. Consider privacy of students and security.
But, yes, totally legal to use.
Delivers1234
Member
I'm using the tera 505 radio. The question now is will it go through a gym? maybe a 1 1/2 football fields away?
mmckenna
I ♥ Ø
Depends on the construction materials. VHF is often less than ideal indoors, but does well outdoors. Only way to know is to try it. My gut says it should work well unless it's an all steel building.
CaptDan
Member
Unless you are in a steel underground bunker, you should have no problem at all. You mention 1 1/2 football fields away, that is appx 450 feet and you should have no issues at all.
Remember nothing transmitted is private or confidential, just something to keep in mind.
Remember nothing transmitted is private or confidential, just something to keep in mind.
K6GBW
Member
I helped out a local school that was using MURS. The school was constructed in the 1960's when it was all the rage to put aluminum cladding on exterior walls. That, coupled with several chain link fences that segmented the school into "zones" was all it took to kill the MURS radios. I brought in some 4 watt UHF DMR radios to test and they worked way way better. So the school ended up paying to get a license and getting Motorola SL350 handhelds (3 watts) and two business frequencies that allows them to run four talk groups. They love it.
The TERA 505, I think, can do UHF. You might have better luck with a UHF frequency. Handhelds seem to work better on UHF due to the antennas being a bit more efficient at that shorter wavelength.
Bottom line, you just have to try it and see. You might find it works great and you might not. If it doesn't then try a UHF frequency and see if that works better for you.
The TERA 505, I think, can do UHF. You might have better luck with a UHF frequency. Handhelds seem to work better on UHF due to the antennas being a bit more efficient at that shorter wavelength.
Bottom line, you just have to try it and see. You might find it works great and you might not. If it doesn't then try a UHF frequency and see if that works better for you.
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I'm a school district employee & my buildings used conventional simplex VHF prior to a few years ago before switching to UHF DMR. The former worked OK indoors but there were a few dead spots where it dropped out. Now with in-building repeaters the UHF DMR seems to work much better with few drop outs
A 10 watt tabletop base and a rooftop unity gain antenna fixed 100% of the communications problems for a school customer we had. Of course, this meant getting a VHF business band simplex frequency and installing the base, but the school's portable radios simply needed to be reprogrammed. They were already Part 90 legal.
FRS and MURS are often the first choice because you don't have to get an FCC license. That "freebie" bonus can come with power output and technical restrictions prevent the radios from doing the job. Depending on what kind of portables you have (if they're truly programmable and not locked on MURS frequencies) upgrading to a VHF business band channel may be your fix.
Just a thought.
FRS and MURS are often the first choice because you don't have to get an FCC license. That "freebie" bonus can come with power output and technical restrictions prevent the radios from doing the job. Depending on what kind of portables you have (if they're truly programmable and not locked on MURS frequencies) upgrading to a VHF business band channel may be your fix.
Just a thought.
Delivers1234
Member
It worked. The gym did not create interference. I have the tera 505.
That may sound like a boneheaded question but that's first thing that you must know is, does my School District use MURS? Some School Districts are taking advantage of using FRS to meet their requirements. Then again, there are School Districts around the country that have gone to Part 90 with LTR or DMR conventional, which quite a few Schools in the Philadelphia School District have gone to LMR DMR conventional. I'm not talking about the transportation department. I'm just talking about the Security Maintenance and School Administration Staff.
Now, I have two old Motorola SP-50s that were donated to my Boy Scout Troop 20 years ago. The Radios were programmed for the old RED DOT frequency with DPL,
151.6250 311DPL
