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New FCC Part 95E Compliant GMRS Portable Transceivers

JASII

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I got my GMRS license for the first time nearly four years ago, but I still haven't bought any portable transceivers, yet. I have been reading back through old posts here and I just want to verify that my choices for new FCC Part 95E complaint portable transceivers pretty much boils down to the following:

1) Kenwood Portables

2) Midland Portables

3) Cheap ChineseRadios (Baofeng, Retevis, Wouxun, etc.)

4) Blister Pack Radios

4) Garmin RINO Radios
 

mmckenna

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Kenwood *Specific Radios* Not all of them have Part 95

Might be worth checking Icom, also. I haven't looked at any of their new stuff, but at one point, a number of their commercial UHF radios had Part 95.
 

jeepsandradios

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I think it will depend on your plan of GMRS or expectation. I run many part 90 radios in my vehicles for public safety and those are my GMRS units for the most part. However I also run with a few jeep crowds and I actually removed my APX7500 from my JK to install a Midland 275. I did this as everyone else had midlands and when someone says go to CH5 its simple. Same with tones. Yup I know the narrowband vs wideband argument but in the end its what others use so thats my KISS method.

As mmckenna said check ICOM also. Used alot of the stuff in the day and it was solid for its purpose. If you plan to run alot of repeaters and use GMRS for family comms the Kenwoods are probably the best to grab up.
 

JASII

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Are the Midland portables any different than the other blister pack radios?
 

KAZ7ED

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If I understand it correctly, HAM radios such as the Chinese models are not compliant unless they are GMRS band only radios.
 

mmckenna

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If I understand it correctly, HAM radios such as the Chinese models are not compliant unless they are GMRS band only radios.

Depends on the type acceptance.

There are a number of rules in Part 95 that preclude the functions that some of the CCR's have. Traditional amateur radios have no type acceptance on their transmitters.

While it'll get argued to death, the FCC GMRS rules make it clear that Part 95 certification -is- required for radios used on GMRS.
 

stmills

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Depends on the type acceptance.
While it'll get argued to death, the FCC GMRS rules make it clear that Part 95 certification -is- required for radios used on GMRS.
I heard from my brother in law that a guy he works with was talking to a guy who knows someone who was at Dayton and heard from a guy there that he knew someone who saw the email from an FCC employee who said any part 90 radio is legit for GMRS and that if it is an emergency a HAM can use GMRS because HAMS can use any frequency when they need to.
 

KevinC

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I heard from my brother in law that a guy he works with was talking to a guy who knows someone who was at Dayton and heard from a guy there that he knew someone who saw the email from an FCC employee who said any part 90 radio is legit for GMRS and that if it is an emergency a HAM can use GMRS because HAMS can use any frequency when they need to.

Can’t ask for more confirmation than that.
 

amcferrin90

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I heard from my brother in law that a guy he works with was talking to a guy who knows someone who was at Dayton and heard from a guy there that he knew someone who saw the email from an FCC employee who said any part 90 radio is legit for GMRS and that if it is an emergency a HAM can use GMRS because HAMS can use any frequency when they need to.

What kind of ham was that? Porky the pig kind or amateur guy? Then on the amateur guy which class was he?
 

GlobalNorth

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You left out code v. no-code, time in license class, tube or solid state or SDR, straight key v. bug, etc.

There is a larger social class scoring system in amateur radio than there is in all of communist China.
 

WRQS621

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You left out code v. no-code, time in license class, tube or solid state or SDR, straight key v. bug, etc.

There is a larger social class scoring system in amateur radio than there is in all of communist China.
Bulletin board Amateur Radio Operators and scanner geeks are nowhere near representative of the actual hobbyist. Most of the folks I speak with on the radio are extremely nice and don't care about your "status". I listened to a QSO this weekend where a teenager just got their General and was working 20m using the /AG call. Every single OSO was congratulating them. It was awesome to hear. I think more people need to step away from the keyboard these days.
 

prcguy

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I heard from my brother that the part about hams being able to use any frequency when they need to is a lie. To be honest, I don't have a brother, but what you posted is still a lie.

I heard from my brother in law that a guy he works with was talking to a guy who knows someone who was at Dayton and heard from a guy there that he knew someone who saw the email from an FCC employee who said any part 90 radio is legit for GMRS and that if it is an emergency a HAM can use GMRS because HAMS can use any frequency when they need to.
 

ai8o

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I heard from my brother in law that a guy he works with was talking to a guy who knows someone who was at Dayton and heard from a guy there that he knew someone who saw the email from an FCC employee who said any part 90 radio is legit for GMRS and that if it is an emergency a HAM can use GMRS because HAMS can use any frequency when they need to.
WOW!
A classic!
Techno-babble at its best!
Semper ubi, sub ubi
 

O-B-1

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I have found that the true source of radio hardware can be a lot like '...heard it from a friend who, heard it from a friend who heard from someone that you been runnin' aroun'" post above.

US companies farming out good middle income jobs to overseas markets. And even THAT gets passed around. Next thing you know a US branded radio WAS manufactured in Taiwan, then that company sources it out to Malaysia a few years later, then the Malaysians pass it off to China and there a single giant factory is putting the same PCBs into chassis that look different with different badging. And these are programmable systems that will do multiple bands on the same hardware with a change of firmware.

I saw someone here quoting Motorola as a STRICTLY US manufactured product. I looked up the model number on the FCC site and the FCC had it listed as "Singapore" manufacture.

I have yet to hear someone on the air tell me outright that my signal indicates I am using a "cheap Chinese handheld".... LoL. But it sure makes for good argument fertilizer in the Internet discussion groups. THAT is a FACT!
 

kg4icg

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I Use a Motorola XPR7550E on GMRS, have the wideband entitlement so I don't get anyone riled up. Plus use it on Ham DMR.
 

KI5EDJ

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Honest, if you're following the rest of the band rules and not causing problems, I don't think it should matter if your radio has a cute 95E certification or not. What the requirement DOES do, IMHO, is limit the amount of junkware radios marketed for these services. Got a Baofeng that stays on frequency and has no spurious emissions? Use it. Got you a brand shiny new Harris toy? Use it. Dedicated GMRS unit? Use it. At this point, I don't think it should matter.
I run several variants of the AnyTone 868 and I run a Motorola XPR3500e on GMRS, business band where I'm licensed, and ham frequencies.
That's my *opinion*. It probably stinks, most do!
 
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