New to this whole thing

[nottoosmart]

I just got a pair of Baofeng UV-82c radios and I have also gotten my FCC registration completed and call sign. Now to the hard part. I want to get this setup to work with a repeater and GMRS/MURS/FRS (no clue what those are). I am still trying to learn all of this terminology. does anyone have a good resource to learn about all this and help me set this up for what I want it to do? Thanks in advance.

 

[robertmac]

If you are talking about amateur radio license, there are a lot of suggestions [posts] on this thread. I always suggest locating a local club, attend meetings and see if someone is willing to Elmer you. I won't get into legalities as to using Baofeng radios on GMRS/FRS as I am not familiar with USA regulations. There are a lot of problems with Baofeng which can all be seen under Budget transceiver thread.

Encouraging proper use of two-way radio spectrum including CB.

 

[TheSpaceMann]

I just got a pair of Baofeng UV-82c radios and I have also gotten my FCC registration completed and call sign. Now to the hard part. I want to get this setup to work with a repeater and GMRS/MURS/FRS (no clue what those are). I am still trying to learn all of this terminology. does anyone have a good resource to learn about all this and help me set this up for what I want it to do? Thanks in advance.

What kind of license did you get? You can do a search online that will get you just about as much information as you need about all the different radio services!

 

[nottoosmart]

I got the GMRS license type ZA from the FCC. The radios I have are Part 90 approved so I think they cover me legally to use here. I am looking at the local clubs here and may have found one. Please dont jump on me for this next question, Is HAM close to the GMRS in subject matter? Just trying to gauge if it will be useful to go.

 

[jonwienke]

Radio is radio. HAM and GMRS use different frequencies, but much of radio is universal. It may be useful to go, and it may not. You can occasionally find weird tribalist attitudes that may come in to play to make you feel unwelcome, but you may find it educational. The only way to find out is to go.

 

[AK9R]

I got the GMRS license type ZA from the FCC. The radios I have are Part 90 approved so I think they cover me legally to use here.

GMRS is covered by FCC Part 95A. Technically, to be legal, your radios would have to be FCC Part 95A certified in order to use them on GMRS.

Is HAM close to the GMRS in subject matter?

The "ham" in ham radio is not an acronym, so there's no need to put it in all caps.

GMRS is a personal radio communications service primarily designed for people who need local communications and who are not particularly interested in the technical or hobby aspect of radio.

Amateur Radio, aka ham radio, is a personal radio communication service that offers both local and world-wide communications with the additional principles of education and improving one's technical knowledge. Amateur Radio can be more hobby-oriented than GMRS, though it is not a requirement. You don't need any technical knowledge to get a GMRS license, but you do need some technical knowledge to get an Amateur Radio license.

 

[nottoosmart]

GMRS is covered by FCC Part 95A. Technically, to be legal, your radios would have to be FCC Part 95A certified in order to use them on GMRS.


The "ham" in ham radio is not an acronym, so there's no need to put it in all caps.

GMRS is a personal radio communications service primarily designed for people who need local communications and who are not particularly interested in the technical or hobby aspect of radio.

Amateur Radio, aka ham radio, is a personal radio communication service that offers both local and world-wide communications with the additional principles of education and improving one's technical knowledge. Amateur Radio can be more hobby-oriented than GMRS, though it is not a requirement. You don't need any technical knowledge to get a GMRS license, but you do need some technical knowledge to get an Amateur Radio license.

So can i use them on FRS or MURS bands with a Part 90 certification to be legal? Also, when you say world wide radio is it possible with just the handheld units to reach Florida from California? If so, should i do the class for amateur radio license to learn more about this and how to do it?

 

[robertmac]

So can i use them on FRS or MURS bands with a Part 90 certification to be legal? Also, when you say world wide radio is it possible with just the handheld units to reach Florida from California? If so, should i do the class for amateur radio license to learn more about this and how to do it?

First question can't answer. Second question yes. Third question YES!

 

[nd5y]

So can i use them on FRS or MURS bands with a Part 90 certification to be legal?

You can't legally use any radio on FRS, MURS or GMRS that isn't Part 95 certified. If a radio is certified it will have a label stating so.

Also, when you say world wide radio is it possible with just the handheld units to reach Florida from California?

Not by themselves. You would need to use the radios to talk to some type of RoIP (radio over internet protocol) network node at each end.

If so, should i do the class for amateur radio license to learn more about this and how to do it?

Only you can answer that. You need to pass a written exam to get a ham radio license. I don't know where you are or what licensing classes, ham clubs or other resources there are in your area.

 

[wrath]

There are ways to use the digital handheld radios to talk all over the world either thru a local repeater or hot spot node , but it requires an investment of time to get your license and then purchasing the right equipment, the radio will be around $600 and the Hotspot are another $300 if you don't have a repeater to go through in your area. Only you can decide if radio is the right hobby for you , some of us crossed the bridge a long time ago. ( the kinda people who have radios worth more than there car )

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[AK9R]

Also, when you say world wide radio is it possible with just the handheld units to reach Florida from California?

Generally, when people think of amateur radio and worldwide communications, they are thinking of what the public calls "shortwave" and hams call "HF". These are frequencies between 1.6 MHz and 30 MHz where worldwide communications is possible between two stations with no intervening infrastructure. When I make an HF contact from my station in central Indiana to another station in, let's say, Denmark, it's my radio and antenna communicating with the Danish station's radio and antenna with nothing in between us except the ionosphere.

But, not every ham wants to build a station that can do that. The radios range in size from a cigarette pack to a breadbox. The antennas are large affairs are hard, but not impossible, to hide from the neighbors.

The alternative are repeater linking systems that use the Internet to connect local repeaters together. This repeater linking can be implemented using analog radios (Echolink, IRPL, All-Star Link, etc.) or digital voice radios (D-Star, System Fusion, DMR). Using one of these repeater linking systems, your handheld radio communicates with a local repeater, that repeater connects to the linking system, and your signal can go to other repeaters depending on how the linking system works.

There are ways to use the digital handheld radios to talk all over the world either thru a local repeater or hot spot node , but it requires an investment of time to get your license and then purchasing the right equipment, the radio will be around $600 and the Hotspot are another $300 if you don't have a repeater to go through in your area.

You don't need a digital handheld to talk all over the world. Long before hams had digital voice handhelds, we had repeater linking systems that worked just fine with analog radios. Digital voice radios are also not that expensive. DMR radios can be had for less than $200, System Fusion radios are available for around $310, D-Star radios are available for around $340. And, you don't need a hotspot if you can reach a repeater that is already linked.

 

[KM4WLV]

There are ways to use the digital handheld radios to talk all over the world either thru a local repeater or hot spot node , but it requires an investment of time to get your license and then purchasing the right equipment, the radio will be around $600 and the Hotspot are another $300 if you don't have a repeater to go through in your area. Only you can decide if radio is the right hobby for you , some of us crossed the bridge a long time ago. ( the kinda people who have radios worth more than there car )

Sent from my SM-T810 using Tapatalk

The cost of the radio depends on what the buyers budget is. Sure, you can drop $600 or better and get a Motorola, Kenwood, Tait, etc if you're looking for something on the high end. What I did, and several of the guys in my club did, was purchase either the TYT MD380 or 390 to try DMR out and see if it's something we wanted to invest in. Matter of fact I bought both a VHF & UHF MD 390 with GPS for just over $300 from the website buytwowayradios.com out of Rock Hill, South Carolina. Well I went to their warehouse and bought them but you get the idea. There's only 1 VHF DMR repeater in North Carolina for amateur use & that is in Haywood County, on the NC/TN border. I decided to go ahead get it so when more VHF DMR stuff goes into service I'll have it covered. That cost included both radios, batteries, chargers, 2 antennas, software, and programming cable for each.

Now don't get me wrong, I have nothing against Motorola, Kenwood, etc. Matter of fact both mobiles in my vehicle are Motorola, my department issued portables are Model 3 XTS5000's, and my P25 VHF & UHF portables are Model 2 XTS5k's.

I've really enjoyed DMR so far & my plan is to eventually upgrade to one of the Motorola XPR7550's for DMR. But I have no gripes at all with my TYT's, especially the UHF on DMR. The audio is great, and I have no problem getting into either of the repeaters I'm closest to, with one being close to 50 miles away, and the other roughly 35 to 40.

 

[wrath]

I live in an area that nothing digital is happening dstar is around us in ever direction but not here , DMR not in sight , we do have fusion machine in the county however it's in analogue only , so for us it's Hotspot or nothing to play digital on VHF/ UHF , the Hotspot can transcode fusion and DMR ,dstar is not transcodeable at this time, so my comments were based on my area experience, I used to live and work in NYC which is an entirely different beat with lots of access , I have nothing against the CCRS , they do the job that's all that matters , but I did not want to give the OP a false sense of inexpensive radios and easy access because for many that's not the reality , his situation could be another area that has abundant access without a Hotspot, we don't know .

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[KM4WLV]

I live in an area that nothing digital is happening dstar is around us in ever direction but not here , DMR not in sight , we do have fusion machine in the county however it's in analogue only , so for us it's Hotspot or nothing to play digital on VHF/ UHF , the Hotspot can transcode fusion and DMR ,dstar is not transcodeable at this time, so my comments were based on my area experience, I used to live and work in NYC which is an entirely different beat with lots of access , I have nothing against the CCRS , they do the job that's all that matters , but I did not want to give the OP a false sense of inexpensive radios and easy access because for many that's not the reality , his situation could be another area that has abundant access without a Hotspot, we don't know .

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I understand, as well as agree with what you're saying. Fortunately where I live in North Carolina my county sits just north of Charlotte, and just south of the Piedmont Triad Area (Greensboro, Winston Salem, High Point). With those areas being as big as they are there's a pretty good amount of DMR around us, plus some D-Star stuff, & one of the clubs I belong finally got our repeater pair for a Fusion repeater we'll be putting up here in the near future and I think the plan is to run it in mixed mode.

Anyway, enough rambling lol. I just wanted to make sure the OP knew there was a broad range of solutions/tiers of equipment available. wrath, my apologies if I came across sideways or anything

 

[wrath]

I understand, as well as agree with what you're saying. Fortunately where I live in North Carolina my county sits just north of Charlotte, and just south of the Piedmont Triad Area (Greensboro, Winston Salem, High Point). With those areas being as big as they are there's a pretty good amount of DMR around us, plus some D-Star stuff, & one of the clubs I belong finally got our repeater pair for a Fusion repeater we'll be putting up here in the near future and I think the plan is to run it in mixed mode.

Anyway, enough rambling lol. I just wanted to make sure the OP knew there was a broad range of solutions/tiers of equipment available. wrath, my apologies if I came across sideways or anything

No worries my friend ! Good luck with the new machine.

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[KD8DVR]

So can i use them on FRS or MURS bands with a Part 90 certification to be legal? Also, when you say world wide radio is it possible with just the handheld units to reach Florida from California? If so, should i do the class for amateur radio license to learn more about this and how to do it?

NO. Part 90 is NOT legal for MURS and GMRS. Technically, however, Part 90 is actually more technically stringent then Part 95, so there is a controversy that many die-hard GMRS users consider Part 90 equipment to be legal on GMRS, as they fit the technical specifications of Part 95. Use your own judgement in this case.

You cannot use a handheld radio to talk from Florida to California on GMRS.. just can't happen.

You'd need an amateur Radio license for distances of that magnitude.