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Baofeng? GMRS that's inexpensive?

Well a bit more detail could have helped you. Given the nature of this group it's only obvious that we would assume you are referring to vehicle-to-vehicle traffic verses radios shared between a kid and her parents, if you had been upfront with that detail it would have saved me from recommending differing technology.

I'd still use Baofeng radios instead of the toy GMRS radios. They will do everything the toys do while offering you more when Julia gets her license. The only feature that you won't have is the "Call" feature you find on those radios (which transmits a ringing type alarm to the other radio, not a very important feature).
 
Geoff - my question wasn't which radio type to use for a particular application but rather which one of the particular radio type radios folks used and like.
 
If somebody asks me what welding rod to use to weld an axle I'm not going to spout a rod, I'd explain why that's not a good idea and what better options are.

In either case, see my answer above.
 
I think the resounding abundance of recommendations should indicate something.

Should.

BTW, my 12 y.o. has his ham license, and probably should be taking his test to upgrade to General. Ham is plenty easy enough to be family friendly.
 
It looks like you are in the perfect spot to learn something and teach the rest of us about it.
 
So I can tell you baofeng 888 plus has good distance, feels cheap but has a downside of one out of two going bad out of the box. On the other hand $25 for a pair is a steal....
Seeing that there are other options out there I'm considering other options before I go to 888 plus.
 
Now we have a starting point.

See? We can do this.

In a year you will know something about their durability. You may also know if 1 out of 2 extends to 2 out of 4. Or if any vendors offer something in terms of customer service.

Keep the info coming and we will get somewhere.

Thank you.
 
So I figure that if the radio lasts me 2 years I'm happy. If it dumps under 2 years AMEX covers me. So I'm not too concerned with the customer service.

Anyways....
 
Baofeng dual band radios give you the best bang for your buck and have GMRS/FRS capability. Amazon has them and their programming cables. Download CHIRP for free and enjoy.
 
I know, Zombie thread ;)

The FCC changed the FRS/GMRS rules slightly (last year?) to seemingly make legal the dual power FRS/GMRS radios.
The assignied the FRS channels as .5w channels, and the shared use channels 2w channels.

From the FCC Personal Radio Services page:

Family Radio Service (FRS)
FRS allows two-way voice communications over short distances (generally less than one-half mile on the 0.5 watt channels and up to two miles on the 2 watt channels, depending on conditions).
An FRS unit looks and works much like a walkie-talkie.
There are older, dual-use, FRS-General Mobile Radio Service (GMRS) units, but you may legally use only the FRS channels unless you have a GMRS license. The label on the unit or the operations manual should indicate the service the unit is certified for. FRS-only units transmit at lower power levels and have antennas that are integrated with the unit; GMRS units transmit at higher power levels and may have detachable antennas. Note that dual use FRS-GMRS radios may no longer be sold.
You can operate your FRS unit anywhere in the U.S. and its possessions.
 
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The rule change took effect in Oct 2017.

Immediate family covers everyone in your family. Even in laws. That's one of the great advantages of GMRS over HAM. Interoperability with FRS radios is another great advantage when you are bringing new people into the group. The licensed guys with more radio capability can still communicate to those with no license.

Also as easy as the test is many people have zero, zilch, nada, interest in radios but want a little more capability than CB, but still in a mostly turn key package. Our local group has made a push for more GMRS usage in the group. We have the advantage of a GMRS repeater locally that covers the whole county and then some. Makes coordinating events and recoveries a lot easier.

Channel breakdown with the rule change in 2017 has FRS and GRMS sharing all simplex frequencies 1-22.

1-7
FRS
2 WATT LIMIT
NARROWBAND

GRMS
5 WATT LIMIT
WIDEBAND

8-14
BOTH FRS AND GMRS
0.5 WATTS
NARROWNBAND

15-22
FRS
2 WATTS
NARROWBAND

GRMS
50 WATTS
WIDEBAND

Then you have the 8 repeater input frequencies for GMRS that are between the middle low power channels that are also 50 watt.

There are also hardware limits such as FRS radios not being legally able to accept detachable or external antennas.

@kejar I know this is a 3-4 year old thread but any of the Baofengs with exception of a couple of BTech radios (GMRS V1 and GMRS50X2) aren't going to be Part 95E certified so not legal if you care about such things.

I have GMRS V1 which is repeater capable handheld and works quite well. It's basically a UV-82 recertified for GRMS use. I've got a few sets of Midlands that I use for handout trail radios. They work well for what they are and one of the sets is USB rechargeable they aren't repeater capable though so keep that in mind. I also have HAM handhelds that may or may not be programed up for GMRS.

Midland mobile radios are all repeater capable except for the 5 watt mobiles. None of their handhelds will do repeater operation.

The radio nerd option and one I went with as well for some of my radios is surplus commercial radios. Namely Motorola in my case but there are a lot of Kenwood options as well. I have a couple of Motorola Mobiles and handhelds that are built like tanks and work awesome but you have to have some motivation to figure out programing and what not.

For mobiles I may or may not just use my HAM radio programed for GMRS. The chances of ever getting in trouble for this is probably nearly zero but it's something to keep in mind. I also throw in my Motorola PM400 commercial radio quite often. It's a very well built radio. Used to be a forest service radio in it's previous life. I've also got a Radius M1225 that was used as a taxi service radio, My handheld Motorolas HT1000 and a few MTS2000s were fire service radios at one point.

-KK6RBI / WQYH678
 
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And if he knows so much about radios why is it that he didn't add any value but rathet chose to stir stuff up? Is that indicative of the type of a person he is?

Hell, that's the kind of people most of us are. So you never stirred any crap over on NAXJA?
 
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