First impression the T71VP3 is solid. Menu is easy to use. Key feature is USB charging. I'll have to see how it works to simultaneously use and charge.
MXT275 is super compact and includes the antenna. MXT400 is familiar to HAM and CB users in look and feel. I have mag mounts for the whip and "ghost" antenna, both of which are NMO. MXT275 comes with a small 6 inch mag antenn and a 12v plug. It is really ready to roll.
The American Radio Relay League (ARRL) is the national association for amateur radio, connecting hams around the U.S. with news, information and resources.
www.arrl.org
This entry was posted on December 30, 2020
"The FCC has just approved new license fees for Amateur Radio and the GMRS. These fees are actually lower than the original fees proposed in August, which were highly contested by hams, but welcomed by GMRS licensees. While the new FCC license fees may alleviate some of the sticker shock from the original fees proposed by the Commission, it is welcome news for fans of the GMRS.
According to the FCC Report and Order released December 29, 2020, Amateur Radio license fees will now cost $35. This same fee will apply to new licenses, renewal licenses, and vanity call signs. Previously, no fees were collected for ham licenses or vanity call signs issued to amateur radio operators, so technically it is a significant change. However, it is considerably less than the $50 fees originally proposed by the Commission, so it should be of some comfort to hams.
On the brighter side, a GMRS license will now cost significantly less than before. Up to now the application fee for a GMRS license was $70. With this Report and Order, the new GMRS license fee will be only $35, which is $15 less than the proposed fee and half the cost of the fees previously charged by the FCC. The license is still valid for 10 years and covers an entire family.
The amendment to the proposed fees was largely due to the comments and feedback the Commission received in response to the proposal in August. While the FCC disagreed with many of the assertions from hams and the ARRL why the original proposed $50 fees should not be charged at all, it did acknowledge on important point brought up by many that the fees did not fairly represent the amount of effort required to process the license applications, ,which is largely automated.
As the FCC put it, "We agree that the applications for amateur licenses, and other personal licenses, are largely automated, and for that reason the cost-based fee we adopt is only $35. With respect to the amateur licenses, while review is highly automated, staff must maintain the processing system to ensure applicants are qualified, vanity call sign procedures are followed, and off-lined applications are individually reviewed. Therefore, we cannot conclude that there are no costs involved in processing the applications and we do not have the discretion to exempt this service from application fees."
Since the same is true with the processing of GMRS licenses, the Commission amended the proposed $50 fee for that as well, bringing the cost of a GMRS license down to $35
Excellent news on the price reduction for the GMRS license. Not great on the new fees for the amateur radio license.
Once the change goes through, I'll be getting a GMRS license for my parents to get them ready for next summer in the mountains. I think I'll be installing a mobile GMRS radio in their house (antenna on the roof, radio in the kitchen) so they can talk with my uncle who did a similar setup last fall at his cabin a few miles away. Then they'll be able to use their hand-held GMRS/FRS radios outside as well.
People entering the sport just get a few FRS radios for next to nothing and they are up and running. You can walk around anywhere with one in your pocket and even take it skiing/hunting/scavenger hunting later. IF you want to geek out and go bigger do GMRS. Can still legally talk to FRS folks on "channels" 1-7 right?
I must admit I've been doing some reading about this because up until recently I've thought "Yes" to this. But I'm not so sure it's true in the letter of the rules. What is true is that practically speaking a narrowband GMRS radio at low power is largely indistinguishable on the air from FRS.
What I'm not sure about is whether the FCC expected FRS users to only talk to FRS and GMRS users to only talk to GMRS users on the shared channels. Why it's unclear to me is that the FCC expects both sides of a conversion to be between licensed users (this is generally stated in most two-way services, they're two-way after all) through language disallowing "broadcasting" (defined as transmitting without an expectation of contacting anyone).
So when you key up a GMRS radio the intention is you talk to another GMRS user, be that your family under your license or another licensed user. When you talk to an FRS user you're knowingly not intending to talk to a GMRS user. So is this broadcasting? Kind of. But you are talking to someone who is licensed technically as long as they're using a legal FRS radio (licensed by rule).
I dunno. Yes, it's a very, very nuanced train of thought and I'm not aware of any authoritative discussion to either conclusion (pro or con). I do think most people are under the real world expectation that you can.
I've also become more interested in nuanced licensing and interoperability rules (especially as it applies to Cruise Moab if we require FRS/GMRS gear for participants in the future).
I do wish they (FCC) would get the GMRS license fee fixed. I just tried again last week and it's still wanting $70 despite all the promise of $35 so I'm still waiting to power up a mobile GMRS rig. As long as I'm ranting, as I ham technician I think I should be able to use GMRS legally already .
I've also become more interested in nuanced licensing and interoperability rules (especially as it applies to Cruise Moab if we require FRS/GMRS gear for participants in the future).
I do wish they (FCC) would get the GMRS license fee fixed. I just tried again last week and it's still wanting $70 despite all the promise of $35 so I'm still waiting to power up a mobile GMRS rig. As long as I'm ranting, as I ham technician I think I should be able to use GMRS legally already .
$70 fee - Regardless of politics I think we can all agree about the lightning fast speed we expect from any level of government.
On your second point I am 1000% with you. These rules seem incredibly arbitrary and with a technician license you have already demonstrated you know much more about how this all works than the average Joe. I will follow because I guess I should and I don't think it is impossible that at some point in the future our frequencies are deemed to have more value to other applications than hobbyist communications. Also the 1 license covers a family thing with GMRS is nice for kids (does it cover parents?).
I've also become more interested in nuanced licensing and interoperability rules (especially as it applies to Cruise Moab if we require FRS/GMRS gear for participants in the future).
As for Cruise Moab I wonder if allocating money to pay for a couple of hours of consulting time with communication lawyer might be worthwhile. CM is definitely not the only organized event making the change to GMRS/FRS so there's perhaps already some work done legally to clarify.
As for Cruise Moab I wonder if allocating money to pay for a couple of hours of consulting time with communication lawyer might be worthwhile. CM is definitely not the only organized event making the change to GMRS/FRS so there's perhaps already some work done legally to clarify.
I don't know if engaging an attorney is necessary. It's fairly easy to figure out the interoperability rules, though you do have to jump between both the GMRS and FRS-specific sections of the rules to figure out how/when each radio type can be used.
My basic interpretation is that GMRS radios can transmit on any of the channels in the table below, and is limited to 50 watts of power (using a mobile station), depending on the channel/frequency. FRS can also transmit on any of the channels below, but is even more limited in power (see §95.567 below), between 0.5 watts and 2 watts, depending on the channels the FRS radio is transmitting on.
§95.531 Permissible FRS uses.
FRS units are primarily used for short-distance two-way voice communications between individuals.
(c) GMRS stations. FRS units normally communicate with other FRS units, but may also be used to communicate with General Mobile Radio Service (GMRS) stations.
The operator of a GMRS station may use that station for two-way plain language voice communications with other GMRS stations and with FRS units concerning personal or business activities.
Each FRS transmitter type must be designed such that the effective radiated power (ERP) on channels 8 through 14 does not exceed 0.5 Watts and the ERP on channels 1 through 7 and 15 through 22 does not exceed 2.0 Watts.
The FRS is allotted 22 channels, each having a channel bandwidth of 12.5 kHz. All of the FRS channels are also allotted to the General Mobile Radio Service (GMRS) on a shared basis. The FRS channel center frequencies are set forth in the following table:
I don't know if engaging an attorney is necessary. It's fairly easy to figure out the interoperability rules, though you do have to jump between both the GMRS and FRS-specific sections of the rules to figure out how/when each radio type can be used.
My basic interpretation is that GMRS radios can transmit on any of the channels in the table below, and is limited to 50 watts of power (using a mobile station). FRS can also transmit on any of the channels below, but is even more limited in power (see §95.567 below), between 0.5 watts and 2 watts, depending on the channels the FRS radio is transmitting on.
It seems as though the ideal channels for both FRS and GMRS to transmit on are 1-7 and 15-22 (or the 462.xxxx MHz channels), as FRS can transmit at the higher 2 watt power, though GMRS is limited to 5 watts on those channels.
The true "GMRS" channels appear to be the 467.xxxx MHz channels (channels 8-14), as mobile GMRS base stations can transmit up to 50 watts, and FRS radios are limited to 0.5 watts (hand-held GMRS radios are limited to 0.5 watts on these channels as well).
My GMRS radio — Midland MXT 275 — doesn't even have channels 8-14.
My theory: the 0.5 watt power limit is so low that Midland thinks users will believe their radio doesn't work well if they use those channels, so they block 'em out. That forces GMRS users to use the channels where they can use more power. Like making it illegal to drive a Lambo in the slow lane.
Edit: those are the channels that are true GMRS with up to 50 watts? WTF, Midland???
My GMRS radio — Midland MXT 275 — doesn't even have channels 8-14.
My theory: the 0.5 watt power limit is so low that Midland thinks users will believe their radio doesn't work well if they use those channels, so they block 'em out. That forces GMRS users to use the channels where they can use more power. Like making it illegal to drive a Lambo in the slow lane.
Edit: those are the channels that are true GMRS with up to 50 watts? WTF, Midland???
It appears that this is due to a somewhat recent change in the rules. Seems like channels 8-14 might have previously been dedicated to FRS only, and GMRS radios weren't allowed to transmit on them. That changed at some point, but the rule is kind of vague - at first glance, it seems like only hand-held GMRS radios are limited to 0.5 watts on channels 8-14, but mobile base stations should be able to transmit at 50 watts:
(c) 467 MHz interstitial channels. The effective radiated power (ERP) of hand-held portable units transmitting on the 467 MHz interstitial channels must not exceed 0.5 Watt. Each GMRS transmitter type capable of transmitting on these channels must be designed such that the ERP does not exceed 0.5 Watt.
It's that last sentence ("each GMRS transmitter type...ERP does not exceed 0.5 watt") that gives me pause. Seems like the high-powered GMRS radios are still limited to 0.5 watts on channels 8-14.
Edit: This article references a section of the rule that no longer exists, specifically banning GMRS radios from channels 8-14.
The real reason can be easily found within the FCC rules for GMRS. Specifically, the rule in Part 95, Subpart E which limits the frequencies commonly assigned to channels 8-14 to hand-held radios only. Here is the applicable section (from § 95.1763 GMRS channels):
(d) 467 MHz interstitial channels. Only hand-held portable units may transmit on these 7 channels. The channel center frequencies are: 467.5675, 467.5875, 467.6125, 467.6375, 467.6625, 467.6875, and 467.7125 MHz.
Those channel center frequencies are the seven frequencies assigned to GMRS channels 8-14.
In other words, only handheld GMRS radios can transmit on channels 8-14 because, well, you can only transmit on channels 8-14 with a handheld GMRS radio.
Yep, because the FCC said so. That's all it is. And there you go.
The real reason can be easily found within the FCC rules for GMRS. Specifically, the rule in Part 95, Subpart E which limits the frequencies commonly assigned to channels 8-14 to hand-held radios only. Here is the applicable section (from § 95.1763 GMRS channels):
(d) 467 MHz interstitial channels. Only hand-held portable units may transmit on these 7 channels. The channel center frequencies are: 467.5675, 467.5875, 467.6125, 467.6375, 467.6625, 467.6875, and 467.7125 MHz.
Those channel center frequencies are the seven frequencies assigned to GMRS channels 8-14.
In other words, only handheld GMRS radios can transmit on channels 8-14 because, well, you can only transmit on channels 8-14 with a handheld GMRS radio.
Yep, because the FCC said so. That's all it is. And there you go.
I believe so. The current power rules for GMRS read as follows (it looks like paragraph (d) referenced above has been omitted):
§95.1767 GMRS transmitting power limits.
This section contains transmitting power limits for GMRS stations. The maximum transmitting power depends on which channels are being used and the type of station.
(a) 462/467 MHz main channels. The limits in this paragraph apply to stations transmitting on any of the 462 MHz main channels or any of the 467 MHz main channels. Each GMRS transmitter type must be capable of operating within the allowable power range. GMRS licensees are responsible for ensuring that their GMRS stations operate in compliance with these limits.
(1) The transmitter output power of mobile, repeater and base stations must not exceed 50 Watts.
(2) The transmitter output power of fixed stations must not exceed 15 Watts.
(b) 462 MHz interstitial channels. The effective radiated power (ERP) of mobile, hand-held portable and base stations transmitting on the 462 MHz interstitial channels must not exceed 5 Watts.
(c) 467 MHz interstitial channels. The effective radiated power (ERP) of hand-held portable units transmitting on the 467 MHz interstitial channels must not exceed 0.5 Watt. Each GMRS transmitter type capable of transmitting on these channels must be designed such that the ERP does not exceed 0.5 Watt.
Could also be a bandwidth question. Channels 8 to 14 are narrowband only (11KHz, 2.5KHz deviation) regardless of service while GMRS is allowed generally to use wideband (16KHz, 5KHz deviation). So maybe the MXT275 isn't capable of meeting the bandwidth requirement on the interstitial 467MHz channels. But it's clearly stated in 95.1763 that only HT are allowed on 8 to 14 (467MHz interstitial) regardless of any potential technical limitations.
Could also be a bandwidth question. Channels 8 to 14 are narrowband only (11KHz, 2.5KHz deviation) regardless of service while GMRS is allowed generally to use wideband (20KHz, 5KHz deviation). So maybe the MXT275 isn't capable of meeting the bandwidth requirement on the interstitial 467MHz channels
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