New Ham

[Modeler]

No, not the kind you eat...

Just got my call sign today for my Technician class license: KC1GQP.

Picked up a Baofeng UV-R5 hand transceiver and a programming cable a little while ago and can now transmit on it in UHF/VHF. I also have a GMRS license (WQSX803) which allows your immediate family to legally use the GMRS band on those FRS/GMRS radios.

The test was real easy took it on the 12th, passed with a 100%. I didn't know that the examiners just hand you the test for the next class license, I hadn't looked at any of the study material and still got 24 of 35 correct, you need 26 right to pass.

Since I came so close I've decided to test for that after Thanksgiving sometime.

[RandyCarol]

Do you have to renew a GMRS? Years ago I looked into in but never ended up taking the test. I did get my GROL w/radar endorsement but I've never used it.

[Hoodoo Man]

Ocean State Jeepsters and Crawling For A Cure Offroad have adopted these radios. Its been explained to me (but it may not be true***) that you only need the license for HAM for some specific frequencies.... These radios are $25 on amazon and hands down beat the CB for ease of use, set up and operation....

@David any idea on the claim of specific frequencies not needing a license?

[Modeler]

The Baofengs need a GMRS license to use them on the GMRS channels, that is why I got it about three years ago to use on some FRS/GMRS handhelds I have.
They are not legal to use on FRS channels as they are 1 watt minimum and have a removable antenna, FRS requires .5watt max and a non removable antenna.

To use the 2M and 70cm bands needs an Amateur Technician license at a minimum.

The GMRS license was $65 three years ago and does not need a test, just the fee. It also covers your immediate family to use under your license, I have some Midland GXT1000s for that and can add in the UV-5R for those channels. It is good for 5 years

The Ham test is $15 dollars when you go through the ARRL (Amateur Radio Relay League) who administers the test for the FCC. You can take all three in one day if you pass the each of the preceding tests for the $15 in one sitting, you're paying for the session not the individual tests. The license is good for 10 years and as you upgrade it changes the expire to the next 10 years. I believe the renewals are free as you can do that that through the FCC website.

So that said, no one is likely to bother you for using them on FRS/GMRS channels, but if you did cause interference that was tracked the fine can be in the thousands,

[pirahnah3]

Congrats on passing!

I happen to have a ham operator at work so if you happen to catch KB1TZV I believe it is, then you reached RI lol.

[Modeler]

Thanks Jim,
Still setting up and experimenting with the repeaters in my area. I'll listen for him.

[Hoodoo Man]

Thanks Dave! I trust your answer way more than the one I got from somewhere else.. Will be looking into this further.

[Modeler]

You're welcome.

Based on what I have learned Josh and I will be reprogramming all the Jeep rally FRS radios to a safe channel. There are some more restrictions on FRS that I didn't get into. There are also some channel restrictions on GMRS as you go north into NH due to the frequencies being used by Canadian radio systems.

[Hoodoo Man]

You're welcome.

Based on what I have learned Josh and I will be reprogramming all the Jeep rally FRS radios to a safe channel. There are some more restrictions on FRS that I didn't get into. There are also some channel restrictions on GMRS as you go north into NH due to the frequencies being used by Canadian radio systems.

you may want to talk to Ricky Barrett of Ocean State. He programs most of the OSJ and CFAC-OR radios for Go Topless Day and CFAC Would be good for cross volunteers and BSJ if they adopt these to be able to communicate with each other. Im working on programming one now, have the cable and cd but not the time...

[Modeler]

Thanks, I have the Chirp program for the Baofeng already though and not using it for the rally.

The radios the Rally uses don't need to be programmed that way either, just unlock, change the channel they are on and add in the CTCSS code tone that we use for privacy, then lock them against accidental changes again. Probably will take less than a minute each hand transceiver.

[Modeler]

Did the second test this afternoon and passed with 35 of 35 correct. I'm now a General. LOL

Failed miserably on the Extra test (24 of 50 correct), so probably won't take that one for a long time, if ever. There were terms and theory in that one that I'd never heard of.

[pirahnah3]

Congrats!, Not much of anything you get on that last tier from what my guy at work tells me.

[Hoodoo Man]

Thanks, I have the Chirp program for the Baofeng already though and not using it for the rally.

The radios the Rally uses don't need to be programmed that way either, just unlock, change the channel they are on and add in the CTCSS code tone that we use for privacy, then lock them against accidental changes again. Probably will take less than a minute each hand transceiver.

Any tips or tricks to set up these radios you want to share? I got the USB cord from Amazon and it came with different software (not chirp) that couldn't see the radio at all... Really annoying as I had to go into device manager to set the cord as a COM port and it kept freezing the SW and crashing.

Downloaded Chirp and will play with it this week... I have several programmed radios for CFAC so I will most likely just read the setup file off one of those and save it as a file to write to the new radios. I can share that progam with folks here if anyone is interested....

Does the Jeep rally use a radio with a different band or will it "talk" with the Baofengs?

[Modeler]

Jeff,
Go to this site. http://www.miklor.com/ It is the best reference on all the Baofeng stuff. Also, download the driver for the cable from there as well and don't use the one that came with the cable. You may have to remove the supplied driver to install the Miklor one.

The Rally Motorola FRS/GMRS radios will talk to frequencies that the Baofeng can listen to even if you can't legally transmit on them.

Thank you again Jim.

[Hoodoo Man]

awesome! Thanks for the link David. Was able to program a new radio and clone it from another one. Quick question, any idea where you can change the "welcome message" in the software? the ones i had programmed by someone else are all labeled CFAC1, CFAC2 etc and Jeff... would like to make my new radio say "Kris" I found a screen in one of the SW DL I got from Baofeng but it still wont connect with the correct USB driver and "com port assignment" for that SW....

thanks again!