RFI: Current Radio Communication Best Buy

[Outpost75]

Do you have a good example of a model that allows this antenna/coax swap? I may need to go that route in the future.

Our county repurposed former schools, parks and rec and public works high band VHF 16- channel ICOM F3S radios by removing the Smart-Trunk boards and reprogramming them to the MURS channels for issue to CERT, Neighborhood Watch and Medical Reserve Corps.
Any of the older analog VHF high band 154-160 Mhz radios by GE, Motorola, Vertex-Standard, E.F. Johnson or Bendix-King can be modified by any 2-way radio shop. The Bendix-King is frequency agile and be programmed directly from the keypad. Others require a computer interface cable and software.

The various ICOM F3 radios were widely used for range control by the Army and sold off as surplus in the 1990s. Mine is a 256 channel version which has 2-meter ham, MURS, VHF Marine, Ground SAR, EMS and Fire Ground talk around freqs all in one unit. You can program wide or narrow band FM and power output by channel and also program channels like the NOAA weather or EMS dispatch to receive only.

With the older radio you can expect to need to rebuild or replace battery packs and antennas in addition to reprogramming, so they are not "plug and play. But after investing about $100 in each obsolete radio salvaged from the dumpster at the County radio shop after the P25 digital conversion you can have " All VHF-Analog" in one unit. We repurposed several hundred of them and are still using them 20 years later.

[RoyGBiv]

Our county repurposed former schools, parks and rec and public works high band VHF 16- channel ICOM F3S radios by removing the Smart-Trunk boards and reprogramming them to the MURS channels for issue to CERT, Neighborhood Watch and Medical Reserve Corps.
Any of the older analog VHF high band 154-160 Mhz radios by GE, Motorola, Vertex-Standard, E.F. Johnson or Bendix-King can be modified by any 2-way radio shop. The Bendix-King is frequency agile and be programmed directly from the keypad. Others require a computer interface cable and software.

The various ICOM F3 radios were widely used for range control by the Army and sold off as surplus in the 1990s. Mine is a 256 channel version which has 2-meter ham, MURS, VHF Marine, Ground SAR, EMS and Fire Ground talk around freqs all in one unit. You can program wide or narrow band FM and power output by channel and also program channels like the NOAA weather or EMS dispatch to receive only.

With the older radio you can expect to need to rebuild or replace battery packs and antennas in addition to reprogramming, so they are not "plug and play. But after investing about $100 in each obsolete radio salvaged from the dumpster at the County radio shop after the P25 digital conversion you can have " All VHF-Analog" in one unit. We repurposed several hundred of them and are still using them 20 years later.

Neat! .. The only thing missing from that is 70cm...
If you happen to have a specific brand, model number and shop contacts for the rework, I'd appreciate the info....

Around here, volunteer orgs mainly encourage folks to get HAM licensed so they can use the repeaters, but in training and local events are using lots of MURS.

Also wondering what sort of actual, practical range you find they're getting for MURS.

[whomever]

"Also wondering what sort of actual, practical range you find they're getting for MURS."

+1 (especially a GMRS to MURS comparison, since those are two of the most accessible possibilities)

[Dog Guy]

I've used the old BK bricks with the USFS package where you plug the coax into the port on the side. Very effective, but I don't know if that package is available any more.
Some of the "radio guys" told me that to use a remote antenna via coax, it takes more than getting the right adapters to unscrew the antenna and screw in the coax adapter; the radio and antenna had to be correctly configured to make that viable. The newer Kenwood public safety radios are an example where I've been told there is no way to remove the ducky and run coax to a 5/8 wave on the roof, even though you can swap around different ducky or collapsible antennas on the radio. But that's beyond my realm of expertise.

[Outpost75]

"Also wondering what sort of actual, practical range you find they're getting for MURS."

+1 (especially a GMRS to MURS comparison, since those are two of the most accessible possibilities)

MURS has range similar to Marine VHF or 2-meter ham at same RF outout with comparable antenna. The antenna is more important than RF output. With coax-fed quarter-wave whip centered on vehicle roof two mobile units can maintain reliable contact in open, flat terrain for about 5-6 miles. Amongst urban ground clutter half of that. If one unit is up high on a mountain road about 5000 ft AMSL and the other on the valley road several.thousand feet below 15-20 miles is possible depending upon terrain.

Two portables with base-loaded helical "rubber duckies" standing in the open, held at face level 1-2 miles.

The older analog UHF public safety and business radios can be programmed to GMRS and give similar range when using a coax-fed collinear 5/8 over 5/8 stacked base fed vertical (5 dB gain) compared to unity gain for a quarter-wave on ground plane. UHF works better in urban ground clutter and two portables held at face level with helical can maintain contact for four city blocks or ten vertical floors on so.plex.

ICOM F4 series radios are good candidate to program GMRS and 70 cm ham in one unit.

[Doc_Glock]

Thanks everyone. I went back to the old thread last night from 2017 or something when the FCC was cracking down on certain radios and I learned a lot about FRS, GMRS, etc. It seems what I want is a few FRS units. Radio is a really interesting world!

[RoyGBiv]

I've used the old BK bricks with the USFS package where you plug the coax into the port on the side. Very effective, but I don't know if that package is available any more.
Some of the "radio guys" told me that to use a remote antenna via coax, it takes more than getting the right adapters to unscrew the antenna and screw in the coax adapter; the radio and antenna had to be correctly configured to make that viable. The newer Kenwood public safety radios are an example where I've been told there is no way to remove the ducky and run coax to a 5/8 wave on the roof, even though you can swap around different ducky or collapsible antennas on the radio. But that's beyond my realm of expertise.

I've used the antenna I linked a on bottom of page 1 (with a different brand but similar adapter) attached to a Baofeng UV-5R at 5W and was able to cleanly (as far as Baofeng is able... ) hit repeaters 6-7 miles away, through DFW/suburbia... further (12 miles as the crow flies in one test) if line of sight was good (from a highway overpass).

[MickAK]

Thanks everyone. I went back to the old thread last night from 2017 or something when the FCC was cracking down on certain radios and I learned a lot about FRS, GMRS, etc. It seems what I want is a few FRS units. Radio is a really interesting world!

I use the BC Link FRS units I previously linked in combination with these 3M Litecom muffs which may be an option for you if you want comms while shooting https://www.3m.com/3M/en_US/p/d/v000139378/ . There's a number of options.

If you're going to be using the BC Link unit in heavy wet weather I recommend sealing the mic to radio connection and getting a skin for the mic - it will function but it's prone to suddenly transmitting quietly. I've put them through pretty brutal service and they keep on trucking.

[RJ]

Thanks everyone. I went back to the old thread last night from 2017 or something when the FCC was cracking down on certain radios and I learned a lot about FRS, GMRS, etc. It seems what I want is a few FRS units. Radio is a really interesting world!

Good call, a couple FRS radios should work great.

[EMC]

My recommendation is to get yourself a set of repeater capable GMRS handhelds (wouxun are the best) to learn on from buy two way radios website, get your test-free license from the FCC for 10 yrs for 35 bucks and program in your local repeaters.

Why GMRS? It is easy to use and overlaps with FRS (so you can still talk to your bubble pack cheap radio buddies), but allows for up to 5 watts handheld and 50 watts mobile and is repeater capable for much better range.

The GMRS license covers your entire family, unlike HAM which requires all parties to have a license and take tests, you can hand anyone vaguely related to you a radio and they are covered under your call-sign.

Here in Northern Utah we have repeaters on the mountains that allow us to talk to each other for a good hundred miles or more which works awesome for off-road adventuring or local emergency comms.

Check out "Not a Rubicon" on youtube for more info.