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How will FRS users cause harmful interference on the ham bands? I think FRS is pretty amazing for what it is. It builds confidence if practiced in its simplicit

How will FRS users cause harmful interference on the ham bands? I think FRS is pretty amazing for what it is. It builds confidence if practiced in its simplicity and there are FRS neighborhood nets run by ham radio operators as well. I was surprised to find that during an emergency, FM broadcast reception alone can be an awesome solution for many, if not most. Some friends wandered over to my ham shack to ask if that was where the action was, but most of my information came from the local public/NPR station's hourly reports. (The ham repeaters were useful for hyper-local fire spotting, and generator/gear questions.)

Animats 6y ago
How will FRS users cause harmful interference on the ham bands? BaoFeng units can transmit on a wide range of frequencies, and non-ham users with no clue as to what's permitted can blither all over a big chunk of spectrum. BaoFeng also added a button that transmits an electronic siren sound, allowing idiots to annoy people for miles around. Further if they hit a repeater. The things are very cheap; about $10 each in quantity 6.
- themodelplumber 6y ago
  Are you implying that FRS users and Baofeng users are one and the same? This is definitely not true if so. In my neighborhood as one example, FRS users purchase from one of the local or local chain stores, which carry Cobra, Midland, or Motorola radios. Even if you purchase from Amazon, they changed their rules some time ago and require proper FCC certification on all radios. This means that you can't buy an FRS radio from Amazon which will let you do what you said. Even the Baofeng FRS units will come without the ability to go into ham bands. And even then, if you managed to buy FRS radios without FCC certification, they come pre-programmed with FRS channels (so that they do what the label says they do) and would have to be programmed manually to use ham frequencies. I'm not sure which FRS users would or could realistically go through the trouble to do that, if any.
  - tonyarkles 6y ago
    The BaoFengs can, last I checked, transmit on 2m, 70cm, and the FRS band. I don’t remember if the modulation is exactly right on FRS.
    - themodelplumber 6y ago
      Sounds like you're thinking of non-FRS, non-FCC-licensed radios? Top Amazon results for "Baofeng FRS" here are the GT-22 and BF-88ST. Both are FCC certified, e.g. FCC ID 2AJGM-BF88ST. No VFO, UHF only. You turn it on and you're stuck on FRS freqs. (It seems to me that the Baofeng danger-danger straw man gets larger by the day but it's still straw, and unfair given that licensing is done and specs are met.)
      - tonyarkles 6y ago
        Nope. Baofeng UV-5R lists: Frequency range: [TX] 136 – 174MHz, 400 – 520MHz [RX] 136 – 174MHz, 400 – 520MHz, 68-108MHz (FM Broadcast) The FRS band is 462-467MHz, well within the TX range of the UV-5R.
        themodelplumber 6y ago
        Like I said, the UV-5R isn't licensed or marketed as an FRS radio...this isn't a general Baofeng complain-a-thon, it's a thread that started with an unreasonable complaint that FRS users cause harmful interference on the ham bands. You hopped on with Baofeng tech specs, and I humored this, but now I have to say you've completely derailed the thread into nothing but Baofeng specs, a seemingly meaningless exercise given the thread contents. If this thread is going to continue for another week or two, could we at least get back into the proper context? In fact it's extremely rare to find an FRS user with a radio like a UV-5R. Most of them are using Motorola Talkabouts, or Cobras, or Midland radios. Another part of the reason for the lack of popularity is that people like to buy brand-name, popular radios that their friends recommend, and another part is that Baofeng does a better job advertising their FRS radios that are purpose-built for FRS. People shopping for an FRS radio like to buy something that says "FRS" on the box. (The only person I ever met who used a Baofeng on FRS frequencies was a licensed GMRS user, and their use was 100% OK, of course)
mtreis86 6y ago
Many things that transmit do so poorly with a lot of spurious emission in nearby or harmonic bands. In other words, the signal coming out of those radios is so wide it bleeds into the ham bands. The signals are fairly weak but can add to the background noise level.
- themodelplumber 6y ago
  "Many things" is not specific enough. Can you be more specific? This used to be true of a few models of ham radios, but A) the manufacturers have largely fixed that situation, B) those were mostly sold as ham radios and we're talking here about COTS FRS radios, which are easily testable and there are no complaints I could find online, and C) these are also 2W LOS radios which cannot legally be sold with a numeric keypad or be fitted with a new antenna. Not exactly a threat to local amateur operations... Oh and D) In years of operation I've never had a single problem from either others' spurious emissions affecting my operations or FRS users on the ham bands.

Animats 6y ago

How will FRS users cause harmful interference on the ham bands? BaoFeng units can transmit on a wide range of frequencies, and non-ham users with no clue as to what's permitted can blither all over a big chunk of spectrum. BaoFeng also added a button that transmits an electronic siren sound, allowing idiots to annoy people for miles around. Further if they hit a repeater. The things are very cheap; about $10 each in quantity 6.

themodelplumber 6y ago
Are you implying that FRS users and Baofeng users are one and the same? This is definitely not true if so. In my neighborhood as one example, FRS users purchase from one of the local or local chain stores, which carry Cobra, Midland, or Motorola radios. Even if you purchase from Amazon, they changed their rules some time ago and require proper FCC certification on all radios. This means that you can't buy an FRS radio from Amazon which will let you do what you said. Even the Baofeng FRS units will come without the ability to go into ham bands. And even then, if you managed to buy FRS radios without FCC certification, they come pre-programmed with FRS channels (so that they do what the label says they do) and would have to be programmed manually to use ham frequencies. I'm not sure which FRS users would or could realistically go through the trouble to do that, if any.
- tonyarkles 6y ago
  The BaoFengs can, last I checked, transmit on 2m, 70cm, and the FRS band. I don’t remember if the modulation is exactly right on FRS.
  - themodelplumber 6y ago
    Sounds like you're thinking of non-FRS, non-FCC-licensed radios? Top Amazon results for "Baofeng FRS" here are the GT-22 and BF-88ST. Both are FCC certified, e.g. FCC ID 2AJGM-BF88ST. No VFO, UHF only. You turn it on and you're stuck on FRS freqs. (It seems to me that the Baofeng danger-danger straw man gets larger by the day but it's still straw, and unfair given that licensing is done and specs are met.)
    - tonyarkles 6y ago
      Nope. Baofeng UV-5R lists: Frequency range: [TX] 136 – 174MHz, 400 – 520MHz [RX] 136 – 174MHz, 400 – 520MHz, 68-108MHz (FM Broadcast) The FRS band is 462-467MHz, well within the TX range of the UV-5R.
      - themodelplumber 6y ago
        Like I said, the UV-5R isn't licensed or marketed as an FRS radio...this isn't a general Baofeng complain-a-thon, it's a thread that started with an unreasonable complaint that FRS users cause harmful interference on the ham bands. You hopped on with Baofeng tech specs, and I humored this, but now I have to say you've completely derailed the thread into nothing but Baofeng specs, a seemingly meaningless exercise given the thread contents. If this thread is going to continue for another week or two, could we at least get back into the proper context? In fact it's extremely rare to find an FRS user with a radio like a UV-5R. Most of them are using Motorola Talkabouts, or Cobras, or Midland radios. Another part of the reason for the lack of popularity is that people like to buy brand-name, popular radios that their friends recommend, and another part is that Baofeng does a better job advertising their FRS radios that are purpose-built for FRS. People shopping for an FRS radio like to buy something that says "FRS" on the box. (The only person I ever met who used a Baofeng on FRS frequencies was a licensed GMRS user, and their use was 100% OK, of course)

mtreis86 6y ago

Many things that transmit do so poorly with a lot of spurious emission in nearby or harmonic bands. In other words, the signal coming out of those radios is so wide it bleeds into the ham bands. The signals are fairly weak but can add to the background noise level.

themodelplumber 6y ago
"Many things" is not specific enough. Can you be more specific? This used to be true of a few models of ham radios, but A) the manufacturers have largely fixed that situation, B) those were mostly sold as ham radios and we're talking here about COTS FRS radios, which are easily testable and there are no complaints I could find online, and C) these are also 2W LOS radios which cannot legally be sold with a numeric keypad or be fitted with a new antenna. Not exactly a threat to local amateur operations... Oh and D) In years of operation I've never had a single problem from either others' spurious emissions affecting my operations or FRS users on the ham bands.