[chirp_devel] [PATCH] [frs/gmrs] 2017 rule changes Fixes #5753

[Andrew Jorgensen]

Thanks Jim!

I was using https://wiki.radioreference.com/index.php/FRS/GMRS_combined_channel_chart#Old_FRS.2FGMRS_Channels
as a reference, figuring that if GMRS channel numbers matter, it would
be the old channel numbers that would matter.

I have a GMRS-V1, which I've just now factory reset to confirm, and
you're correct that it numbers the channels per the FRS scheme, though
it omits 8-14. I don't have any other GMRS radios to compare with, but
I do see that Midland[0] is currently numbering the GMRS channels same
as FRS. Most of the Motorola manuals I've found don't list 8-14 as
being GMRS channels at all, including those that support repeater
operation.

I found some other references[1] to the older scheme, where FRS 1 is
the same as GMRS 9. And the data I'm replacing here has FRS 1 on
462.5625 and GMRS 1 on 462.55. The FCC does not prescribe any
numbering scheme for GMRS.

Overall I'm finding myself persuaded that having them numbered same as
FRS makes the most sense today, and seems to be the way the industry
is going. It's unfortunate that it doesn't match what was done before
the changes, but seems correct.

I'll fix it and send the revised patch this week.

Do you have a strong opinion on channels 8-14? They have the same
power limits and bandwidth as on FRS (I see my mistake in the patch I
sent and will correct) so they are not in any way different from the
GMRS channels. I'm inclined to just not enumerate GMRS 8-14, but could
be persuaded otherwise.

[0] https://midlandusa.com/why-gmrs-for-two-way-radio-communication/
[1] https://www.techwholesale.com/talkfreq.html


On Mon, Dec 2, 2019 at 6:31 PM Jim Unroe <rock.unroe at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Hi Andrew,
>
> On Mon, Dec 2, 2019 at 8:36 PM Andrew Jorgensen via chirp_devel
> <chirp_devel at intrepid.danplanet.com> wrote:
> >
> > # HG changeset patch
> > # User Andrew Jorgensen <andrew at jorgensenfamily.us>
> > # Date 1575136551 28800
> > #      Sat Nov 30 09:55:51 2019 -0800
> > # Node ID 9f35d22fa86ee7a576b338ce4d0deb3d9ed8d3d5
> > # Parent  c9c97668945488ab558494b0ed8b05403a1b4f2e
> > [frs/gmrs] 2017 rule changes Fixes #5753
> >
> > This adds the additional FRS channels (15-22) and expands on the GMRS channels
> > to include updated bandwidth (though there's no way to specify 20kHz vs 25kHz).
> > It also adds the GMRS repeater channels with the prescribed +5.0MHz offset
> > (though you'll have to find the correct tones for your local GMRS repeaters).
> >
>
> This doesn't seem correct to me. FRS and GMRS both have 22 channels
> now (plus 8 of the GMRS channels can be used as repeater channels).
> The GMRS radio manufacturers are using the same channel numbering
> scheme as specified by the FCC for the FRS channels. So GMRS 1 through
> GMRS 22 would be a duplication of the 22 FRS channels plus the
> addition of the 8 GMRS repeaters channels making 30 total GMRS
> channels. The BTech GMRS-V1 is this way. The Midland GTX1000/1030/etc.
> series is this way (except it doesn't support repeaters). The only
> difference, not counting the repeater support, is that all FRS
> channels are narrow band but GMRS channels 15 - 22 can still use wide.
>
> Jim KC9HI