Hey guys,
not to be a party pooper here, but.......
We looked into these a year or so ago (not this particular model, but this frequency band)
the vast majority of the 400-470mhz band is licence-only. The only part that isn't is the FRS frequencies, and these radios broadcast with 8X the max allowed power for FRS
plus you're probably stepping on other teams using the only 14 channels available.
As to the rest of this band, it's license only, and it isn't cheap to get a license. the required "frequency coordination" is expensive, although the license itself isn't all that bad. GMRS (8 channels) while it does need a license, doesn't need the expensive "frequency coordination", but again it's only 8 channels, and are probably going to be stepping on other team's transmissions.
as to the rest of the band, I think Police and fire, as well as lots of commercial users also use these frequencies. I remember a thread from last year, where the po-po showed up, and searched out, and harassed a team that was stepping on one of their frequencies.
Are people using this band spending the money to get licenses? or just taking their chances? I know the fines are pretty steep (>$10K) does anybody actually ever get caught and fined? is everybody just claiming ignorance, and hoping it won't happen to them?
We went with "XRS" radios in the license-free 900mhz band. they were cheap, and seem to work just fine, and nobody else seems to be using that band for 2-way radio communication.
We figure the chance of getting caught are pretty low, but on the other hand, the potential fine is pretty steep, so we decided not to take our chances, so we stayed in a license-free band.
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