MURS Band FM Mobile Radios?

I have used CB radios since before I hit my first drivers license. Use to work for Electronics Center in Greenwood Indiana. I still have a nice 23 channel Motorola that I have used in four trucks and it still works. I have always liked CB radios and trucking. So here goes...my son just got his CDL last month. He will be training with me for a couple months and it's going to be his. I am retiring at 70 in June.

 

Passing the torch.

That's the way of the world and keeps everything going, including CB.

Congratulations!

 

Actually MURS is a 2 watt radio service... And a very big problem right now is equipment availability... You'd be better off switching to GMRS.. With GMRS you have more channels and more readily available equipment...

 

Resurrection of an old thread, but the 19-1210 RadioShack was actually a fantastic MURS mobile radio (like a cb, not handheld). It was used for business band vhf and murs. It was 5 watts bit would default to only 1 watt on murs. There is a blue pot inside that lets you put it all the way up to the legal limit of 2 watts or even illegally bump it up to 5 watts. I'd you change the finals and adjust the voltage you might get a bit more. I'm told it was originally made by motorola. It's a nice setup. I have 8. There are even 25-100 watt amps available, though not legal. Even at legal power... expect a properly tuned and grounded 5/8th wave antenna to go 5-15 miles. Crystal clear and amazing.

 

Equipment is getting much more prevalent. Retevis offers a reliable and affordable HT as does Btech. Motorola has a nice expensive HT and Dakota Alert has an overpriced HT, but nice little Base station. I don't know of any MURS mobiles though. The Dakota Alert Base with added microphone is used by some. Also a battery eliminator and microphone on an HT can make a passible mobile unit. You can still find some of the MURS Holy Grail mobiles online at times. The Radio Shack 19-1210. It is a legal grandfathered part 90 radio legal for use on MURS. I believe it was made by motorola. Anyway it can be programmed to vhf business bands or MURS. It defuals to only 1 watt on MURS, but the blue pot inside is easily adjusted to get the full 2 watts. Many just crank it up to the full five which is not legal. These little peanut whistles do about 5-15 miles with a good antenna at legal power. Now they do make 25-100 watt amps for then, but they are less than legal. The clarity of Murs is fantastic. I use mostly murs and GMRS now.... occasionally cb.

 

External antennas are a big plus in the MURS service. Be aware that MURS, being VHF, is more subject to line-of-sight than CB, meaning that if the antennas are on the fronts of trucks, the best range is going to be with trucks coming toward you in the opposite lanes. The trailer could block some of the transmission to the rear.

For those who are interested, here's ya rules.
Electronic Code of Federal Regulations (eCFR)

Many radios are imported. Some may not be 'type accepted' or 'certificated'. On each radio should be a tag with some numbers on it indicating FCC allows it to be used. Miscellaneous radios may exceed the 2 Watt limit or be out of compliance with the channel-by-channel bandwidth rules.
On FM, incorrect transmit or receive bandwidth makes some received stations seem loud and distorted or soft and too quiet. It's important to use a real MURS radio or some channels will seem loud and distorted and others soft and too quiet. So you have to jack with the volume control. (I removed a link to what I thought was Kenwood MURS mobile radios. It was some other radios though the page said MURS mobile. My mistake.)

search by FCCID: FCC ID Search

search accepted radios by numerous parameters: https://apps.fcc.gov/oetcf/eas/reports/GenericSearch.cfm

BTW why the hell aren't all these 2-way radios made in the USA by our citizens?? HUH? HUH? riddle me that Batman. There was a time with that was mostly the case. This is a rhetorical question.