On Fri, 26 Dec 2003 22:09:12 GMT, Rich Hampel
wrote:

Actuallly it was Radio Shack on this one......


No, Moto is the reason it has a 1/2w transmitter and the private
license fees are so rediculously high for other services. Motorola
wants everyone that needs a walkie talkie to buy TRUNKED RADIO SERVICE
from, who else, THEM!

A friend of mine applied to the private licensing contractor the FCC
uses to get a 150 Mhz band system license to put up a nice repeater
with a couple of base stations and a bunch of mobiles. He's in the
paging business and has been for 30+ years. They actually tried to
pull a fast one and told him there were no licenses available....until
he filed suit in court. Suddenly, all those dead 150 Mhz frequencies
we had been monitoring for 6 months WERE, in fact, available for
license. One of Moto's strings must have broken. One of the nice
walkies is sitting on my desk. I heard him calling his wife, earlier.
We even have a telephone interconnect I can use if my cellphone
coverage sucks. The repeater runs high power from 800' up a tower and
my 7 watt walkie works 70 miles inland.

My point was Motorola doesn't WANT you to have private, untaxed
communications over a mile or so.....see?