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Talked to WalMart Today on a HT?

Chop

Chop

Active Member
May 11, 2008
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Rosepine, LA
ok, so today my ol' lady and i were at walmart shopping for assorted x-mas stuff and of course, i stayed out in the truck because...... well, you know. at least, if you're a guy you know, lol. anyway, i have all 5 MURS channels programmed into my HT and every now and then i give a shout on those channels. i've never heard anyone on these channels so i always hope maybe someone bought some MURS radios or gets a HAM rig modified for the freqs as i did. well today while in the truck i give a shout on channel 1, then 2, then 3 and 4 and, as always there's no response. but on channel 5 i hear someone say, "Yes, I can hear you". i light up and ask where they are located and his response was, "Grocery receiving". i'm thinking WTF? so i ask him if he was in walmart and he said yes. then i ask if that is a walmart radio to which he also replied yes. by this time another person pipes up on the radio and i assume it must have been a manager because she did not sound happy. she says this is a walmart radio and that i had no business on the radio. i then proceeded to tell her that i was talking on a Multi Use Radio Service channel and that the FCC has allocated that frequency as such. i told her i was a licensed HAM operator and that i was not breaking any rules and that i, in fact, was not even exceeding the allotted output wattage for that frequency. well by now a town police officer equipped with a walmart radio has piped in and asked where i was located. right then i cut all communications and just turned the radio off. OK, NOW FOR MY QUESTION, LOL: did i do anything wrong? can i be held accountable for interfering or something? i got kinda scared when i heard the cop start talking. what do ya'll think?
 
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I didn't read all that, horrible headache but google search green dot and blue dot radio frequencies and see if that answers your questions.

edit:

ok I scanned through for a 5 and saw indeed you were on what is/was the Green Dot channel

I win.
 
Multi-Use Radio Service (MURS)
This is a VHF band, and is somewhere between FRS and GMRS as far as power and eligilbility. Originally, the MURS frequencies were part of the Business frequency pool. The 154.xxxx frequencies were a holdover from the early days of radio when people would identify frequencies by colored dots that they put on the radios. 154.5700 was the old Blue Dot, and 154.6000 was the Green Dot. MURS is unlicensed, and is limited to 2 watts. MURS radios may be used by individuals and businesses alike. MURS radios have restrictions of bandwidth depending on which frequency you use. Due to its unlicensed nature, it is popular with business, but due to the interference problems, is not well suited to enterprise users that require better radio service than individual users. [ Read Brochure ]




If you weren't being an ass you should have told that cop exactly where you were and exactly what the rules of such service were. Having said that though, you can't intentionally interfere with them but it doesn't sound like that was the case.
 
Chop said:
i told her i was a licensed HAM operator and that i was not breaking any rules and that i, in fact, was not even exceeding the allotted output wattage for that frequency.
Click to expand...

oh man I made it through more of this

why would you even throw out that you were a licensed ham operator? *removed mean but true comments, please read before keying the mic as no license is required and no one should care if you are a licensed HAM or a proctologist...it's all the same here*

Further, I would never tempt fate with the "not even exceeding the alloted output wattage". You were in the Walmart parking lot for God's sake, a pair of soup cans and some string would have got you there just as easily.

9. May I communicate from my MURS radio to a Business Radio Service-licensed station
on the same frequency?
Yes, you may communicate with former BRS licensees of these frequencies.



Please read here:
MURS: Frequently Asked Questions
 
GLR said:
oh man I made it through more of this

why would you even throw out that you were a licensed ham operator? *removed mean but true comments, please read before keying the mic as no license is required and no one should care if you are a licensed HAM or a proctologist...it's all the same here*

Further, I would never tempt fate with the "not even exceeding the alloted output wattage". You were in the Walmart parking lot for God's sake, a pair of soup cans and some string would have got you there just as easily.

9. May I communicate from my MURS radio to a Business Radio Service-licensed station
on the same frequency?
Yes, you may communicate with former BRS licensees of these frequencies.



Please read here:
MURS: Frequently Asked Questions
Click to expand...
Could I call my grandmother on one of these rigs?
 
ON the allocation on 154, a few businesses on including WALLY WORLD, and around here a city water company, but on the 151 portion no businesses. I presumed they are left over from the commercial business days. WALLY WORLD is cheap so they can use their ten cent radios<haha>.
I use MURS all the time in a 35 mile area or more, and have only heard 2 or 3 people using it.
I personally wouldn't say I am a licensed ham<those people dont care>. I would shift to 151 portion.

DOCTOR/795
 
I would go back to WalMart and start talking again, but this time with a print-out of the rules. When they complain ask to meet the manager out front and then hand them a copy of the regs. The WalMart here uses MURS (or they did the last time I checked), too. They were probably allocated those frequencies years ago and never realized that they became public frequencies. I seriously doubt the cops were called because of what you were doing, btw. It's much more likely that there was some other incident, especially around this time of the year.
 

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