UHF Programming HELP!

[emtvol]

OK. I am hoping there is someone with the knowledge I need to help me. I am a volunteer EMT in two towns where I live. I purchased a Quansheng programmable UHF radio from ebay. It came from Hong Kong, yet is a very nice, high quality, durable radio. Anyway, I wanted to program one of my town EMS frequencies (461.450) in to see If I could communicate. I did this successfully after realizing the CTCSS codes had to be the same (110.9), and the frequency shift had to be the same (10.000). Now I can communicate with the service through our repeater, it's fantastic!

My problem now, I am trying to also program the other town I work for frequency (453.050). I have tried numerous combinations of CTCSS codes and frequency shifts but cannot seem to access the repeater. What am I doing wrong? What is the frequency shift designation for the 453 band? Please help me out. Thanks.

Here is a pic of the radio:

 

[CDX8412]

Not sure where you are, but the offset for UHF is normally 5 mhz. In the case of 453 mhz, your TX freq should be 458 mhz.

you mentioned a 10 mhz split which is not a normal split, and at 461 mhz, that would put your TX into the 471 mhz band, which is normally outside of the normal bandwidth of UHF business/public safety band (450-470 mhz).

Likewise, you should be able look up the agency or county you run with on the FCC database and find the frequencies that are allocated to them here FCC License Search

You should be able to find the PL tone info from the radio maintenance personnel that maintain the system. Also, some scanners can capture the PL tone transmitted on a given frequency, if you or someone you know has one that does that.

Finally, just for your information, the Quansheng radios do not carry an FCC certification, so technically are not legal for use on the public safety/business bands. I am not giving you a hard time about it, just letting you know. There are all sorts of technical specifications that radios must meet for FCC certification, in order to be used in certain radio services. This is so we don't have interference to adjacent channels, etc.

 

[Beetle]

Paul beat me to it.

It was in Pennsylvania...either Philadelphia or Pittsburgh...where the local Public Service radio network thought they'd save a bunch of money by getting ham radios and "opening up the transmit" on them. Lots cheaper than getting certificated (read: big bucks) radios.

FCC found out about it and socked the city with several kilobucks worth of fines, plus confiscated the radios. Some of the folks had bought radios on their own; they wound up with personal fines and confiscation.

If the towns where you're a volunteer need to be in communication with you, THEY should provide you with a properly-documented radio.