Hello, need some advice and direction, hope you all can help.
I have a couple business radios that work was getting rid of and I’m wondering if I can use them legally at home? Model is Vertex Standard VX-160U.
Reading here and other places, I think that these radios run on business band, which would mean I must be a business (I am not) and I must have a license (I do not).
Am I correct in my assumptions? I’ve seen notes about programming radios to different frequencies, but not sure if this is possible with these units and/or worth my time and money. (total investment so far is $0)
So, are these radios worth the time to poke around with, or should I just drop them on ebay and see what they bring?
They could be reprogrammed for GMRS use; but bear in mind you would need a GMRS license ($85) You could probably get the cable and software to do it yourself.
That’s a good, tough radio. It can be programmed on the 7 FRS frequencies, but to be legal, it must be turned down to .5 watts. It will still work much better than the cheapo FRS radios because it has such a better receiver, which will give you a farther range. You can buy the cable and software through a Vertex dealer, but it might be cheaper just to let him program them for you.
You can use them on the business band I have a few videos myself Motorola ht1000 and a few bearcom that are UHF 450 to 470 I have them programmed to the FRS and gmrs frequencies with no problems but they can definitely be used gmrs if nothing else and that’s an easy license to get send an application and they’ll give you a license pay the fee that’s it
Also you can go on eBay and buy programming software and cable probably around 10 bucks really do yourself for whatever frequencies you want but I also have software in programming cable for the vx160 and can get something worked out