Let not your Baefong lead you to temptation!
Or, Know the FCC rules!
On a groups.io that I follow, there was a recent posting about a CSX train crew in New York state. They were M409, a manifest or “mixed” freight. They called their dispatcher to ask who was calling them. All they could hear was a weak transmission ending in “M409”. The dispatcher said he would check and said no one else was around.
A little bit later, the dispatcher was heard telling someone to get off frequency and “go home” and that he would be notifying the police and the FCC.
The speculation is someone had a Baefong U5VR series radio that is old enough, or was illegally modified, so that it could operate on the 155-174 MHz Land Mobile band.
Baefongs seem to be popular “entry level” radios based on their low price. In 2018 the FCC cited the importer for selling units that did not conform to the FCC Part 90 certification they were granted in 2012. One of the many issues was they could transmit at 4 watts and regulation limits them to less than 2 watts.
Baefongs are the only DMR radios that seem to have compliance issues, but if you have another brand, do not be tempted to see of if you can transmit outside the amateur frequencies.
Two Meter radios from Icom, Yaesu and Kenwood are all “locked down” so you cannot transmit on the Land Mobile frequencies even if you have entered and are scanning them.
For more information about radios, setting up your station and another topics, please follow the trail to:
https://www.radioclub-carc.com/resources/
See ‘ya down the log.
Frank KB3PQT