Need manual for GMRS FRS 04A08 cannot get radios sound on. Do you have instructions?

This unit transmits on FRS/GMRS channels. Please see page 19 of the user manual available from here: http://www.scribd.com/doc/3783989/Bellsouth-2231-frs-gmrs-radio-instructions

Try assistance here: Support Cobra Electronics Corporation

Open the package and read the instructions.

These are FRS/GMRS (Family Radio Service/ General Mobile Radio Service) radios. The legal power limit for FRS is 500 milliwatts - or 1/2 watt. GMRS on the other hand is limited to a much higher 50 watt level. The wattage you transmit determines if you need to have a GMRS license. Most GMRS radios are in the .5- 5 watt range however.

The likelihood of your XT20 being a 1/2 watt out on both FRS & GMRS is very good. For Midland (or anyone else for that matter) to produce a radio with a 1 watt output that can run on just 3 "AAA" batteries would be quite the feat! If Midland did do this, the radio's battery life would extremely short. To balance the needs of light weight and battery life, output power needs to be reduced.

Claims of 20 miles is crazy. If you had these radios on mountain tops 20 miles apart - with a clear line of sight between them - MAYBE - you could hear one on the other. This would need to be done under only the most ideal conditions. The actual distance you can expect to get out of a pair of any brand FRS radios in "real world" conditions (line of sight blocked by trees and buildings) is about a mile.

An FRS/GMRS radio limited to 1/2 watt output when used on a GMRS frequency that is close enough to access a GMRS repeater system could easily cover 20+ miles. The key here is having a license and access to the repeater. Repeater owners take a dim view of unlicensed users access their repeater.

Channels 1 thru 7 are FRS and GMRS. That is, if transmitting .5 watts, you can use it as FRS. If transmitting more than .5 watts, you will need a valid GMRS license.

Channels 8 - 14 are expressly for FRS. Only .5 watts transmit power is permitted.

Channels 15 - 22 are expressly for GMRS at any transmit power up to 50 watts. Even if transmitting .5 watts, you MUST have a valid GMRS license on these frequencies.

I know - more infor than you wanted and no vclear cut number for wattage - but there's no info on these radios on Midland's site or anywhere else that I could find. Good luck!

Hi Kate,

The short answer to your question is: no, or "not readily". Here's why:

The Motorola 4900 radio operates in the FRS (family radio service) and GMRS (general mobile radio service) in the UHF band. This radio will work with any other FRS / GMRS band radios (no reprogramming of transmit and or receive frequencies is possible for these radios). The trick is that the numbering of the channels may differ from brand to brand ie: Ch1 on your Motorola may not necessarily be Ch1 on a Midland radio or other brand. A complete list of the frequencies and channel assignments for FRS /GMRS can be found on Pg. 17 of the manual. It is important to note that without a valid GMRS license, you are prohibited from transmitting on the GMRS only channels (Ch 15 through Ch 22). The combination GMRS/FRS channels (Ch1 through Ch7) and the FRS only channels (Ch8 through Ch14) are for individuals and family members that do not have valid GMRS licenses. If this is you, you should limit your transmissions to Ch1 through Ch14 only, as FRS does not require a license in the US. Unlicensed use of GMRS only Ch15 through Ch22 can result in fines and imprisonment if caught by the FCC.

Further complicating the issue are the so called "privacy tones". This is simply a very low or "sub-audible" frequency that is sent whenever transmitting. Motorola calls these "Interference Eliminator Codes". When another radio receiver is set to listen for a particular privacy tone, it stays silent until a transmission with the exact same privacy tone is detected. Again, these tones are listed in no particular order, but are generally listed as 1, 2, 3, etc. or a, b, c, etc. instead of the actual frequency in hertz. You can selectively set your radio to transmit & receive one of the 38 codes or, set the code to "0" to communicate with radio that do not offer these privacy codes - or does not use the same frequencies for these codes. You can read more on Motorola's codes on Pg. 19 of the manual.

The Motorola CP200 radio on the other hand is a commercial radio, and requires computer programming with Motorola software. The CP200 is offered as both Low & High sub-banded VHF and Low, Mid & High sub-banded UHF radios. You would need to have a CP200 that is designed to accept the Mid UHF band (438Mhz - 470Mhz) frequencies in order to program the 462Mhz & 467Mhz FRS / GMRS frequencies into it. The final obstacle would be what is called "FCC Type Acceptance". The CP200 is probably NOT Type Accepted for transmitting FRS/GMRS frequencies, and as such the Motorola dealer doing the programing might balk at putting them in. You can read a spec sheet on the CP200 here.

I hope this helps & good luck!

• The Hi and Low power are built into the radio and is dependent on the frequency/ channel you are on. Hi power is 1 Watt and Low power is .5 Watt. The radio is GMRS and FRS. The FRS are low power and the GMRS are Hi power.
• Channels 1-14 are FRS frequencies and Low power.
• Channels 15-22 are High power and are GMRS frequencies.
• FRS = Family Radio Service.
• GMRS = General Mobile Radio Service.

• If you have any comments please feel free to leave them here.
• Hope this helps and thank you for using FixYa.

Regards, Tony

Yes you can. If youre using it on certain channels (using the FRS frequencies) you will only get about 4 miles. FRS stands for "Family Radio Service". If you use the GMRS frequencies it will broadcast at higher watts (verses lower watts on FRS). GMRS stands for "General Mobile Radio Service" which you need a license to broadcast over. frequencies for both can be found here: http://gmrsfrequencies.com/gmrs-frequencies-chart.html

However to go on the channels that use GMRS you need a FCC call sign or ID license. you must call out your ID number every 15 minutes to be allowed to broadcast any sort of transmission or you can be fined or jailed (so they say). People sometimes dont obey those rules and the FCC will sometimes geo locate your transmissions and pin point your exact location. A 1st offense can be light to severe depending on what you're doing (pirating radio, blabbing, misusing the channels, using it without a license, using too many call tones, abuse, etc.)
Im guessing you might not understand this in the first place. when you buy radio walkie talkies, they all say inside the manual that you need a FCC license to operate it on GMRS mode, IF its GMRS compatible which today most walkie talkies are. a set of channels is designated for GMRS use and regular use of a walkie talkie has a set of channels it uses for your goofing around or just experimenting.
hope this helps.
-jacob ray

I don't know what model radios you have, but just in case, here's a link to the manual for the 2231.

http://www.scribd.com/doc/3783989/Bellsouth-2231-frs-gmrs-radio-instructions

Bill B.
San Antonio

This might be it:
http://www.scribd.com/doc/3783989/Bellsouth-2231-frs-gmrs-radio-instructions

-Tha Mp3 Doctor

All gmrs radios also have frs frequencies in them. The frequencies are staggered.....1 frs....1 gmrs....1 frs....gmrs etc etc.
The only difference between frs and gmrs is power.... you are allowed to use more power on gmrs freq. So thats why they have more range. But the frequencies are right beside each other.

I would be surprised if your friends radio did not have frs channels in it also.
They should be able to communicate... most likly not on every channel but there should be some that the 2 of you share.