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Tower or rooftop mount of the entire FRS radio is perfectly legal if the only modification is to extend the cable for a headset. You won't have control of volume, channel, etc. Remoting the power would be OK if you don't modify the radio.

Radio Shack sold a rooftop unit, 21-1850, that had the entire radio in a magnetic antenna base and a remote speaker mic with all the controls.

Adding reflectors or parasitic elements is not allowed. Taking advantage of the tower or other existing structures to direct the signal is OK.

You can do anything you want to improve the performance of an FRS rig, as long as you don't modify the radio. This includes mounting the radio in front of but not physically attached to a dish or reflector, or the use of a better quality external mic. The power output can usually be bumped up a little by using a slightly higher voltage external supply.

I think that the problem of remote mounting (say, on a tower) is that you need a unit with VOX capability and readjusting VOX sensitivity to compensate for ambient noise changes might be a hassle. 73s.

- 399

GMRS being licensed would enable you to do as you asked..
If then licensed for GMRS then you could use the feed for theFRS frequencies ( i highly doubt FCC would conplain with a GMRS license )

However Not having GMRS license then technically it is Not legal or allowed ( you likely would get away with it as well if you had a Ham license..even though it is still not legal to the letter of the law )

If you are to speak solely of FRS Frequencies and the Absolute Legal use of those FRS channels... In that case... No External Antenna or Mic is allowed..

However with GMRS & or Ham license it is Very Un likely FCC or anyone else would conplain or even know unless you used Crazy power

I use MURS as well as GMRS-FRS through my ham gear while using my roof mounted TriBand antenna ( and if to look at the letter of the law..then it is not legal on FRS or GMRS )

Years ago Rat Shack made a FRS radio that had a mag mount for the car and maybe 8 feet of coax. I have one out back but can't remember the model number. It only functions with the mag mount because the transmitter is in the base of the mount.

The wire from the radio to mount is like 8 strand. We looked into adding say 20 feet of wire to mount it on the roof of a house. The problem is the wire was expensive and the radio's were low powered. We firgured whatever you gained by getting the antenna up would be lost in line loss power.

I really wish these GMRS radio's had a removable antenna so you could add a 36" mobile mag mount. That would really increase the range but I guess that's the last thing the FCC wants is for us to have greater range.

Open that bad boy up and adapt a BNC connector to the antenna connection. I am going to have to bust one of mine open myself and see if it can be done.

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I'm not aware of any legal FRS radio that takes external speaker/mic. So, I'm not sure how you propose to push the PTT. I guess you can extend the length of the headset cord, and use VOX, but then you have to keep quiet when you are not transmitting.

Another idea: Is it illegal to put two FRS radios with VOX next to each other, and make them work as a repeater? If that's legal, would it be illegal to tape these two radios and mount it on a tower?

umm, every radio i ever saw had a mic and speaker jack, even one i got from like 1990 something radio shack had a kenwood standard speaker/mic plug

one fellow here where i live has his frs set up on 50 ft tower with a power cube and a simplex repeater set up he had got from radio shack years ago. it works ok to about 3 miles from his house. he has to climb tower every once and while to check on weather proofing but he seems not to mind about it. he is stuck with using one channel. he didnt like the 1/2 mile and less range he first had with frs sets, but seems happy now. the town i am in is small so coverage is about all over town. and techniccally it all legal. i see the simplex repeaters on ebay every once and a while and ussually sell for more than they were new. wished i had bought a bunch of them. 73s midnight special