Who's using them?
CK5
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GMRS radios
- Thread starter natemc
- Start date
Not a lot of people use them, so for privacy they would be useful if your group had them. Not much use in getting emergency help to you should you need it. FM gets you clearer coms too. You have to be licensed in the US to use them. $75 (I think) gets you a 5 year license that's good for everyone in your household (immediate family only).
That also gets you access to higher power radios than FRS offers.
Here's the kicker, it's a non-tested service (no test to pass) with a more expensive license for a shorter time and very low per limits compared to Ham radio. Plus ham has an almost constant presence monitoring common frequencies and repeaters in case of emergency on the VHF spectrum.
Just some food for thought.
That also gets you access to higher power radios than FRS offers.
Here's the kicker, it's a non-tested service (no test to pass) with a more expensive license for a shorter time and very low per limits compared to Ham radio. Plus ham has an almost constant presence monitoring common frequencies and repeaters in case of emergency on the VHF spectrum.
Just some food for thought.
There are some GMRS repeaters. I got a license for GMRS earlier this year because another member here uses them on the trail. They work well but I have had other people popping up on the channels so I think they are getting more prevalent. I think the popularity of the Baofeng radios has led to this. I've heard rumors GMRS might become like CB and no longer require licensing because so many people are using them the FCC can't possibly hope to regulate it.
To be fully in compliant on GMRS you are supposed to have a Part 90 accepted radio. I don't think technically any of the Baofeng radios are officially Part 90 compliant. There's a list available of the Part 90 radios. Of course anyone can buy a Baofeng and program it for GMRS and you should be able to set the power so that it doesn't exceed the 2W limit the FCC has for GMRS. Like I mentioned above a lot of people are doing it.
You can also program them for FRS and MURS too.
To be fully in compliant on GMRS you are supposed to have a Part 90 accepted radio. I don't think technically any of the Baofeng radios are officially Part 90 compliant. There's a list available of the Part 90 radios. Of course anyone can buy a Baofeng and program it for GMRS and you should be able to set the power so that it doesn't exceed the 2W limit the FCC has for GMRS. Like I mentioned above a lot of people are doing it.
You can also program them for FRS and MURS too.
So we have the Midland Micro Mobile in our two rigs here in Oregon. I shipped two to @muddysub for him and henri. Thanks we also have a pile of Motorola talkabouts that we hand to others who go with us. We found the radios were cheaper to loan out and reached farther. Now that's only because not very many people know how to tune a radio antenna. I've had CB radios reach 5 miles in the woods when both radios are tuned up properly.
Isn't GMRS what BC, Canada uses on the offhighway road systems? Similar to us using CB channels
I also bought 2 extra handhelds for GMRS use. Came in handy at Blazer Bash. Cheap radios with no touch pad just channel knob.
I really like my GMRS radio for trail rides. Most groups are on CB, me and my buddies can chat to each other on games without the group.
