GMRS Radio Recommendations

[Margali]

Hello All,

We did our first trip with the cargo trailer conversion last week and had a ton of fun. We did run into an issue with communications- as in lack of them. The state and Army Core of Engineering parks we stayed at were in valleys with deep tree cover and zero cell phone receptions. My husband has his HAM Technician license (KD0ZTM) and I have a GMRS license (WREE666). We currently own no radio, had been using loaners before the move.

We need a radio for following situations:
- backing the truck and trailer into slot when it's too windy for hubs to hear me yelling
- communication from inside the trailer (nice metal box) across campground
- hiking with family or with 7yrs olds Tiger Scout Den. (currently <2 mile, will get longer)
- from my house to work which is cell phone dead zone (7miles as the crow flies and GMRS repeater tower in the area)

[Atomic77]

If you are looking for a recommendation on a Radio, I will first say I'm no expert by any stretch. Like you, I was in a similar situation with similar needs. A friend who is a HAM radio operator made a suggestion on the Baofeng UV-5 radio as a good place to start. I assumed within a year or so we would upgrade to something better as we learned more about it. It has now been over a year and the honest truth is, for what you are describing and for our particular usage, these radios fill the bill perfectly. We now have one for each family member and have had great success! My only other suggestion is to buy the USB programming cable and download the CHIRP program for free, then you can easily program your radios with local HAM, GMRS, MURS, FRS, Weather and Emergency frequencies. Most Police are now Digital, but there are many frequencies in use that you may listen in on. Good Luck!









Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk

[retep]

Have to agree with Atomic,

Great little radio for the price. I have a few of them and never had an issue. As for working in a forested area, that will always be difficult as trees absorb radio signals.

Cheers Peter


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[Atomic77]

Have to agree with Atomic,

Great little radio for the price. I have a few of them and never had an issue. As for working in a forested area, that will always be difficult as trees absorb radio signals.

Cheers Peter


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Something Peter said reminded me... The short whip antenna That comes with the radio is OK in excellent circumstances. The shorter antenna you see pictured is actually telescopic and I added those later. When we are in the forest or the hills, I have long whip antennas that are over 18" that add a substantial amount of range in tougher circumstances. But they are too long for regular use but are easy to unscrew and swap depending on your conditions.

Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk

[RJ Howell]

Been looking at these as well. So following to see what's suggested.

Not fully knowing.. to transmit you still need the Ham license right?

[Atomic77]

Been looking at these as well. So following to see what's suggested.

Not fully knowing.. to transmit you still need the Ham license right?

To transmit on a HAM frequency you need a HAM license that requires taking a test and paying a small fee. To transmit on GMRS frequencies, you need a GMRS license, (which we have) that is a 10 year "immediate family only" license. I think it was around $70 for a 10 year family license and you are registered with a call number. Beyond that, you can transmit and use FRS and MURS frequencies that require no license. Occasionally we will hear traffic, so we go to another frequency in that case. No biggie. The benefit of HAM and GMRS is you can catch a repeater tower and transmit much further. Honestly, for camping and around the homestead, the non-licensed frequencies work just fine in most cases. The Baofeng radios have a lock out in the program that allows you to listen in on the HAM and Emergency frequencies, but prevent an accidental transmission. That way I don't have to worry that one of us is keying up on a frequency that we shouldn't.

Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk

[retep]

Atomic is correct again. Size matters in the antenna world. Antennas are a science onto its own.
Here is a link to the one i use.
https://www.amazon.com/Authentic-NA-771 ... r=8-3&th=1

Nagoya is a reliable brand. However there are many counterfeits out there. But if it is just used from truck to spotter the one it comes with is sufficient. If out on the trailers hiking I would use the longer one. They are easy peezy to swap.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[RJ Howell]

Been looking at these as well. So following to see what's suggested.

Not fully knowing.. to transmit you still need the Ham license right?

To transmit on a HAM frequency you need a HAM license that requires taking a test and paying a small fee. To transmit on GMRS frequencies, you need a GMRS license, (which we have) that is a 10 year "immediate family only" license. I think it was around $70 for a 10 year family license and you are registered with a call number. Beyond that, you can transmit and use FRS and MURS frequencies that require no license. Occasionally we will hear traffic, so we go to another frequency in that case. No biggie. The benefit of HAM and GMRS is you can catch a repeater tower and transmit much further. Honestly, for camping and around the homestead, the non-licensed frequencies work just fine in most cases. The Baofeng radios have a lock out in the program that allows you to listen in on the HAM and Emergency frequencies, but prevent an accidental transmission. That way I don't have to worry that one of us is keying up on a frequency that we shouldn't.

Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk

Thank you! Good info!

<The Baofeng radios have a lock out in the program that allows you to listen in on the HAM and Emergency frequencies, but prevent an accidental transmission. That way I don't have to worry that one of us is keying up on a frequency that we shouldn't. >

Very nice feature!

[RJ Howell]

Been looking at these as well. So following to see what's suggested.

Not fully knowing.. to transmit you still need the Ham license right?

To transmit on a HAM frequency you need a HAM license that requires taking a test and paying a small fee. To transmit on GMRS frequencies, you need a GMRS license, (which we have) that is a 10 year "immediate family only" license. I think it was around $70 for a 10 year family license and you are registered with a call number. Beyond that, you can transmit and use FRS and MURS frequencies that require no license. Occasionally we will hear traffic, so we go to another frequency in that case. No biggie. The benefit of HAM and GMRS is you can catch a repeater tower and transmit much further. Honestly, for camping and around the homestead, the non-licensed frequencies work just fine in most cases. The Baofeng radios have a lock out in the program that allows you to listen in on the HAM and Emergency frequencies, but prevent an accidental transmission. That way I don't have to worry that one of us is keying up on a frequency that we shouldn't.

Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk

Since I travel into Canada quite a bit, do the licenses work (allowed) in both USA & Canada?

[retep]

Ham license yes. There is no frs license. In Canada we have no gmrs license yet and are limited to output power. Let me look for the correct info.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[RJ Howell]

Ham license yes. There is no frs license. In Canada we have no gmrs license yet and are limited to output power. Let me look for the correct info.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Great info folks! Thank you.

[retep]

Here the official Industry Canada wording.

https://www.ic.gc.ca/eic/site/smt-gst.n ... 08144.html

Yes to gmrs, but not all the frequencies permitted in the USA


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[Margali]

[quote=]The Baofeng radios have a lock out in the program that allows you to listen in on the HAM and Emergency frequencies, but prevent an accidental transmission. That way I don't have to worry that one of us is keying up on a frequency that we should.[/quote]

Any idea how hard this is too change? Thinking my husband with HAM license could have a HAM unlocked radio and HAM tuned antenna to play with same $50 unit for use with family on my GMRS license.

FYI-The GMSR 10yr license is $70 (last week). The HAM Technician 10yr license requires passing a test and was around $100 in 2014 for husband.

[retep]

Use the free Chirp programming software and a usb programming cable. Set the channels you want to block as receive only. Picture is on the home page of chirp's website

Chirp link.
https://chirp.danplanet.com/projects/chirp/wiki/Home

Usb cable link
https://www.amazon.com/Retevis-Programm ... 390&sr=8-4




Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[troubleScottie]

Given the first 3 needs, FRS is good enough. If you are hiking, you should be able to talk to everyone on the hike (basic hike safety)

Personnally like the idea of headsets -- better voice quality both ways. So you do not have to uncover/take out your radio to talk. And press to talk (PTT) is really useful as the radios are not asynchronous (only one person on the frequency can talk at a time, this is NOT a telephone/cell phone) PTT is not available on all FRS radios.

Not sure about the metal box issue. Assuming a perfect Faraday cage, no radio can transmit through it. In all cases, there will be some attenuation. FRS does not have any means to add an external antenna. The others types do. However you need to set it up (and take it down). It might be easier to just step outside.

Besides the licenses, the major issue is range. All these radios are available in handheld versions and the last 3 in base station versions too. Base stations are movable, just need bigger power supplies.

FRS is 1/2 mile to 2 miles
GMRS is 9 miles
CB is 10-20 miles
VHF/UHF/HF 15 to 600 miles, depending on transmission power.

And then there are repeaters. VHF/UHF often have repeaters available which greatly increase effective mileage especially in mountainous areas. GMRS repeaters, as stated by the OP, do exist but are in much smaller numbers.

Unusual source for the information but a nice review is: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B7mg3jksh3s

BTW, there is no requirement to be licensed to listen. Also, if you really were in a life and death issue, no one is going to check your license.