GMRS

[tlwagg]

Does anyone have any recommendations for GMRS radios? I'm trying to convince them to start working on there comms and this is a starting point.

[John Galt 1]

This may sound crazy but I'd suggest the Baofeng radios.      They can operate in GMRS frequencies and power levels but give you a whole lot more options.

If instead you want to idiotproof the GMRS radio setup and save a few dollars the Motorola handhelds are hard to beat.

[Surveyor1]

So I would still need a license to operate GMRS, correct?  I just have to pay a fee for a 10 year license, no test.  From what I understand 1 license covers all immediate family members, correct? 

Now I have the Baofeng and have been told I need a ham license but if I’m only operating on GMRS and have a GMRS license I can use them correct?  Is there a limit to the wattage when using GMRS? 

In other words I’m lazy and don’t want to take the test to utilize our radios around our property 🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️. Pro’s and Cons of going this route???

[John Galt 1]

My thought on radios for local communications.

Let's say you want to trade a cup of salt for some honey from the neighbor who keeps bees and lives a mile away.     Without a radio to contact the local beekeeper you're going to spend an hour trudging up the road potentially to only learn that the beekeeper is out of honey for the year.

At the same time you may not want that beekeeper's druggie son from being able to listen into your family's private communications.       You know, Like when your kid hears someone breaking into your shop window and calls you on the radio using the same frequency your beekeeper's druggie son is listening to as he breaks your shop window.

Using basic GMRS or FRS radios for communications with neighbors like the beekeeper works well and saves you some hiking.      But having slightly better and more programmable radios for trusted family would be a huge bonus for defense.

In my semi-rural area of small rolling hills I've found that 2 meter frequencies with 16" long antennas travel a few hundred yards further than the GMRS for the same 5 watts with the voice starting to break up at about 1.2 miles and totally gone at 2 miles.      GMRS is a few hundred yards less.     Straight line "as the crow flies".
From my reading I know that the shorter wavelength that FRS and GMRS radios run on will perform better in a cluttered environment like a subdivision or mall  than the 2 meter radio will.

Most 2 meter handheld radios can cover GMRS channels.      With a little learning and some free computer software you can make most $50  2 meter radios cover a lot of oddball frequencies like satellite communications and marine channels.       Frequencies you normally may not legally be able to use but if the FCC was gone you could use them and be extremally hard to listen into.      These same radios can be programmed to transmit on 1 frequency and receive on another so that if someone found your frequency they could only hear one side of the communication.      And let's not even talk about digital encryption which many of these $50 radios can do.

A base station with a basic copper J-pole antenna 25' in the air can hear and transmit and receive from that handheld 5 watt radio for well over 5 miles "as the crow flies".        Useful if you sent a few people into town to trade.

Lilburner knows a lot more about this topic than I do,   @Lilburner

[John Galt 1]

So I would still need a license to operate GMRS, correct?  I just have to pay a fee for a 10 year license, no test.  From what I understand 1 license covers all immediate family members, correct? 

Now I have the Baofeng and have been told I need a ham license but if I’m only operating on GMRS and have a GMRS license I can use them correct?  Is there a limit to the wattage when using GMRS? 

In other words I’m lazy and don’t want to take the test to utilize our radios around our property 🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️. Pro’s and Cons of going this route???

The $10 license is good forever to register your entire family.     No "handle" is assigned.       
GMS radio frequency chart with legal radiate power levels.
https://wiki.radioreference.com/index.php/FRS/GMRS_combined_channel_chart

[John Galt 1]

FRS with their fixed antennas do not require a licensee.       GMRS which can transmit in slightly higher power but and have replaceable potentially longer antenna and 5 watt output do require a licensee,   
Signing up for the licensee takes 10 minutes cost about $15 if I remember correctly, and never needs to be renewed.