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FirstNet or FedNet as it should truly be called is another cellular telephone system with its emphasis on data rather than voice. What ATT rightly understood about the win to build the network is it will/has turned into a money sink for the users. Even with the ability to ruthlessly preempt other Band 14 users and access to ATT's other bands the envisioned bandwidth will not be available at the scene of a major incident. There are a little over 12 million "first responders" and another 18 million other emergency responders as defined by the Homeland Security Act of 2001. The present governance is almost entirely in the hands of law enforcement who don't always play nicely in the sandbox with fire and EMS. Don't even ask them if the utility companies deserve to be included, they are very much opposed. In a disaster situation the two things most needed are water and electricity and you can't get that from law enforcement, fire or EMS. If I sound a little bitter about it, it's because I spent a good many years arguing that no responder or class of responder does their job alone but was not truly heard by the first responders or the Commission. What the system lacks, and has been pointed out, is mission-critical voice communications. The cellular devices in use are a peer-to-peer connection while LMR or radio is a one-to-many. Say something on a channel and everyone on that channel in range hears that same message. That doesn't happen with cellular and, if and when it does come about it will be at the cost of the bandwidth needed for data.

I might add that GMRS has tolerances as far as frequency that are far lower then most HAM gear. With GMRS being smack in the middle of the part 90 portion of the band it is important to maintain some type of standard as to not cause interference to the adjacent service. Requiring a type accepted and certified transmitter is the best way to do this. Posted this again just to be clear, I am a HAM but use part 90 gear for UHF and VHF. If the chart below posts you will see that typical HAM banded gear can allow error rates as high as 10ppm, With GMRS being a wide band service in the middle of the narrow banded part part 90 service its important to use certified transmitters. I have had plenty of HAM gear on my Aeroflex 2975, very little would pass 2.5ppm tolerance. http://mwgmrs.com/mygmrs/error.jpg

STAFF NOTE: Agreed... When a member starts a thread, it is a courtesy to keep it on topic. If anyone wishes to start a new thread on the merits and disadvantages of ANY such cell based comm system, please do so in the Private Discussion area. Thank you for your cooperation.

It seems this topic has drifted from its original purpose and it is time to start a separate “FirstNet” topic.

I recommend 400-470 if you think you'll eventually get your Ham license or would like to monitor Ham. If not then 450-512 is fine, but I've never had a need to go past 467. They both work the same for GMRS since GMRS is just 462-467.

I might add that GMRS has tolerances as far as frequency that are far lower then most HAM gear. With GMRS being smack in the middle of the part 90 portion of the band it is important to maintain some type of standard as to not cause interference to the adjacent service. Requiring a type accepted and certified transmitter is the best way to do this.