Leaderboard

At its heyday, CB was a social event, the Internet of its time. People bought CB radios because they didn't want to miss out on what was happening. CB was the end, not the means to an end. I would guess that a huge percentage of CB radios were trashed within a month of purchase. As you summarized from the responses to your original post in this thread, people get into GMRS to support some end that exists outside of "radio." So, the picture to me is any group of people engaging in some activity, which could just be their daily lives, who have a need for simple, reliable communications to support that activity.

Here's the thing, for some of us, its entertainment or emergency communications. However, my family use our radios around the house while working in the yard, while racing my car to talk to my corner spotters and crew from the track, while fishing, 4wheeling, hiking, spending time at the park, caravaning somewhere with multiple vehicles, and on and on. The list of things in our lives that we can integrate radio for the better is endless. Therefore the "image" to draw people in are endless. The best way to advertise isn't with someone specific to radio or activities you can improve with radio, but rather, find a common image that will have the most amount of impact on the heartstrings of your target demographic. The radio really has nothing to do with it. People buy toys and non-essential products based on emotions, using how they feel to justify spending the time, money and effort. That is... if that's really what the end goal is. If you're trying to sell radios, learn your target demographic. Asking folks like us is going to be a mixed bag of tricks that's just going to cloud that even more.

Can you talk back? I’m sure their users would be perturbed if their monitors started talking back at random times. Fixed stations are allowed to communicate with other fixed stations at up to 15 watts on the repeater input frequencies if you read the Part 95 rules to a tee - can a parked car be considered a fixed station? Park a car on both sides of the building and have a conversation with your fixed station buddy about the prevalence of illegal baby monitors on federally regulated GMRS channels. It’s not intentional interference if you’re trying to work around pre-existing interference.

in fact, since the last update of the GMRS regulations, there are no more radios that are both FRS and GMRS certified. Either one or the other. Therefore, if you buy a GMRS radio, regardless of anything else you may or may not do to it, you must, according to the rules, follow GMRS regulations. of course, has Marc notes, there is absolutely nobody listening to see if you are identifying correctly. And, even if someone were to report improper identification, there is no one in the FCC who really cares.

For me I was studying for the Ham license and I stumbled across the GMRS system. Sent in for the license and ordered a radio the BTECH GMRS-V1. I have a CB in our Jeep but with the hand held I can also talk to friends with their bubble pack radios with the GMRS hand held and in some areas local repeaters. Quit studying for the Ham license for a while and may not go there. With a CB and a GMRS I can talk to most Jeepers in a run and that was the main reason. What I have found is the hand held obviously receives a useable transmission farther than it can send, case in point I can hear clearly a repeater 52.4 miles away but I can not bring that repeater up to talk on it. Going to put in a mobile unit in with a good antenna and for now this will serve the purpose. A side note my ridding buddy has his Ham license and he carries a HT unit so we really are covered. Now a sort of negative note I this morning watched a well known Jeeper advocating using BAOFENG hand held Ham radios and programming them for GMRS and I see the GMRS getting the same crowd that ruined the CB which is still a good radio for most off road traveling (loggers in our area use them, a CB, to warn others of where they are on narrow forest service roads).

I agree with BoxCar... when operating on FRS frequencies, with an FRS compliant radio, you adhere to FRS rules... no ID required. The only problem I see is, the radio is not certified for FRS use, nor can it be due to the removable antenna. So, by the legal letter of the law, you are using GMRS hardware (not FRS compliant hardware) therefore you are using GMRS privileges. You need to adhere to the requirements for GMRS use, not FRS. On the flipside of that, I would never advocate that you flat-out break the law... but the FCC doesn't walk around inspecting radios while people are doing whatever they are doing. In fact, I filed several complaints with the FCC in the past few years, about grossly illegal activity on amateur radio frequency, handing them all of the evidence and proof of who was doing it and the FCC basically ignored everything I sent. They sent me an email saying they would look into it, and nothing happened.

Because GMRS is a service that exists for one simple purpose, providing voice communications in the local area, with a very low barrier to entry. Note, there are people who try to turn GMRS into a sort of mini amateur radio, and there are amateurs, who try to build a pseudo-GMRS service for friends and family. But, in the end each service has its own intended applications and it’s own reason for existence and that’s why I am licensed in both

For me, it was a collection of conditions. My family spends a significant amount of time in rural and undeveloped areas with no cellular infrastructure. Being able to have some form of communication while on foot or mobile, without everyone getting an amateur radio license, was a must. Especially when we tend to move about in separate groups. Also, somewhat in the same category, I do things like 4-wheeling and other outdoor activities. Many of my friends use FRS and GMRS to communicate while spending time outside. It seems to be going more mainstream. Then, of course, there is always a risk of infrastructure failure. I needed a way for my wife to reach me while I am out of the house, if an emergency occurs. She had her amateur radio license, but it long expired and she is not interested in getting it again. There are several public GMRS repeaters around me that run on emergency power, if needed. So, it was just an obvious and affordable option for our needs.

I never read to the bottom of this thread, just wanted to share my 1/2" Heliax plumbing job on this part 90 DMR repeater http://mwgmrs.com/mygmrs/jumpers.jpg