My family recently purchased a pair of Midland GXT1050 walkie-talkies and a Midland MXT115 mobile radio which we're using as a base station. I then got a GMRS license and signed up for this forum. The post above from PastorGary has been extremely helpful as an example of how to use a callsign together with unit numbers. My son and I are now following these examples to stay in touch during little excursions around the neighborhood. We are using the suggested formulas of "<callsign>, Unit 1 to Unit 2" to initiate communications, and "<callsign>, system clear" when we're finished. Thanks, PastorGary! In our neighborhood, there is little activity on the GMRS-only channels 15 through 22. We are using channel 15 (462.550) and there is very little interference. Channel 16 (462.575) has something in morse code a couple times a day, which sounds like some kind of automated station identification or something. We may try to decode it someday, if we learn morse code well enough . In the meantime, we are staying away from the GMRS-FRS shared channels 1 through 7. I think someone in the neighborhood got new walkie-talkies for Christmas, and was trying them out on GMRS-FRS shared channel 1 (462.5625). My son (who has now gotten very interested in GMRS and is trying to learn morse code) has gotten concerned that the FCC might come after these neighbors (whoever they are) because they apparently are unlicensed and don't have a callsign, and probably they don't know what GMRS is . I'm telling my son not to worry about FCC consequences for our (unknown) neighbors. Especially since they are using a shared FRS-GMRS channel, it seems ambiguous as to whether it is OK to use it without a license. But just for the sake of discussion, is there any point to intervene in conversations among apparently unlicensed users (e.g., to question them about their not using a callsign), and if so, how does that differ between the shared FRS-GMRS and GMRS-only channels?
