WSAI590

Guys I sincerely appreciate the insights you all have provided. I am a licensed ham operator and have been used to talking with a lot of people. I had expectations this would be the same on GMRS, clearly it is different. I have found two repeaters in my area and they work well, with no issues but just was unsure of the pre-programmed channels. I did a quick test and have no problem communicating with another radio on the pre-programmed channels. Using this for a specific purpose like "for events, off roading, hiking, ect……" makes perfect sense. The attraction to the Tidradio H8 was the ability to switch between ham and GMRS, I use this mostly for ham operations. I can't thank you guys enough for the enlightenment. Best regards, Bob

New GMRS user here, that will be obvious, with a question. Since channels 1-22 receive and transmit are the same frequency I am assuming I can't transmit on them. I can listen to with no issues, but since I've gotten no responses on the air when I transmit I again assume that they are blocked. I have the repeaters working fine after getting the tone details from the owners but I am curious on channels 1-22, are they just for monitoring? I am using a Tidradio H8 GMRS and program with RT Systems software. Thanks for the help... Bob