SteveShannon

No, but I sure will. Thanks!

I have been very interested in something like the Icom IC705 or the Elecraft KX2 or 3 for just such use.

And I guess I should also add, what if we are sitting at home when an emergency call comes in on GMRS. What should we have prepared in order to be effective.

It looks like they have a net on Tuesday nights at 2000. You might listen in on that to see what they say. I'm not much help, I'm afraid. Sorry about that.

I understand your perspective. As an SAR person, GMRS would not be part of your plan. I'm glad. But I don't see that as being the perspective of the question. I see the question as being from the perspective of the average GMRS user, not someone who's already involved in emergency response. We don't go towards emergencies like emergency response people. Emergencies happen to us when we least expect them. Nearly always we would be calling 911 on our cell phones for an emergency, but what if we don't have cell service? Because we are GMRS owners/users, that might be the only communications tool we have available. So, from the perspective of someone who has an emergency or stumbles into an emergency and only happens to have a GMRS radio, how do we use it effectively? This is an area where you professionals could help us neophytes.

Yes, uplink tones control access to the repeater. Downlink tones limit interference on your receiver. The wiki on Repeaterbook is quite useful. Here's how it defines "uplink tones" - https://www.repeaterbook.com/wiki/doku.php?id=uplink_tone This leaves me wondering how both you and your friend are able to receive from the repeater if you have receive tones selected.

That repeater is shown as having an uplink tone, but not a downlink tone. https://www.repeaterbook.com/repeaters/details.php?state_id=05&ID=179

Hi Marc, When calculating the transmitter efficiency rating, is that done based on the power that actually goes into the transmitter stage or does it include all power that is dissipated by the voltage regulator, power used by the receiver, etc? The reason I ask is because in a case like this, where 14.5 Vdc is delivered to the power input of the radio, if the radio has a voltage regulator to reduce that to 13.8 Vdc which is then delivered to the radio, then the actual power delivered to the radio would be 13.8 Vdc x 7.5 A or 103.5 W. 55% of that is still ~57 W, so maybe it's a moot point.

Use the official unofficial Road Channel, Channel 19 (unless you live in or north of Seattle where it’s prohibited) or 20 which Wikipedia says is the official Road Channel. Maybe channel 9, to honor the old REACT channel (as I recall). https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radio_Emergency_Associated_Communication_Teams

Great topic. I didn’t buy my radio for emergency use, and I use it monthly to talk to others in my rocket club while searching for rockets, but if some emergency were to happen, I have no idea which frequencies to monitor in my area, or the right way to respond in case I hear an emergency message. I would not want my blundering to make a situation worse.

It depends on whether the repeater uses tones for both transmit and receive. You must transmit the necessary tone the repeater expects to hear or the repeater will not listen to you. You probably want to set a receive tone on your radio so you only hear transmissions that include that tone, such as those the repeater sends. If you set no receive tone you will hear everything transmitted on that frequency, including the repeater. If you set the wrong receive tone you won’t hear the repeater at all.

Don’t use solid copper. Most ground rods are copper bonded over carbon steel. That’s important. Copper remains a good conductor even though oxidized. I rented a Hilti and a ground rod driver. The rod went in very easily even though I live on a granite mountain. Call 811 first for a locate if you have any doubts about buried utilities.

Here’s an actual link to the irs publication that describes how social security is taxed: https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p915.pdf

The part 90 rules don't just apply to equipment certified under part 90, but also regulate the use of any equipment in "the Public Safety, Industrial/Business Radio Pool, and Radiolocation Radio Services."

Social security is taxable income.

Section 90.427(b) specifically prohibits programming unauthorized frequencies into a transmitter: (b) Except for frequencies used in accordance with § 90.417, no person shall program into a transmitter frequencies for which the licensee using the transmitter is not authorized. So, how does that fit into this conversation? I’ll try to answer with some scenarios that I hope will explain my understanding. 1. Ms. Sierra Citizen, while out for a walk, finds a sheriff’s deputy slumped over in the front seat of his cruiser. She has no cellphone service or any other communication device with her. She picks up the microphone in the cruiser and asks for help. I believe the various exceptions which allow emergency communications would protect her from prosecution. 2. Mr. Joe Prepper has every frequency programmed into his portable radio. He finds a person slumped over in the front seat of their car. He picks up his portable radio and calls on an EMS dispatch frequency for which he is not authorized. I believe that even though he potentially saves the life of the person, he has clearly violated 90.427(b) by having his transmitter preprogrammed with unauthorized frequencies. I’d be surprised if he wasn’t prosecuted. The bottom line is this, the emergency provisions allow great latitude in radio usage in true emergencies, but they don’t serve to waive the rules that establish and protect communications systems simply to be prepared.

Here are the agreements. Knock yourself out. https://www.fcc.gov/general/international-agreements And, here is the original agreement: https://transition.fcc.gov/ib/sand/agree/files/can-nb/above30r.pdf

I think that’s probably correct, telemetry stations with grandfathered licenses for the fixed stations rather than the individual licenses that are issued for GMRS users.

The rule for Line A is required of the FCC by a treaty between the USA and Canada, not by lack of motivation by the FCC. Until Canada and the USA amend the treaty the FCC cannot change the rule.

This doesn’t directly answer how it was chosen, but it gives some of the history: Originally, there were only 23 CB channels in the U.S.; 40-channel radios did not come along until 1977. In the 1960s, channels 1-8 and 15-22 were reserved for "intrastation" communications among units under the same license, while the other channels (9-14 and 23) could be used for "interstation" calls to other licenses. In the early 1970s, channel 9 became reserved for emergency use. Channel 10 was used for highway communications, and channel 11 was used as a general calling channel. Later, channel 19 became the preferred highway channel in most areas as it did not have the adjacent-channel interference problems with channel 9. https://www.thetruckersreport.com/truckingindustryforum/threads/history-of-channel-19.82602/

Cool!

I’ve seen you complain about this multiple times, but it seems silly. Does any manufacturer of type 95e GMRS equipment assign Channel 19 to a frequency other than 462.6500 MHz? Motorola didn’t. Garmin didn’t. Midland didn’t. I suspect every radio that comes with pre-labeled channels follows the same list that appears in Wikipedia. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Mobile_Radio_Service#Frequency_table

It’s more organic to spread the word via GMRS. ? I really think that by the time any outreach and consensus process is completed (and who’s to say when it’s complete without first formally recognizing the validity of such a process?) the decision will have been made by people simply tuning to the unofficial official royally decreed travel channel. By that time anything the formal group says or does had better simply ratify whatever has become the de facto travel channel.

Well said. Plus, nobody should take notarubicon so seriously that they become upset. I might prefer channel 20, but I love his deadpan. People need to take life a little less seriously. Also, I cannot hear the turn signal as it is; it’s doubtful I’ll ever listen to GMRS while driving.

In theory consensus is great, but takes a long time and frequently results in frustration. Having someone simply say out-loud something that makes sense to a lot of people is just fine. Personally, I would have preferred channel 20. It’s next in order, denoting an incremental progression over CB’s channel 19; it’s unaffected by Line A (some of us do travel along the high line, where that’s a concern); and it reflects the notion the GMRS is CB 2.0. But the simple fact is that a lot of people already think of channel 19 as “The Travel Channel”. It just works. Sometimes it just takes one person to make a decision instead of a bunch of people milling around expecting someone else to do something. I can live with it.