UncleYoda

You can give them GMRS approved (certified) radios. (Not HAM radios.) yes (any of the pre-programmed channels) They will need to identify with your call sign (at the end of each conversation, and every 15 mins if longer than that). You can give each one an optional unit number or nickname to tell them apart but the official ID is still required.

Mine does that too. Have not looked for a fix.

I don't care if you compete; others here will. I just mentioned it to indicate recognition of the change. The attitude is your perception. was a suggestion 73 to you as well

73 SeaScholar, it seems you are now changing the format or definition to something that seems to be directly competing with this site. Of course that is allowed, but it's a different can of worms. If you call your group something like SE Minnesota GMRS Club then we can let it rest as you wish. (But on this site everyone likes to get the last word, especially the attackers. So be prepared for it go on for pages more.)

I don't know what you're referring to. I started this thread. And I only comment on the topics that interest me. I respond to hostility with the same. (You don't see all the crap that I ignore.) Based on how things have gone on this forum, I will never go back to being meek and mild, sugar and spice. It's either fight back or be scared off. I'm a dyed in the wool Confederate - we don't run from a fight. But none of this is relevant anyway. Yes, if the nets were local, and limited to mobile and handheld only as the regs require, then I would agree. What is happening around here is repeaters have been put up on the same mountains where ham repeaters are, with similar wide coverage areas. And people are checking in from base stations 50-100 miles away and bragging about it. GMRS is intended for local, short range comms. per FCC. Maximizing distance, check-in nets that accomplish nothing, long rag chews about meaningless crap - I think you can fill in the blanks. I'm on my own; I'm not making up any rules. I can damn sure speak out on what concerns me, and yes that includes breaking rules that the agency in charge made - like it or not.

Welcome to the forum. Yes, if you didn't see/feel those red flags, you would be like the majority of the public. I believe we are mostly thinking alike but I do want to make a couple of points. GMRS is already being turned into ham, with check-in nets and bragging about how far away they are using an antenna in a tree, etc. There is currently nothing being done and no way available to us to correct this. The group's wording emphasizes education. That might help people that don't know how to program and use their radios. But to put it simply, that won't work for the biggest problems. The regs are freely available to read (carefully to get the meaning). However, the guys (and some gals I guess) who are trying to use it like ham don't care because they can get away with doing what they want. I don't see anything in this group's plans that will fix that. Only FCC can punish rule breakers and they (FCC) are aren't even trying. SeaScholar says this is a club and he didn't need permission or even discussion to start it. Well, it isn't just a club in the normal sense. It's a national organization that wants at least influence, if not control, over the service*. (If there's no control/authority, then where is any real value?) With how other national organizations have behaved, it is appropriate for us to be concerned over any such "club". Even though I am not going to join, it definitely could affect my use of the service. And my 35 bucks got me the same license he or anyone else has. So, as was my first reaction, I still feel who put him in charge. *I don't like calling it a hobby, it can be if you make it that, but it's foremost a form of communication used like a tool. And to me, that applies to ham too, despite the guys who make using it a hobby.

You're not being targeted/harassed (yet). Say (post) something the Jeep crowd doesn't like and report back later. There are several that should have been banned but they have paid memberships.

HAM is the ultimate emergency communications. It's just the ham'ers are going about it the wrong way. I had to explain to my county's EM Coordinator why ham was not only important but would be the fallback when the county's 911 system failed. And it isn't either/or anyway; ham and gmrs (and frs) can all be used together as needed.

Other than this forum (and another older one) there is no community aspect to it. Nor should there need to be. Therefore there isn't and doesn't need to be a welcoming vibe. If you do net check-ins you'll probably be welcomed, but that's just more of the carry over from ham. And yes, there are many people trying to make GMRS a carbon-copy of ham on different frequencies with no test needed. To me, that ham stuff destroys most of its value as an alternative. As far as this forum goes, although they post welcome comments, the overall tone is hostility.

I'll give you a point for entering the fray. But why didn't you discuss it here first? ARRL has that same kind of mission statement language. Doesn't mean much in the real world applications. What if anything will you do about the current misuse of the service? (other than education cause the offenders won't listen) I'm already contacting people and they're of course ignoring me. Would they listen to an organization? I wouldn't expect you to see it that way (or admit it) but experience tells me how these things can morph into more. Your idea of what's junk and my idea of junk are likely not the same. You're already promoting GOTA and I hate all the P,S,T,etc-OTAs -- we don't need made up excuses to talk on our radios. AND WE DON'T NEED ALL THOSE HAM ACTIVITIES BROUGHT TO GMRS. It makes it a lot more suspicious when someone starts collecting fees/donations. We've already had discussion of club membership to use repeaters. Doesn't change my impression at all. But thanks for at least responding/

e.g. ARRL

My fist thought was that it would fade away without ever gaining traction. But there are plenty of joiners out there that never see the down side. I guess, let's see if this grand poobah guy shows up for open debate.

If you think I'm whining, take your own advice and ignore me. I consider what they're setting up to be a threat to others who have their own local uses. So, no, I'm not going to just ignore the threat (assuming they get more than a handful of followers). I don't lay down and let them roll over me. This do nothing about anything attitude has ruined America.

I don't know what you mean and you don't know what I mean. I'm referring to this new group some unknown just popped in and started that wants to take over the GMRS service nationwide. It shows in the Activity feed but you can't respond without joining. It's a group on this site but also in the real world. EDIT: I realize you meant the low band VHF proposal - I've heard people on the repeaters talking about that, mostly in favor. I'm neutral on that because I won't be buying a radio to use it.

Is this GMRUS thing going to ruin the service even more than the already existing misuse? Can't even discuss it with this new guy without joining, which sounds like the Devil's plan. I'm already stumped on how I can program my radios to block out the rule breaking repeaters and still have the frequencies open to receive others including simplex. FCC messed up when they came up with this plan because there's apparently no way to do it. And now this group wants to promote more junk on the air on a nationwide basis.