Storm chasing using mobile GMRS?

[WSIC517]

Recently acquired a GMRS license and mobile radio with the hope of using it as primary coms during storm chases in Upstate SC, down to the Columbia area. So far... crickets. Like, all the time. Zero activity.

Anyone here active in west SC/NE GA?

[TrikeRadio]

8 minutes ago, WSIC517 said:

Recently acquired a GMRS license and mobile radio with the hope of using it as primary coms during storm chases in Upstate SC, down to the Columbia area. So far... crickets. Like, all the time. Zero activity.

Anyone here active in west SC/NE GA?

If you are using GMRS to communicate between multiple vehicles in your group, or have any local GMRS repeaters, then using during storm chasing might be useful... but if you are looking for locals reporting on the storms, more likely to find it on HAM frequencies or MAYBE CB -- I would guess. 

[amaff]

43 minutes ago, TrikeRadio said:

If you are using GMRS to communicate between multiple vehicles in your group, or have any local GMRS repeaters, then using during storm chasing might be useful... but if you are looking for locals reporting on the storms, more likely to find it on HAM frequencies 

This is such a wonderfully succinct way of putting the differences in intended (and, often, the actual) use cases of the 2 services.

[WRYZ926]

All the Sky Warn Nets (weather reporting) are normally done on local 2m repeaters. That's not to say a local group could not run a Sky Warn Net on GMRS as long as the repeater owner is okay with it and you have people that can report directly to the NWS.

We do not use our GMRS repeater for Sky Warn Nets but most of us do monitor it just incase during severe storms. We were asked about running a Sky Warn Net on GMRS but that would take away from our 2m Sky Warn Net as we are only allowed so many people that can actually report directly to the NWS. We don't have enough people that can report to the NWS to run two nets at the same time.

[NCJeb]

The other commenters have put this very well here. I’m not THAT far away from you over in Western NC, and we have so sparse of GMRS repeaters, the ham freqs are where the skywarn etc activity is all at. I’d wager a guess that most of the US is that way, but I can only speak to right here in little corner of it lol.

 

Welcome to the family though, and good luck on your endeavors! I have a background in meteorology, and we definitely have some unique stuff here and down your way. Just be careful when the tornadoes line up along I-85 like they do a couple times a year…eesh…

[WRTC928]

I participate in the local severe weather net on one of the amateur radio repeaters in my area. I don't chase storms, but I do report on them. There's no technical reason why it shouldn't work on GMRS, but there's no long-standing tradition of it, so you'd have to develop a network of spotters from the ground up. To get a very significant net, you'd have to have access to a repeater with good coverage. Simplex would work fine for intra-group communication, but a good "footprint" will require a repeater. As noted, you'd have to have someone with the ability to report to the National Weather Service because the advantage of a radio-based weather network is its immediacy -- reports are in real time as the action happens. Even if you don't have access to NWS, one or more local emergency service agencies might find it helpful. You'd have to ask them. A deputy sheriff operates a GMRS repeater I can reach in the county just south of me, and although he doesn't formally run a weather net to the best of my knowledge, if I hear of severe weather headed that way, I'll put out a warning on it. If he doesn't want me to do that, he'll say so. 

For the most part, GMRS is a service people use at a predetermined time with a predetermined group of people for a predetermined purpose, and AFAIK, there aren't a lot of people just constantly monitoring it as with ham bands. I don't know how you would get the word out to the GMRS community at large to "tune in" during severe weather. It may take quite a while for people to find out. If you had a repeater with some reach, people could even listen with FRS radios if they knew about it.

[GreggInFL]

52 minutes ago, WRTC928 said:

If you had a repeater with some reach, people could even listen with FRS radios if they knew about it.

We are attempting to do something like this in our neighborhood, starting with using a base station to make announcements. 1,500+ acres though the woods may require a serious repeater eventually, but the idea of getting emergency information out to anyone holding a $10 radio is very appealing.

We are 24 days into official hurricane season. Tick, tick, tick...

[WSHH887]

You have to start somewhere. We have a neighborhood group that currently is all simplex. 
Our biggest issues are earthquake and tsunami. Though after the Palisades fire, my area is similar geographically to that area, fire has popped up on our radar. 
It began after a neighbor had a home invasion and the LAPD showed up two hours later (she was hiding in her home on the phone with 911 as it happened). 
So now some of us have a secondary means for summoning help. Help that will be much quicker and probably better armed. 
A secondary use is we just check in with those more limited in mobility.