Ham Radio 2.0 Coverage of Low-band Channels for GMRS

[marcspaz]

 

As some of you know, my friend Mike submitted a petition for rule making to the FCC to expand GMRS into some low-band frequencies. Ham Radio 2.0 covered an article about it and does a good job explaining the basics...

 

 

 

 

[BoxCar]

Not needed for a personal radio service intended for local ccommunications

[WRYZ926]

Plus the fact that 46 or 49 MHz won't do any better than the 6m band currently does. I know because I have used 30-70 MHz all over the world while in the military. Most of the time we had to have some sort of relay station setup to get any kind of useful range.

[marcspaz]

The point is to expand  beyond short-range local comms, particularly for emergencies.  300w repeater systems would definitely help a lot in areas like what we are in here in the DC Metro area, the northern Mid-Atlantic and northeastern US. There was one 10m repeater that was at 100w that covered a huge amount of the area, but it's been off the air for years and GMRS isn't getting the job done for many families and EMCOMM volunteers. 

 

I support it and comfortably put it in the category of you don't have to use it if you don't want to. It certainly doesn't hurt anyone or the service to provide extra frequencies. Shoot... the biggest complaint I see/hear is that there are so few channels and the space is crowded in metro areas. Why not support it if it will reallocate unused frequencies and give users more options? (That was rhetorical, of course)

[OffRoaderX]

Never gunna happen... Bookmark this comment and let's follow up in 5 years so I can say "told 'ya so!" ...

[marcspaz]

@OffRoaderX I doubt it's going to happen, too. But, I do still support it.