New to GMRS but curious why would a Ham want GMRS, unless to contact family members

[Lscott]

1 hour ago, Radioactive said:

Its like asking why would someone want a screwdriver if the "already have" a hammer. 

Sometimes the hammer works better. 

[SteveShannon]

7 minutes ago, Lscott said:

Sometimes the hammer works better. 

Every tool in the toolbox is a hammer except your screwdriver; it’s a chisel.

[WRHS218]

Just now, SteveShannon said:

Every tool in the toolbox is a hammer except your screwdriver; it’s a chisel.

You need a bigger screwdriver.

[Radioactive]

30 minutes ago, Lscott said:

Sometimes the hammer works better. 

Sometimes the screwdriver does

[Radioactive]

I will add that in my area of Eastern Tn the GMRS repeaters are far more busy than the ham repeaters. Always new folks on, theu have weekly nets and get lots of check ins. The ham repeaters are the same handful of people its been for the past 20 years and you rarely hear anything on them. They became stagnant. Used to have skywarn and ares and races nets, used to be busy like the gmrs repeaters are now. But too much finger wagging and "cliques" wanting to be exclusive so now they are so exclusive they gather dust while the gmrs repeaters are flourishing. People want to hear about your ailments and dr appointments and "what was on 40m last night" only so much. If I needed to get someone on the radio for help or to make a call for me or something? I would call on GMRS 1st around here and I am a general class ham licensed continuously since 1996. 

[Lscott]

1 hour ago, Radioactive said:

Sometimes the screwdriver does

Humm...

[SteveShannon]

18 minutes ago, Lscott said:

Humm...

A hammer takes the lag out of a lag screw!

[WRTC928]

To the original question...

I maintain a GMRS license because I'm plugged in to the local prepper community ("prepper adjacent" you might say), and they use GMRS, as do the off-roaders. In the event of a true emergency, I might want to reach someone who has 20 blankets and 12 cases of MREs or a truck that can ford 3' of water. Also, I have some friends I just like to chat with sometimes on GMRS and when I'm traveling, there's more activity on GMRS than on ham repeaters.

[tcp2525]

10 hours ago, nokones said:

The CC&Rs don't prohibit the election of antennae providing it is erected in accordance with the FCC and the County ordinances and that there is no interference with the neighbors' TV reception.

If that is the case then that's great. Around here if you live in one of these sheltered communities you will have a hell of as time erecting what you have. Too many people here have an overabundance of time on their hands. 

[tcp2525]

10 hours ago, nokones said:

The CC&Rs don't prohibit the election of antennae providing it is erected in accordance with the FCC and the County ordinances and that there is no interference with the neighbors' TV reception.

If that is the case then that's great. Around here if you live in one of these sheltered communities you will have a hell of as time erecting what you have. Too many people here have an overabundance of time on their hands. 

[amaff]

8 hours ago, SteveShannon said:

Every tool in the toolbox is a hammer except your screwdriver; it’s a chisel.

AND a pry bar!

[nokones]

11 hours ago, WRUE951 said:

If you are in the Lincoln Del Web, you might run into a problem with the antenna police. 

And I think Lincoln Hills prohibit the parking of vehicles overnight at the curb and on the driveway and you have get permission on the color of the paint and the blinds/drapes. If I remember right, the front landscape cannot be changed and is maintained for you rather you like it or not.

[WRUE951]

3 hours ago, nokones said:

And I think Lincoln Hills prohibit the parking of vehicles overnight at the curb and on the driveway and you have get permission on the color of the paint and the blinds/drapes. If I remember right, the front landscape cannot be changed and is maintained for you rather you like it or not.

Yup to all of the above.   We call the place snob hill..,  oh, you forgot two more,  you have to get permission to put your house up for sale and the board has to approve any new buyers. 

[tcp2525]

9 hours ago, nokones said:

And I think Lincoln Hills prohibit the parking of vehicles overnight at the curb and on the driveway and you have get permission on the color of the paint and the blinds/drapes. If I remember right, the front landscape cannot be changed and is maintained for you rather you like it or not.

Do people really sign up to live this way? I can't imagine why any sane individual would spend a $1,000,000+ to have somebody keeping a boot on your neck and telling you how to live, even if you aren't into radio. 

[nokones]

The covenants and restrictions do keep the neighboods from turning into ghettos with inoperative cars on the side of the driveway and on jack stands, weeds taking over the yard, paint peeling on the house, boats and RVs parking on the street and in the yards, basketball hoops in the street, and no kids under 19 years of age.  It does help keeping the neighborhood looking nice and peaceful, and keep property crime down to almost nothing.

In otherwords, if the covenants and restrictions are not to your liking, you do have the option of not buying in a planned community and go live in an area where you can paint your house purple or bright red, grow your marijuana, park your POS vehicles on the front yard and in the street all you want, and put up with undisciplined juveniles that have no respect for anything.

So, "Get off my (front yard) rocks" (We don't have grass in our yards).

[nokones]

6 hours ago, WRUE951 said:

Yup to all of the above.   We call the place snob hill..,  oh, you forgot two more,  you have to get permission to put your house up for sale and the board has to approve any new buyers. 

There really isn't any approval process, it is more of a notification for awareness especially for closed communities that have security entrances.  When a house does sell, the Escrow companies have to present the new buyers' information to the community governing body to ensure the minimum age restriction is enforced, all the past fees are paid up from the seller and the buy-in fees and dues are prepaid from the buyer, and the CC&R agreement and other disclosures are signed.

[tcp2525]

16 minutes ago, nokones said:

The covenants and restrictions do keep the neighboods from turning into ghettos with inoperative cars on the side of the driveway and on jack stands, weeds taking over the yard, paint peeling on the house, boats and RVs parking on the street and in the yards, basketball hoops in the street, and no kids under 19 years of age.  It does help keeping the neighborhood looking nice and peaceful, and keep property crime down to almost nothing.

In otherwords, if the covenants and restrictions are not to your liking, you do have the option of not buying in a planned community and go live in an area where you can paint your house purple or bright red, grow your marijuana, park your POS vehicles on the front yard and in the street all you want, and put up with undisciplined juveniles that have no respect for anything.

So, "Get off my (front yard) rocks" (We don't have grass in our yards).

True, but most counties cover all of what you say, but not to such an extreme that it becomes oppressive. You're right, it's about choice and if you don't like it, don't sign up for the misery. Years back, before the wife and I bought this house, we looked into one community and once they showed us covenants book, which was as thick as a New York phone book, we said no way. I consider myself fortunate as the neighborhood I live in is great. All of us get along great and everything is well kept. I don't need people with to much time on their hands telling me how to live.

[amaff]

3 hours ago, tcp2525 said:

Do people really sign up to live this way? 

Constantly. Everyone wants the freedom to do what they want with their property until their neighbor has different priorities, apparently.

I don't get it either.

 

[TNFrank]

For me GMRS was a good entry point into radio. As many have said, there's no test, family is covered and if you have Repeaters in your area you can access you can have pretty good range for communications.

A lot of us move from GMRS to HAM because we want/need more options. There are way more 2M/70cm Repeaters in my area I can use. With my current Technician Class License I can cover a Very Large area on the limited amount of 10M I'm permitted to use and once I get my General Class License I'll have even more HF to play on. 

For many GMRS is the "Gateway Drug" into radio and for others it's as far as they go. It all depends on your needs/wants. 

Personally, I really love HF so HAM is where it's at for me but I also have my GMRS so if my family needs to use a radio that works better than the little FRS radios they're covered under my license.  

[WRUE951]

I have a friend going through the selling process.  He says that new buyers of his home have to go through a vetting process with the board.  The Realtor is working with Del Web as we speak. I don't know what the vetting process means or entails, probably making sure they are old farts, financial responsible and agree to the HOA guidelines.   He is Texas bound and can't wait to get his feet out of Califailure..  Wish I could do the same.  

[WRUE951]

3 hours ago, tcp2525 said:

True, but most counties cover all of what you say, but not to such an extreme that it becomes oppressive. You're right, it's about choice and if you don't like it, don't sign up for the misery. Years back, before the wife and I bought this house, we looked into one community and once they showed us covenants book, which was as thick as a New York phone book, we said no way. I consider myself fortunate as the neighborhood I live in is great. All of us get along great and everything is well kept. I don't need people with to much time on their hands telling me how to live.

picking your neighborhoods is much smarter than picking a retirement community, IMO anyway... When we left Sacramento in 2019 we looked at Del Web but that look didn't take long to realize 'not for us'.    We found a  nice home, large lot, nice neighborhood like you explain in a small desert community and love it.  The only bad part about it, its in Califailure where taxes and gas prices are beating us to death..  But at the end of the day, I have my RV parked here, my Repeater Antenna parked 40' up and we are on a crest 400' overlooking the valley.. Life is good.  Over and out.   

[WRUD238]

This is a great thread.  I have had my ham license (General class) for almost 26 years and am on my 2nd GMRS license (my first expired a long time ago).  No one in my family is remotely interested in amateur radio so it provides a great capability we all can use.  I have found in my own experience (others may have different perspectives) that the more formal GMRS clubs and repeaters have much more traffic on them than the ham repeaters do.  From my own perspective, if I needed to make a contact with someone locally for help, for example, I would call on the big GMRS club repeater here in the Phoenix area before I would call on any of the ham repeaters.  For as much as some hams like to bash GMRS, I think GMRS is overtaking the niche that 2m/70 used to fill. When it comes to my amateur license, its all about HF.  I am not really interested in the 2m/70cm repeaters. For what they provide, I'll use GMRS instead. The only exception to that is APRS, which I use a lot.  

Great thread, thank you!

Mike WRUD238 (KC8OWL)

[Northcutt114]

1 hour ago, WRUD238 said:

For as much as some hams like to bash GMRS, I think GMRS is overtaking the niche that 2m/70 used to fill. When it comes to my amateur license, its all about HF.  I am not really interested in the 2m/70cm repeaters. For what they provide, I'll use GMRS instead.

This has absolutely been my experience, too. I have several ham repeaters near me. Occasionally I pick up a net. Occasionally. And when I do, it's only about 30 minutes long with 12 or 13 check ins. I've called out many, many times and never gotten single response. The GMRS repeater near me has traffic on it routinely. A weekly net with over 60 check ins, too. People asking for radio checks, people obliging. A much, much more busy community.

I didn't get a ham license for 2m/70c. I got it for HF and at home, at night, when I just want to talk on the radio, I'm tuning up the GMRS repeater.

[WRTC928]

12 hours ago, tcp2525 said:

Do people really sign up to live this way? I can't imagine why any sane individual would spend a $1,000,000+ to have somebody keeping a boot on your neck and telling you how to live, even if you aren't into radio. 

In some part of the country, it's essentially impossible to buy a home outside of an HOA without moving out of the city entirely. 

[WRUE951]

1 hour ago, WRTC928 said:

In some part of the country, it's essentially impossible to buy a home outside of an HOA without moving out of the city entirely. 

it is pretty hard..  Smaller communities tend to have less building restrictions.    We also found that new subdivisions have extra tax assesments passed on to the homebuyers.  We were lucky, the builder subdivided the property before the county started playing that game.