CQ on GMRS

[Guest Henry]

How would I announce that I wish to have a conversation on GMRS?

Is it same as HAM, call CQ?

Is it same as repeater, give call and listening or monitoring?

Or is it something else, perhaps similar to CB?

What do you say?

[berkinet]

Hi wqyr510 here, is there anyone out there who’d like to talk?

[marcspaz]

Its fairly informal around here. I won't call CQ... but I'll give my call and say Listening or Monitoring. If I don't get a reply, I will say it again in a minute or so, but add "for any station."

If I'm really board, staying in a small area and no adults are around, I'll use the lower channels and a lot of little kids love talking. Its actually pretty entertaining.

[coryb27]

Its fairly informal around here. I won't call CQ... but I'll give my call and say Listening or Monitoring. If I don't get a reply, I will say it again. In a minute or so, but add "for any station."

 

If I'm really board, staying in a small area and no adults are around, I'll use the lower channels and a lot of little kids love talking. Its actually pretty entertaining.

 

I scare the kids that are using the GMRS repeater outputs on simplex, I bet my XTL5000 base is the sound of god with its desk mic. I have even had some parents yell at me for freaking the kids out.

[citizensoldier16]

I’ll just give my call sign and say “monitoring” or “listening”. That usually gets a response if anyone else is listening on the repeater.

[marcspaz]

I scare the kids that are using the GMRS repeater outputs on simplex, I bet my XTL5000 base is the sound of god with its desk mic. I have even had some parents yell at me for freaking the kids out.

I literally laughed out loud at that.  That's awesome...  :-) 

[WRAF213]

If I'm working simplex, I'll usually say something like "WRAF213, on 675" for the main channels, or "WRAF213, on channel 1" for the interstitials. It's a good idea to say which channel you're on so folks using scan will be able to find your transmission easily.

 

On repeaters, I'll include the repeater name/tone when calling someone, otherwise I just drop in my callsign or even just the suffix. If I needed to hear a monologue when someone hops on a repeater, I'd just go back to the WIN System.

 

I hang out on channel 1 a fair bit, but only pipe up to help people who can't get radios talking together; SDR instantly tells me their channel settings, and I only talk to the parents/adults. I scare the crap outta all the kids in a 5 mile radius whenever I get on that channel, though. It's much more fun from hilltops.

[rdunajewski]

I scare the kids that are using the GMRS repeater outputs on simplex, I bet my XTL5000 base is the sound of god with its desk mic. I have even had some parents yell at me for freaking the kids out.

 

It's like being angry at the guards for catching your kids playing around on Area 51's land. "How dare you scare my kids that were breaking the rules?! I want to speak to your manager!"