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 bored, 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!"

[WSFL951]

On 3/3/2020 at 6:38 PM, coryb27 said:

 

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 very different from my area! So CH1/CH2 has kids talking with their parents, just like @marcspaz. I tried to scare them, but they're not scared; they're actually talking to me!

As a new member here, please let me know if I've done anything wrong.

[wrci350]

17 minutes ago, WSFL951 said:

I tried to scare them, but they're not scared; they're actually talking to me!

As a new member here, please let me know if I've done anything wrong.

Wow.

Those kids and parents have just as much right to use those channels as you.

[WSFL951]

1 minute ago, wrci350 said:

Wow.

Those kids and parents have just as much right to use those channels as you.

Oh yeah, Just 30 seconds ago, I heard the kids speaking a foreign language. There are too many kids on that frequency. It's also kind of fun to hear them talking.

[SteveShannon]

53 minutes ago, WSFL951 said:

Oh yeah, Just 30 seconds ago, I heard the kids speaking a foreign language. There are too many kids on that frequency. It's also kind of fun to hear them talking.

What regulation limits the number of kids per frequency?

[WSFL951]

1 hour ago, SteveShannon said:

What regulation limits the number of kids per frequency?

No, just too many FRS users.

and they're annoying Roger beep/beeeeep!

[wrci350]

Again, they have just as much right to those frequencies as you do.  Don't like it?  Find a different channel.

[Willie]

15 hours ago, WSFL951 said:

No, just too many FRS users.

and they're annoying Roger beep/beeeeep!

 

[SteveShannon]

16 hours ago, wrci350 said:

Again, they have just as much right to those frequencies as you do.  Don't like it?  Find a different channel.

Or a different service.  FRS and GMRS are both oriented towards families and use by children. The licensing model of GMRS should make that evident.  

[amaff]

21 hours ago, WSFL951 said:

CH1/CH2 has kids talking with their parents, just like @marcspaz. I tried to scare them, but they're not scared; they're actually talking to me!

As a new member here, please let me know if I've done anything wrong.

Yeah, you broke rule #1: don't be an asshole. What purpose would that serve?

20 hours ago, WSFL951 said:

Oh yeah, Just 30 seconds ago, I heard the kids speaking a foreign language. There are too many kids on that frequency. It's also kind of fun to hear them talking.

So you like it now? One minute you're trying to scare them off their radios, the next it's fun to listen to them?

[WSDM599]

kids in my area use 15 and up on full power and do nothing but scream and yell in the radio for what seems like hours at a time tying up the channels. when this happens i have to turn the radio off.   

[amaff]

4 hours ago, WSDM599 said:

kids in my area use 15 and up on full power and do nothing but scream and yell in the radio for what seems like hours at a time tying up the channels. when this happens i have to turn the radio off.   

Woah, they're using 50 watt radios? Impressive!

...or are they on 2 watt FRS radios and just happen to be close to you

[WSFL951]

5 hours ago, amaff said:

Yeah, you broke rule #1: don't be an asshole. What purpose would that serve?

So you like it now? One minute you're trying to scare them off their radios, the next it's fun to listen to them?

I mean, it's kind of fun to talk with those kids and have a little chat. 

[WSDM599]

15 hours ago, amaff said:

Woah, they're using 50 watt radios? Impressive!

...or are they on 2 watt FRS radios and just happen to be close to you

think they are probably using ht "s at max power. 4 to 8 watts maybe.

[marcspaz]

2 hours ago, WSDM599 said:

think they are probably using ht "s at max power. 4 to 8 watts maybe.

 

FRS radios on channels 8 through 14 are limited to 0.5 Watts, and all other channels are limited to 2.0 Watts.  There are some higher powered GMRS handheld radios, but even GMRS radios are restricted to 0.5w on 8 through 14.