GMRS preference over HAM ? (for those holding both licenses)

[Guest mike]

I noticed many members here hold both GMRS & HAM licenses.  I was wondering why / if some of you prefer GMRS over HAM or visa versa.  I know there are many differences and many different directions you can go , especially with HAM.  But mostly asking why you personally prefer (or which one works better for your needs) than the other.  Or, maybe you like them equally, each for there own merits. 

thanks , mike

[mbrun]

I noticed many members here hold both GMRS & HAM licenses. I was wondering why / if some of you prefer GMRS over HAM or visa versa. I know there are many differences and many different directions you can go , especially with HAM. But mostly asking why you personally prefer (or which one works better for your needs) than the other. Or, maybe you like them equally, each for there own merits.

thanks , mike

Hello Mike.

 

The primary reason I have my GMRS license is as means for family communications. Mobile to mobile, mobile to home, around home and more. It also serves as source of emergency communications for and with the family and neighborhood. Basically it serves as a utility service for me. Yes, I do use it to communicate with other GMRS’r too, mostly while mobile, occasionally from home.

 

I have my ham license for a variety of reasons. As a hobby and means to experiment and learn. As a means to connect with others in a fun way, both local and world wide. As a means to help with civic events and perhaps be prepared to help the community during a time of natural disaster or other local or national emergency. It also serves as a means to connect with others with like interests.

 

No one in the family has interest in amateur radio. The have not the interest to study for it, invest in it, nor interest in ‘talking radio’ with others.

 

Both work for me exactly the way I want them too. GMRS is utility. Ham is hobby and personal interest.

 

Hope that helps.

 

 

Michael

WRHS965

KE8PLM

[AdmiralCochrane]

I primarily use GMRS for family comms.  If others in my household were interested in getting ham licensed, I probably would not have spent the $70 on the GMRS license.  GMRS works for me only because my wife's place of work is only 2 miles from our house and practically under the nearest GMRS repeater; those 2 factors make it useful for us. 

[n1das]

Hello Mike.

 

The primary reason I have my GMRS license is as means for family communications. Mobile to mobile, mobile to home, around home and more. It also serves as source of emergency communications for and with the family and neighborhood. Basically it serves as a utility service for me. Yes, I do use it to communicate with other GMRS’r too, mostly while mobile, occasionally from home.

 

I have my ham license for a variety of reasons. As a hobby and means to experiment and learn. As a means to connect with others in a fun way, both local and world wide. As a means to help with civic events and perhaps be prepared to help the community during a time of natural disaster or other local or national emergency. It also serves as a means to connect with others with like interests.

 

No one in the family has interest in amateur radio. The have not the interest to study for it, invest in it, nor interest in ‘talking radio’ with others.

 

Both work for me exactly the way I want them too. GMRS is utility. Ham is hobby and personal interest.

 

Hope that helps.

 

 

Michael

WRHS965

KE8PLM

 

Exactly what mbrun said.

 

This is exactly how I approach it and I am licensed in both services.  Ham Tech+ licensed (N1DAS) since 2/1984 and GMRS licensed (KAE9013) since 12/1992.  My GMRS callsign resembles an old Class A CB callsign and predates the ULS.  I was GMRS licensed before the creation of FRS in 1996 and the invasion of the bubble packs which followed.

[Lscott]

Me, I got into GMRS after having my Ham license for some years because it was “there”. It’s another means of communications. Now I find it easier to get people interested in radio if they don’t need to “take a test”. Later some change their mind and want to get their Ham license so taking the Tech Class exam isn’t so intimidating and there is a motivation to do more than talk on a few channels on a UHF only radio.

 

I have a buddy at work who got his Tech license after talking to him about it for a while. Another buddy at work has his GMRS license. I can talk to either one but they can’t really to each other except on the CB. Now the Ham buddy is looking at getting the GMRS license too. The GMRS buddy is still thinking about getting his Tech license. Then we all can sit around and talk on the CB. 8-(

[SUPERG900]

GMRS - to me it's like a gateway drug.

 

Two months after getting my GMRS license, I went and got a Technician class ham ticket. Two months after that, I then upgraded that to a General class license. Radio is fun, and I do a lot of rag-chewing on GMRS - but ham radio offers even more opportunities to "play around" with more bands, more modes, digital, CW, and so on. Just bought a used HF rig - it's gonna be a lot of fun.

[jas]

Hi, newbie here. first post.

 

I'm old, as old as I would like to be . I started with radio in the mid late 60s on my dad's boat. AM and SSB with a 20 foot antenna. Since then I've lived in Florida for ~40 years. Had a boat, VHS and so forth. It wasn't until Hurricane Charlie (2004) that I realized some kind of mobile radio was a critical necessity. I live on the left coast of Florida, one street from an open pass to the Gulf and Charlie (a CAT4) was heading straight for us.  We were "forced" to evacuate and at the time, with 4 and 6 year old daughters I did. Wife and I took both vehicles to go inland, and it took us 11 hours to go 100 miles to Orlando. My vehicle had a lot bigger gas tank than my wife's minivan and she almost ran out of gas.

 

Story short, Charlie missed our area but went right over us in Orlando. The next day we decided not to go back home on I-4. Big mistake.  We went through Kissimmee to get south to HWY 60 so we could get home. It didn't work. Worse, everything was pretty much destroyed. No power, no gas, no cell service. Already committed we kept going south and my Wife started running out of gas again and even worse, we got separated, with no comms.

 

It's a lot longer story but I'll cut it short and say we got home safely,  And after seeing the devastation in some of the towns we went through I made a large donation to the Salvation Army, which ran hot food canteen trucks to those areas. I saw it first hand. No comms, separated from my wife in different vehicles, two little kids, and she was running out of gas.  Never again! I jumped on GMRS right then and there.

 

Nowadays, GMRS in my area is pretty much a Business radio. that's what I hear most while driving. So, I thought an Amateur license might be a better way to go.  But then I started looking at the numbers. I might be wrong, but according to the ARRL license counts they show 774,127 Amateur licensees in the whole USA. 

 

http://www.arrl.org/fcc-license-counts

 

So, I wondered how many GMRS licenses are out there? I'm not very good at opening strange zip/dat files but the FCC has statistics on GMRS. It seems to me, and correct me if I'm wrong but currently there are ~1.3 million GMRS licenses out there. I found that information here:

 

https://www.fcc.gov/uls/transactions/daily-weekly

 

If this is true, for a "teotwawki"  I'll stay with GMRS for the time being, After all, the M stands for mobile.

 

All the best,

 

JAS

[berkinet]

.... So, I wondered how many GMRS licenses are out there? ....

92753

[jas]

92753

Source? Pretty please...

[BoxCar]

There are two primary ways to get license totals. I'll lay odds Berkinet filtered the list by asking for active licenses onlt.

[wayoverthere]

There are two primary ways to get license totals. I'll lay odds Berkinet filtered the list by asking for active licenses onlt.

Export to excel, =counta(

[berkinet]

Source? Pretty please...

 

Easy.  FCC Advanced License Search  Then, select:

Call Sign & Radio Services -> Service Group-> GMRS

License Detail -> Active

Click Search

 

When the results appear just look at the summary that appears just above the list of stations, where it will show something like:

 

Specified Search 

Radio Service = ZA 

Status = Active

Matches 1- 10 (of 92753)

 

And there you have it.  For comparison, searching for Amateur licenses (all types) returns 832,392. However, that number may be inflated because it includes club and other special purpose licenses.

[jas]

 

Easy.  FCC Advanced License Search  Then, select:

Call Sign & Radio Services -> Service Group-> GMRS

License Detail -> Active

Click Search

 

When the results appear just look at the summary that appears just above the list of stations, where it will show something like:

 

Specified Search 

Radio Service = ZA 

Status = Active

Matches 1- 10 (of 92753)

 

And there you have it.  For comparison, searching for Amateur licenses (all types) returns 832,392. However, that number may be inflated because it includes club and other special purpose licenses.

Thanks so much! I stand corrected.  I was looking at DAT files in excel and the numbers were huge, all with real people and addresses in them. 

 

I've been driving around in a specific ~100 mile loop in my area testing different antennas for reception with my mobile set to scan mode. It cover all different kinds areas from undeveloped to farms to very congested cities, over water, and on tall bridges. The traffic on GMRS is non-stop. It's mostly all businesses with some long chats on repeaters and a smattering of personal stuff thrown in mostly in the FRS shared channels.  This is what got me curious and asking myself - how big is this GMRS thing now?

 

I'll probably take the tech exam anyways. I'm pseudo retired so have time on my hands.

 

Learned a LOT about antennas so it was worth it!

[n4gix]

This is from the November 2020 issue of The Repeater, a monthly newsletter from NSEA, one of the oldest GMRS groups in the U.S. having been founded in 1962.

https://puu.sh/HezyK.png

 

What is important however are the increasing numbers of new licencees each month! For the past 14 months, they have been averaging nearly 4,000 every month nationwide.

[MikeOut]

I'm getting my Ham License soon as I can.  But I went ahead and Got my 2nd GMRS because I let it expire and the fact that I accidentally loaded up wish at a resturaunt and some fool bumped my elbow  I inadvertantly hit a Baofang, Next thing I know like 3 months later   A UV5R+ shows up in my Mailbox. Now NO HAMS will talk to me!  So I just getting my General to listen but stilll talk on GMRS!         

 

I've got about 3 Grand in Radios and other equipment that covers anything I drive plus the House and RV.  Waiting on Mobile repeaters.   SO much for cheaper than HAM.     

[wqxq281]

I've had a ham ticket since 1992.  Over the years I've drifted in and out of the hobby.  I obtained my GMRS license as I saw increased interest in the band, and am always interested in increased comms ability.  My wife has zero interest in obtaining a ham license, but she's not shy about using marine radio on the boat, and FRS/GMRS when we travel or tow an RV.  So it serves a purpose for me.

 

In my area, there is VERY little GMRS activity outside of kids, landscapers, and some occasional hikers.  On the other hand, the Amateur community is thriving and active.

 

The increased popularity of GMRS is good for the radio hobby, as I believe many will seek to get their ham ticket (nobody who experiences UHF/FM comms is going back to using a CB).  Midland and Jeep Jamboree are bringing in a lot of new users, and I would expect increased, informal "standardization" of channnel use as time progresses.

[WanabeFree]

I just recently got my GMRS license. I have had my Ham license for about 25 yrs. I have faded in an out of  Ham radio over the years but mostly stayed sort of active on 2m & 70c bands until I retired and moved out of Southern California. Ham was very active there and I had several friends who were also Hams. I also used FRS for family outings and trips with friends who were not Hams and had little interest in becoming one. I also used Business radio for work so radio has been part of my life for a long time.

 

Now after moving to a small rural Northern California community I have once again started to get back into Ham Radio but have found that much has changed in the past few years. Many Hams have move on to Digital Radio so I purchased a DMR radio to find out what I was missing. Its fun and you can talk to folks all over the country but I miss my old Rag Chew analog Ham days. Around here there is not a lot of chatter on the Ham repeaters so I started looking into GMRS but truthfully there is not a lot of action on it either. I got my GMRS license just so I could talk to more folks without limiting my options. For me its not like I prefer one over the other but I want more options. GMRS to me is kind of like Ham radio Lite and is easier to get into than Ham so its no wonder that it is growing perhaps faster than Ham but GMRS needs more bandwith (Channels) or it will soon be over saturated in Big Cities. Where I live now its underused but so is analog Ham.

So bottom line for me its all about having more options and making more contacts and radio friends.

[oldtech]

After Hurricane Irma I started thinking about backup communications for the family. There is a nearby repeater which, at about 200 foot altitude, covers the entire area that we live and work in.

 

I also purchased a used 'mobile' repeater as a backup, to be quickly erected after a storm in case the 'tall' repeater fails. It provides about 5 miles of coverage (on a clear day when the moon is full  ). Not a whole lot of range, but it still covers our homes. I am about to upgrade that repeater with the goal of 10 miles range.

 

I decided at the same time I got my GMRS license, to get my Amateur license. As I am nearing retirement, I realized that I will go nuts without a hobby, and it provides an additional source of information and communications during times of emergency.

[WyoJoe]

I became licensed as a ham (General) about 6 years ago, and wanted to convince some of my family members to also become hams. Long story short is that none of them have done so.

Because of the multitude of ways to communicate over radio, I thought ham made sense for family communications, but alas, it only works if you have someone else (in my family) to talk with.

The ham community is great, and offers a lot of valuable resources that can be called upon in an emergency/disaster situation.

 

What was lacking, at least for me, was the ability to communicate with non-ham family members if and when the phone networks go down.

This is where GMRS comes in. While far more limited than ham radio, it does off the opportunity to communicate with other family member at short range.

I recently obtained my GMRS license, and have been working on communications with the family, to see how well our GMRS radios work, at what distance, and under what conditions.

This was the reason for obtaining the GMRS license, and who knows, if it sparks an interest in radio communications with other family members, we might just get some of them to become licensed hams after all, so I believe the GMRS license will work well for its intended purpose: local, short range family communications.

[jc1240]

For me, GMRS for family.  Ham for fun.  GMRS in my area is non-existent outside of 1 or 2 repeaters too far away and are hardly ever used.  They are active only when there is an "event" like a blizzard.  

[Woodsman]

Having my ham ticket for about a month. I use both (and CB) because I enjoy different types of radio communication. I like CB because it's like the "internet of the radio". It's more relaxed and I the bands are frequently busy. Skip is such a hoot to play with too!

 

I play with GMRS/FRS to talk to the locals. I find it's less "intimidating" to hand someone a FRS or a GMRS HT than something else.

 

Finally, I have been playing with APRS and 2 meter on ham. In my area, 2 meter is pretty quiet, even the local repeater is "dead"