Un-official GMRS travel channel?

[MichaelLAX]

2 hours ago, DanW said:

@OffRoaderX So he's done a great job of introducing off-roaders (again, the fastest growing group of GMRS users) to channel 16.  

Like the early 21st Century, when the porn industry drove the hoardes to Blue Ray and away from HD DVD, the off-road community may send 'em flying to channel 19, if they so decide.   And they'll go there because it is already ingrained in their minds. They won't burn a calorie trying to think about it.

OMG!

Randy’s success on YouTube is due to The Porn Industry! 

[DanW]

1 hour ago, MichaelLAX said:

OMG!

Randy’s success on YouTube is due to The Porn Industry! 

 

 

[DownEastNC]

11 hours ago, DanW said:

Say what you want about 20.  I NEVER hear travelers using simplex 20 as the travel channel.  I can get on I70 right now and start talking away and there's a 99% chance NOBODY will respond.  At the same time, I can easily get someone on CB 19 to respond, pretty much every time, on any interstate with even light traffic on it.

If it's any consolation I never hear travelers on channel 19. Go figure! You posted earlier that "No one knows about channel 20" yet you dismiss my quotefest that pretty much negates your argument. A lot of people know about channel 20 and its recognition as the traveler's channel. I suppose GMRS being what it is, most folks just don't want to chit chat with strangers. I don't know what else to do to convince you not to reinvent the wheel. I could go on with page two through ten of the search and keep quoting but I figure you would take the initiative if you were truly interested but it sounds like you just don't care. That's fine. None of this is going to work anyway unless someone takes the initiative to reach out to the dozens of other GMRS user groups and forums. In the meantime we can dust off the CB and have at it.

[MichaelLAX]

[deleted by poster]

[WyoJoe]

Well, I think this thread has pretty clearly established that GMRS Channel 20 is considered by many to be the "official" travel channel for GMRS. Since this thread is about "un-official" GMRS travel channels, it would seem to me that 19 for highway conditions and 16 for off-highway use would both make pretty good "un-official" travel channels, each for their respective purposes.

As with every idea along this vein, they have to start somewhere. Once started, they need to catch on locally, then spread to other areas, gaining acceptance along the way.

With 4x4 clubs being pretty popular, each club could choose to adopt channel 16 as their "official" GMRS channel. I think this would be fairly easy to implement within the off-roading community, as there are groups within the community to promote the idea. While some groups may choose not to implement such a plan, I'm sure many would do so, just as they did with CB channel 4 years ago.

For highway conditions, the use of channel 19 would be a lot trickier. Even though this was the case with CB for many years, I think it would be harder to get this idea off the ground for GMRS. The main reason for this is that there aren't a lot of recognized groups to promote the idea. Maybe writing a letter to your local AAA branch would be a way to promote this idea. If they were to buy in, and promote the idea within their membership, you might have a chance of getting this idea off the ground. My expectation, however, is that they would most likely adopt the official or semi-official channel 20 instead, if only for the reason that it doesn't have the geographical restrictions near the Canadian border that are found with channel 19.

[DanW]

15 hours ago, DownEastNC said:

If it's any consolation I never hear travelers on channel 19. Go figure! You posted earlier that "No one knows about channel 20" yet you dismiss my quotefest that pretty much negates your argument. A lot of people know about channel 20 and its recognition as the traveler's channel. I suppose GMRS being what it is, most folks just don't want to chit chat with strangers. I don't know what else to do to convince you not to reinvent the wheel. I could go on with page two through ten of the search and keep quoting but I figure you would take the initiative if you were truly interested but it sounds like you just don't care. That's fine. None of this is going to work anyway unless someone takes the initiative to reach out to the dozens of other GMRS user groups and forums. In the meantime we can dust off the CB and have at it.

It isn't reinventing the wheel when the wheel doesn't exist in practical use to begin with.  

Nobody is using 20.  And I never said anyone was using 19.  I just said I think it has a better chance because it is logical.  Someone brand new to GMRS would be more likely to first try 19 for a travel channel than 20. 

I wish I had as much influence as you all seem to think I have.  But someone else here just might.  So you ought to be trying to convince him, rather than me.

[Blaise]

15 hours ago, DanW said:

Nobody is using 20. 

Actually, I've only been at this for a couple of months, but the only (2) connections I've made at *all* in that time were on Channel 20 from folks who were driving past our city.  They both called it "The travel channel", so I feel like this must be a fairly known thing...

[DanW]

4 hours ago, Blaise said:

Actually, I've only been at this for a couple of months, but the only (2) connections I've made at *all* in that time were on Channel 20 from folks who were driving past our city.  They both called it "The travel channel", so I feel like this must be a fairly known thing...

Congrats! You win the lottery!  I've done quite a lot of highway traveling the last few years and have not found a single one.

[MichaelLAX]

On 12/11/2021 at 2:51 PM, MichaelLAX said:

Never Say Nobody

It’s so easy to disprove!

[n4gix]

In my opinion, using any "channel number" is impractical. None of the radios I use for GMRS have channel numbers. They display only the frequency or the "channel name" I've given them. 

[WyoJoe]

3 hours ago, n4gix said:

In my opinion, using any "channel number" is impractical. None of the radios I use for GMRS have channel numbers. The display only the frequency or the "channel name" I've given them. 

Using "channel numbers" can be problematic if, as in your case, a radio has received custom programming. For repurposed LMR radios, this would be likely, and may also be the case for GMRS radios that have been reprogrammed.

All of the stock GMRS radios I've seen have been programmed in a similar manner, with the frequencies on channels 1-30 being the same for all of them. The exception to this is for mobile radios which, from what I've seen, generally do not have anything programmed into channels 8-14. If these channels are programmed, they are typically receive only.

Unlike CB or FRS, there is no absolute rule in GMRS that each channel be mandated to use a specific frequency. I do believe, however, that when someone refers to a GMRS channel number from 1 to 30, it is widely accepted that there is a norm that is followed. Mainly, I believe standardized GMRS channel numbering is intended to maintain compatibility with FRS, which has 22 channels, all of which share frequencies with GMRS. In addition to those 22 channels, GMRS also adds the repeater channels (467 MHz "main" channels - see below).

 

The FCC regulations are where I believe the idea of channels came from. With the FCC standardization of FRS channels, I believe it was natural for GMRS to follow suit. The FCC also refers to GMRS "channels" in the regulations:

§ 95.1763 GMRS channels.

The GMRS is allotted 30 channels - 16 main channels and 14 interstitial channels. GMRS stations may transmit on any of the channels as indicated below.

(a) 462 MHz main channels. Only mobile, hand-held portable, repeater, base and fixed stations may transmit on these 8 channels. The channel center frequencies are: 462.5500, 462.5750, 462.6000, 462.6250, 462.6500, 462.6750, 462.7000, and 462.7250 MHz. [These are commonly identified as channels 15-22, or as repeater outputs for channels 23-30]

(b) 462 MHz interstitial channels. Only mobile, hand-held portable and base stations may transmit on these 7 channels. The channel center frequencies are: 462.5625, 462.5875, 462.6125, 462.6375, 462.6625, 462.6875, and 462.7125 MHz. [These are commonly identified as channels 1-7]

(c) 467 MHz main channels. Only mobile, hand-held portable, control and fixed stations may transmit on these 8 channels. Mobile, hand-held portable and control stations may transmit on these channels only when communicating through a repeater station or making brief test transmissions in accordance with § 95.319(c). The channel center frequencies are: 467.5500, 467.5750, 467.6000, 467.6250, 467.6500, 467.6750, 467.7000, and 467.7250 MHz. [These are commonly identified as repeater inputs for channels 23-30]

(d) 467 MHz interstitial channels. Only hand-held portable units may transmit on these 7 channels. The channel center frequencies are: 467.5675, 467.5875, 467.6125, 467.6375, 467.6625, 467.6875, and 467.7125 MHz. [These are commonly identified as channels 8-14]

[mbrun]

I think the FCC let the cat out of bag with ‘Channel Numbers’ for GMRS when they allowed hybrid FRS/GMRS radios years ago. The masses do not easily relate to frequencies, only channels (think TV, FRS, etc.). FRS radios before hybriding (if that is a term?) were originally 1-14 so the hybrids with GMRS became 1-24 with 1-14 remaining unchanged. And now with repeater support they are all 1-30.

Every FRS, Hybrid, and now the newer GRMS radio hav the concept of “channel numbers”; they are the memory numbers of the radio. On the programmable ones, the default programming of the part 95e radios uses the same memory numbers to represent the same frequencies, without exception to date. Since the programmable radios also allow for a custom name for the memory channel, they all are labeled as ‘GMRS 1’, ‘GMRS 21”, etc…).

While there are many long-time GMRSrs that have never thought of GMRS frequencies in terms of ‘Channel Numbers’, for better or worse, the manufacturers of type certified radios appear to have all adopted the use of the same number to mean the same frequency. Users that think in frequencies will now need to do some mental flip-flopping. Good for building brain cell connections I guess.




Michael
WRHS965
KE8PLM

[Hasaf]

I live about five miles from a large trailer transfer yard for a meat packing plant. I frequently hear yard related conversations on Channel 20.

[DanW]

13 hours ago, Hasaf said:

I live about five miles from a large trailer transfer yard for a meat packing plant. I frequently hear yard related conversations on Channel 20.

That's a sign of life!  I just drove 16 hours each way to Houston and had ch 20 on the whole way.  Nothin' but crickets.  

But that could be business use at a transfer yard, too.

[gortex2]

Just got home from a 2000 mile vacation. Lots of interstate and back roads (Despise interstates). Had my APX on the "original" GMRS list. Dead silence. Did have my HT scanning 1-7 and heard alot of chatter on and off on CH1 depending on location. Most of it sounded to be family traveling. Down in some of the "historical" areas we stopped alot of chatter on 1-4. 

As reference my CB was pretty busy on 95 thru SC as it was dead stop for an hour at one point. Even out on the beach rides CB still had chatter.

 

[OffRoaderX]

Someone finally got tired of the endless circular arguments to see who has the biggest antenna and actually DID something...

It's now officially channel 19 .. Argue, complain, whine, list your credentials all you want, whats done is done.

[axorlov]

Influenzers... they are so adorable

[marcspaz]

hahahahaha...  Too funny.  The comments on the video are ridiculous. 

 

Just my own opinion.  It sounds like people are confusing the Open Repeater Initiative (OPI) and the "Travel Tone" with a "travel channel".  The Open Repeater Initiative, which is long gone, was not the same thing as a "travel channel".

There was a nationwide group of repeater owners who participated with the Open Repeater Initiative to set their ch20 pair (462.675/467.675) to use tone 141.3 (known as 4a).  The idea was, to make the repeater open to the traveling public through common knowledge.  If you found a repeater on the rCH 20 pair with a 4a PL, the assumption was to be that you don't need special permission to use that repeater.

 

That is not the same as simplex channel 20 or simplex channel 19, etc., for just cruising around the country.  Whatever most people agree on, who cares.  Just talk.

 

Again, just my opinion.

[mbrun]

Someone finally got tired of the endless circular arguments to see who has the biggest antenna and actually DID something...
It's now officially channel 19 .. Argue, complain, whine, list your credentials all you want, whats done is done.

OK, you did it again. LMAO.

It is a shame Johnny Carson is not still with us. I would love you see the two of you together.

73


Michael
WRHS965
KE8PLM

[Craws907]

The video talks about lineA but what about lineC? Must we in the frozen north continue the debate?

[WRNX804]

NotaRubicon has made it official by proclamation.

 

[gortex2]

So because some one on Youtube says its so everyone will believe it. Why not just use 446.000...I mean no one gets GMRS licenses so why bother with amateur...Heck and most $25.00 baofengs already have it programmed ! 

 

[Citizen]

20 minutes ago, kb2ztx said:

[snip]  Why not just use 446.000...[snip]

As this is a GMRS forum, some readers here who are not Hams may not know, so just to clarify:  446.000 mHz is designated as the national call frequency for UHF (for VHF it's 146.520 mHz).

...

[Blaise]

56 minutes ago, Citizen said:

some readers here who are not Hams may not know, so just to clarify

Hey, thanks for that.  I was wondering why those frequencies were on all the SHTF lists the preppers are always building...

[Blaise]

2 hours ago, WRNX804 said:

NotaRubicon has made it official by proclamation.

Honestly, I can't tell if all the comments are as tongue-in-cheek as the video, of if they really are that religiously devoted to whatever he says!