US FRS and GMRS channels

[WQZQ295]

I have two different GMRS radio’s which can’t be read/write using chirp.  They have their own custom version of chirp, although some says it's not chirp.

If you go to the Chirp program, select new, to create a new file-tab.  Then go to the “Radio” tab and select “Import from stock config”.  Select “US FRS and GMRS channels” to download the frequencies.  Select “ok”.

There are 52 entries in the file.  First 22 frequencies are for FRS and from 23 – 44 are GMRS.  The last 8 are the GMRS repeaters.  All for a total of 52 entries.  Why is this different then the pre-program radios?  Go and look at #23; you’ll see 462.5500 MHz and the downloaded file It’s 462.5625.  Can someone please explain this to me.

Thank-you!

WQZQ295

Chirp!  After downloaded.  I haven’t gone much further to check.

 

 

[OffRoaderX]

On all Post 2017 GMRS & FRS radios GMRS channels 1-22 and FRS channels 1-22 are the same frequencies.  No idea why your software does not know this.

[wrci350]

What kind of radios?  Do they actually have their own 'custom version of Chirp', or is it their own programming software?

As far as the second question, since FRS and GMRS share the first 22 channels, if you import both "FRS" and "GMRS" you are going to end up with 44 plus the 8 repeater channels, or a total of 52.

Pre-programmed FRS radios come with 1-22 (set up narrow and FRS power).

Pre-programmed GMRS radios come with 1-22 (set up wide [other than 8-14] and GMRS power) plus the 8 repeater channels.

[OffRoaderX]

By design, there are numbered channels on GMRS & FRS for a reason - so that normal people can more easily use the radios and communicate amongst themselves.

Anyone pushing frequencies over channels clearly has no understanding of GMRS, its intended use or its target audience.

 

[marcspaz]

Definitely need to know the make and model of the radio to be the most amount of help.  Also, is the radio new or used?  The names for the repeater channels look custom.

 

As it stands right now, I am inclined to agree with @wrci350, assuming the software imported all 22 channels twice, plus the repeater channels.

[wayoverthere]

From the bit I can see it looks like it may be the first block is all narrowband (frs) and the second (gmrs) would be wideband on all except the 467 interstitial channels.

[back4more70]

13 hours ago, axorlov said:

Drop this "channel" affection and start thinking frequencies.

I disagree.  If I am communicating with my friends, I am not going to say "set your radio to 462.575 MHz," I am going to say "set your radio to channel 16."  Especially if we are communicating via a mixture of FRS and GMRS radios.  Not using the set channels makes things much less convenient.  Not to mention that some radios don't have the option to change frequencies, only channels.

[WQZQ295]

I have Wouxun KG-935G and Baofeng, UV-5G.   My apologies for not listing my radios.  Their version of chirp doesn’t allow me to download the peculiar “US FRS and GMRS channels”.  It’s the normal web site download version of chirp.

The programing is off of the “regular” version of chirp.  Go to the “Radio” tab and select “Import from stock config”.  Select “US FRS and GMRS channels” to download the frequencies.  Select “ok”.  You should be able to see it then.

I am new at this Forum stuff.

[back4more70]

1 hour ago, axorlov said:

"Set your radio to five seven five" has exactly the same number of syllables as "set your radio to channel sixteen". But use whatever works better between you and your friends, it's a free country! There is a confusion between channels aka the memory slot on the radio and channel aka frequency, and this thread demonstrates it very clearly. Our resident youtube darling can't grasp this difference.

It's not about the number of syllables, it's about uniformity between radios (FRS & GMRS) when communicating with others.  Does this assume that the radio setups (i.e. channel/frequency assignments) are the same?  Yes it does.  In another example, when the police dispatcher tells Adam-12 to go to a different frequency, the dispatcher says something like "TAC-12" and not "135.7865 MHz."

[WRCZ387]

2 hours ago, axorlov said:

What a ripoff! My GMRS radio has 250 channels.

How do you think I feel?

Two of mine have 1000 channels & one has 4000

[marcspaz]

6 hours ago, KAF6045 said:

In the old days, a GMRS license only authorized two frequencies

 

 

I suspect you're a tad younger that me, because when I say "in the old days", GMRS didn't exist.  I have a frequency allocation chart I bought in 1986 that doesn't have GMRS or FRS on it.

[KAF6045]

17 hours ago, marcspaz said:

I suspect you're a tad younger that me, because when I say "in the old days", GMRS didn't exist.  I have a frequency allocation chart I bought in 1986 that doesn't have GMRS or FRS on it.

But Class A of the Citizens Radio Service did... GMRS is essentially a renaming of that "Class" system.  The renaming took place in 1987... FRS is a mishmash promulgated by RatShack  in 1994, originally using only the interstitial channels (and creating 467 interstitials).

I no longer have the paper, but my original GMRS license (not labeled Class A) had the two frequency authorization. I'd have to dig up the Maxon radio to find which two...

[MichaelLAX]

14 hours ago, axorlov said:

...

1) there are 22 numbered frequencies in FRS/GMRS, no channel #23
 

Actually there are 30 channels in GMRS.

[KAF6045]

13 hours ago, axorlov said:

Because this it the channel nonsense. Channel is only a programming slot in your radio. Drop this "channel" affection and start thinking frequencies. And if you insist on numbering channels here are two things:

1) there are 22 numbered frequencies in FRS/GMRS, no channel #23
2) here is the channel numbering table: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Mobile_Radio_Service

In the old days, a GMRS license only authorized two frequencies, and most radios only had a "A"/"B" toggle to select the channel. The channels had to be programmed by a shop in accordance with the license.

Referring to the frequency (or, at least, the kHz section) would have been common practice as what one had in "A" might have been programmed as "B" on the other radio. And note how many repeaters name themselves with the kHz section... (I just looked at the repeater list, with no search criteria, and six of the first ten are named AAA 999 where the 999 is the kHz part of the frequency). (When the interstitials were introduced, some radios expanded the number of channels to include those -- the Maxon GMRS 210+3 used channels 1-7 for interstitials, channel 8 for the FCC defined emergency frequency ".675" [usable by any license for emergencies, general use only if it was one of the two authorized frequencies], and channel 9&10 were the programmable slot for license frequencies; 675 is the 6th of the 8 primary frequencies).

Many modern radios allow one to NAME the channel slots. Using names makes the absolute numbering of the 2017 reorganization unnecessary. Especially if one has reason to use CTCSS codes as one could enter the same frequency in different slots each having their own specific tone configuration. The OP's imported list shows that -- having /named/ the first 22 slots as "FRS xx", and then using "GMRS xx" for the same frequencies in (W)FM (And using frequency in naming the default repeater slots).

 

AS FOR THE OP: from the excerpt image, it appears that it loaded pure FRS -- NFM -- definitions first, then started with the GMRS (W)FM definitions. Unless one really needs the NFM mode, I'd just delete the FRS specific entries and move the others up to fill the space. The "preprogrammed" radios don't have the FRS/GMRS duplication, they are either FRS-only or GMRS-only.

[axorlov]

1 hour ago, MichaelLAX said:

Actually there are 30 channels in GMRS

What a ripoff! My GMRS radio has 250 channels.

[axorlov]

35 minutes ago, OffRoaderX said:

so that normal people can more easily use the radios and communicate amongst themselves

Channel #23, you dumbadour.

[axorlov]

2 hours ago, back4more70 said:

I am not going to say "set your radio to 462.575 MHz," I am going to say "set your radio to channel 16."

"Set your radio to five seven five" has exactly the same number of syllables as "set your radio to channel sixteen". But use whatever works better between you and your friends, it's a free country! There is a confusion between channels aka the memory slot on the radio and channel aka frequency, and this thread demonstrates it very clearly. Our resident youtube darling can't grasp this difference.

[axorlov]

Because this it the channel nonsense. Channel is only a programming slot in your radio. Drop this "channel" affection and start thinking frequencies. And if you insist on numbering channels here are two things:

1) there are 22 numbered frequencies in FRS/GMRS, no channel #23
2) here is the channel numbering table: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Mobile_Radio_Service