ARES or Skywarn for GMRS?

[Fernleaf]

Does anyone know if either ARES (usually covered by Amateur Radio) or Skywarn has openings for GMRS users to participate? I wanted to get into HAM, but the test questions and higher equipment costs keep turning me off to the hobby. It would be nice to be able to use the GMRS side for more than just connecting with friends and family. Something more community based. No CERT here in the country. 

[SteveShannon]

16 minutes ago, Fernleaf said:

Does anyone know if either ARES (usually covered by Amateur Radio) or Skywarn has openings for GMRS users to participate? I wanted to get into HAM, but the test questions and higher equipment costs keep turning me off to the hobby. It would be nice to be able to use the GMRS side for more than just connecting with friends and family. Something more community based. No CERT here in the country. 

I don’t know about ARES or Skywarn and GMRS, BUT if you still want to get your technician license for amateur radio, I can help you find some study guides. Everyone learns differently and for me the flash cards provided at HamStudy (free - although I did spring for $4 to buy the app for my phone) were perfect.  I also would be happy to help you understand the questions and answers if that would help.  

I would still get into GMRS.  It all is valuable and enjoyable.

[Fernleaf]

32 minutes ago, Sshannon said:

I don’t know about ARES or Skywarn and GMRS, BUT if you still want to get your technician license for amateur radio, I can help you find some study guides. Everyone learns differently and for me the flash cards provided at HamStudy (free - although I did spring for $4 to buy the app for my phone) were perfect.  I also would be happy to help you understand the questions and answers if that would help.  

I would still get into GMRS.  It all is valuable and enjoyable.

Thank  you. I’ve gotten into GMRS about a year ago and really enjoy it.  I’m signed up with hamstudy.org which is free. And really good. It’s more a matter of time to study, and remembering/understanding all the techie side. Math is definitely NOT my strong suit!

[Fernleaf]

Thus the reason for asking. Im wondering if GMRS has any official share in community efforts, other than CERT, which is city based. 

[BoxCar]

I don't know of any ARES or SKYWARN openings for GMRS. Hams can't connect to GMRS or GMRS to ham radios but that doesn't mean they can't be licensed in both. Ham HH transceivers start around $90 so not much more than GMRS but with a lot more connectivity on 2M and 70cm.

[SteveShannon]

26 minutes ago, Fernleaf said:

Thank  you. I’ve gotten into GMRS about a year ago and really enjoy it.  I’m signed up with hamstudy.org which is free. And really good. It’s more a matter of time to study, and remembering/understanding all the techie side. Math is definitely NOT my strong suit!

Even if you missed all the math questions you could pass the test. Take the sample tests in HamStudy when you have the time and you’ll see very few math problems. I don’t think I had to do math until the Amateur Extra exam. 

[tweiss3]

40 minutes ago, Fernleaf said:

Thus the reason for asking. Im wondering if GMRS has any official share in community efforts, other than CERT, which is city based. 

I suppose GMRS could be used for community events, but I don't see it happening around here. A ham friend nearby has the local neighborhood watch on GMRS, and they do talk to each other all the time. 

[WRAM370]

There is no ARES in GMRS, as ARES stands for Amateur Radio Emergency Services. You want to get involved with amateur radio. That has what you are looking for. It is recognized by government entities, and provides emergency communications, as well as providing communications for public events. Where I live, local ARES/RACES organizations have stations in the county Emergency Operations Centers (EOC), where the 911 dispatchers are, and most of the equipment is funded through Homeland Security grants. If you want to be involved in those activities, get on over to amateur radio. Besides being a hobby radio service, amateur radio also exists to provide emergency communications. 

An amateur radio license costs the same as a GMRS license, but provides you with many more opportunities beyond GMRS. Yes, you have to pass a test, but it is literally a test that you can memorize, as tens of thousands of people have done over the past decade or more. There is no math on a Technician test, and I don’t believe there is any math on a General test either.

 

 

 

[SteveShannon]

1 hour ago, WRAM370 said:

There is no ARES in GMRS, as ARES stands for Amateur Radio Emergency Services. You want to get involved with amateur radio. That has what you are looking for. It is recognized by government entities, and provides emergency communications, as well as providing communications for public events. Where I live, local ARES/RACES organizations have stations in the county Emergency Operations Centers (EOC), where the 911 dispatchers are, and most of the equipment is funded through Homeland Security grants. If you want to be involved in those activities, get on over to amateur radio. Besides being a hobby radio service, amateur radio also exists to provide emergency communications. 

An amateur radio license costs the same as a GMRS license, but provides you with many more opportunities beyond GMRS. Yes, you have to pass a test, but it is literally a test that you can memorize, as tens of thousands of people have done over the past decade or more. There is no math on a Technician test, and I don’t believe there is any math on a General test either.

 

 

 

This got me curious. Some forward thinking ARES groups do include GMRS in their plans. It would be silly not to. If the goal is to communicate as widely as possible to those people who are affected by an emergency or those people who can help during an emergency you don’t turn up your nose because it’s not amateur radio. You use every means possible and you plan to succeed. 
https://www.aresd1.com/post/ares-district-1-deploys-to-hobart-for-simulated-emergency-test

[marcspaz]

12 hours ago, Fernleaf said:

Does anyone know if either ARES (usually covered by Amateur Radio) or Skywarn has openings for GMRS users to participate?

 

I am not sure about everywhere in the US, but in VA and FL, SKYWARN is phone, internet (email/text) and Amateur Radio.  ARES does integrate FRS/GMRS into its responses, but it's very limited and we don't train for it on the regular bases. 

 

It's use in training (where I am) is very rare because we usually put them in the hands of SAR/USAR staff, VIP and command staff, etc., during actual emergencies when Ham radio folks are short staffed and we need an unlicensed service for them to use, that keeps them in touch with Hams to move traffic to where it needs to go.

 

12 hours ago, Fernleaf said:

I wanted to get into HAM, but the test questions and higher equipment costs keep turning me off to the hobby.

 

Not to sound mean, but if you are too busy to study for the test, chances are you won't have time to drill/practice or actually help when/where needed.  And that is okay, BTW.

To give you some incentive, my wife got her license when she was 12... and had to learn/demonstrate Morse Code.  The grandchild of a friend of mine got their license this year at just age 7.

I was super intimidated by it, but just took the online practice exams until I passed with a 100%, and then went and took the actual test.  It was a lot easier than I thought and had myself freaked out for nothing.  I highly recommend spending a little bit of time on it and getting your Tech license.

BTW, I recently bought a VHF/UHF handheld Ham radio (which is all you need to get started) for $35.  It can be as cheap or expensive as you want it to be.

  

12 hours ago, Fernleaf said:

It would be nice to be able to use the GMRS side for more than just connecting with friends and family.

 

That is really the intent of GMRS.  The service restrictions don't really lend to doing much more.  Repeaters greatly expand range, but they are few in some places and none in others, they are privately owned in most cases and have restrictions on power, modulation and information types that make it so its not practical for many cases.

That said, I know there are whole communities that are prone to wild fires, earthquakes, etc., that implemented GMRS networks to help the whole community and to empower the community to help themselves.  You can always reach out to your local volunteer groups and see if there is anything like that around you.

 

 

[KAF6045]

22 hours ago, Fernleaf said:

Does anyone know if either ARES (usually covered by Amateur Radio) or Skywarn has openings for GMRS users to participate? I wanted to get into HAM, but the test questions and higher equipment costs keep turning me off to the hobby. It would be nice to be able to use the GMRS side for more than just connecting with friends and family. Something more community based. No CERT here in the country. 

In my opinion the (entry level) Technician license is the hardest one. At Technician, the FCC is more concerned that one knows the regulations: what parts of each band each license class is allowed to use, what transmission modes on those bands, what types of activity are legal (the 3rd-party communication rules still plague me), etc. They want to make sure that when you get on the air, you do not cause problems.

The General and Amateur Extra, in contrast, ARE more focused on electronics and technical theory. I went some 20 years as (No-Code) Technician -- no HF privileges. When they finally dropped the Morse requirement, I dug up the General study guide, spent two weeks of lunches reading it. Then found an online practice exam site and verified that I was passing every test I took (since they randomize the questions each time). On a whim, I then tried the Extra practice tests, and was passing three out of every four WITHOUT studying. Two days later I went to the nearest VE test session and signed up for both tests; if I didn't pass Extra I had two weeks to study before the next session closer to home. I passed Extra by one question.

By definition, ARES is Amateur Radio (and RACES is even stricter). An ARES group /might/ include some GMRS users with someone designated to handle the relay from GMRS to Amateur traffic handling -- more likely is Skywarn, since that's associated with the weather service and members are not likely to be asked to pack up and report to some out-of-state disaster. The GMRS users would have to undergo the same training as the ARES and/or Skywarn members.

"friends and family" (or small business) IS the original purpose of GMRS (back when it was known as Class A Citizens Radio Service [CB was Class D; Class B was reassigned; Class C is radio control]). Base stations were NOT allowed to contact other base stations, one was licensed for only TWO of the eight primary frequencies. The "immediate family" clause carried the additional restriction that said family had to RESIDE in the same home as the license holder! Think large family farm: base station at house, HTs for family members working the fields -- maybe a mobile mounted on tractors and trucks. Given the 2 of 8 frequency limit, it is possible the next farm over had no frequencies in common (unless one followed the guidance of making one of the two frequencies the national emergency channel -- yes, there used to be an FCC defined GMRS channel for emergency/traveller assistance, usable by anyone for E/TA but only if it was on one's license could one use it for general chat).

 

[WQAI363]

On 9/1/2022 at 12:38 PM, Fernleaf said:

Does anyone know if either ARES (usually covered by Amateur Radio) or Skywarn has openings for GMRS users to participate? I wanted to get into HAM, but the test questions and higher equipment costs keep turning me off to the hobby. It would be nice to be able to use the GMRS side for more than just connecting with friends and family. Something more community based. No CERT here in the country. 

According to my knowlege traditionally ARES as well as RACES uses the Amateur Radio Service their primary group comms, but I assume GMRS could benefit in times of crisis. As far as the expense of HAM Radio as hobby, whelther it's Amateur Radio or GMRS equipment you will find isn't going to be much difference in expense. All the major manufactures, starting with Alinco, ICOM, Kenwood, Midland, Motorola and Vertex / Yaesu, prices will vary. Especially when you add in the cost of antenna coax and power supply. Some of these manufactures produce good quality radios, might not be FCC 95 Typed Accepted, but the new old stock or use UHF radios will do just as well the new.

[Ian]

On 9/1/2022 at 1:34 PM, Fernleaf said:

Thank  you. I’ve gotten into GMRS about a year ago and really enjoy it.  I’m signed up with hamstudy.org which is free. And really good. It’s more a matter of time to study, and remembering/understanding all the techie side. Math is definitely NOT my strong suit!

Yeah, it took me two years of working and putting it off to finish studying up to proficiency.  The time and motivation is really the killer here!

[WQAI363]

I sincerely apologize for drifting off topic in my original post. I wanted to say as far as ARES / RACES, for individuals who want to be useful during times of Emergencies or just working a normal PSEs. Indiviuals that aren' interested in Amateur Radio as a hobby. They could always obtain their GMRS license and  get the necessary training for tasks not directly passing traffic, but a link in for other non HAM volunteers.

If I have failed to be clear. Please Forgive Me!