GMRS Travel/Emergency channels

[WRVG593]

We all know there's no main GMRS channel. There's no emergency channel, and no travel channel. 

Do your groups you have I'm your area have their own designated channel? What about your family? People who just drive by?

My group has no set emergency channel, just a repeater that covers roughly 80 miles and another that covers roughly 40. As a general rule, you can usually find travel channel on 1,16, and 22. My family for simplex use does CH22/462.725 just because not many people use it. 

What do you all use?

[gortex2]

For me I monitor 675/141.3 when traveling only because that is our SAR repeater frequency for years (back to the react days). When around town or my repeaters my radios sit on my repeater. When in the Jeep we scan as the rides use a different channel every trip. I would say 90% of the conversations we hear in the jeeps are channel 1 or 2. 

[WRVG593]

14 minutes ago, gortex2 said:

For me I monitor 675/141.3 when traveling only because that is our SAR repeater frequency for years (back to the react days). When around town or my repeaters my radios sit on my repeater. When in the Jeep we scan as the rides use a different channel every trip. I would say 90% of the conversations we hear in the jeeps are channel 1 or 2. 

When I scan frequencies I never add a tone to them just so I can hear it all. I can find the tone after I hear it if I want to talk back. 

[PACNWComms]

This comes up often it seems. Here in my part of the Pacific Northwest, Channel 1 and CSQ seems to be common for calling and emergencies. Supposedly this is also the case in the Olympic Rain Forest on the peninsula of Washington State as well? Some Coast Guard helicopters were issued Garmin Rino radios to monitor for lost hikers in Sequim and Port Angeles areas as well, and FRS Channel 1 is often cited. As for GMRS channels or which is calling or emergency I do not know. 

[WRVX790]

The following reflects both ongoing and then the latest developments in southern California regional GMRS:

 

GMRS Channel 16 is the off-pavement travel channel. 

GMRS Channel 19 is the pavement travel channel.

 

 

What we might have is a distinct Emergency Channel... preferably a repeater channel. 

Back in the ol' CB days that was Channel 9...

[WRUU653]

There are so many better ways to communicate in an emergency these days so if I am using GMRS for an emergency it is because nothing else is available. In which case the channel I can contact someone on is going to be my emergency channel. 

[Lscott]

51 minutes ago, WhiskeyRomeo790 said:

The following reflects both ongoing and then the latest developments in southern California regional GMRS:

 

GMRS Channel 16 is the off-pavement travel channel. 

GMRS Channel 19 is the pavement travel channel.

Just when you thought this would end. We need a wooden stake. This vampire just won't stay down.

[KAF6045]

2 hours ago, WhiskeyRomeo790 said:

What we might have is a distinct Emergency Channel... preferably a repeater channel. 

Back in the ol' CB days that was Channel 9...

And back before GMRS became wide-open (ie: back when a GMRS license was only good for TWO main frequencies (channel depended on radio radio programming, so the frequency could be a different channel on different radios), specified when applying for the license) the FCC DID have a designated emergency/traveller aid /frequency/... That was the xxx.675 frequency set, with recommended CTCSS 141.3. The old Maxon GMRS 210+3 HT provided two programmable channels (#9 and #10), the seven GMRS interstitials (#1-7), AND had the emergency frequency fixed in channel #8 (since anyone could use that channel for a true emergency/TA, the Maxon allowed one to select any two of the main frequencies for their license -- on the common two channel business [Part 90 LMR] HTs, the recommendation was to specify .675 as one of the two licensed frequencies to have access to it for emergency [and as it was on the license, could also be used for general purpose stuff]).

.675 equates to channel #20 in the unified GMRS and FRS numbering scheme.