From Canada

[Guest Connor]

Hey guys I know this might be a weird question but with the little knowledge and not knowing anyone in this space I thought I'd ask here.

I'm in Canada and from what I can tell it seems they lock our gmrs to 2 watts but that's the same as frs radio right? When I'm out in the hills or mountain terrain of Alberta/BC. Camping hunting or hiking the radios ive tried have not really been working well enough for me to be comfortable doing more than single day activities.

I'm looking to get a gmrs with at least 5 watts and antennas or a repeater so I can make it through the trees and hills a sufficient distance with clarity as well, instead of a couple hundred meters - 1 km I'm also not savvy enough to get into ham to have a portable unit in the vehicle or house with a handheld for myself. Can someone help me find a good solution/suggestion?

[Lscott]

1 hour ago, Guest Connor said:

Hey guys I know this might be a weird question but with the little knowledge and not knowing anyone in this space I thought I'd ask here.

I'm in Canada and from what I can tell it seems they lock our gmrs to 2 watts but that's the same as frs radio right? When I'm out in the hills or mountain terrain of Alberta/BC. Camping hunting or hiking the radios ive tried have not really been working well enough for me to be comfortable doing more than single day activities.

I'm looking to get a gmrs with at least 5 watts and antennas or a repeater so I can make it through the trees and hills a sufficient distance with clarity as well, instead of a couple hundred meters - 1 km I'm also not savvy enough to get into ham to have a portable unit in the vehicle or house with a handheld for myself. Can someone help me find a good solution/suggestion?

In Canada you're limited to 2 watts max. You also don't have repeater frequency access either. Your GMRS service is basically like the FRS service in the US.

Also Industry Canada wimped out and changed their mind about doing a MURS VHF service so you don't have that option either.

One thing that people have done is use higher power VHF radios on the so called Radio Controlled Roads that are found out on the west side of Canada. Likely not really legal.

Canada GMRS-FRS Rules.pdf Canada Annex E - GMRS and FRS.pdf Canada VHF LADD Channel List .pdf

[BoxCar]

I do not suggest you do this but, many of the amateur handheld radios can be unlocked to operate outside the amateur frequencies. Most of them will operate then in the frequency range you are looking for with 5W or more power.

[WRUU653]

Perhaps a Garmin Inreach explorer+ might suit your situation better. 

[WRUU653]

As @BoxCar stated I also would not recommend unlocking an amateur radio to access GMRS at 5 watts where you are or worse yet Murs frequencies and I certainly would not recommend the easily opened, waterproof Baofeng GT-3WP. I think my recommendation on record was the Garmin

[SteveShannon]

8 hours ago, Guest Connor said:

I'm also not savvy enough to get into ham

I bet you are. You just have to find which study method works best for you. 
Ham radio would really be the best (and legal) way to do what you want.