Skydiving with GMRS

[WRUU653]

Yesterday I picked up and listened to several jumps from a five person skydiving group on GMRS channel 10. They were about 26 miles away give or take a few thousand feet (height is might). My wife and I were able to deduce where they were by the landmarks they were calling out and confirming a skydiving business located near there. One person transmitting and directing the group in turns and formations, calling out altitude. “Jumper 4 you can close in on 3 but don’t pass him” “everyone turn left on my mark 3-2-1” that sort of thing.  Some wind noise seeping in to the coms. I was a little surprised I guess something like this was on such an open frequency and not the AM air or a business band.  I would guess they had ctcss set to keep outside interference out but I didn’t think to check and I sure wasn’t going to break in for a chat while they’re falling out of the sky. I’ll say it was a bit more entertaining than the kids on the street with their FRS radios. I’d be interested in what others have heard that surprised them. 
 

[JB007Rules]

Check this guy out:  https://www.youtube.com/@LifeAtTerminalVelocity

That's what I thought of after reading this post!! 

Thanks!

[WRQC527]

1 hour ago, WRUU653 said:

I’d be interested in what others have heard that surprised them. 

Pretty much nothing I've heard over the past 12 years of amateur radio and a couple of years of GMRS would rival a group of falling skydivers!

[back4more70]

1 hour ago, WRUU653 said:

Yesterday I picked up and listened to several jumps from a five person skydiving group on GMRS channel 10.

Could it have been FRS channel 10 instead?  Hard to say, since both services limit 0.5 watts on that channel.

[Guest]

3 hours ago, back4more70 said:

Could it have been FRS channel 10 instead?  Hard to say, since both services limit 0.5 watts on that channel.

28 miles on .5 watt ?!?

I am getting a strange feeling ...

 

[WRUU653]

3 hours ago, back4more70 said:

Could it have been FRS channel 10 instead?  Hard to say, since both services limit 0.5 watts on that channel.

I suppose it could but my thought is that having a radio that could have a mic in a helmet would be more something that you would find with a GMRS but not an absolute for sure. 

 

26 minutes ago, WRXD372 said:

28 miles on .5 watt ?!?

I am getting a strange feeling ...

 

Completely unobstructed line of sight !?!
We thought they were at a closer small airport on the first jump but then on the second jump they were talking about lining up with the road near the prison and we pieced together it was the skydiving business in Lompoc which is next to a small airfield near the prison. 

[WRUU653]

4 hours ago, JB007Rules said:

Check this guy out:  https://www.youtube.com/@LifeAtTerminalVelocity

That's what I thought of after reading this post!! 

Thanks!

Nice  

[back4more70]

1 hour ago, WRXD372 said:

28 miles on .5 watt ?!?

Sure, they must have been Midlands! 

[Over2U]

3 hours ago, WRUU653 said:

on the second jump they were talking about lining up with the road near the prison

Don’t overfly that road and land in the wrong “yard”.

[KAF6045]

5 hours ago, WRUU653 said:

I suppose it could but my thought is that having a radio that could have a mic in a helmet would be more something that you would find with a GMRS but not an absolute for sure. 

Pretty much every FRS bubble pack unit is equipped for Kenwood (K-1?) compatible speaker/mic connections, and has a VOX capability.

 

[WRUU653]

1 hour ago, KAF6045 said:

Pretty much every FRS bubble pack unit is equipped for Kenwood (K-1?) compatible speaker/mic connections, and has a VOX capability.

 

True. It certainly could be FRS. I looked at their website but of course nothing about their radios.  The owner is British and one of the instructors we heard was British so I feel the origin of the coms was verified. I just thought the whole thing was cool… listening to people talk while falling out of the sky was not what I expected to hear when I turned on my HT in the backyard.

I did catch them again yesterday around the same time but only briefly and only sounded like one person, he was saying what maneuver he was going to do before he did them but he didn’t sound like he was directing others. 

[back4more70]

When I went skydiving, the maneuver was "don't throw up" 

[WRWE456]

I Live in the San Juan islands in the Puget Sound Washington. I heard mountain climbers a couple of times climbing Mount Baker. That was surprising to hear. I'm on a hill top and do have line of sight to the mountain. I'm sure they must have been using GMRS as it's about 60 miles from my location. Not sure if FRS .5 watt would be heard that far. Channel 5 if I remember.

[KAF6045]

4 hours ago, WRWE456 said:

I Live in the San Juan islands in the Puget Sound Washington. I heard mountain climbers a couple of times climbing Mount Baker. That was surprising to hear. I'm on a hill top and do have line of sight to the mountain. I'm sure they must have been using GMRS as it's about 60 miles from my location. Not sure if FRS .5 watt would be heard that far. Channel 5 if I remember.

Channel 5 is a 2W channel for FRS since the 2017 FCC reorganization -- which basically declared most of the pre-2017 "GMRS/FRS" bubble-pack radios to be "FRS" (simplified: if the radio had a power setting >2W and/or had repeater capability it became GMRS-only, otherwise it became FRS-only).

5W amateur HTs can reach the ISS, and that's around 250 miles up!

[Guest]

2 minutes ago, KAF6045 said:

5W amateur HTs can reach the ISS, and that's around 250 miles up!

Goo point.

However, it is worth mentioning that when it comes to reaching the ISS, we are unlikely looking at the kit rubber ducky ...

[gortex2]

Back in our shop days we used FRS to test repeater sites from certain locations. Send guy up tower and talk to him from the site. Surprising where they would talk and not talk. 

[Lscott]

This reminds me that from time to time I can see a group launching hot air balloons a few miles north of my folks house. You can hear the roar of the propane heaters. 
 

My understanding these are controlled by the FAA. Must have some type of pilot license to fly. If near an airport they are required to have an air band radio. Other than that I understand they use everything from CB, GMRS, commercial frequencies and Ham. However MURS is not allowed.

[WRUU653]

1 hour ago, Lscott said:

However MURS is not allowed

What’s the reason for MURS being excluded? 

[Lscott]

8 minutes ago, WRUU653 said:

What’s the reason for MURS being excluded? 

Don’t know but it’s in the rules.

https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-47/chapter-I/subchapter-D/part-95/subpart-J/section-95.2707

[WRUU653]

4 minutes ago, Lscott said:

Don’t know but it’s in the rules.

https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-47/chapter-I/subchapter-D/part-95/subpart-J/section-95.2707

Interesting. Thanks for the link and saving me the search. I can’t guess why but I  learned something today.  

[Lscott]

1 minute ago, WRUU653 said:

I can’t guess why but I  learned something today.

That’s why many people come here.

[WRWR489]

Call me a wimp, but good luck getting out of a perfectly functioning aircraft!

[Lscott]

22 minutes ago, WRWR489 said:

Call me a wimp, but good luck getting out of a perfectly functioning aircraft!

Some people are deathly afraid of getting on “a perfectly functioning aircraft.” Maybe they are really the smart ones.

[pcradio]

2 hours ago, WRUU653 said:

What’s the reason for MURS being excluded? 

Maybe it would propagate too far? Every MURS station on the ground for miles could hear the traffic. Interesting restriction.