"Travel" channels....why all the arguing??

[WRXH357]

I'm fairly new to the whole GMRS thing.  Been on the radio (so to speak) for a few months now.  I've been able to connect over repeaters and some simplex connections.

I have yet to really hear anyone using the "Travel" channels.  To which I see/read PLENTY of people arguing about the "Travel" channels.  Why all the hate/discontent about what channel/frequency/tone to use??  Am I missing something?

I have programmed a channel with the (what I believe is) the "old school" travel channel settings.  Do I need to add more channels setup up for "travel"??

 

(sigh)

[Lscott]

14 minutes ago, WRXH357 said:

Am I missing something?

No.

Too many people want to reinvent the wheel so to speak. 

[Adamdaj]

20 minutes ago, WRXH357 said:

I'm fairly new to the whole GMRS thing.  Been on the radio (so to speak) for a few months now.  I've been able to connect over repeaters and some simplex connections.

I have yet to really hear anyone using the "Travel" channels.  To which I see/read PLENTY of people arguing about the "Travel" channels.  Why all the hate/discontent about what channel/frequency/tone to use??  Am I missing something?

I have programmed a channel with the (what I believe is) the "old school" travel channel settings.  Do I need to add more channels setup up for "travel"??

 

(sigh)

I'm taking a wild guess, you're asking if there's a national calling or hailing channel, right? I don't want to steer you wrong or get into discussion that I myself get stuck on times. Yet I'm licensed Amateur Radio Operator as well as a GMRS licensee. Being a VE I feel weird not understanding the FCC radio service rules and regulations on bot 95 and 97. But keep asking !

[KAF6045]

2 hours ago, WRXH357 said:

I'm fairly new to the whole GMRS thing.  Been on the radio (so to speak) for a few months now.  I've been able to connect over repeaters and some simplex connections.

I have yet to really hear anyone using the "Travel" channels.  To which I see/read PLENTY of people arguing about the "Travel" channels.  Why all the hate/discontent about what channel/frequency/tone to use??  Am I missing something?

I have programmed a channel with the (what I believe is) the "old school" travel channel settings.  Do I need to add more channels setup up for "travel"??

 

(sigh)

Decades ago, the FCC designated a frequency* (pair 462/467 repeater) as an Emergency/Traveller Assistance frequency, and it was commonly recommended that (as I recall) a CTCSS tone of 141.3 be used with it.

* In those days, one's license specified TWO of the eight main frequency (pairs) and those were the ONLY main frequencies one could use for general communication. Since many radios of the day only had an A/B (or 1/2) select switch, it was common for practically everyone to specify the emergency frequency as one of the two licensed frequencies (the emergency frequency could be used by anyone /for/ emergencies, but if your radio only and A/B and neither was set for the emergency frequency, one was out of luck.

There were no "channel numbers" in those days. My "A" channel could be totally different frequency from your "A" channel.

[marcspaz]

Two groups, Popular Wireless and Personal Radio Association came up with the idea of an Open Repeater Initiative (OPI). It was designed to get repeater owners to open up and share resources instead of locking down systems. The idea was to make it easier for GMRS users to find and access repeaters. 

 

The group established the 141.3 CTCSS/PL as a “travel tone”.  Originally, the repeater pair 462/467.675 was the OPI frequency (aka today as the travel channel). However, OPI eventually morphed into any repeater pair using 141.3 for PL access and did not require prior permission.

 

Well, OPI and the founding groups are long gone, but many repeater owners still honor the spirit of OPI on their repeaters.  In the absence of OPI, there has been debate in the community over what should be put into place, if anything. There is merit to all sides, but there are trolls that stir the pot, too.

[WRXH357]

Okay.  Sounds like I'll double check my "travel" setting.  I'll keep it labeled as such so I can give a shout out while rolling down the road.  

Thanks for all the replies.  I'm liking the GMRS thing, sometimes I wish it was easier.  

[KAF6045]

7 hours ago, WRXH357 said:

Okay.  Sounds like I'll double check my "travel" setting.  I'll keep it labeled as such so I can give a shout out while rolling down the road.  

Thanks for all the replies.  I'm liking the GMRS thing, sometimes I wish it was easier.  

One factor is that many are pushing the use of "channel 19" (to match the common CB trucking channel), while the original FCC emergency frequency is on "channel 20"

[marcspaz]

40 minutes ago, KAF6045 said:

One factor is that many are pushing the use of "channel 19" (to match the common CB trucking channel), while the original FCC emergency frequency is on "channel 20"

 

Yeah, i never understood that personally.  There is a pretty valid reason for using ch19 on CB. It is the center of the band and most AM and SSB radios were tuned for max power on 27.185 MHz. Also, properly tuned antennas are tuned for that frequency as well.

 

That mentality is non-applicable because the center frequency on GMRS is not a usable frequency and no where near channel 19 or 20 (462/467.65 or .675). So picking any channel is really just picking a number for the sake of picking a number. It doesn't serve a purpose. Honestly, I don't even think saying that copying CB for ease of use is valid, because of all the GMRS users I know personally, many of them never used CB and think ch19 is "the trucker channel ".

[JLeikhim]

I think the Channel 19 was a truckers channel long before 40 channel radios were mainstream. So i dont think being at center of the band was the reason.

Sent from my SM-T350 using Tapatalk

[marcspaz]

2 hours ago, JLeikhim said:

I think the Channel 19 was a truckers channel long before 40 channel radios were mainstream. So i dont think being at center of the band was the reason.

Sent from my SM-T350 using Tapatalk
 

 

You may be onto something.  When CB's were only 19 channels (and later 23 channels), ch17 and ch19 were most commonly used by travelers and truck drivers.  Ch17 was used for north-south and ch19 was used for east-west.  I don't know why those were selected because it was so long ago and not well documented... CB's have been 40 channels for more than 46 years. 

Far as I can tell channel 19 became extremely popular as the main channel for truck drivers, regardless of direction of travel, in 1977 and 1978, following the release of movies like Convoy and Smokey & The Bandit.  It's possible modern use is impacted by '70s pop-culture. 

In any case, that doesn't negate the technical advantages of using channel 19 and the potential reason behind the ongoing use for several decades.

[H8SPVMT]

I just set my unit to SCAN all the channels....

[Blaise]

Sorry to join in late, but I've been watching this fight for a while, and I've boiled it down to 2 apparent positions:

1. "20 is great because I remember using GMRS decades ago, so I assume that everyone else will remember that somebody decades ago said the frequency currently assigned to 20 was a general calling channel for repeaters, so this will be easy to 'sell' to the three other people who used GMRS back then."
2. "19 is great because I remember CB when people used it, so I assume everyone else will remember that CB used 19 as a general calling channel, so this will be easy to 'sell' to the three other people who still think CB is relevant."

If I have an opinion, it's that both positions are arbitrary and the fight is dumb, but one (19) is legally inaccessible to nearly 20% of the US population because of the "lines" drawn with Canada, so that one is slightly stupider...

 

[WRUU653]

7 minutes ago, Blaise said:

so this will be easy to 'sell' to the three other people

[Sshannon]

3 minutes ago, WRXE944 said:

Hey, @Sshannon: when I travel up to Montana in my EV starting next week and stop in Butte to charge my battery, what channel should I use?

It will probably be around Noon, as I expect to charge my battery and spend the night before in Dell, Montana and take off early to go to Butte.

There’s no GMRS repeater here. 
For 2 meter 146.940, 100 Hz tone, -0.600 MHz offset (146.340 xmit) is probably the most monitored channel. It can be reached beginning at about Dillon. 
Drive safely.