New to GMRS: Any tips appreciated!

[WRYF376]

Hey everyone! Just got my license a couple days back, WRYF376. I grew up around my grandpa who was a ham/GMRS operator for most of his life, so I have a general idea of the goings-on in this community, but wanted to see if anyone had pointers or tips for any new kids on the block! Any advice on setups, radio suggestions and the likes are appreciated greatly!

[WRXB215]

Welcome!

Rule #1: Have fun and don't get too hung up on the small stuff.

[Guest]

Rule #2:

Find some people who pretend to know more than you and are willing to share - together, you will figure everything out and swing back to rule #1 !!!

You found us - welcome to the forum 

#SharedKnowledgeIsPower

 

[marcspaz]

Welcome! 

 

As far as pointers go, I have a couple that may help.

1.) GMRS is a "bring your own contacts" type of environment. If you call out and don't hear much (or nothing) don't let it discouraged you. 

2.) GMRS is in the UHF radio segment and is an RF line of sight service. So, when it comes to range, height is might. 

3.) In radio, all the magic is in the antenna. Don't get to hung up on power output.  That said, more power isn’t a bad thing. 

 

As far as setups/radios go, what is it you want to accomplish? Where and what you're doing, combined with your desire for simplicity or Bells and Whistles will determine what you need.

[WRHS218]

47 minutes ago, WRYF376 said:

Hey everyone! Just got my license a couple days back, WRYF376. I grew up around my grandpa who was a ham/GMRS operator for most of his life, so I have a general idea of the goings-on in this community, but wanted to see if anyone had pointers or tips for any new kids on the block! Any advice on setups, radio suggestions and the likes are appreciated greatly!

You have come to the right place if you have specific questions. There is a lot of knowledge in these hallowed halls. However, as with every corner of the interwebs, you will get good answers, correct answers, and opinions on things you didn't ask. The key is to be able to differentiate between them all.

[Guest]

1 hour ago, marcspaz said:

3.) In radio, all the magic is in the antenna. Don't get to hung up on power output.  That said, more power isn’t a bad thing. 

... contrary to wide spread belief and pop-culture-indoctrination:

SIZE does Matter !!! 

[WRUU653]

Welcome @WRYF376 to the forum. Good people here, lots of info and opinions too. Feel free to ask questions and someone will have answers.

[Sab02r]

I would suggest buying a couple of different brands of cheaper (more affordable) radios to start with and learn how to program them through software and keypad and read the manuals to understand the features of each.  You will learn that some features are more useful to you than others, and some radios are more user-friendly than others.

The first radio I bought; I fell in love with.  The second radio I bought made me realize that there were features (scanlists in my case) that make a radio more broadly useful to a particular type of use...illustrating that my first choice wasn't the best choice for me.

Once you know how you will use the radio, and what features are most-useful to you...then its time move up to bigger, badder, spendier models with huge antennas requiring bigger. badder and even more-spendier coax.

[UpperBucks]

Hello, and welcome to the world of direct person-to-person and place-to-place communications.

I've been a licensed amateur radio operator for well over 20 years, I've also been a municipal emergency management coordinator and I have been a volunteer firefighter for over 20 years.
I am generally into radio-related stuff, and always have been. The thing I like about GMRS is that it's much closer to CB radio in simplicity for "normal" people who just want to talk from here to there, while retaining a little bit of sophistication for people who want to mess around with antennas, repeaters, networks and so on.

There are many good suggestions already in the responses, so I'll only add on a few things.

For me GMRS has only 3 uses:

1. An escape from my phone when I'm working out in the yard.
I leave one radio in the house and keep one with me. No text messages, no beeps, no boops, no pings, no rings. Merciful silence - unless someone needs me at the house, and they can reach me.  If you do nothing else but escape your phone but stay connected with people, that's a good use of GMRS.

2. A never-ending experiment in local to regional alternative/offline communications.
My ham radio background comes into play here (not in a good way); way back in 2012, hurricane Sandy's damage to the area I live wiped out the electricity and telecom infrastructure for quite some time, and that was when I learned that maybe Ham radio is not what it used to be, because we were unable to rely on it for...well...anything at all. That's a whole different topic, but the point is that I've been testing GMRS in a variety of scenarios and have found that in some areas it really does work quite well for point-to-point communications over 3 to 5 miles, especially when you have a nice high external antenna, or even a decent mobile antenna (handhelds are intrinsically limited when it comes to distance optimization - height matters). So one of the things that I've done with GMRS is prepared a "Communications Plan" with a few folks, where I work out what channels we use to call and talk (and, to be clear, YOUR channel 1 is not always MY channel 1 - see this site https://www.k0tfu.org/reference/frs-gmrs-privacy-codes-demystified.html ) and try it out now and then from various places. You'll find out all the places you can't reach and eventually develop a "my coverage" map, and you'll wish it was larger. But be careful - this path leads to feeling that you need to buy an install a repeater, even though you should not do that. No really, don't do it. That path leads to madness . 

3. Communications at events. The actual, most practical use of hand-held radios of any kind, GMRS or not - is people talking to other people to exchange information, coordinate activities, and so on, is actually the thing I do the least with my GMRS radios, but when I do, they are very useful. Various members of my family are active in festivals of various kinds, and that's when the "dumb" GMRS radios come out (the ones with just "channels"). There's nothing quite so easy to use as a push-to-talk radio that does not require cell service or wifi to operate, and this is especially so at a music festival in some muddy patch of nowhere.

Something I've not tried with GMRS, only because I've not really invested the time/money is Data/Short Messages. GMRS hand-held portable units may transmit digital data containing location information, or requesting location information from one or more other GMRS or FRS units, or containing a brief text message to another specific GMRS or FRS unit. ) This radio can do Data https://baofengtech.com/product/gmrs-pro/



 

 

 

[WRQC527]

11 hours ago, WRYF376 said:

I grew up around my grandpa who was a ham/GMRS operator for most of his life

It's good to hear that your grandpa did both. As a grandpa, I also do both and I hope my grandchildren have at least some interest in radio because of me. You'll no doubt see some stupid arguments and snide comments here about ham vs GMRS. Ignore them. It's mostly some people stirring the pot to get a reaction. Ham radio and GMRS have a lot of differences in how they are used, but a lot of similarities in how they work. Enjoy both. Welcome in.

[Chedz]

On 8/3/2023 at 10:17 AM, WRYF376 said:

... to see if anyone had pointers or tips for any new kids on the block! Any advice on setups, radio suggestions and the likes are appreciated greatly!

Hi everyone,

I'm echoing what WRYF376 has posted (rather than start a new thread and making a similar request for guidance). I kinda fell into GMRS by accident when I recently obtained a Talkpod A36Plus radio. I initially thought of only using it as a air band "scanner," but found out there is so much more to it. I recently got my license (WRYF568) and am completely overwhelmed by what is involved (that is, everything having to do with it). So I look forward to absorbing the collective wisdom and knowledge of the myGMRS membership to get me started and involved.

Thanks all, this looks like a great board.

 

[Sshannon]

36 minutes ago, Chedz said:

Hi everyone,

I'm echoing what WRYF376 has posted (rather than start a new thread and making a similar request for guidance). I kinda fell into GMRS by accident when I recently obtained a Talkpod A36Plus radio. I initially thought of only using it as a air band "scanner," but found out there is so much more to it. I recently got my license (WRYF568) and am completely overwhelmed by what is involved (that is, everything having to do with it). So I look forward to absorbing the collective wisdom and knowledge of the myGMRS membership to get me started and involved.

Thanks all, this looks like a great board.

 

Welcome!  I hope you enjoy it!

[Guest]

1 hour ago, Chedz said:

Hi everyone,

I'm echoing what WRYF376 has posted (rather than start a new thread and making a similar request for guidance). I kinda fell into GMRS by accident when I recently obtained a Talkpod A36Plus radio. I initially thought of only using it as a air band "scanner," but found out there is so much more to it. I recently got my license (WRYF568) and am completely overwhelmed by what is involved (that is, everything having to do with it). So I look forward to absorbing the collective wisdom and knowledge of the myGMRS membership to get me started and involved.

Thanks all, this looks like a great board.

 

Welcome !!!

[WRUU653]

Welcome To the forum @Chedz, great profile pic!

[Hoppyjr]

Welcome!


Lots of great folks around here that will give you excellent advice on a range of GMRS topics, so I’ll stick to basic advice…. Always check for the Adams Apple.

[WRYF792]

Welcome aboard! I just got my license on Friday and can say that I've had issues with my first radio so far, but I've learned so much from this community already! This is an amazing resource for GMRS!

[WRWE456]

On 8/5/2023 at 1:56 PM, Chedz said:

Hi everyone,

I'm echoing what WRYF376 has posted (rather than start a new thread and making a similar request for guidance). I kinda fell into GMRS by accident when I recently obtained a Talkpod A36Plus radio. I initially thought of only using it as a air band "scanner," but found out there is so much more to it. I recently got my license (WRYF568) and am completely overwhelmed by what is involved (that is, everything having to do with it). So I look forward to absorbing the collective wisdom and knowledge of the myGMRS membership to get me started and involved.

Thanks all, this looks like a great board.

 

Hi Welcome!

Before you get to excited about the Talkpod A36Plus Have a look at this review. I have come to trust Scott's reviews.

https://rumble.com/v34qiql-why-you-should-avoid-the-talkpod-a36-plus.html?mref=6zof&mc=dgip3&utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=KS6DAY&ep=2

It may help you avoid some frustration.

[OffRoaderX]

11 hours ago, WRXE944 said:

First time I ever had to throttle down the talk speed to 0.75 x!

All the good YouTubers talk very slowly and deliberately. 

[Hoppyjr]

All the good YouTubers talk very slowly and deliberately. 

I heard they do that because the chicks find it alluring.

[WRUU653]

1 hour ago, OffRoaderX said:

All the good YouTubers talk very slowly and deliberately. 

And they never waste your time

[Guest]

On 8/8/2023 at 11:53 AM, WRUU653 said:

And they never waste your time

The thinks we do for the Algorithm 

[jsneezy]

On 8/8/2023 at 11:25 AM, WRUZ229 said:

I heard they do that because the chicks find it alluring.

I think you're getting a little mixed up. The use of wrist straps and belt clips are to impress the chicks. I think the slow and deliberate speech is so that "some people" can also understand.

[Blaise]

On 8/8/2023 at 1:48 PM, OffRoaderX said:

All the good YouTubers talk very slowly and deliberately. 

It took me this long to finish reading this!

[Chedz]

On 8/7/2023 at 2:22 PM, WRWE456 said:

Hi Welcome!

Before you get to excited about the Talkpod A36Plus Have a look at this review. I have come to trust Scott's reviews.

https://rumble.com/v34qiql-why-you-should-avoid-the-talkpod-a36-plus.html?mref=6zof&mc=dgip3&utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=KS6DAY&ep=2

It may help you avoid some frustration.

WRWE456,

My apologies for this late response to your post (life got me sidelined for awhile). I've done nothing with GMRS and the A36 Plus since my first posting on the board. That video was quite an eye-opener. Happily, I did not purchase the radio so can easily chuck-it if the need arises. Prior to seeing this video I had only seen a few of the initial reviews of the radio. Most were critical of the noise it can bleed over onto other frequencies (I'm still new to the world of radio so please excuse me if I am not using the correct terminology), while pointing out some of the great features. I do think Mr. Scott did a fine job of raising awareness of many of the deficiencies of the product, and the alleged practices, from Talkpod, that he claims to have encountered. I totally agree that the manual, that comes with the radio, is nearly useless to a rank beginner like me. And, as mentioned in my first posting, I thought of primarily using it to monitor the air and weather bands before going down the GMRS path - now I find it doesn't do much good in that either. I managed, somehow, to input the tower frequency for the airport that's nearby, and can barely hear it, let alone understand it.

So I really appreciate seeing the review, and learning a bit more about the A36Plus. If nothing else I will use it as a stepping-stone radio to something better as I learn more about GMRS and, perhaps, grow into actually using it. In the meantime, I'll just lurk and learn on the forum. Thanks again.

Chedz

WRYF568

[WRYD530]

On 8/3/2023 at 10:17 AM, WRYF376 said:

Hey everyone! Just got my license a couple days back, WRYF376. I grew up around my grandpa who was a ham/GMRS operator for most of his life, so I have a general idea of the goings-on in this community, but wanted to see if anyone had pointers or tips for any new kids on the block! Any advice on setups, radio suggestions and the likes are appreciated greatly!

Seeing this post late. What setup did you decide on? Not sure if anyone asked this but what is your goal for gmrs. Off road communication, just general comms?