GMRS and Amateur Radio for emergencies... Have you done it?

[WRQC527]

A recent thread made me think... Has anyone here used GMRS or amateur radio for actual emergency situations? I've listened in while someone tried to locate and help someone who was lost at night on a dark mountain road out of cell range, but I'm curious how many others have done anything similar. How did it go?

[kidphc]

I haven't had to. But regularly follow AARL wilderness protocols when out in the woods.

Especially, around George Washington National Park in Wva. Dad lives close by and if you aren't right by a town, you often don't have cell service.

Really wish all radios followed NEMEA standards for GPS data.

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[Guest]

Yes.  I have used cb (years ago) and gmrs for emergencies.   From being lost in a jeep to horse back trail riding emergencies and back country hiking to wild fire animal evacuation to weather related cell and power outages. I’ve always been willing to help any one in an emergency      In my areas I’ve always had many other people on the radio being willing to help in all types of situations over the years.  Radio is an invaluable tool.   Now I’m part of a huge gmrs club that spans over 200miles and has over 80 members. Many monitor the radio most of the day and many are very willing the help in any way they can. 

[gortex2]

Since REACT no and that was all on CB. Never used GMRS for anything like that.

 

[WRTF629]

I never have used gmrs for emergency, but Dad who is 80 years old has called on it for me to help him get deer out of the hollow more than once when I was hunting down the road from him through the years. Cell Phone has very Limited coverage on his farm so GMRS with a repeater covers it all. The one time he should have had it with him he did not and he broke his Tibia, he had to wait till some missed him to come looking for him. IF he had his radio with him it would not have been an issue. I ended up finding him setting on the trailer that was attached to the tractor. His broken leg would not let him operate the tractor so he was sitting on trailer till some one found him. I been thinking of putting a radio on the tractor it self because of that.

[DONE]

I have not used it up to this point.  But I have looked at it as a possibility for that.  Much of my family lives within the coverage area of the repeater, at least if they are using a base antenna and radio.  I started assembling bases and antenna's to put at family members houses so there would be a way for them to communicate with each other and myself in the event of a communications failure, storm or other situation.  If for nothing else, piece of mind. 

The repeater is on enough power backup that I am not concerned with it failing due to anything short of a tornado hitting the building and tower. 

But I am still trying to convince the wife to let me put a radio in her vehicle for this use.  She doesn't understand that the cellular network can be fragile in certain situations and a way to communicate outside of cell calls isn't a bad thing. 

 

[Guest]

3 minutes ago, WRKC935 said:

 

But I am still trying to convince the wife to let me put a radio in her vehicle for this use.  She doesn't understand that the cellular network can be fragile in certain situations and a way to communicate outside of cell calls isn't a bad thing. 

 

I feel you.  It took a cell outage for my wife to ask for a radio in her truck. Now she uses it all the time. 

[SteveShannon]

2 hours ago, WRXP381 said:

I feel you.  It took a cell outage for my wife to ask for a radio in her truck. Now she uses it all the time. 

After AT&T’s outage today, I predict more radios in trucks.

[WRYZ926]

MARS use to use amateur radio to transfer to phone for service members stationed overseas. I'm sure they still do that to this day. I made a few calls from the Middle East back to the states this way.

The same can be done here in a real emergency if/when needed. You just need tow people that can reach each other by radio and one with a good phone connection out.

[PACNWComms]

For local Search and Rescue, used FRS/GMRs often in the past (decade or so ago) as many state and national parks tried to popularize FRS Channel 1 for emergency use, but it seems to only be used by little kids asking "hello" now. 

Even some search and rescue helicopters were equipped with Garmin Rino series GPS/radios.....and a local park claimed that these had been used to find some lost hikers at some point, but possibly just a local anecdote. 

Unless Garmin's have improved (they have several generations of newer GPS/radios now), they seemed like a great idea but never saw them actually used much for emergency situations. Just good to have if you find yourself in a situation where location is known via GPS, and a radio signal might be heard. 

[WRHS218]

While not exactly emergency situations we have used our GMRS radios during a forced evacuation from a very large fast moving wildfire with a forced power outage. We used them again last year when our area had a 30 year record snow fall where our area lost power and snowed in for 5-14 days. We used them instead of phones, due to the weather, while were out digging cars out and checking on neighbors. On a trip last fall with a couple of friends, two if us had radios. The other two didn't want to mess with carrying a radio. One of the four person group decided to return to the car but didn't let anyone know as we had spread out in the valley we were in. We looked for the person and for a while and finally found them near the car. The next day we were in a different area and I gave the other two in our group a radio because I had brought extras. They didn't not object to carrying a radio that time. We have now used them enough that I bought my wife a pink radio for Valentine's day. She was actually happy to get it.

[WRQC527]

1 hour ago, WRHS218 said:

forced evacuation from a very large fast moving wildfire with a forced power outage.

That definitely sounds like an emergency situation!

[WRYT685]

I've used CB for emergencies, but in light of the recent AT&T shutdown, I'm picking up a couple more GMRS/FRS HHs for my spouse and adult kids to use for emergency comms if something similar happens to our provider/s.  We fortunately live close enough we will be able to communicate on the FRS channels between our houses.

 

[WQAI363]

On 2/23/2024 at 9:21 AM, WRYZ926 said:

MARS use to use amateur radio to transfer to phone for service members stationed overseas. I'm sure they still do that to this day. I made a few calls from the Middle East back to the states this way.

The same can be done here in a real emergency if/when needed. You just need tow people that can reach each other by radio and one with a good phone connection out.

Re-Examine what you have posted. I assume forum was on providing communications during SHTF when commercial landline and cellular are not available. Sure, providing phone patches for people is fine and dandy, but during a Real SHTF situation, it's a guarantee that commercial landlines and cellular systems won't be functioning. So, having a patch from an Amateur Radio to a phone is useless.

[WRQC527]

24 minutes ago, Adamdaj said:

Re-Examine what you have posted. I assume forum was on providing communications during SHTF when commercial landline and cellular are not available. Sure, providing phone patches for people is fine and dandy, but during a Real SHTF situation, it's a guarantee that commercial landlines and cellular systems won't be functioning. So, having a patch from an Amateur Radio to a phone is useless.

Really what I asked when I started this thread is if anyone has ever used GMRS or amateur radio in a real emergency. 

[BoxCar]

52 minutes ago, Adamdaj said:

I assume forum was on providing communications during SHTF when commercial landline and cellular are not available. Sure, providing phone patches for people is fine and dandy, but during a Real SHTF situation, it's a guarantee that commercial landlines and cellular systems won't be functioning. So, having a patch from an Amateur Radio to a phone is useless.

I disagree with your assumption that phone service would fail nationwide under most conditions. A SHTF situation is generally localized, but the locality may cover a large area. Hurricanes and wildfires are fair examples, as those affected would treat the problem as a SHTF event, but 100 or more miles away, there are no problems. You would probably not be able to communicate outside a small area around you using GMRS or FRS due to the frequencies being used. Amateur radio in the 2 meter and 70 cm bands would likely experience the same problems. However, not all frequencies would be effected the same and hams, having access to many other frequencies, should be able to relay messages and even phone patches to other areas. 

[WRYZ926]

1 hour ago, Adamdaj said:

Re-Examine what you have posted. I assume forum was on providing communications during SHTF when commercial landline and cellular are not available. Sure, providing phone patches for people is fine and dandy, but during a Real SHTF situation, it's a guarantee that commercial landlines and cellular systems won't be functioning. So, having a patch from an Amateur Radio to a phone is useless.

No need to re examine my reply. If phone service is down in one area but working in other areas then radio operators operating with in their license privileges can relay as needed in an emergency.