Why did you get a GMRS license?

[dosw]

I guess my fascination with radio started in the 70s when, as a kid, I had a Radio Shack kit from which I built a crystal radio. About that same time, a friend's dad had a CB in his Chevy truck that we would listen on once in awhile. My parents got my brother and I a couple of toy walkie-talkies back then also, which were in the 27.1xx MHz range. I built a kit that could transmit to them, as well, and got in trouble for bugging my sister's room.

In the early '90s I got my first RS scanner and did a bit of experimenting with various antenna configurations. Got into listening to aviation, first responders, and whatever else sounded interesting.

In the late 90s I was a buyer for a 14-store electronics retailer, and I remember this new type of two-way radio, FRS, just came out. I presented the idea of buying 50 units from Sony (ICB-U655) to our GMM who was underwhelmed with the idea. His recollection was around how poorly kiddy walkie talkies performed in that 27MHz band when he was a kid, too. Nevertheless I went ahead and ordered 50 units and put them in our "A" stores. They sold out the first weekend, and from there it was off to the races with that product category.

In the mid-2000s I picked up a couple of Motorola combination FRS/GMRS radios and used them only on the FRS channels, which at that time weren't entirely aligned with GMRS, if I recall. Eventually I wore those out from years of camping and travel, and forgot about FRS and GMRS until, as I mentioned earlier in this thread, my kids got to an age where we were enjoying exploring skiing, but they were too young for cell phones. I was worried that we might get separated. So I got a GMRS license and bought some Midland GMRS handhelds. Then it was pretty natural for me to add one to my car for a little more punch, in case the kids really did get separated at a ski resort. That turned out to be really useful for guiding the vehicle back to hook up with my RV, and also for caravanning multiple cars on road trips. And before I knew it, I was fully into GMRS.

[WRQI663]

I met Robert Vaughn back in the 70's - we didn't like each other......

I was always a fan of "Derek Flint" in Our Man Flint' multi use lighter

He also used a Vibroplex Original - I have one of those.

[SteveShannon]

53 minutes ago, WRQI663 said:

I met Robert Vaughn back in the 70's - we didn't like each other......

I was always a fan of "Derek Flint" in Our Man Flint' multi use lighter

He also used a Vibroplex Original - I have one of those.

Which “He” used a vibroplex?

[GreggInFL]

Having been around radio all my life, with decades on marine VHF, I was disappointed that marine was not allowed for use on land.  I was looking for something for neighborhood emergency comms for our HOA, which covers about 1,600 wooded acres.  FRS didn't have enough grunt to cover the distance and amateur required everyone pass a test; that was never going to happen.  Aside from the possible use of MURS, GMRS seemed the most appealing.  I picked up a CCR, watched some videos (thanks Randy!) and pushed the button.  The board liked the idea and authorized some R&D.  We now have a handful of HTs but will probably need a small repeater for complete coverage.

[nokones]

I use GMRS for Trail Comms with my Jeep Clubs and for other highway group travels with the Corvette and Porsche Clubs. I am a member of the Arizona GMRS Repeater Club, Southwest Community Repeater System, Texas GMRS Club, and the Crest Communications GMRS Club.

For my Race Comm, I use the Part 90 Business Radio Service freqs. throughout thd country. This allows me to use the P25 Digital Feature of my radios.

[dosw]

2 hours ago, GreggInFL said:

Having been around radio all my life, with decades on marine VHF, I was disappointed that marine was not allowed for use on land.  I was looking for something for neighborhood emergency comms for our HOA, which covers about 1,600 wooded acres.  FRS didn't have enough grunt to cover the distance and amateur required everyone pass a test; that was never going to happen.  Aside from the possible use of MURS, GMRS seemed the most appealing.  I picked up a CCR, watched some videos (thanks Randy!) and pushed the button.  The board liked the idea and authorized some R&D.  We now have a handful of HTs but will probably need a small repeater for complete coverage.

That's a nice way to get a repeater in your area; convince the HOA that it's good for the safety and convenience of all homeowners. And ask to be allowed to put an antenna up on the clubhouse roof, and maybe even get it funded.  

The downside is residents will get their licenses and proceed to carry HOA-style feuds into the airwaves.  -- just a joke

[WSDD519]

I have been around radio all my life.  My Dad was a radio jock (DJ) in the mid/late 1960s, I was a radio jock for 20+ yrs (started while in high school) and my Stepfather was big into CB and a ham.  It only grew from there. Got my Tech license in 1999, my General in 2008 and my Extra in 2009.  A ham friend who also has his GMRS license started talking it up recently.  After I did some research, I decided I'd get mine too.  So, here I am. WSDD519.  I thought it would be a great way to get my wife and maybe a few other family members into radio.  I'll take the grandsons riding around town on the golf cart and will take a radio so my wife can get up with me.  It gets her on the radio.  I think she likes it...although she'd never admit it   .  I picked up a pair of TidRadio TD-H8s recently.

Also, several members of my radio group got their GMRS licenses and since we have all the necessary equipment, we will be putting a repeater up as there's not one in our area.

By the way, I do radio every day in my job as the Dispatch Supervisor at my local PD. 

[WRQC527]

On 6/23/2024 at 1:06 PM, SteveShannon said:

So, why did you get a GMRS license?

Two reasons. First, for a extra layer of comms in addition to amateur radio, and second, because my wife isn't interested in getting a ham license, but we still like to use radio to communicate if I'm out of cell coverage but within repeater coverage. Which happens occasionally when I'm out hiking with friends in fringe cell coverage areas.

[WRQI663]

On 6/25/2024 at 6:18 AM, SteveShannon said:

Which “He” used a vibroplex?

Actually there was woman using an Original Deluxe in 'headquarters' and James Coburn (Derek Flint) was using a Standard when telling where the island was -- and it was real code.

[SteveShannon]

1 hour ago, WRQI663 said:

Actually there was woman using an Original Deluxe in 'headquarters' and James Coburn (Derek Flint) was using a Standard when telling where the island was -- and it was real code.

I’ll have to look for those. And I am interested in the backstory of you meeting Robert Vaughn.

[JBRPong]

Had CBs when I was a teenager.  Bought Motorola talkabout radios when driving across country with family in a 2nd car for more range.  Read the manual and it mentioned needing GMRS license to talk on some of the frequencies.  Went to FCC site and registered for one.  Few years later, ran across some Youtube videos on GMRS and bought cheap BaoFeng to play with and learned about repeaters.

[radiozip]

I'm the typical radio dork, my family is not. Wanted simple radio communication just in case. Though FRS probably accomplishes 90% of what we need it's nice to have the GMRS power/repeater bump should we need it.

[GreggInFL]

16 hours ago, WRQW589 said:

That's a nice way to get a repeater in your area; convince the HOA that it's good for the safety and convenience of all homeowners. And ask to be allowed to put an antenna up on the clubhouse roof, and maybe even get it funded.  

I was initially thinking about a portable system that could be set up post hurricane.  Then someone mentioned it could also be used daily by our maintenance personnel, so a permanent clubhouse install may be in the offing.

[Davichko5650]

On 6/23/2024 at 3:06 PM, SteveShannon said:

 

 

So, why did you get a GMRS license?

In my case, originally, strictly and only to provide mobile and marine mobile (not maritime) to base communications in far northern MN where we had no cellphone service.  Wife has never had any interest in amateur radio , so figured GMRS was the way to go. Thought about FRS, but then figured it wouldn't give us the range we'd need out on the lake. While Cell service has improved, it's still not 100% all over the lake.

Later on, got to using it more back in town as have a few friends who, also being hams, are involved in one of the better GMRS repeaters in my area. As well as using it around our slightly larger than most city lots to talk to my wife and son when there or out mobile.  Although I don't seek them out, if I hear a callsign being thrown out on one of the repeaters or GMRS simplex channels, I will reply and engage in conversation, even if it's just a short "radio check" type contact.

[Deerstalker]

Like all of you back in the 70's I started with a cb, then got caught up with illegal stuff like a Siltronic running the frequencies. Started building my antennas, got interested in Ham but could never get a handle on that Code. I like the idea of GMRS and repeaters, have been making a few new friends and learning as I go. And already wanting to upgrade my equipment. So I enjoy this new hobby in my retirement years..

[WRQI663]

I worked for the company that owned the ship that an episode of Colombo was going to shoot, he was in that episode.

I was on board the ship in port in San Francisco

 

[nokones]

So I can hang out with the Kool People!

[SteveShannon]

17 hours ago, Deerstalker said:

Like all of you back in the 70's I started with a cb, then got caught up with illegal stuff like a Siltronic running the frequencies. Started building my antennas, got interested in Ham but could never get a handle on that Code. I like the idea of GMRS and repeaters, have been making a few new friends and learning as I go. And already wanting to upgrade my equipment. So I enjoy this new hobby in my retirement years..

Morse code knowledge is no longer a requirement if you want to branch out into ham radio.

[Davichko5650]

2 hours ago, SteveShannon said:

Morse code knowledge is no longer a requirement if you want to branch out into ham radio.

Back when I got my Tech. license, morse wasn't for me a hold back point; I was taught to receive up to 8 wpm in my ASA days and had retained that into the early 90's.  When I went for Tech+, it was about a week of sending practice to get my 5 wpm solid. Back side of the solar cycle, so 10m was still hopping, and I kludged along on CW down on the lower bands as well. Life intervened, as it does, and I was out of the hobby for a number of years. Got back into it 4 years ago and ended my 28 year run as a Tech+ (admin changed to Tech. when they dropped the code) by getting General then a year and a half later upgraded to AE.  Elmer's goaded me as "all the really good DX is in the Extra Bands"...   Used CB back in my army days and for a spell thereafter, but only mobile and really never worked any Skip.  It was my love of HF listening on the SW and Ham Bands that finally hooked me for the ARS. Far more into the non phonne/cw modes like RTTY, PSK, Hellschreiber, VarAC, etc. (even, yes FT#) but do enjoy a good phone ragchew and a half-hearted contest run with the Mic.

[Goldstar]

Good discussions….

For myself, I got started in radio with CB. I had to talk to truckers at my job and the best way to do it was with CB, so I asked one of my CB-using coworkers to set up a “base station” for me. He walked me through some of the basics of radio and it sparked my interest. It wasn’t long before I started researching CB, and, in the process, I discovered a fascinating, powerful alternative called GMRS. I realized that GMRS could help me communicate with my family in several cellular dead zones we travel through (though not perfectly, cf. line-of-sight), and after I started talking on repeaters to extend my communication range (and also to chat with like-minded old-schoolers that use my local repeaters), I was permanently hooked.

Now, I’m studying for my Technician license for ham radio and will be taking the test in a week and a half. But even so, I’ll probably use GMRS more than anything else. 

[WSDM611]

I've been interested in radio communications since I was in my early teens and citizens band was in full swing during the seventies. My brother had a citizens band radio and never let me toy around with it, which just made the "itch" just that much harder to scratch. I eventually went through the citizens band radio phase and graduated to the amateur radio urge. I've had that license since the early nineties. I became interested in the gmrs service a couple of months ago and finally applied for my license. Although I am new to this spectrum of radio service, I am quicky learning that gmrs in nothing like amateur radio. In my opinion it isn't even close to amateur radio. I live near a big city in Texas and there's not even a repeater in the entirety of the city. There is one to the east of the city that barely covers a very small portion of the far east portion of the city. I live west of the city about twenty miles and there's nothing at all, as far as repeaters are concerned, for over a hundred miles. I would have thought that gmrs would have been organized at least to the point that coverage wouldn't be so sparce. Amateur repeaters are everywhere, but not gmrs repeaters! I have a fifty foot Rohn Tower beside my house that could house a repeater, but I'm at the point that I'm pondering the real worth of continuing with the gmrs service. The kicker is that several gmrs related websites showed a few repeaters that covered the area where I live, but I later found out that they had been turned off for some reason. So, now I have a license and the option to simply run in simplex, build and install a repeater or throw in the towel. But I don't give up easily, so I figure I'll explore every possibility before I finally call it quits.

[CoffeeTime]

Randolpho 

[WSDI419]

The short answer is that I was looking for more radio activity.

I started with a pair of walkie talkies made by Lafeyette in the early 70's.  I would talk with other kids in the neighborhood.

Then, my dad got a CB for his truck during that craze in the mid 70s.  I had one in my car later on as a teenager, as did my friends, in the early 80s until activity on that band dried up. 

I got my ham license in the early 90s when 2M / 70cm was big.  I joined a club and got to work on repeaters which I enjoyed learning about.  It was fun, but the club dwindled and ham radio activity really dropped on VHF/UHF.

I got my GMRS license a couple of weeks ago thinking it was the newest craze.  Sadly, I can hear two REACT repeaters in another state and that is about it apart from some kids on FRS.

 

 

 

[AdmiralCochrane]

Uniden is your friend

[Socalgmrs]

11 hours ago, WSDI419 said:

The short answer is that I was looking for more radio activity.

I started with a pair of walkie talkies made by Lafeyette in the early 70's.  I would talk with other kids in the neighborhood.

Then, my dad got a CB for his truck during that craze in the mid 70s.  I had one in my car later on as a teenager, as did my friends, in the early 80s until activity on that band dried up. 

I got my ham license in the early 90s when 2M / 70cm was big.  I joined a club and got to work on repeaters which I enjoyed learning about.  It was fun, but the club dwindled and ham radio activity really dropped on VHF/UHF.

I got my GMRS license a couple of weeks ago thinking it was the newest craze.  Sadly, I can hear two REACT repeaters in another state and that is about it apart from some kids on FRS.

 

 

 

Sounds like you have an opportunity to make gmrs great in your area.   Start talking to people about being prepared.   Start talking to people about simplex and repeaters.  Get people on board have simplex nets in the neighborhood.   Get with a few friends and go in on a basic repeaters and start the process.