is there any set channel for hiway use?

[gortex2]

Sorry but my fathers renewal in January still lists the restriction. I also just did a searcdh for July only licences and the last one issued in NY was on July 25 and shows it on the license....So yes its still in effect as far as licenses are conerned. For years my father wanted to use 650 which is how we ended up on 675 for decades. 

Special Conditions

Effective 2/16/99 the GMRS rules have been amended and you may operate on any of the primary or interstitial channels shown in section 95.1763. Exception: Licensees who operate North of Line A and East of Line C may not operate on channels 462.650 MHZ, 467.650 MHZ, 462.700 MHZ and 467.700 MHZ unless your previous license authorized such operations.

 

 

[nokones]

18 minutes ago, gortex2 said:

Sorry but my fathers renewal in January still lists the restriction. I also just did a searcdh for July only licences and the last one issued in NY was on July 25 and shows it on the license....So yes its still in effect as far as licenses are conerned. For years my father wanted to use 650 which is how we ended up on 675 for decades. 

Special Conditions

Effective 2/16/99 the GMRS rules have been amended and you may operate on any of the primary or interstitial channels shown in section 95.1763. Exception: Licensees who operate North of Line A and East of Line C may not operate on channels 462.650 MHZ, 467.650 MHZ, 462.700 MHZ and 467.700 MHZ unless your previous license authorized such operations.

 

 

Hmm, maybe I didn't read the correct letters regarding freqs below 470 MHz that require mutual agreements between Canada and the United States. I'll have to do some more research on the subject. If is restricted it should be in one of those mutually signed letters listing those two  restricted freqs.

[nokones]

According to the FCC's website there is no mutual frequency coordination agreement between the United States and Canada for any spectrum between 460-469 MHz. Also. the Government of Canada Department of Communication (DOC) has allocated 462.650 and 462.700 MHz for GMRS and FRS use. All 467 freqs are reserved for future allocation/use. The DOC only allows simplex operation for GMRS.

I am not sure why there would be a restriction for using the GMRS 650 and 700 MHz channel pairs north of Line A and east of Line C. I am unable to locate any FCC documentation regarding this subject restriction to support the waivers and conditions listed on the GMRS license or any rule in Part 95 Subparts A and E.

However, if the license has this waiver and condition stated on the license, it's binding and must be adhere to.

[nokones]

Thank God there no restrictions for UHF freqs below 470 MHz with Mexico.

[WSCS601]

During the grand and glorious era of Chicken Band, at least North of Line "A" in the Seattle area it was channel 17 claimed by the transporters of goods bearing more than 17 wheels.  But then, Seattle always did march to its own drum.

[hjmichael]

We have traveled about 9000 miles this summer with "We Monitor GMRS 19" on the back of our 5th wheel and have not had anyone reach out to us. It's an 8x10 sign black on white, I can read it about 200 feet back. I know everyone does not have my eyes, but dang someone should have seen it. 

[SteveShannon]

12 hours ago, nokones said:

According to the FCC's website there is no mutual frequency coordination agreement between the United States and Canada for any spectrum between 460-469 MHz. Also. the Government of Canada Department of Communication (DOC) has allocated 462.650 and 462.700 MHz for GMRS and FRS use. All 467 freqs are reserved for future allocation/use. The DOC only allows simplex operation for GMRS.

I am not sure why there would be a restriction for using the GMRS 650 and 700 MHz channel pairs north of Line A and east of Line C. I am unable to locate any FCC documentation regarding this subject restriction to support the waivers and conditions listed on the GMRS license or any rule in Part 95 Subparts A and E.

However, if the license has this waiver and condition stated on the license, it's binding and must be adhere to.

I completely agree, Kenny.  I also cannot find anything on either FCC or ISDE sites other than the limitation expressed on the license. I wonder if this is simply a case of someone neglecting to update the license text.

[gortex2]

I'm not sure either. For SAR I have some 450.xx and some 460.xx frequencies. We still had to send our last frequency to Canada last summer for coordination. I'm not sure what really is accurate or not but it takes forever to get part 90 LMR frequencies north of Line A.

 

[Sonicgott]

This is just my thought:

If you’d like to talk, be the one to start the conversation.

Hit up your favorite local repeater and just say anything.

Sometimes I’ll shout out my call sign with “listening” just to make sure I’m in range of a repeater.

When it comes to traveling, any channel works. 15-22 are your high power channels, up to 50 watts, so, might be worth it (if you’re bored) to just put yourself out there.

”WSCL244, listening. WSCL244,” or something to that effect. You might get a response. You might not. It’s a toss up.

GMRS was originally intended, to my understanding, to be a utility and talk with people you know are going to respond, such as a caravan road trip across the state, and you’re following other vehicles who are all on GMRS. Much safer to talk on radio than to text in the car… >.>
 

Anyway, no specific channel. Talk wherever you want. If you hear a conversation that’s interesting that you want to join in on, just announce your call sign when there’s a free spot. If they invite you in, they’ll give you a hello. If not, just move on.

It isn’t meant to be taken too seriously, though.

[Ian]

May I make a modest proposal?  20/22 is the Open Repeater Initiative method for allowing travelers to opportunistically use open repeaters while traveling, and the Queen has declared 19 to be the unofficial official highway channel.  This makes life simple:  

19/-- for simplex and 20/22* for repeater use.  Now you can set your dual watch to those two, and just flip between the two depending on your intent.  Easy as pie!*

(22 being the common code invoking 141.3 Hz on most radios)

(Unless your radio doesn't support dual watch…)

[Ian]

(dupe)

[gortex2]

Except you can't use simplex 19 either....

Exception: Licensees who operate North of Line A and East of Line C may not operate on channels 462.650 MHZ, 467.650 MHZ, 462.700 MHZ and 467.700 MHZ unless your previous license authorized such operations.  

[WRUQ357]

On 7/29/2024 at 7:31 PM, hjmichael said:

We have traveled about 9000 miles this summer with "We Monitor GMRS 19" on the back of our 5th wheel and have not had anyone reach out to us. It's an 8x10 sign black on white, I can read it about 200 feet back. I know everyone does not have my eyes, but dang someone should have seen it. 

I've done the same on our travel trailer and truck. 3,500 to Mississippi and back to South East Arizona via Albuquerque, New Mexico and no one tried to contact us. I did hear another couple talking to each other coming back through Texas. 

[WRUE951]

1 hour ago, WRUQ357 said:

I've done the same on our travel trailer and truck. 3,500 to Mississippi and back to South East Arizona via Albuquerque, New Mexico and no one tried to contact us. I did hear another couple talking to each other coming back through Texas. 

I usually RV travel in a group of 1 to 2 other RV's.  While traveling, we hang out on FRS 3 or 5 and quite often end up in conversation with other travelers.   Ch 3 seems to be very popular along 99, Hwy 395, 14 & 15 in Calif, Nev & Ariz.   Pretty much everything east from  Ariz to Kentuck/Tenn is very quite with exception to the Repeater Channels, which will drive you crazy, lots of cross talk.. 

[WRUQ357]

My sister's in-laws followed us in their van and I maybe we'd pick up some truckers channel 19. Next time I might stick to FRS just to make it easier for them. 

[amaff]

1 hour ago, WRUQ357 said:

My sister's in-laws followed us in their van and I maybe we'd pick up some truckers channel 19. Next time I might stick to FRS just to make it easier for them. 

So why not...put their FRS radios to channel 19 as well?

 

[Raybestos]

I have posted this before.  For those who have seen it already, I will beg your forgiveness on the redundancy.  For those who may not have seen it, I hope it helps.

Any radio I have which allows for more channels, in addition to the main thirty most radios come packed with, I do the following.  I set each channel to encode only, a 141.3 tone.  That is channels 1 thru 30.  Being that 141.3 is the most commonly used tone and the travel tone on GMRS, I figure it enhances your chance that someone might hear you throwing out your call when on the road.  You may be trying make a contact in an area where someone has their radio's PL decoder turned on to screen out random noise from automobile circuitry, gas pumps, or kiddie talkies.  I leave the radios decoder off (also known as carrier squelch mode) in case someone hears me and responds, but is in carrier squelch mode, themselves.  Either way, if in range, we will hear each-other.  Also, for whatever reason, there are quite a few repeaters out there that require a tone (again, many use 141.3) to access the repeater, but do not encode a tone on the output.  Should you hit one of these repeaters, if your PL decoder is on, you will not be able to hear anyone responding to your call.

Channels above 30 (31, 32, 33, 34, etc), I set for repeaters I commonly use or anticipate some day traveling through their area, including encoded tones and (if applicable) decode tones on the repeater output.  

I follow this protocol on my radios and those of friends whose radios I program for them, provided they have the ability to add channels beyond the main thirty.

Oh, time saving hint:  If an ht capable of transmitting on all thirty, I program it like that on all thirty channels.  If on a mobile, since they do not transmit on channels 8 thru 14, I do not program a tone as it would be pointless.

 

 

[WRXB215]

@RayP That sounds like a good highway plan. 

[WRQI663]

I only use PL for input frequencies.......putting PL on receive limits what you can hear and is only necessary if there's more than one repeater

on that channel.

[WRXP381]

1 minute ago, WRQI663 said:

I only use PL for input frequencies.......putting PL on receive limits what you can hear and is only necessary if there's more than one repeater

on that channel.

Or you don’t want to hear every kid or Walmart or restaurant in the area on simplex.   

[WRXR255]

20 minutes ago, WRXP381 said:

Or you don’t want to hear every kid or Walmart or restaurant in the area on simplex.   

All the Walmarts in this region use the "Blue Dot" (154.570) freq.

Sometimes I would sit in the parking lot and prank em by making a transmission "Stockman needed at register 5 for a large item carryout assist"

I generally leave my RX tone off as well, but I have a system where if it gets "noisy" I can switch quick to the same channel with the tone set.

For instance I have my local repeater on CH 038 RX tone off, but if I get too much other chatter, I go to 538 with the tone set.  All the correct RX tone channels are 5XX, XX being the channel I need tones with. CH 046 repeater is 546 for example.

[amaff]

1 hour ago, WRQI663 said:

putting PL on receive limits what you can hear and is only necessary if there's more than one repeater on that channel.

Limiting what you can hear is the point. There's a decent bit of traffic on simplex 15-22 where I am and if you're listening to a repeater, you get a lot of 'noise' (especially since half the time they're just barely in range enough to break squelch but not actually hear much).

Which is a long way of saying "it depends on your particular situation"

[WSDS892]

I check the map feature on here and pick out the repeaters with the most coverage along my route more often than not somebody is monitoring them. 

[Raybestos]

6 hours ago, WRXR255 said:

All the Walmarts in this region use the "Blue Dot" (154.570) freq.

Sometimes I would sit in the parking lot and prank em by making a transmission "Stockman needed at register 5 for a large item carryout assist"

I generally leave my RX tone off as well, but I have a system where if it gets "noisy" I can switch quick to the same channel with the tone set.

For instance I have my local repeater on CH 038 RX tone off, but if I get too much other chatter, I go to 538 with the tone set.  All the correct RX tone channels are 5XX, XX being the channel I need tones with. CH 046 repeater is 546 for example.

I understand that it can be fun to ask in a desperate voice, for someone to bring a roll of tp to the dressing room.  Reiterate that you had to go and there is no tp in the dressing room and you really need some to "clean up" with. 

[WSEG508]

If you come thru Jersey on turnpike and I-195 hit me up on Ch. 19