National call channel

[WSEP980]

I'll start the debate......I believe I have heard/read that channel 20 was the GMRS national call and or travel channel, but have heard and seen many people mobile using channel 19 as there travel channel, can we settle that debate, maybe with this site most likely being the best known site for gmrs info we can get everybody on the same page so a channel is established,  either way, I would like to start calling out on some channel rather than listening in hopes of spurring some activity in the many quiet radios out there thinking this will NEVER take off. Thoughts? 

[Whiskey363]

It would be great if they posted a sticky titled "GMRS Radio Frequency Chart,"  and just listed channel uses like CB. 

I would imagine if it was posted on a sticky where a lot of people can view it like on this platform it would stick. 

Not to mention if anyone asks, you could point to the link.

[SteveShannon]

7 minutes ago, WSEP980 said:

I'll start the debate......I believe I have heard/read that channel 20 was the GMRS national call and or travel channel, but have heard and seen many people mobile using channel 19 as there travel channel, can we settle that debate, maybe with this site most likely being the best known site for gmrs info we can get everybody on the same page so a channel is established,  either way, I would like to start calling out on some channel rather than listening in hopes of spurring some activity in the many quiet radios out there thinking this will NEVER take off. Thoughts? 

No, we are unlikely to settle this debate, regardless of how many times the question is asked. But there are lots of other posts about it. Line A is one reason. 12 million people live above Line A and thus are prohibited from using 19.  

Second, GMRS really isn’t used by most people to “call out on”.  It’s primarily for use between people who know each other while pursuing other activities.  It works very well for that.

Don’t worry, you didn’t start the debate.  It just has some dormant periods.

Welcome to the forum!

[amaff]

58 minutes ago, WSEP980 said:

I'll start the debate......

Oh thank goodness some pioneering spirit came along and thought of this topic. It's about time! I'm shocked. SHOCKED. that no one's ever discussed this before!

 

Now, I have some new and unique thoughts on Linked Repeaters I'd like to share with the class

 

[UncleYoda]

1 hour ago, WSEP980 said:

I'll start the debate......

Forget the debate - you won't get much here that could be considered useful comments.  And forget "national".  Scale the idea back to your area first, then try to get it used statewide.  I know this won't be satisfactory if you're traveling across the country, but it's a way to start that actually has some chance of working.   Having a club that backs it would help but GMRS doesn't have many clubs like ham does.  You could try to get CERT or some other organization to adopt it (local CERT here does direct traffic in emergencies so there is relevance).  One thing that helps with all types of radio services is actually using it.  People listen to and join in on channels/frequencies that have activity.  So just do it.

[WRUU653]

Cue Billy Joel’s We Didn’t Start The Fire…

This debate has been here since before some YouTube hobo declared it to be 19. That of course ignores the millions above line A. It goes on and yet I doubt it will ever be resolved. Most of all it does not seem to matter. No one seems to use a call channel for GMRS I suspect because it’s largely a bring your own contacts service. The channel that seems to be used most for a call channel will most likely be the one your local open repeaters are on. That is the one place I do hear call outs. Lots say they use 16 for off-road but still I don’t know that that’s used as a call channel.
GMRS Chart   
1-22 = push button-talk-listen 
23-30 & > = set ctcss/dcs, push button talk through repeater-listen to response through repeater

[marcspaz]

1 hour ago, WSEP980 said:

can we settle that debate

 

No.

[WRUU653]

2 minutes ago, marcspaz said:

 

No.

Best response of all time

but so true.

Edited November 24 by WRUU653
Add sentence

[marcspaz]

1 hour ago, SteveShannon said:

No, we are unlikely to settle this debate, regardless of how many times the question is asked. But there are lots of other posts about it. Line A is one reason. 12 million people live above Line A and thus are prohibited from using 19.  

Second, GMRS really isn’t used by most people to “call out on”.  It’s primarily for use between people who know each other while pursuing other activities.  It works very well for that.

Don’t worry, you didn’t start the debate.  It just has some dormant periods.

Welcome to the forum!

 

 

I wish I could like a post more than once.

[Guest]

Not this again!!!  
Can you not look at previous posts and see this gets beat to death many times a year.  GMRS is not meant for this.  It is NOT cb and it is NOT ham.  Here is the problem, your driving across the country on what ever channel you see fit for a “call channel”.  Let’s just say for the point of this example 90% of the other travelers are gmrs users with radios on.  They most likely are using gmrs correctly to talk with family and friends while traveling.  They will again most likely have tones set.  You can call all day long.  No one is going to help.   You can monitor all day long and maybe you hear many people.  How many of those people are running with no tones?   Your chances are not good.    Gmrs is for comms  while doing an activity.  Gmrs is not for calling for help from strangers (yes it has helped at times) gmrs is not for making contacts with strangers (yes some use it for that).  It’s for hiking, off roading, boating, hunting, ect…. The list goes on but it’s a while doing something with other people you know type thing.  
 

now on a local level with people you know yes.  Set up a plan. In the even if an emergency meet on a local repeater.  If that is down the group with move to channel xx.  
 

want national calling, get a cb or ham. 

[marcspaz]

14 minutes ago, Socalgmrs said:

Not this again!!!  
Can you not look at previous posts and see this gets beat to death many times a year.  GMRS is not meant for this.  It is NOT cb and it is NOT ham.  Here is the problem, your driving across the country on what ever channel you see fit for a “call channel”.  Let’s just say for the point of this example 90% of the other travelers are gmrs users with radios on.  They most likely are using gmrs correctly to talk with family and friends while traveling.  They will again most likely have tones set.  You can call all day long.  No one is going to help.   You can monitor all day long and maybe you hear many people.  How many of those people are running with no tones?   Your chances are not good.    Gmrs is for comms  while doing an activity.  Gmrs is not for calling for help from strangers (yes it has helped at times) gmrs is not for making contacts with strangers (yes some use it for that).  It’s for hiking, off roading, boating, hunting, ect…. The list goes on but it’s a while doing something with other people you know type thing.  
 

now on a local level with people you know yes.  Set up a plan. In the even if an emergency meet on a local repeater.  If that is down the group with move to channel xx.  
 

want national calling, get a cb or ham. 

 

 

Or... you could have just replied 'no'.

[SteveShannon]

17 minutes ago, marcspaz said:

 

 

Or... you could have just replied 'no'.

That was already taken by a wiser person.

[OffRoaderX]

4 hours ago, WSEP980 said:

Thoughts? 

Yes - my thought is that within a few weeks this thread will be 10 pages long with nothing more than a bunch of verbal-masturbation and social-defects trying to prove to everyone how smart they think they are.. and, nothing will come of it.. then, a few months later someone will come and ask the same thing again and it will start all over again.

[WRXB215]

20 hours ago, OffRoaderX said:

nothing will come of it.. then, a few months later someone will come and ask the same thing again and it will start all over again.

You must be clairvoyant. How can anyone possible predict such a thing. 

[marcspaz]

18 minutes ago, WRXB215 said:

You must be clairvoyant. How can anyone possible predict such a thing. 

 

The Queen has declared it; so it will be.

[SteveShannon]

On 11/24/2024 at 6:58 AM, Whiskey363 said:

It would be great if they posted a sticky titled "GMRS Radio Frequency Chart,"  and just listed channel uses like CB.

Except for the sticky part, here you go:

channels 1-22 uses: talk to someone 

channels 23-30 uses: talk to someone farther away through a repeater.

[Whiskey363]

1 minute ago, SteveShannon said:

Except for the sticky part, here you go:

 

That is the problem in my view. With a sticky on the forum, it is set as a basic standard. When anyone asks, you point them to the standard. I have no stake in this but it really is a simple solution that I am amazed has not been done yet. 

[SteveShannon]

6 minutes ago, Whiskey363 said:

That is the problem in my view. With a sticky on the forum, it is set as a basic standard. When anyone asks, you point them to the standard. I have no stake in this but it really is a simple solution that I am amazed has not been done yet. 

For years Wikipedia said that channel 20 is the national calling channel for GMRS. 
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Mobile_Radio_Service

scroll down to the channel table 

[Whiskey363]

10 minutes ago, SteveShannon said:

For years Wikipedia said that channel 20 is the national calling channel for GMRS. 
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Mobile_Radio_Service

scroll down to the channel table 

Exactly, post on a sticky and debate over. I would not discuss it again. Just direct people to the sticky. 

[BoxCar]

3 hours ago, SteveShannon said:

channels 1-22 uses: talk to someone 

channels 23-30 uses: talk to someone farther away through a repeater.

Channels 1-22 used to talk to someone close

Channels 23-30 used to talk to someone not as close lI

[Davichko5650]

On 11/24/2024 at 7:43 AM, WSEP980 said:

 I would like to start calling out on some channel rather than listening in hopes of spurring some activity in the many quiet radios out there t

Swing thru the East Side of St Paul, almost always someone to chat with on Ch. 18 Simplex.

[GreggInFL]

On 11/24/2024 at 10:14 AM, UncleYoda said:

One thing that helps with all types of radio services is actually using it.  People listen to and join in on channels/frequencies that have activity.  So just do it.

This.  Although radio services are designed for certain uses, nothing is keeping you from starting a conversation.

[OffRoaderX]

5 minutes ago, GreggInFL said:

nothing is keeping you from starting a conversation.

Nobody being there to converse with might keep him from it...

[CaptainSarcastic]

On 11/24/2024 at 8:44 AM, amaff said:

 

 

Now, I have some new and unique thoughts on Linked Repeaters I'd like to share with the class

 

[amaff]

58 minutes ago, CaptainSarcastic said: