National call channel

[WRUE951]

There is no Debate..  You want a travel ch,, tune into CB Ch 18.. 

[GreggInFL]

2 hours ago, OffRoaderX said:

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

True, but I've noticed some newbies wanting to talk lately when I've thrown out a radio check.  I suppose there are better ways to meet strangers, but nothing comes to mind...

[GreggInFL]

20 minutes ago, WRUE951 said:

There is no Debate..  You want a travel ch,, tune into CB Ch 18.. 

...or marine VHF channel 16.  You'll need to move quickly or the USCG will bark at you.

[OffRoaderX]

2 minutes ago, GreggInFL said:

I suppose there are better ways to meet strangers, but nothing comes to mind...

Dont bait me bro!

[amaff]

12 minutes ago, OffRoaderX said:

Dont bait me bro!

He is a master baiter.

[WRXB215]

34 minutes ago, GreggInFL said:

...or marine VHF channel 16.  You'll need to move quickly or the USCG will bark at you.

What? No rag chew? Oh man. 

[Hoppyjr]

Man, I’d pay extra for a “thread ignore” button.

[nokones]

On 11/24/2024 at 8:28 AM, WRUU653 said:

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

One of my Jeep Clubs use Ch. 16 for Trail Comm.  The other Club uses Ch. 18

[WRUU653]

24 minutes ago, nokones said:

One of my Jeep Clubs use Ch. 16 for Trail Comm.  The other Club uses Ch. 18

Okay sure I have no doubt about that but that’s trail comms for clubs. Not what I would call a “call channel” if I’m splitting hairs. I don’t doubt someone might use 16 or some other channel for a call channel but a club is really more organized within itself with the expectation of talking to people in the club which isn’t really that different to a bring your own contacts situation if it’s different at all. All I was saying is I just haven’t witnessed a lot of random calling on simplex. 

[nokones]

3 hours ago, WRUU653 said:

Okay sure I have no doubt about that but that’s trail comms for clubs. Not what I would call a “call channel” if I’m splitting hairs. I don’t doubt someone might use 16 or some other channel for a call channel but a club is really more organized within itself with the expectation of talking to people in the club which isn’t really that different to a bring your own contacts situation if it’s different at all. All I was saying is I just haven’t witnessed a lot of random calling on simplex. 

Agree, however, if I am out off-roading and being the only vehicle, I have my UHF radio set on ch. 16 with CSQ for receive and encoding/transmitting with 141.3 Hz, and scanning channels 1-7 & 15-22. Also, I have my CB set on AM Ch. 16 and I occasionally do hear distant off-road traffic way off the beaten path.

As for my VHF Radio, depending on the Area I am, I'll scan one of the Rugged Radios 4 Zones of about 9-11 channels that are used/shared in Arizona.

[marcspaz]

I came home from work, and man, this thread delivered for my nightly wind-down...

[WRUQ357]

I haven't been on the forum for a few, and this topic is interesting, to say the least. 

[Hoppyjr]

I haven't been on the forum for a few, and this topic is interesting, to say the least. 

If by interesting you mean annoying as heck, then yeah, it’s interesting.

Same issue on pretty much every forum, new people don’t use the search function so the same stuff repeats over and over and over….

[GreggInFL]

16 hours ago, WRXB215 said:

What? No rag chew? Oh man. 

Nope.  Even the USCG doesn't rag chew on 16.  If they have something to say -- other than "Get off this channel, captain!" -- it's referring you to 22 where announcements are made.  These days the announcements are often about staying away from the Cape coast during a launch.

[WSDD439]

On 11/24/2024 at 11:25 AM, 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. 

SO,,,,,,,,,turn that stupid radio OFF, unless you're talking to someone you are related to or are friends with. The Prime Minister has spoken !

[H8SPVMT]

On 11/24/2024 at 8:43 AM, 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, ...

A search for, "National Call Channel" only brings up this post... interesting. Removing the quotes, eight thousand plus posts appear for many days of reading material. 

[marcspaz]

You need to understand the history of GMRS to answer this question. The original 'distress' frequency was 462.675, aka channel 20. While there is no longer a formal calling/distress channel, there are plenty of sites that have old articles about common distress frequencies in different bands, and the history of GMRS. Then there are guys like me who have been using GMRS since the '80s, who just remember. 

 

Also, the legacy distress/calling channel gets conflated with ORI.  There were two groups, Popular Wireless and Personal Radio Association, that came up with the idea of an Open Repeater Initiative (ORI). It was designed to get repeater owners to open up and share resources instead of locking down systems. The idea was to make it easier for GMRS users to find and access repeaters. 

 

The group established the 141.3 CTCSS/PL as a “travel tone”. Originally, the repeater pair 462/467.675 was the ORI frequency (675 known today as the travel channel) due to 675 historically being the distress/emergency channel. However, ORI eventually morphed into any repeater pair using 141.3 for PL access and did not require prior permission.

 

ORI and the founding groups are long gone, but many repeater owners still honor the spirit of ORI on their repeaters. In the absence of ORI, there has been debate in the community over what should be put into place, if anything. 

 

If we stick to the historic components of the FCC and groups like ORI, the calling frequency would continue to be 462.675, and the open repeaters would be on 467.675/462.675 with tone 141.3.  However, the radio services is so small, the number of users has dramatically increased over the past few years, and with modern technology, just about any channel can fit the bill for "calling". A vast majority of us are scanning all the channels if we're not actively in a conversation.