Serious Question About Profile Info

[WSFP960]

Hello everyone.

 

  I am new here and I am just getting comfortable using this site.  I have a question about completing my profile.  The website shows my profile a 0% completed.  When I click on the button to complete my profile the very first screen that comes up has two info fields.  The first is my GRMS call sign, the second is my Ham license #.  I do not fill in the ham license because I do not have a ham license.  It has a skip this step feature and a continue feature.  Both buttons drop me out of the profile info page, and return me to the last age I was on.  

 

I do not have a ham license and because of this I can't complete my profile here?  I am a simple guy so if I am missing something it would be greatly appreciated if I could figure out how to continue.  I am using this site on my Windows Surface Pro with Windows 11 installed.  any help would be welcome. I did several searches of the forums before I posted so I apologize if this is a redundant question.

 

Wsfp960 

[TrikeRadio]

i just put   *NONE*    in for my HAM license since I also do not have one.

[tcp2525]

It's voluntary. You can put as much in your profile or not. I kept mine blank.

[Raybestos]

4 hours ago, TrikeRadio said:

i just put   *NONE*    in for my HAM license since I also do not have one.

Sorry, but I had to do it.  I went and looked up ham call "N0NE" or N (Zero) NE.  A gentleman in Tennessee has that as his call sign.   

[73blazer]

Like my census form, I like my profile at 1% complete.

[TrikeRadio]

6 hours ago, Raybestos said:

Sorry, but I had to do it.  I went and looked up ham call "N0NE" or N (Zero) NE.  A gentleman in Tennessee has that as his call sign.   

HA! Well.. mine has an asterisk at both ends.

[WRUU653]

@WSFP960 It wont effect you one way or the other, you're good. Wecome to the forum.

[SvenMarbles]

It's a little annoying that it even asks about a ham radio call. As if to imply some sort of relationship between GMRS and Amateur radio. 

[73blazer]

On 1/18/2025 at 9:19 AM, SvenMarbles said:

It's a little annoying that it even asks about a ham radio call. As if to imply some sort of relationship between GMRS and Amateur radio. 

I think they just put it there in case you had one and wanted to share, you could fill it in. The caveat being the way the profile section is configured it shows percent complete and it seems to irk some people they can't get to 100%. The better action is to remove the percent complete business from the profile, as this isn't the first time this question has been asked. 

[SteveShannon]

On 1/18/2025 at 7:19 AM, SvenMarbles said:

It's a little annoying that it even asks about a ham radio call. As if to imply some sort of relationship between GMRS and Amateur radio. 

Not really. I enjoy knowing who else is a ham. I use an alerting software when I do FT8 that watches for specific call signs. I might run into them on the air sometime. 
Like most aspects of life folks should simply ignore it if it doesn’t apply to them. 

[WRHS218]

40 minutes ago, SteveShannon said:

Like most aspects of life folks should simply ignore it if it doesn’t apply to them. 

How am I supposed to be mad about things that have nothing to do with me if I IGNORE them?

[SteveShannon]

4 minutes ago, WRHS218 said:

How am I supposed to be mad about things that have nothing to do with me if I IGNORE them?

There’s a real truth bomb!

[SvenMarbles]

1 hour ago, SteveShannon said:

Not really. I enjoy knowing who else is a ham. I use an alerting software when I do FT8 that watches for specific call signs. I might run into them on the air sometime. 
Like most aspects of life folks should simply ignore it if it doesn’t apply to them. 

It's not that it keeps me awake at night. But this larger invasive mentality that GMRS should be treated as a ham radio jr is a problem, and the little ham call field in the profile areas of this site is an artifact of that..

[Lscott]

27 minutes ago, SvenMarbles said:

It's not that it keeps me awake at night. But this larger invasive mentality that GMRS should be treated as a ham radio jr is a problem, and the little ham call field in the profile areas of this site is an artifact of that..

Who cares? I don't.

[GreggInFL]

On 1/22/2025 at 3:00 PM, SvenMarbles said:

...GMRS should be treated as a ham radio jr...

I've heard it referred to "CB on steroids" and "HAM radio for Dummies".  Personally I prefer -- and qualify as -- the latter.

(<- No ham ticket.)

[SteveShannon]

21 minutes ago, GreggInFL said:

I've heard it referred to "CB on steroids" and "HAM radio for Dummies".  Personally I prefer -- and qualify as -- the latter.

(<- No ham ticket.)

You're not a dummy!

Users of GMRS should never feel that they are somehow inferior to hams.  I've seen some really stupid hams and I know some really smart GMRS people.  There's shouldn't be a comparison.  The two services were created for different reasons.  GMRS is for facilitating activities.  Amateur Radio is for learning about and extending the use of radio. Both are valuable for emergencies.

The stated purpose for GMRS is as follows:

§ 95.1703 Definitions, GMRS.

General Mobile Radio Service (GMRS). A mobile two-way voice communication service, with limited data applications, for facilitating activities of individual licensees and their family members, including, but not limited to, voluntary provision of assistance to the public during emergencies and natural disasters.

The stated purpose for the Amateur Radio Service is as follows:

97.1 Basis and purpose. (Of Amateur Radio)

The rules and regulations in this part are designed to provide an amateur radio service having a fundamental purpose as expressed in the following principles:

(a) Recognition and enhancement of the value of the amateur service to the public as a voluntary noncommercial communication service, particularly with respect to providing emergency communications.

(b) Continuation and extension of the amateur's proven ability to contribute to the advancement of the radio art.

(c) Encouragement and improvement of the amateur service through rules which provide for advancing skills in both the communication and technical phases of the art.

(d) Expansion of the existing reservoir within the amateur radio service of trained operators, technicians, and electronics experts.

(e) Continuation and extension of the amateur's unique ability to enhance international goodwill.

[wayoverthere]

33 minutes ago, GreggInFL said:

I've heard it referred to "CB on steroids" and "HAM radio for Dummies".  Personally I prefer -- and qualify as -- the latter.

(<- No ham ticket.)

In the past I've referred to it as 'ham lite' or 'frs plus', depending how it's treated in a given area...not intended as a dig, just GMRS can be a bit less complicated way to play radio, and some areas have just as much enthusiast involvement as ham, while others it's really a "stick to your group" crowd .

[Lscott]

56 minutes ago, wayoverthere said:

In the past I've referred to it as 'ham lite' or 'frs plus', depending how it's treated in a given area...not intended as a dig, just GMRS can be a bit less complicated way to play radio, and some areas have just as much enthusiast involvement as ham, while others it's really a "stick to your group" crowd .

In the end you use the service in a way that best fits your needs.

[tcp2525]

23 minutes ago, Lscott said:

In the end you use the service in a way that best fits your needs.

Well said and so simple. The way I look at it, all these services require a radio, antenna, mic, and a human. All these services are the same. Look at it as a community litterbox. You are than welcome to take a dump in it just as long as you adhere to community guidelines. I don't see any difference in any of them.

[WSFL951]

On 1/14/2025 at 12:53 AM, WSFP960 said:

Hello everyone.

 

  I am new here and I am just getting comfortable using this site.  I have a question about completing my profile.  The website shows my profile a 0% completed.  When I click on the button to complete my profile the very first screen that comes up has two info fields.  The first is my GRMS call sign, the second is my Ham license #.  I do not fill in the ham license because I do not have a ham license.  It has a skip this step feature and a continue feature.  Both buttons drop me out of the profile info page, and return me to the last age I was on.  

 

I do not have a ham license and because of this I can't complete my profile here?  I am a simple guy so if I am missing something it would be greatly appreciated if I could figure out how to continue.  I am using this site on my Windows Surface Pro with Windows 11 installed.  any help would be welcome. I did several searches of the forums before I posted so I apologize if this is a redundant question.

 

Wsfp960 

My profile is also at 0%, so I don't think it matters.     

 

["Unless you are truly proud of your call sign."]

[OffRoaderX]

13 minutes ago, WSFL951 said:

My profile is also at 0%, so I don't think it matters.     

["Unless you are truly proud of your call sign."]

If you don't have your callsign set as your username and on your car's personalized license plate, and if you do not also have ALL of your call signs listed in all your online-forum signatures, in your Facebook/X header image, and hanging on the walls of your house, then you are just an appliance operator and should stick to Chicken Band.

SOURCE: "Some people", right here in this forum