Book recommendations for beginners

[Whippy]

Hi folks,

As I have no experience with radio, I have been trying to learn as much as I can (mostly from Youtube videos) but I have yet to find anything that explains things to the absolute simpleton level.  I am sure I can get my radios (GMRS) set up to talk with each other and will most likely be able to set up repeaters when i start playing around with them, but I don't much like just typing in numbers and following instructions without knowing what I am doing.  I'd very much like to learn what the settings in my radio mean, not just someone telling me, "set this menu option to ON, this one to OFF, ignore this one."

I've learned some from my radio manual, but would be interested in more detailed explanations.

Can you please recommend some books I might buy (preferably kindle ebooks) that might help me learn this stuff a little easier from a beginner level?

thanks kindly

[OffRoaderX]

It might help if we knew what kind of radio you have.

[SteveShannon]

3 minutes ago, Whippy said:

Hi folks,

As I have no experience with radio, I have been trying to learn as much as I can (mostly from Youtube videos) but I have yet to find anything that explains things to the absolute simpleton level.  I am sure I can get my radios (GMRS) set up to talk with each other and will most likely be able to set up repeaters when i start playing around with them, but I don't much like just typing in numbers and following instructions without knowing what I am doing.  I'd very much like to learn what the settings in my radio mean, not just someone telling me, "set this menu option to ON, this one to OFF, ignore this one."

I've learned some from my radio manual, but would be interested in more detailed explanations.

Can you please recommend some books I might buy (preferably kindle ebooks) that might help me learn this stuff a little easier from a beginner level?

thanks kindly

Hi Whippy,

There are lots of books, but the only one I have is the ARRL Amateur Radio Handbook.  I suspect it’s more than you want. I’m not sure the what a person needs to know for GMRS would fill a book. Set the same channel, match the tones, push the button and talk.

Marc Spaz on this forum has an excellent introductory video.  Someone else will come up with a link.

GMRS is limited to 22 receive channels and 30 transmit channels by the fcc regulations.  Certified radios have those channels programmed in.

Tones (CTCSS, PL, CTS are all names for the exact same thing) and digital codes (DPL, DTCSS, and DCS are all the same) are used to limit interruptions, but do not provide security.  If I transmit using tone 100 Hz as my CTCSS, and someone else has their receiver tone set to something else, they won’t hear me because their receiver only allows through those that have matching tones. But if they set their tone to 100 Hz they will hear me because their receiver filters out everything except transmissions that include the 100 Hz tone.  But if they don’t have a tone set on receive they have no filter and their receiver will reproduce everything. Codes work the same way.

@OffRoaderX has YouTube videos under his other identity, Notarubicon that have enough information to fill several books.  
 

[WSEZ864]

9 minutes ago, SteveShannon said:

Hi Whippy,

There are lots of books, but the only one I have is the ARRL Amateur Radio Handbook.  I suspect it’s more than you want. I’m not sure the what a person needs to know for GMRS would fill a book. Set the same channel, match the tones, push the button and talk.

Marc Spaz on this forum has an excellent introductory video.  Someone else will come up with a link.

GMRS is limited to 22 receive channels and 30 transmit channels by the fcc regulations.  Certified radios have those channels programmed in.

Tones (CTCSS, PL, CTS are all names for the exact same thing) and digital codes (DPL, DTCSS, and DCS are all the same) are used to limit interruptions, but do not provide security.  If I transmit using tone 100 Hz as my CTCSS, and someone else has their receiver tone set to something else, they won’t hear me because their receiver only allows through those that have matching tones. But if they set their tone to 100 Hz they will hear me because their receiver filters out everything except transmissions that include the 100 Hz tone.  But if they don’t have a tone set on receive they have no filter and their receiver will reproduce everything. Codes work the same way.

@OffRoaderX has YouTube videos under his other identity, Notarubicon that have enough information to fill several books.  
 

I'd agree that Marc's video is a great intro to GMRS.

I'm not aware of any specific book on GMRS, likely due to it being a very basic service intended for family communications and recreational use.

The ARRL has several good books that, while intended for Amateur Radio service, can still be a big help in understanding two-way radio use in general. As Steve had said, they might be a little more than you need, but IMO they WILL help you understand radio basics. You may be able to find them used or in eBook form.

This is the basic operating guide:

[url]https://home.arrl.org/action/Store/Product-Details/productId/114292[/url]

This is the basic antenna handbook:

[url]https://home.arrl.org/action/Store/Product-Details/productId/114354[/url]

[SteveShannon]

 

[Whippy]

Wow, thanks so much to all of you!  Steve, you have already taught me some of the type of information I am wanting to know in just your one post!   Offroader, I have a couple of Tidradio TD-H3s set to GMRS mode I purchased to see if I will be interested in the hobby.  As I was trying to explain, I'm interested in learning how things work more than just how to make them work if that makes any sense, as I would think this knowledge could apply to all radios, not just my specific one.  

I'll certainly check out all the resources mentioned here when I get home.  Thanks again.

[WSDM599]

Amazon has several books just for gmrs .

[WSFL951]

6 hours ago, Whippy said:

Wow, thanks so much to all of you!  Steve, you have already taught me some of the type of information I am wanting to know in just your one post!   Offroader, I have a couple of Tidradio TD-H3s set to GMRS mode I purchased to see if I will be interested in the hobby.  As I was trying to explain, I'm interested in learning how things work more than just how to make them work if that makes any sense, as I would think this knowledge could apply to all radios, not just my specific one.  

I'll certainly check out all the resources mentioned here when I get home.  Thanks again.

If you are looking to learn how to set up the radio, the manual is the best resource. As @WSDM599 mentioned, if you want to learn about different types of radios, Amazon offers several books on Baofeng and other radios.