So who here uses GMRS properly?

[SvenMarbles]

Not meant to be a divisive or abrasive topic. It's laid out pretty clearly what the spirit of GMRS is. Not 70cm lite.. Less for "rag chews" and "making contacts" and more for having radios in the family cars to home. Or a group or family on a ski trip, event, or off roading keeping track of eachother... Repeaters meant to be more local to get up over a hill... Not for yelling "WHISKEY SIERRA ALFA TANGO 423 Monitoring!". For people with some other stated goal and using radio as an aid, and not just "being on the radio".

Functional use..

 

 

[OffRoaderX]

I'm with you brotha!  I use it primarily for off-roading and on the trip to get TO off-roading and it busts my britches every time i hear the H.A.M.s radios wanna-be's long-talking on the repeaters. 

[GrouserPad]

I use it to talk to my kids and family when I'm out and about town. Keeps things fun and the kids like it. They holler at me on the home base  all the time and ask when im coming home, what im doing and if ill pick them up some ice-cream. Is this the proper use of GMRS? Because thats what I'm using it for. I could use a phone but whats the fun in that? 

[SvenMarbles]

1 minute ago, GrouserPad said:

I use it to talk to my kids and family when I'm out and about town. Keeps things fun and the kids like it. They holler at me on the home base  all the time and ask when im coming home, what im doing and if ill pick them up some ice-cream. Is this the proper use of GMRS? Because thats what I'm using it for. I could use a phone but whats the fun in that? 

It’s absolutely the correct use. It’s not a coincidence that GMRS is Family Radio Service adjacent, and that a license is good “for a family”.

[SteveShannon]

38 minutes ago, GrouserPad said:

Is this the proper use of GMRS?

Yes

[WRUU653]

43 minutes ago, GrouserPad said:

if ill pick them up some ice-cream. Is this the proper use of GMRS

Whhhaat kind of ice cream? 

[amaff]

I guess I do. Primarily we use them for hiking, on road trips, and at the race track.
I'm heading to Vegas this week for a Time Trial with 1 of hte kids coming down to spot for me, so he'll be up in the tower with a headset on.

I'll try to avoid doing too much off roading

(not that it'd be the first time...)

[SteveShannon]

Using GMRS is infinitely better than not. Nothing is gained by having silent channels. 
If you have long conversations, pause every so often to allow someone else to use the frequency or repeater. 
Help someone else get started with GMRS.  

 

[GrouserPad]

12 hours ago, SteveShannon said:

Using GMRS is infinitely better than not. Nothing is gained by having silent channels. 
If you have long conversations, pause every so often to allow someone else to use the frequency or repeater. 
Help someone else get started with GMRS.  

 

From just listening I believe the only users of gmrs near me are ham radio operators. Which is cool! 

[SteveShannon]

8 minutes ago, GrouserPad said:

From just listening I believe the only users of gmrs near me are ham radio operators. Which is cool! 

How can you tell?

[GrouserPad]

14 minutes ago, SteveShannon said:

How can you tell?

14 minutes ago, SteveShannon said:

How can you tell?

 

[GrouserPad]

20 minutes ago, SteveShannon said:

How can you tell?

 

 

[amaff]

18 minutes ago, SteveShannon said:

How can you tell?

Around here at least, you don't have to ask.

They'll tell you 

[gortex2]

I use GMRS same way I've used it for 30+ years. As a tool for my family and friends to talk. I also use it on trails with friends now. 

[RIPPER238]

I mainly have it for off road use. But i have no friends so i keep buying more radios in hopes someone will show up one day to use them with me. 

[SteveShannon]

I use it to recover rockets or for my wife to reach me when I am outside and she needs me or for my grandkids to play with (they get the FRS radios and I listen on my GMRS radio. 
I might someday put together a Retevis RT97S in a go-bag to extend the range for my rocket buddies. 
Maybe I would put a repeater at the cabin so the grandkids have more range. I’d have to get them GMRS radios then and train them to ID appropriately. 

 

[Hoppyjr]

Around here there seems to be several folks who “kind of” know each other and a smaller group who are regular friends. On the local long-reach repeater I often hear people give their callsign, followed by “monitoring”. I think they are letting others know they’re around, so the folks they know can call them up on the radio. I get why, but also think it sounds kinda goofy to me, almost like cops going in service, which they clearly aren’t.

[LeoG]

Well yes and no.  I use it to keep in contact with my wife.  Sometimes I'll give a HT to one of my adult children when we are traveling in separate cars or getting stuff at a big box store when we'll be at opposite ends.

And I'll chat with friends that are definitely not family on the local repeater just for the conversation and to find out how everyone is doing in general or their jobs.

[Hoppyjr]

Well yes and no.  I use it to keep in contact with my wife.  Sometimes I'll give a HT to one of my adult children when we are traveling in separate cars or getting stuff at a big box store when we'll be at opposite ends.
And I'll chat with friends that are definitely not family on the local repeater just for the conversation and to find out how everyone is doing in general or their jobs.

Hey, I also use to keep in contact with your wife!

[LeoG]

That's nice of you.  I can't always keep up.

[DominoDog]

I just like playing with radios. I don't really ever talk on them, simply because I don't have anyone really to talk to. Most of my friends are well outside of any repeater coverage, several hundred miles actually. I don't know many people locally, certainly not any that are interested in two way radios. So I just play with radios. I don't really like "making contacts" or even checking in to nets very much. I have a little Retevis repeater for when I am out camping with friends and family, we'll play with radios more then but as for normal day to day operations, I mainly just listen a lot. Most of the time I don't even use a repeater, we'll just use simplex from car to car if/when we are ever on a multiple vehicle venture.

But most of the people in my area use GMRS just for radio checks and signal reports. Not too many "hey neighbor can I borrow the chainsaw this evening?" going on that I can hear. Radio checks and "How am I makin' the repeater?" every week they do a "net" which honestly is just a roll call. Nothing interesting on there, just a roll call and that's it.

So for me, I just like playing with radios, way more than actually talking to people on them.

[nokones]

23 hours ago, amaff said:

I guess I do. Primarily we use them for hiking, on road trips, and at the race track.
I'm heading to Vegas this week for a Time Trial with 1 of hte kids coming down to spot for me, so he'll be up in the tower with a headset on.

I'll try to avoid doing too much off roading

(not that it'd be the first time...)

Looks like there is some evidence of an agricultural expedition.

I've been using business radio service freqs since the mid-90s for my radio comm on the track. 

[WSGI548]

I got a friend and I some for Christmas. He kinda wanted one as a “prepper” type radio, and I had been reading up on ham again after like 25 years. So we both ended up getting our GMRS licenses to be legal. We chit chat on the weekends occasionally, and that is pretty much all he does. I have been taking around on a local repeater as well as one about 40 miles away. So far it has scratched my radio itch, tho I am still debating getting a tech license. The wife will take one when she goes for a walk, but doesn’t usually call me, though she knows how because we both use them at work.

[WSEZ864]

1 hour ago, Hoppyjr said:

Around here there seems to be several folks who “kind of” know each other and a smaller group who are regular friends. On the local long-reach repeater I often hear people give their callsign, followed by “monitoring”. I think they are letting others know they’re around, so the folks they know can call them up on the radio. I get why, but also think it sounds kinda goofy to me, almost like cops going in service, which they clearly aren’t.

I too hear this on the two local GMRS repeaters I can reach: a few regulars that seem to know each other and talk regularly. I usually have my radios on scan and hear them on a lot, but have yet to talk with any of them. One of the repeaters does have a net, but I only caught it once as it was closing down and I don't know their schedule.

Regarding "use as intended", I set my brother up with a GMRS radio/PS/mag-mount antenna (on top the fridge) at his house so we can communicate outside cell service. Unfortunately, we cannot talk house-to-house directly and have to use a repeater due to intervening terrain, so the true emergency value is limited. I don't have to go too far his way to be able to talk to him from my truck, just can't do it from here in the hole. Could probably reach him with a CB, but traffic and noise here is ferocious.

If I want to just BS, which is seldom, our club has a 2 meter repeater (W3CU) where I know most of the users and check into the weekly net, and an adjacent club (W3VPR) also has a strong 2 meter repeater, both of which are pretty active.

 

[SteveShannon]

I guess I think the premise of this thread is wrong. It’s not up to me or anyone else here to say whether someone else is using GMRS “as intended”, as long as the regulations are followed.  And it’s not up to me to enforce the regulations  I’ll gladly help somebody understand the regulations (as much as I can) but I don’t get to reinterpret them to fit my ideas of how GMRS is intended to be used.

If you want to have a conversation on the repeater with someone you’ve never met who announces they’re “monitoring”, it’s not my place to pass judgement. If you want to run your family ranch, good for you!  If you use it while you’re out boating or hiking, do it.

I think there are way too many people who want to decide what’s right for others to do