Radio Check 1 2 3 4

[Guest Frank]

Hello,  
I’m new to GMRS and have just received my license, along with a Radioddity 20-watt radio and a Nagoya UT-72G antenna that I primarily use in my vehicle. However, I’m facing difficulties creating an account on mygmrs.com because my call sign isn’t showing up in the database. It mentioned that it could take up to 48 hours, but it’s now been four days. Without a mygmrs account, I can’t access repeater tones, and I’m unable to connect with anyone who isn’t using a repeater. I’ve been asking for radio checks, but I have a feeling that no one can hear me. It’s been several days of trying to reach out, and each hour feels more discouraging. I just want to ensure that my equipment is working correctly and that my radio is set up properly, which I believe it is since it came pre-configured with the defaults, especially for wideband. After reading more, I had hoped it might be set for narrowband, but that hope has faded. I also want to verify that the antenna is functioning as it should. Everything I’ve read indicates that I should be able to reach at least 6 to 10 miles, depending on the terrain. I’m located in central Long Island, NY. Is it typical for everyone to communicate exclusively on repeaters and not use regular channels? Unfortunately, I’m new to this hobby, and none of my friends or family have radios I can test with or antennas to swap out to see how my setup performs. I do have a handheld FRS radio, which works for about a mile before losing signal.  
Thanks,  
I used to be excited!

[Socalgmrs]

So gmrs is a radio service designed to be used by friends and family while doing an activity.  What activities do you do?  With whom do you do them with?   It’s not for talking to random dudes on the air. So no one is going to talk with you on simplex most likely. As for the registration for the site.  It’s going to take a bit. Your call sign has to clear all of the fcc then clear this site.  You have been without repeaters your whole life a few days or even a couple weeks isnt going to hurt you.  Too much instant gratification expectations.   Now if you used gmrs correctly you would have friends or family to talk to while doing an activity and therefore you would already be able to do a radio check and be out in the world using your radio as designed    The FRS radios will talk simplex with your rig so you can do radio checks.  If a small bump in the road has you not excited any more I’d say you have more issues going on then not having repeater tones.  Learn to slow down. Life is about the journey not the gmrs repeaters. 

[Guest Frank]

We spend most of our time outdoors, enjoying our RV, kayaks, and mountain bikes, as well as hiking. A significant portion of our adventures takes us off the grid, for power we rely on a bank of lifepo4 lithium iron phosphate batteries charged by solar panels. To extend our communication range, we decided to switch from FRS to GMRS. Our plan is to start with a mobile unit to help with traffic patterns while traveling out of state, and then we’ll upgrade our handheld devices. Someone has to take the lead among friends and family in exploring GMRS, and the rest will follow by our recommendations. This weekend, we’re heading off the grid and want to ensure all our equipment is functioning properly and free of defects.

[Jaay]

1 hour ago, Socalgmrs said:

So gmrs is a radio service designed to be used by friends and family while doing an activity.  What activities do you do?  With whom do you do them with?   It’s not for talking to random dudes on the air. So no one is going to talk with you on simplex most likely. As for the registration for the site.  It’s going to take a bit. Your call sign has to clear all of the fcc then clear this site.  You have been without repeaters your whole life a few days or even a couple weeks isnt going to hurt you.  Too much instant gratification expectations.   Now if you used gmrs correctly you would have friends or family to talk to while doing an activity and therefore you would already be able to do a radio check and be out in the world using your radio as designed    The FRS radios will talk simplex with your rig so you can do radio checks.  If a small bump in the road has you not excited any more I’d say you have more issues going on then not having repeater tones.  Learn to slow down. Life is about the journey not the gmrs repeaters. 

GMRS IS FOR TALKING WITH ANYONE YOU FEEL LIKE PUTTING A CALL OUT TO ! MALE, FEMALE IS IRRELEVANT !  THERE'S NOTHING WRONG WITH MAKING RANDOM CONTACTS, GET THIS THROUGH YOUR HEAD, PLEASE !!

[BoxCar]

5 hours ago, Jaay said:

GMRS IS FOR TALKING WITH ANYONE YOU FEEL LIKE PUTTING A CALL OUT TO ! MALE, FEMALE IS IRRELEVANT !  THERE'S NOTHING WRONG WITH MAKING RANDOM CONTACTS, GET THIS THROUGH YOUR HEAD, PLEASE !!

You assume much with that statement.

[WSGX394]

We really do GMRS to pick up the ladies. Cast a wide net.  

[SteveShannon]

8 hours ago, Guest Frank said:

Hello,  
I’m new to GMRS and have just received my license, along with a Radioddity 20-watt radio and a Nagoya UT-72G antenna that I primarily use in my vehicle. However, I’m facing difficulties creating an account on mygmrs.com because my call sign isn’t showing up in the database. It mentioned that it could take up to 48 hours, but it’s now been four days. Without a mygmrs account, I can’t access repeater tones, and I’m unable to connect with anyone who isn’t using a repeater. I’ve been asking for radio checks, but I have a feeling that no one can hear me. It’s been several days of trying to reach out, and each hour feels more discouraging. I just want to ensure that my equipment is working correctly and that my radio is set up properly, which I believe it is since it came pre-configured with the defaults, especially for wideband. After reading more, I had hoped it might be set for narrowband, but that hope has faded. I also want to verify that the antenna is functioning as it should. Everything I’ve read indicates that I should be able to reach at least 6 to 10 miles, depending on the terrain. I’m located in central Long Island, NY. Is it typical for everyone to communicate exclusively on repeaters and not use regular channels? Unfortunately, I’m new to this hobby, and none of my friends or family have radios I can test with or antennas to swap out to see how my setup performs. I do have a handheld FRS radio, which works for about a mile before losing signal.  
Thanks,  
I used to be excited!

Hi Frank,

What is your call sign?

Sometimes it takes a few days, but I have also seen where people read and input their call sign incorrectly and go for weeks or even months before figuring it out.  All GMRS call signs issued in the past several years are four letters followed by three numbers: waaa000 to wzzz999.  One person had a call sign that ended in I776 and he kept trying to enter it as 1776, not i776, getting more and more frustrated when the system failed to recognize it in spite of the amount of time since issuance.

Most people using GMRS do so to have family communications while doing family activities. That’s what the licensing favors, but there’s nothing wrong with random contacts with people you introduce yourself to online.  As you have seen a few people get their panties in a wad over that.  Ignoring them is easiest.

 

[TDM827]

8 hours ago, Guest Frank said:

Hello,  
I’m new to GMRS and have just received my license, along with a Radioddity 20-watt radio and a Nagoya UT-72G antenna that I primarily use in my vehicle. However, I’m facing difficulties creating an account on mygmrs.com because my call sign isn’t showing up in the database. It mentioned that it could take up to 48 hours, but it’s now been four days. Without a mygmrs account, I can’t access repeater tones, and I’m unable to connect with anyone who isn’t using a repeater. I’ve been asking for radio checks, but I have a feeling that no one can hear me. It’s been several days of trying to reach out, and each hour feels more discouraging. I just want to ensure that my equipment is working correctly and that my radio is set up properly, which I believe it is since it came pre-configured with the defaults, especially for wideband. After reading more, I had hoped it might be set for narrowband, but that hope has faded. I also want to verify that the antenna is functioning as it should. Everything I’ve read indicates that I should be able to reach at least 6 to 10 miles, depending on the terrain. I’m located in central Long Island, NY. Is it typical for everyone to communicate exclusively on repeaters and not use regular channels? Unfortunately, I’m new to this hobby, and none of my friends or family have radios I can test with or antennas to swap out to see how my setup performs. I do have a handheld FRS radio, which works for about a mile before losing signal.  
Thanks,  
I used to be excited!

Sorry to hear getting connecting to a repeater is going slower than expected. 

The FCC description is pretty wide open for how to use GMRS service and is covered under  47 C.F.R, Part 95 Subpart E and says, among other things....

"The General Mobile Radio Service (GMRS) is a licensed radio service that uses channels around 462 MHz and 467 MHz. The most common use of GMRS channels is for short-distance, two-way voice communications using hand-held radios, mobile radios and repeater systems. In 2017, the FCC expanded GMRS to also allow short data messaging applications including text messaging and GPS location information."

"The GMRS is available to an individual for short-distance two-way communications to facilitate the activities of licensees and their immediate family members. Each licensee manages a system consisting of one or more transmitting units (stations.)"

While the FCC states it's designed to "facilitate activities," it is your choice to determine what those activities are. Be it for use in communicating as a family, outdoor activities, managing community groups on a family / license holder level, establishing contacts and yes even the controversial chit chatting. So as far as the FCC is concerned they are not going to get into the weeds and render judgement on the legitimacy of your "activity", unless you are violating FCC GMRS rules.  

There are plenty of us hear on the forum that are not big fans of people making tons of random contacts and rag chewing (endless chit chat). But that is an "opinion." And if that's what your activity is, as a licensee you have the right to the airwaves to do so. And as long as the FCC allows it I will support your right to do so. But would ask people don't hog the channel, stay courteous and allow breaks for others to transmit. 

By the way, making contacts on simplex seems pretty rare, especially in rural areas. So, don't get get down, and remain excited!

 

 

[GrouserPad]

13 hours ago, Guest Frank said:

Hello,  
I’m new to GMRS and have just received my license, along with a Radioddity 20-watt radio and a Nagoya UT-72G antenna that I primarily use in my vehicle. However, I’m facing difficulties creating an account on mygmrs.com because my call sign isn’t showing up in the database. It mentioned that it could take up to 48 hours, but it’s now been four days. Without a mygmrs account, I can’t access repeater tones, and I’m unable to connect with anyone who isn’t using a repeater. I’ve been asking for radio checks, but I have a feeling that no one can hear me. It’s been several days of trying to reach out, and each hour feels more discouraging. I just want to ensure that my equipment is working correctly and that my radio is set up properly, which I believe it is since it came pre-configured with the defaults, especially for wideband. After reading more, I had hoped it might be set for narrowband, but that hope has faded. I also want to verify that the antenna is functioning as it should. Everything I’ve read indicates that I should be able to reach at least 6 to 10 miles, depending on the terrain. I’m located in central Long Island, NY. Is it typical for everyone to communicate exclusively on repeaters and not use regular channels? Unfortunately, I’m new to this hobby, and none of my friends or family have radios I can test with or antennas to swap out to see how my setup performs. I do have a handheld FRS radio, which works for about a mile before losing signal.  
Thanks,  
I used to be excited!

Gmrs is kinda unique. It’s pretty much used to communicate with only people you know personally. I rarely ever find it used as a radio service to make contacts with random people. That’s more of a ham radio or even cb radio thing.  I personally found it surprising how few people use gmrs, so to fix that I built my parents a base station and I set my father in law up with an ht and a 5/8 wave mag mount on their metal roof so they too have a base radio. This made it a bunch more fun. Otherwise gmrs is just boring and rarely if ever hear anything on it other than repeaters taking up the entire high power spectrum of the channel list

[GreggInFL]

15 hours ago, Guest Frank said:

I have a feeling that no one can hear me.

Can you hear anyone else?

 

15 hours ago, Guest Frank said:

 I do have a handheld FRS radio, which works for about a mile before losing signal.  

Can you communicate with the FRS radio?  Put them both on channel 15 (462.550) and start pushing buttons.

Hang in there Frank.  You'll get it working.  Feel free to check here for more info.

[WSBY849]

16 hours ago, Jaay said:

GMRS IS FOR TALKING WITH ANYONE YOU FEEL LIKE PUTTING A CALL OUT TO ! MALE, FEMALE IS IRRELEVANT !  THERE'S NOTHING WRONG WITH MAKING RANDOM CONTACTS, GET THIS THROUGH YOUR HEAD, PLEASE !!

Unfortunately, I hear more unlicensed business chatter than GMRS license holders making random contacts - would be nice to see that change considering the money I put into setting up a base station. I have been monitoring most of the day and heard a man tell a couple children NOT to use HIS business frequency.

Jerrod (J-Rod)

Grand Junction, Colorado

WSBY849

[TerriKennedy]

9 hours ago, WSBY849 said:

Unfortunately, I hear more unlicensed business chatter than GMRS license holders making random contacts - would be nice to see that change considering the money I put into setting up a base station. I have been monitoring most of the day and heard a man tell a couple children NOT to use HIS business frequency.

Some of the frequencies are shared with FRS which doesn't need a license, just a type approved radio. Weekday afternoons there's a lot of itinerant traffic on .700 which seems to be school bus dispatching (I'm within 2 blocks of several schools).

There are also some legacy business GMRS licenses. Although new ones haven't been issued in years, they're still renewable as long as they haven't lapsed.

You can always set a tone if you don't want to hear unrelated chatter. I recommend to my users that they don't set a RX tone so they can make sure the channel is clear before transmitting, but that's a decision each of them can make for themselves.

[Jaay]

On 3/21/2025 at 7:11 AM, BoxCar said:

You assume much with that statement.

Yeah, probably...