General GMRS Newb

[Masterclass]

Anybody here licensed and operating? I just got my license and radios will be here today. Any tips or good websites to gain newb knowledge on how to program, operate, so on so forth?

I ordered these guys because the price was right and they have GPS to find your way back to a spot.

 

[Cornhole Champ]

in for info, what's the range?

 

[Masterclass]

in for info, what's the range?

The way I understand it, it depends on the antennae and other variables. However, there are supposed to be devices called repeaters out there that greatly increase the range. I am just getting started though so honestly I don't know much yet. Either way, I have no problem learning a new skill and having any form of communication in an emergency could be very useful.

 

[Masterclass]

Radios arrived.

 

[SC MMA MD]

We use GMRS for our Search and Rescue Agency. We are likely about to transition to join the county 800 band with new radios so we can more easily communicate with law enforcement and fire at searches.
the GMRS radios work well, and they go
radio to radio so they allow you to use a person as a “repeater” if you stretch to the end of their range. With a good radio, we can reliably get 7+ miles of range even in the mountains. The 800 band has dead spots in some rural areas in the Upstate- and of course that is where people get lost.
The GMRS frequencies can get crowded especially near public hunting grounds, large construction/logging projects and racetracks, but the privacy codes can help.

 

[MountainMedic]

We use GMRS for our Search and Rescue Agency. We are likely about to transition to join the county 800 band with new radios so we can more easily communicate with law enforcement and fire at searches.
the GMRS radios work well, and they go
radio to radio so they allow you to use a person as a “repeater” if you stretch to the end of their range. With a good radio, we can reliably get 7+ miles of range even in the mountains. The 800 band has dead spots in some rural areas in the Upstate- and of course that is where people get lost.
The GMRS frequencies can get crowded especially near public hunting grounds, large construction/logging projects and racetracks, but the privacy codes can help.

Keep those old radios in ready standby, not everywhere is 800 (we were and dispatch allegedly had patches, one county over they didn't). Especially very rural where you might mutual aid.
I've been there on a big fire, nobody could really talk to each other.. we reverted to cell phones and NLEC, it was a shit show.

 

[Cornhole Champ]

Keep those old radios in ready standby, not everywhere is 800 (we were and dispatch allegedly had patches, one county over they didn't). Especially very rural where you might mutual aid.
I've been there on a big fire, nobody could really talk to each other.. we reverted to cell phones and NLEC, it was a shit show.

trying to get a patch between SP and SO was always fruitless. Was on perimeter for a homicidal woman and standing next to my buddy who was a deputy, we were telling each other what the other's dispatch was saying.