Communication will be a key factor to get information and to get information out. Especially within your own family/neighborhood area.

For disaster planning.
I have always favored ways to incorporate some key ideals that can be used both for everyday life and beyond. You can certainly stash food away but it's painful to find out it doesn't taste good or has gone bad when you need it. At that point, you are stuck with it. Time, money and useless when you need it.

What I mean by this for those considering or are already planning to be prepared is simply start by enlarging your pantry.


Communications:

Besides having car radio and stand alone radios...
So, on the lines for communication I like to recommend a few points to consider.

When talking about communications "aka" radios" - this can become vast and complex.
From FRS, GMRS, MURS, CB, HAM, Digital, Satellite and beyond.

FRS is the family radio - those you bought for your kids. These can run from $5 - $90. The Spiderman or Barbi radio. No license needed.

GMRS is the one I would focus on today.

The rest I'll leave for smaller group discussion or one to one.
HAM is a great hobby all by itself.



GMRS - General Mobile Radio Service
No test. Just pay license fee to FCC - $35 for 10 years.
Used to be $70 a few years ago.


The GMRS license covers the whole family.
One license includes spouse, children, parents, uncles, aunts, grandparents

Your license will give you a call sign that is specifically yours.


Only required to announce your call sign when you first begin and after 15 min if you are really talking that long on the radio. No lingo. Just talk.

ADVANTAGES: one fee. $35 for 10 years ($3.50 a year). Covers WHOLE family, easy to use, buy any off the shelf radio for FRS/GMRS, More powerful than FRS, longer distances 1-5 miles, you can use for camping or off road adventures or just around the house and of course wider disaster preparedness uses.

More info on GMRS
https://www.fcc.gov/wireless/bureau-div ... rvice-gmrs


You will need 2 accounts. 1 FCC account (free) and then an account to pay the fee (CORES) you'll need to make an account there too.

Easiest way to think of GMRS is the adult version of the FRS radios. More powerful yet still cheap.

As for HAM, etc I mainly rule those out due to cost and also most will require a "test" plus the fees for the test and the license itself.
FRS and CB do not require a license.


GMRS (FCC)
2 accounts

FCC Register New Account - you will get a 10 digit number (your FCC number)
https://apps2.fcc.gov/fccUserReg/pages/login.html

Payment to FCC (ULS or CORES) - once you have your FCC number.
You'll submit your GMRS license application. $35
https://apps.fcc.gov/cores/userLogin.do

Use the drop down for new license - "ZA General Mobile (GMRS)"
So, that is how you pay. Then you wait a day or two or three and they will send you an email with your callsign and license



Lots of youtube videos on GMRS radio use and reviews.

GMRS Radio's will cost you anywhere from $10 - $140
Amazon is running about $25-30 depending on type/manufacturer




If by chance you are willing to spend the money. Satellite texting is a great way to go.

If you like to get into another hobby - look into HAM radios. All the gear and technical aspects to keep you very busy for a very long time.

Think about it like reloading…. It’s a huge rabbit hole.

I've been playing with these for a while, but didn't start looking too deep until very recently. Like some things I learned about just a few days ago.
The GM30 is a great radio for like $30. You can also get different antennas for more range in different terrain, the higher DB gain is better on open area, the 2db gain is good in cities.
There are some repeaters in the area. I've heard people talking from Olympia to Seattle.
There are vehicle mounted ones that go as high as 50 watt, but antenna height matters more than output. At six feet or so, in clear terrain the distance is only going to be about 6 miles because it's line of sight. And the distance to the horizon at 6 feet high is 6 miles (I'm taking peoples' word on this... I got tired and went to bed).

No, these aren't going to let you talk to someone 200 miles away like a HAM radio could, but you can walk into Sportco, Cabellas, Sportsman's Warehouse, Fred Meyer, or Wal-Mart and pick up a couple handhelds. Sometimes one of the vehicle kits. The .5 watt FRS freqs can have an advantage with their shorter range if you're staying close together and don't want to reduce the risk of people further away hearing you.

With any FCC license you might want to have some sort of alternate address though. The information on that license is public and anyone can look it up if they know your call sign. Might be why some GMRS users are also using the option to transmit their call sign with Morse Code instead of just saying it.

Wierd, I haven't heard any GMRS people giving their call with CW. It would annoy the shit out of folks! If you're listening to a repeater, it will send it's own call out that way periodically though.

Yeah the Olycomm 3 repeater in E. Tiger Mtn. has amazing coverage. I've talked on it from all over the place. Even from the LCR pit!

There's one dude who does it regularly, I don't remember his name. It's only the first time, and I want to say almost exactly 15 minute intervals. I've heard a repeater do it too. I thought it might be the repeater but I heard it with him a few times, but it could be a coincidence. I'm too lazy and slow to write it down when it happens.

Wierd. I'd have said to knock it off, as that'd be annoying as hell.

I know CW now. At times we've been doing nets on Olycom3, like the ham study net, discussing CW, and I actually gave my call in Morse. But just for shits and giggles.

Isolated incident though! Wouldn't normally do it.

That repeater has more traffic than most of the ham repeaters in the area, with the exception of K7LED and the PSRG network.

Do you have patience for stupid questions?

I’ve been reading these threads with the intention of buying equipment. From one of the earlier threads, I came up with this as an appropriate radio:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B06Y2697RX/?c ... _lig_dp_it

Been hesitant because it seems above my skill level. Does this fall under the GMRS category? What would be a good radio for a newb, but still have the capacity for increasing skill/need? I don’t want to buy a radio (or set) and find out in 6 months that I should have spent the extra money up front. At max, I would need 4 radios at my house.

That is a full blown HAM radio. License required. It is also a Digital radio. Extremely hard to program and use. IMHO

Go study these sites.
https://baofengtech.com/product-category/handheld/?swoof=1&pa_user=gmrs&really_curr_tax=95-product_cat
https://shop.mygmrs.com/collections/gmrs-radios

Of course GMRS needs a license also but no studying involved.

Honestly, just buy a Baofeng UV-5R and start learning with that. Low cost of entry and they work. And ignore anyone who says "but YoU cAn'T uSe It FoR GMRS bEcAuSe FCC"...everyone does it, nobody gets in trouble for it, and in an emergency, it won't matter. I do recommend actually getting the GMRS license, though.

After you have developed some proficiency on an inexpensive radio, you'll be better able to evaluate other potential radio purchases. Or you may find that the Baofeng is more than adequate for your needs. Either way, it's a good starter radio.

Guns, does the "You can't use it for GMRS" warning apply only to non-licensed users? Or is it something else?

Lots of questions…

So, as with everything in life.
It is all about the budget or willingness to spend money and time.

Honestly, if you are going to dive deep - spend the money. But for the vast majority it’s the cheapest that will get the job done.

Baofeng is the cheapest by far. $20-$25. Maybe $45-60 if you buy their package deals.

Also intent. If you want to go deep and want something more reliable and has more power? Then the Yaeso is far better but remember it’s almost 10 times the cost.


With cheaper comes a bit more work. Like programming. It is quite easy but you need a laptop and the programming cable. Or otherwise you will have to do manually one by one, if you have more than one radio set.


Anyone can buy a HAM radio.
Anyone can listen on HAM radio.

No license is required to listen or have.
It does require a FCC license to transmit on HAM.


The misunderstanding about GMRS is all about power (how strong of a signal one can push out) means greater distance, better quality depending on terrain etc.

One GMRS license covers the whole family. No test. $35 for 10 years.

To be honest, Amazon has a ten pack of Baofeng $180. With cable - you can have the ability to link a whole squad. Attach a simple frequency time table and you have some level of comm security.

Battery is the biggest issue. Once you buy the radio.
Make sure if you can get ones that are USB chargeable. Most of the cheap ones will have a table mount recharger base.

No, it's in regard to FCC bullshit about being "certified".

Technically radios than can operate in the ham bands aren't "certified" for GMRS. Part 95, or part 99, can't remember 'cause don't care.

Everybody in GMRS uses whatever works. Nobody cares, as long as you're not causing harmful interference.

Me, I would never want a handheld or mobile that ONLY does ham or ONLY does GMRS. That would seem ridiculous.

^This.

The issue here is the removable antenna.

Here you go people. I know someone here might jump on this.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/116077523723?itmmeta=01HQB3HD5AFBQ6B1JMG68PK80E&hash=item1b06c2730b%3Ag%3AlI4AAOSwSnJl2GNE&itmprp=enc%3AAQAIAAAAsO7SfPGv2ktWWxCgR4e1qcs9R3krLxG%2Bh%2BSAWcU04lsmarYTjiRqpzR8gKHfHmT3wZrParW90DEdt0k%2FPP%2BJ0R45YdRVg2Kn8EVmx3xgm%2BnPD6UvnCWMjP2mO18OaDoLuWykUljMutLUuHZ1sXAYbB51sN84N05D%2FsQupo6%2FmVBPkOcls6Qkve3KxBTpc2dKjHYsA7ryM4tpYL%2FaSLSv0hfeYIifeSAIgHybAP35NmIb%7Ctkp%3ABk9SR9zSxeO6Yw&LH_ItemCondition=1000%7C1500%7C3000

This guys explains the different bands well: