GMRS and Family

Posted Mon, 04/13/2020 - 10:04am by Mike Gallagher

As a side endeavor, I picked up some Motorola GMRS walkie talkies for my grandkids and got an FRN and GMRS license (no exam just $70) that I think they can use the walkie talkies under my GMRS license since they are family. I think I can use my gear in the GMRS freqs to communicate with their walkie talkies possibly even if I do not have my tech license yet. Would that be a correct understanding? Or am I missing something?

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Sure you can use the GMRS

by admin - 04/14/2020 - 7:16am

Sure you can use the GMRS stuff under your GMRS license. Officially, the equipment you use for amateur radio comms may or may not be legal to use on GMRS and/or FRN, depending on its specs and if it was certified to be used for GMRS or FRN. Obviously you can't use a 45 watt mobile in the FRN service that is limited to 250 milliwatts or whatever it is. I don't know what the power limits etc are for your GMRS license, but the radio would have to be programmed to limit power to the license level.

We could probably talk more about it.

Sounds good, I'll keep an eye

by Mike Gallagher - 04/14/2020 - 8:58am

Sounds good, I'll keep an eye on that. I was looking at the new 2017 power limits. It looks like channels 15 through 22 are rated for 50w, 1-7 5w, and 8-14 .5w for GMRS. FRS (unlicensed) is much lower and shares some of the same channels. I will keep an eye on power as you indicated.

Thank you,
Mike

As you have probably already

by admin - 04/14/2020 - 6:10pm

As you have probably already experienced, the modern radio has the ability to set the power level for every channel. And hams can use commercial/GMRS radios within the ham bands if so programmable. We were converting obsolete tube type police radios for ham bands back in the 1960's. Going the other way (ham specific radio to commercial/GMRS) is not legal assuming it has not been certified for the service, only ham service.

Thanks, the more I

by Mike Gallagher - 04/14/2020 - 6:47pm

Thanks, the more I investigate it appears the device would need a part 95 acceptance. Good to know.

Thanks,
Mike