Hope you all find this video helpful. I've linked affiliate links to most of the radio equipment shown in this video. Happy prepping! Midland - MXT275 MicroMobile GMRS Radio amzn.to/3Gps36v Btech GMRS PRO amzn.to/3sZg2lm Baofeng GMRS Radio GMRS-9R Handheld Radio (Channel 15 may not work on new models) amzn.to/3t9JGnT BTECH GMRS-20V2 20W Radio Receiver amzn.to/47F5pmC BTECH AMP-U25 Amplifier amzn.to/3T7w1s0 BTECH GMRS-50 V2 50W Radio amzn.to/3GoAbUW Duracomm LPX14 Power Supply amzn.to/48400FP BTECH GMRS-V2 5W amzn.to/3T6ePTO Antenna for Base Stations (Low Gain) amzn.to/3Ro67iE Antenna Base- amzn.to/4a48NJn BaoFeng UV-5R 8W Ham Radio amzn.to/482ql79 Baofeng UV5R Cable to Connect Electronic Earmuffs amzn.to/3RmbGhr Peltor Tactical 300 Electronic Hearing Protection amzn.to/3GoBdAi
VHF/UHF radios are great for local comms but They are mostly dependent on intermediary infrastructure (repeaters). Same with GMRS. An HF transceiver in conjunction with the aforementioned is essential in my opinion. Great video btw.
You made enough of an impression that I would like to make some comments and clarifications. For a beginner's guide, I like where you started. I thought it would be useful to point some things out for beginners. Range is a function of line of sight and antenna more than power. "Height is might" as the saying goes in radio. VHF/UHF (like GMRS and MURS) is line of sight. The higher you are, the further you can reach. There are ham radio satellites and ham repeaters on the International Space Station. 5 watts is MORE than enough to reach them even though they are @250 miles away. Why? Because (when they are overhead) you have a direct line of sight. The power is less important. If you can get your antenna up 50 feet above the average terrain, you can probably get about 20 miles or more. There are ham repeaters up on towers over 1500 feet up that can cover 90 miles in all directions. Power is good for reflecting past obstacles as your signal will be weaker if it reflects off of something before it is received, but your height, followed by the quality of your antenna, will always be more important. I love SignalSticks. They are nigh indestructible, all of them can handle at least 50 watts, and are great quality for very little cost. Antennas do not have to be fancy or pretty, they just have to be right to perform their best. They are not meant for GMRS or MURS, but you can tune them for better performance by trimming them to an appropriate length. What is an appropriate length? See my next point below. Whatever you choose, lose whatever "rubber ducky" antenna comes with the radio. Being short may be convenient, but there is a trade off for short and convenient. LEARN HOW TO USE THE RADIO! I presume most would agree that, if you were to buy a pistol, you would think it important to learn how to use it and disassemble it at least enough to properly clean it, right? You wouldn't just toss it in a box and then think you are going to pull it out during some emergency and really be effective. These radios can be very cheap, but they (and their effective use) is still more complicated than a firearm. They can also be programmed by computer, though you should practice doing it from the keypad on the radio as well. They are a tool. Treat them as such, not matter how cheap or expensive. This is where a ham license can be helpful. It provides an excuse to learn the things you need to learn to make these radios effective no matter what band/frequencies you plan to use. hamstudy.org/ has free study tools and apps and can help you find an online testing session when you are ready. Even if you don't get a ham license, it still a tool that you can use to learn about the equipment you are hoping to use. Point is, you are unlikely to have much luck with these radios beyond talking to family and friends in the car behind you on a road trip, if you don't take the time to learn how to use the equipment you buy. A LiFePO4 Lithium Battery that is rated for 12 amps or more continuous discharge will handle most 50 watt or smaller base stations without a problem. It's best to check the specs on your specific radio to be sure. I have a 10 amp hour LiFePO4 that is rated for 10 amps continuous. It can run anything I have smaller than my 50 watt mobile. The 50 watt mobile draws 11 amps peak when transmitting full power. If I don't want to use full power, no problem, that battery is fine. I have an 18 amp hour battery that can handle 30 amps continuous discharge. That can handle the mobile at full power and my HF transceiver at 100 watts with room to spare. Nothing fancy. Just a battery, a radio, and an antenna. Finally, I have a few radio licenses and I will not harass you for pointing out that a Baofeng, or a number of other ham radios can work on GMRS. And no, no one can tell what radio you are using just by talking on it. Nor do I think too many people care. People who did go to the trouble of getting a license might be annoyed if you did not go to the same trouble perhaps, but many on GMRS still don't even bother with calls signs, maybe a bit more often on GMRS repeaters perhaps. MURS frequencies can be very handy. They are little used and do not require a license at all, like CB. Those same cheap radios can be tuned to those as well. 5 watts on the MURS frequencies works just as well, sometimes better, than 5 watts on GMRS. It's still 5 watts. It's still radio waves. You want to talk around the world? Get a ham license and a HF transceiver. HF frequencies can bounce off the ionosphere. That's why you can talk such long distances. VHF and UHF just pass right through and off into space without bouncing. That's why GMRS and MURS, for instance, are line of sight only. The difference between HF and UHF/VHF radios? 500 or much more dollars for an HF transceiver instead of 30 bucks for a Baofeng (or similar cheap Chinese radio). Up to you. VHF/UHF can be a pretty cheap hobby. HF, less so. Ok... Shutting up now. That's a real wall of text for a TH-cam comment. Dude, I liked your presentation overall, otherwise I would not have bothered to comment. That is to say that you only have yourself to blame, LOL! It's just radio is a very deep topic. More so than most people realize if they really want to be effective with their radios, particularly in a difficult situation. I will watch a few more of your videos and see how you present other topics. Wish you well, 73!
I agree with pretty much all of this comment. The only thing ill say about power is this yes hight is might for sure but when were trying use local comms 5 to 15 miles sometimes you may not have a great place for your radio (shtf) some places may be off limits and power can be real useful in a pinch. Thanks for the comment! it was alot though lol!
@@citizensurvivalplan Absolutely. When you are in an urban or other crowded environment with no clear line of sight, that is when power really helps. Signals do reflect off of things like buildings. They can penetrate some as well. Power does help make up for the attenuation of signal you experience in that kind of cluttered environment. BTW, I noticed that you have a BTech amp in your video. I have one for UHF. I use it in a chest rig. Two admin bags sit on the front in an over and under config. I have a handheld strapped to the front of the top bag. the top bag contains the amp and a SignalStik antenna on a relocation mount. The bottom bag contains the 10 amp hour battery that powers the amp. The setup does a great job of putting base station/mobile power right on your rig. Those amps are great for turning any cheap handheld into a portable base station. Obviously, if you ran some kind of pack, you could relocate the battery and amp elsewhere. Like many hams, I use Anderson powerpole connectors for everything to make life easy.
I bought a GMRS Radio licence 1 month ago.I plan on getting Ham radio license (Technician and hopefully General) this winter. I bought 2 Baofeng gm-15 pro ht. They work good for the money. I've gotten 5 miles range out of them.
I love GMRS. We live in a tornado zone and the last one to rip through here took out cell service but the repeaters were still on. So this past Christmas I gave out over 30 radios that I programmed.
I'm impressed to see this video has more likes than you have subscribers. Real quality educational content for preppers is very sought after especially with everything escalating. I enjoyed the video and subscribed, looking forward to more great content.
@@kellydiver the united states economy going flat, conflicts we are involved in yet keep refusing to call it a war, the overstepping of government boundaries towards citizens and their right to live free without persecution for different beliefs or rejection of a government controlling every aspect of our lives.
@@BIGprepper The US economy is actually doing pretty well. It expanded more than 5% in the third quarter of 2023, the fastest rate of growth, as measured by Gross Domestic Product (GDP), since 2021's fourth quarter. Inflation and interest rates are easing. Consumer spending is holding up, the labor market is stable and strong with an unemployment rate of only 3.7% - as an economist, I don’t understand why people think the economy isn’t good. It’s among the best in the world right now. And unless you’re gay or a woman, I also don’t understand why people feel they are being persecuted by the government. But you do you, my friend.
@@kellydiver you dont understand because you live under a rock looking at manipulated data so that you dont go causing a scene on the local news. You are a pawn that got played like a finely tuned fiddle. I don't need a moron to tell me the economy is doing well as i watch it failing before my eyes, you need a new career that is more forgiving due to a lack of intelligence.
Does programming a bunch of UV5R and GMRS radios check the box for emergency preparedness? Is it not worthy of further consideration, such as emergency first aid, advanced first aid, and defensive training? What is the plan for comms beyond five miles? Your ten-mile contact using a handheld radio is an anomaly, an exception case, not the norm, especially between two stock handheld radios (I suspect one station had to be quite elevated). Will repeaters survive Homeland Security scrutiny? What if a member of my "team" is stuck in Colorado Springs and needs to communicate effectively with a base of operations in Boulder, Fort Collins, or Twin Falls, ID? It's fun to push the button and talk on "boof-wang" radios. Everyone has them because they are cheap, but unless you have a plan, everyone having these in their emergency kit is a joke and will do more harm to a comms network than good.
With CHIRP all of the radios can be programmed with the same freq's and CTCSS tones and a programming cable connected to a computer before any disaster situation. You are not going to talk from Colorado Springs to Boulder, Fort Collins, or Twinfalls, ID because it is only a 5 Watts VHF radio. For distance comms, you would need a High-Frequency transceiver.
Me and a buddy just bought our gmrs license and want to give it a try. I have a repeater about 10 miles from me and it’s probably about 15 miles from him. Is it even possible for us both to hit that with a 5 watt hand held or are we just dreaming? Excuse my ignorance. This is all brand new!🤠 Thank you for the video…
Radio range doesn't have much to do with power. It has to do with frequency, mode, antenna, and location/elevation. Hams communicate around the world with only a fraction of a Watt of power. Just as effective first-aid is mostly about medical knowledge, not the size of your first-aid kit, radio communications is all about RF knowledge, not the power of the radio's amplifier. My 1 Watt LowFER station completely blanketed 1/3 of the USA every day with only 7 mW of output power because I learned about RF. If anyone is serious about prepper communications, they need to learn about RF.
My man, he’s JUST talking communication. Why rip on the guy for not talking full scale preparedness? Communication is important during an event that kills infrastructure. Radio to radio will still exist, albeit limited. NOAA channels may still broadcast which could give useful info.
I would think a "Prepper" wouldn't want to limit them self to only a certain set of frequencies and want access to as many frequencies as possible when SHTF. MURS would be a great addition , especially if MURS is hardly used because when SHTF pretty much all frequencies are gonna be tied up. Everyone gonna be walking all over each other and every other household gonna have a blister pack of FRS radios.
Yes, it is a great transceiver. Having said that It would depend on what you would want to use it for. Anyone can own any Amateur radio and listen (monitor), however, you would need a license grant from the FCC to transmit as these are Amateur Radios. In an emergency when life and or property are in danger you can use any radio communication method available to you, per the FCC. Let's keep it legal.
I’ve got a couple UV5R and I climbed a mountain near my house to test them and I could talk to my wife at home, really for the price it’s an awesome little radio. I did upgrade my antennas to Nagoya na-771, it helped but honestly it didn’t make a huge difference. I keep mine put away for an emergency.
your volume varies wildly on the video. Sometimes it gets too loud and im constantly having to raise or lower the volume. Might want to get a mic you wear and use it only. Every time you get close or far away with the camera your volume varies. Just a thought.
Hope you all find this video helpful. I've linked affiliate links to most of the radio equipment shown in this video. Happy prepping!
Midland - MXT275 MicroMobile GMRS Radio
amzn.to/3Gps36v
Btech GMRS PRO
amzn.to/3sZg2lm
Baofeng GMRS Radio GMRS-9R Handheld Radio (Channel 15 may not work on new models)
amzn.to/3t9JGnT
BTECH GMRS-20V2 20W Radio Receiver
amzn.to/47F5pmC
BTECH AMP-U25 Amplifier
amzn.to/3T7w1s0
BTECH GMRS-50 V2 50W Radio
amzn.to/3GoAbUW
Duracomm LPX14 Power Supply
amzn.to/48400FP
BTECH GMRS-V2 5W
amzn.to/3T6ePTO
Antenna for Base Stations (Low Gain)
amzn.to/3Ro67iE
Antenna Base-
amzn.to/4a48NJn
BaoFeng UV-5R 8W Ham Radio
amzn.to/482ql79
Baofeng UV5R Cable to Connect Electronic Earmuffs
amzn.to/3RmbGhr
Peltor Tactical 300 Electronic Hearing Protection
amzn.to/3GoBdAi
You do a good job on all of your videos. Thank you!
Excellent video and information, coms are very important especially in a emergency.
Yes they are!
Liked and subscribed. Lots of good info!! 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸
Welcome aboard!
Coming to say hey! Thanks for watching and commenting on my channel. Keep spreading the word brother!
Hey Thanks!
VHF/UHF radios are great for local comms but They are mostly dependent on intermediary infrastructure (repeaters). Same with GMRS. An HF transceiver in conjunction with the aforementioned is essential in my opinion. Great video btw.
You made enough of an impression that I would like to make some comments and clarifications. For a beginner's guide, I like where you started. I thought it would be useful to point some things out for beginners. Range is a function of line of sight and antenna more than power. "Height is might" as the saying goes in radio. VHF/UHF (like GMRS and MURS) is line of sight. The higher you are, the further you can reach. There are ham radio satellites and ham repeaters on the International Space Station. 5 watts is MORE than enough to reach them even though they are @250 miles away. Why? Because (when they are overhead) you have a direct line of sight. The power is less important. If you can get your antenna up 50 feet above the average terrain, you can probably get about 20 miles or more. There are ham repeaters up on towers over 1500 feet up that can cover 90 miles in all directions. Power is good for reflecting past obstacles as your signal will be weaker if it reflects off of something before it is received, but your height, followed by the quality of your antenna, will always be more important. I love SignalSticks. They are nigh indestructible, all of them can handle at least 50 watts, and are great quality for very little cost. Antennas do not have to be fancy or pretty, they just have to be right to perform their best. They are not meant for GMRS or MURS, but you can tune them for better performance by trimming them to an appropriate length. What is an appropriate length? See my next point below. Whatever you choose, lose whatever "rubber ducky" antenna comes with the radio. Being short may be convenient, but there is a trade off for short and convenient.
LEARN HOW TO USE THE RADIO! I presume most would agree that, if you were to buy a pistol, you would think it important to learn how to use it and disassemble it at least enough to properly clean it, right? You wouldn't just toss it in a box and then think you are going to pull it out during some emergency and really be effective. These radios can be very cheap, but they (and their effective use) is still more complicated than a firearm. They can also be programmed by computer, though you should practice doing it from the keypad on the radio as well. They are a tool. Treat them as such, not matter how cheap or expensive. This is where a ham license can be helpful. It provides an excuse to learn the things you need to learn to make these radios effective no matter what band/frequencies you plan to use. hamstudy.org/ has free study tools and apps and can help you find an online testing session when you are ready. Even if you don't get a ham license, it still a tool that you can use to learn about the equipment you are hoping to use. Point is, you are unlikely to have much luck with these radios beyond talking to family and friends in the car behind you on a road trip, if you don't take the time to learn how to use the equipment you buy.
A LiFePO4 Lithium Battery that is rated for 12 amps or more continuous discharge will handle most 50 watt or smaller base stations without a problem. It's best to check the specs on your specific radio to be sure. I have a 10 amp hour LiFePO4 that is rated for 10 amps continuous. It can run anything I have smaller than my 50 watt mobile. The 50 watt mobile draws 11 amps peak when transmitting full power. If I don't want to use full power, no problem, that battery is fine. I have an 18 amp hour battery that can handle 30 amps continuous discharge. That can handle the mobile at full power and my HF transceiver at 100 watts with room to spare. Nothing fancy. Just a battery, a radio, and an antenna.
Finally, I have a few radio licenses and I will not harass you for pointing out that a Baofeng, or a number of other ham radios can work on GMRS. And no, no one can tell what radio you are using just by talking on it. Nor do I think too many people care. People who did go to the trouble of getting a license might be annoyed if you did not go to the same trouble perhaps, but many on GMRS still don't even bother with calls signs, maybe a bit more often on GMRS repeaters perhaps. MURS frequencies can be very handy. They are little used and do not require a license at all, like CB. Those same cheap radios can be tuned to those as well. 5 watts on the MURS frequencies works just as well, sometimes better, than 5 watts on GMRS. It's still 5 watts. It's still radio waves. You want to talk around the world? Get a ham license and a HF transceiver. HF frequencies can bounce off the ionosphere. That's why you can talk such long distances. VHF and UHF just pass right through and off into space without bouncing. That's why GMRS and MURS, for instance, are line of sight only. The difference between HF and UHF/VHF radios? 500 or much more dollars for an HF transceiver instead of 30 bucks for a Baofeng (or similar cheap Chinese radio). Up to you. VHF/UHF can be a pretty cheap hobby. HF, less so.
Ok... Shutting up now. That's a real wall of text for a TH-cam comment. Dude, I liked your presentation overall, otherwise I would not have bothered to comment. That is to say that you only have yourself to blame, LOL! It's just radio is a very deep topic. More so than most people realize if they really want to be effective with their radios, particularly in a difficult situation. I will watch a few more of your videos and see how you present other topics. Wish you well, 73!
I agree with pretty much all of this comment. The only thing ill say about power is this yes hight is might for sure but when were trying use local comms 5 to 15 miles sometimes you may not have a great place for your radio (shtf) some places may be off limits and power can be real useful in a pinch. Thanks for the comment! it was alot though lol!
@@citizensurvivalplan Absolutely. When you are in an urban or other crowded environment with no clear line of sight, that is when power really helps. Signals do reflect off of things like buildings. They can penetrate some as well. Power does help make up for the attenuation of signal you experience in that kind of cluttered environment.
BTW, I noticed that you have a BTech amp in your video. I have one for UHF. I use it in a chest rig. Two admin bags sit on the front in an over and under config. I have a handheld strapped to the front of the top bag. the top bag contains the amp and a SignalStik antenna on a relocation mount. The bottom bag contains the 10 amp hour battery that powers the amp. The setup does a great job of putting base station/mobile power right on your rig. Those amps are great for turning any cheap handheld into a portable base station. Obviously, if you ran some kind of pack, you could relocate the battery and amp elsewhere. Like many hams, I use Anderson powerpole connectors for everything to make life easy.
I bought a GMRS Radio licence 1 month ago.I plan on getting Ham radio license (Technician and hopefully General) this winter. I bought 2 Baofeng gm-15 pro ht. They work good for the money. I've gotten 5 miles range out of them.
thank you very much
Thanks for watching!
I love GMRS. We live in a tornado zone and the last one to rip through here took out cell service but the repeaters were still on. So this past Christmas I gave out over 30 radios that I programmed.
Subbed ,great com info. Next do a portable backpack radio (portable)
Just getting into GMRS radios and comms. Your videos are very helpful!
I'm impressed to see this video has more likes than you have subscribers. Real quality educational content for preppers is very sought after especially with everything escalating.
I enjoyed the video and subscribed, looking forward to more great content.
I appreciate that!
What’s escalating?
@@kellydiver the united states economy going flat, conflicts we are involved in yet keep refusing to call it a war, the overstepping of government boundaries towards citizens and their right to live free without persecution for different beliefs or rejection of a government controlling every aspect of our lives.
@@BIGprepper The US economy is actually doing pretty well. It expanded more than 5% in the third quarter of 2023, the fastest rate of growth, as measured by Gross Domestic Product (GDP), since 2021's fourth quarter. Inflation and interest rates are easing. Consumer spending is holding up, the labor market is stable and strong with an unemployment rate of only 3.7% - as an economist, I don’t understand why people think the economy isn’t good. It’s among the best in the world right now. And unless you’re gay or a woman, I also don’t understand why people feel they are being persecuted by the government. But you do you, my friend.
@@kellydiver you dont understand because you live under a rock looking at manipulated data so that you dont go causing a scene on the local news. You are a pawn that got played like a finely tuned fiddle.
I don't need a moron to tell me the economy is doing well as i watch it failing before my eyes, you need a new career that is more forgiving due to a lack of intelligence.
Does programming a bunch of UV5R and GMRS radios check the box for emergency preparedness? Is it not worthy of further consideration, such as emergency first aid, advanced first aid, and defensive training? What is the plan for comms beyond five miles? Your ten-mile contact using a handheld radio is an anomaly, an exception case, not the norm, especially between two stock handheld radios (I suspect one station had to be quite elevated). Will repeaters survive Homeland Security scrutiny? What if a member of my "team" is stuck in Colorado Springs and needs to communicate effectively with a base of operations in Boulder, Fort Collins, or Twin Falls, ID? It's fun to push the button and talk on "boof-wang" radios. Everyone has them because they are cheap, but unless you have a plan, everyone having these in their emergency kit is a joke and will do more harm to a comms network than good.
With CHIRP all of the radios can be programmed with the same freq's and CTCSS tones and a programming cable connected to a computer before any disaster situation. You are not going to talk from Colorado Springs to Boulder, Fort Collins, or Twinfalls, ID because it is only a 5 Watts VHF radio. For distance comms, you would need a High-Frequency transceiver.
Me and a buddy just bought our gmrs license and want to give it a try. I have a repeater about 10 miles from me and it’s probably about 15 miles from him. Is it even possible for us both to hit that with a 5 watt hand held or are we just dreaming? Excuse my ignorance. This is all brand new!🤠 Thank you for the video…
Radio range doesn't have much to do with power. It has to do with frequency, mode, antenna, and location/elevation. Hams communicate around the world with only a fraction of a Watt of power. Just as effective first-aid is mostly about medical knowledge, not the size of your first-aid kit, radio communications is all about RF knowledge, not the power of the radio's amplifier. My 1 Watt LowFER station completely blanketed 1/3 of the USA every day with only 7 mW of output power because I learned about RF. If anyone is serious about prepper communications, they need to learn about RF.
Thank you brother. Recommend any good places to learn?
Decent Video Appreciate the links Gmrs Pro wasnt listed btw 9:58
i added to vid. this one i really thought i did not forget.www.amazon.com/BTECH-GMRS-PRO-Waterproof-Bluetooth-Programmable/dp/B0B4BLZ67Z/
All 50Watt radios Push 4.1amps
My man, he’s JUST talking communication. Why rip on the guy for not talking full scale preparedness? Communication is important during an event that kills infrastructure. Radio to radio will still exist, albeit limited. NOAA channels may still broadcast which could give useful info.
Hi, please do a video on how you set up the Btech GMRS Pro as a repeater. This is good stuff !
let me know if this helps. th-cam.com/video/ivLYOSnsuEw/w-d-xo.html
Micro mobile is in Midland mobile Radios haven't heard mocro mobile being in btech
And then there's mesh network messaging in a grid down scenario, such as Meshtastic/LoRa.
You might want to include the Multi Use Radio Service, MURS licence free and little used.
IMO murs is kinda useless for real world use its for warehouse and buisness use really.
@@citizensurvivalplan It has more power than FRS and you can switch out the antenna for higher gain. We use MURS at our church.
I would think a "Prepper" wouldn't want to limit them self to only a certain set of frequencies and want access to as many frequencies as possible when SHTF. MURS would be a great addition , especially if MURS is hardly used because when SHTF pretty much all frequencies are gonna be tied up. Everyone gonna be walking all over each other and every other household gonna have a blister pack of FRS radios.
May i ask which one is better baofeng UV5R or Baofeng UV82?
Is baofeng uv82 good to buy?
Yes, it is a great transceiver. Having said that It would depend on what you would want to use it for. Anyone can own any Amateur radio and listen (monitor), however, you would need a license grant from the FCC to transmit as these are Amateur Radios. In an emergency when life and or property are in danger you can use any radio communication method available to you, per the FCC. Let's keep it legal.
@@K0MRDRadioPrepper what country are you from?
I’ve got a couple UV5R and I climbed a mountain near my house to test them and I could talk to my wife at home, really for the price it’s an awesome little radio. I did upgrade my antennas to Nagoya na-771, it helped but honestly it didn’t make a huge difference. I keep mine put away for an emergency.
@@Rylisa24 The USA
Incase of super solar storm and apocalypse you probably need to buy one of these
You got a link for the headsets
I added to vid also thanks. www.amazon.com/Peltor-Tactical-Electronic-Protector-Protection/dp/B06WGRCH7J/
your volume varies wildly on the video. Sometimes it gets too loud and im constantly having to raise or lower the volume. Might want to get a mic you wear and use it only. Every time you get close or far away with the camera your volume varies. Just a thought.
Is Baofeng 888s is good?
No. I would take a look at some of the links i put in this video.
@@citizensurvivalplan how about baofeng uv82 is it good?
Why no mention of spread spectrum?