I thought I buy a GMRS HT radio for emergency when cell service fails, just toss it in my bug out bag and go. There's a bit off a learning curve to get into GMRS. I'm glad I started my research, because if I just toss my radio in my bug out bag then take it out to contact others or hear government official broadcast during an emergency, I wouldn't had any preprogrammed frequencies saved and will miss out on a lot of important chatter. Some repeaters can make landline phone calls to regular phones from a handheld GMRS radio. Radio to telephone (a repeater with autopatch, phone patch). That's pretty cool too. I'm another Tidradio TD-H3 owner...I just got into GMRS radios a couple of months ago, and I came onto the scene at the right time, because a lot of licensed people are raving about these little radios, so I bought a pair, and I am very happy I did.
I got the new TIDRADIO TD-H3 GMRS Radio, these radios are awesome, they can switch directly over to HAM with a combo of turning it on and it is fully programed in both HAM and GMRS when you turn it on and can charge the batteries with USE C connection. Get it...
Wouldn’t getting a license just be so “they” can track you? If they know you have a radio, they’ll assume you have other goodies as well. In a shtf scenario, who’s going to enforce the laws about having a license? Can’t you use the radio anyway?
I keep hearing this and don't understand. Do you file taxes? Have you gotten a mortgage? Did you fill out a NICS form? Society is built on norms, encoded into rules, enforced by laws. Just get the license and operate legally. Most people order these radios online.. Guess what?
That's a super paranoid take. Who is "they" and why do you think "they" are going to come after your supplies? If you're prepping for Tuesday, then what you're saying doesn't even make any sense. If you're prepping for doomsday, do you really think in a government collapse scenario that somebody is going to waste their time tracking down the FCC license database? In an apocalypse scenario, anyone with the means to steal your goodies is going to be going door-to-door, not wasting their time reading a list of FCC licenses. Nobody is planning to use the FCC license database as a hit list. Anyone with the foresight to keep a copy of the license database now would just prep and store materials. Anyone without a plan won't be able to get the list if everything collapses, and folks with the firepower to loot and streal aren't going to care and will just go door to door.
@@toast803 If the radio is used primarily for emergency communications, the use of a licensed or unlicensed radio is completely irrelevant. Who and what is going to be “tracking” any breach of regulations, laws, or ethics? In a serious SHTF event, where the internet is still functioning, a GMRS call sign can be searched in less than 30 seconds which will provide the name and address of the licensee. Why would you allow anyone with that information? It is known, and historically documented, that in a catastrophic event affecting a large civilian population, many normal people will become psychotic psychopaths. Laws, regulations, radio communications protocol, and morals will disappear like a flea fart in a hurricane. If you’re a prepper, it’s common sense that becoming a gray man will increase your survivability.
@@doubletapper44 Continue to be paranoid, it's good for your loneliness. A) in a SHTF situation where you have concern, don't throw out your callsign. See, I fixed it for you. B) If you think people only have a horrible FCC database to use to locate you, someone needs to get out more. C) That firearms locker must be full of illegally purchased firearms.
its child's play to found out active radio station with modern equipment, they wont even bother with "tracking down evry single registered radio" user. imho its still best to join local Ham radio club, learn the stff and if you still want to go all the way through, take the test and get your license.
People need to know that getting a tech and general class ham radio license today, and investing the the many hours and days of tinkering and practice it takes to become any sort of effective at programming/using radios, let alone talking to someone, is about all that matters when it comes to useful emergency communications. Buying a GMRS radio and talking a few blocks to family, or maybe even on a local GMRS repeater, does not equal what real hams are capable of. And I’m not talking about he old farts rag chewing about their ailments. There’s way more to amateur radio than the memes and the stigma. You can either look past that and realize what’s out there for you to utilize, or you can adopt Randy’s vendetta as a personality trait and be stuck talking on 22 channels. You decide.
Not everyone has the motivation and ability to explore these capabilities to the fullest. Not every driver needs to be capable of qualifying for the Daytona 500. Basic understanding of GMRS and practical capabilities are a life-skill, in my opinion. Not everyone needs to be a "Bob" who has the giant antenna in his yard and the set that can communicate with Australia...but everyone should be capable of talking to their local "Bob". That's where a 5w Baufeng is extremely useful for the average person, along with some basic knowledge. Just my opinion. Read/watch the stories coming from Western NC. 5w radios helped a lot of people.
@@woodystube1000 The problem is that most people who buy a baofeng do that, and that alone. They stop there. They buy their $18 radio, and don't think about it beyond that. They don't understand that you can't just turn it on and start calling out for help. They think it's a cell phone. Half of them think it's a CB radio, and that they need to talk on channel 19 to get ahold of the cops, just like in Die Hard! Reality of the situation is that you need to spend like a solid two weeks of your life playing radio with real radio operators before you'll be any sort of effective at it. Then you need to be regularly using it too, or it goes away. But to pretend that GMRS is an alternative to ham is just misleading the people. They think they can stop there and someone will be out there listening to them if they need help. That's not really true, not unless you happen to be lucky enough to live somewhere where real ham radio guys have spent the time and money to set up GMRS repeaters so they can play radio with their families. That's few and far between. I happen to live in one of those areas, and yeah my GMRS group has some pretty wide coverage, but is absolutely nothing compared to the coverage the multiple state wide linked 2m and 70cm repeater systems have, which can only be accessed and learned if you have a ham radio license. Besides, the other aspect is this - I have taught at least 5 people I know how to get on the GMRS repeaters and what channel to call into if they need help, I also programmed their radios for them. That was cool and all, and sure they can do that, but because they never actually learned how to do it themselves, or took an interest in doing it themselves, they're often asking me how to do stuff they already should know. So what I'm doing now is encouraging everyone who wants to get into radio to not do themselves a disservice, and go ahead and do the leg work to get a Tech and General class ticket. THEN I will show you how to do it for real, not just stop and barely scratch the surface on Diet Lite Ham Tech , aka GMRS.
First Rule, only use phonetics when necessary. According to the FCC, you're supposed to say your call-sign as it appears on your license. That's one thing that many Amateur Radio and GMRS operators get confused about. I'm not saying that you can't use phonetics, but its procedure to just say you call-sign as it's printed on your license. Now, if you were to ask my call, I would use phonetics, so you could understand. but I have to ID in accordance with the way FCC says too. CORRECT WAY K3JCP Ham WQAI363 GMRS INCORRECT WAY Kilo 3 Juliet Charlie Papa or Whiskey Quincy Alpha India 363
I just went to the site and registered. It's only $35.
In an emergency who care if you have a license
Apparently a lot of hams who will try to bully you off the air if you don’t have their precious license.
The radio will still work thats all I need@Aggie09TX
I had those cheap Walmart radios, never used them.
I thought I buy a GMRS HT radio for emergency when cell service fails, just toss it in my bug out bag and go. There's a bit off a learning curve to get into GMRS. I'm glad I started my research, because if I just toss my radio in my bug out bag then take it out to contact others or hear government official broadcast during an emergency, I wouldn't had any preprogrammed frequencies saved and will miss out on a lot of important chatter.
Some repeaters can make landline phone calls to regular phones from a handheld GMRS radio. Radio to telephone (a repeater with autopatch, phone patch). That's pretty cool too.
I'm another Tidradio TD-H3 owner...I just got into GMRS radios a couple of months ago, and I came onto the scene at the right time, because a lot of licensed people are raving about these little radios, so I bought a pair, and I am very happy I did.
In a serious SHTF event, why would you NOT want to use you call sign?
I got the new TIDRADIO TD-H3 GMRS Radio, these radios are awesome, they can switch directly over to HAM with a combo of turning it on and it is fully programed in both HAM and GMRS when you turn it on and can charge the batteries with USE C connection. Get it...
Thanks for the recommendation!
Love my tid radio h3. It's better than the h8 in my opinion
Can't GMRS radios talk to the family radios?
Yes, they do share some of the same frequencies. I didn't mention that because I was trying to keep it simple.
Wouldn’t getting a license just be so “they” can track you? If they know you have a radio, they’ll assume you have other goodies as well. In a shtf scenario, who’s going to enforce the laws about having a license? Can’t you use the radio anyway?
I keep hearing this and don't understand. Do you file taxes? Have you gotten a mortgage? Did you fill out a NICS form? Society is built on norms, encoded into rules, enforced by laws. Just get the license and operate legally. Most people order these radios online.. Guess what?
That's a super paranoid take. Who is "they" and why do you think "they" are going to come after your supplies? If you're prepping for Tuesday, then what you're saying doesn't even make any sense. If you're prepping for doomsday, do you really think in a government collapse scenario that somebody is going to waste their time tracking down the FCC license database? In an apocalypse scenario, anyone with the means to steal your goodies is going to be going door-to-door, not wasting their time reading a list of FCC licenses.
Nobody is planning to use the FCC license database as a hit list. Anyone with the foresight to keep a copy of the license database now would just prep and store materials. Anyone without a plan won't be able to get the list if everything collapses, and folks with the firepower to loot and streal aren't going to care and will just go door to door.
@@toast803 If the radio is used primarily for emergency communications, the use of a licensed or unlicensed radio is completely irrelevant. Who and what is going to be “tracking” any breach of regulations, laws, or ethics? In a serious SHTF event, where the internet is still functioning, a GMRS call sign can be searched in less than 30 seconds which will provide the name and address of the licensee. Why would you allow anyone with that information? It is known, and historically documented, that in a catastrophic event affecting a large civilian population, many normal people will become psychotic psychopaths. Laws, regulations, radio communications protocol, and morals will disappear like a flea fart in a hurricane. If you’re a prepper, it’s common sense that becoming a gray man will increase your survivability.
@@doubletapper44 Continue to be paranoid, it's good for your loneliness. A) in a SHTF situation where you have concern, don't throw out your callsign. See, I fixed it for you. B) If you think people only have a horrible FCC database to use to locate you, someone needs to get out more. C) That firearms locker must be full of illegally purchased firearms.
its child's play to found out active radio station with modern equipment, they wont even bother with "tracking down evry single registered radio" user. imho its still best to join local Ham radio club, learn the stff and if you still want to go all the way through, take the test and get your license.
People need to know that getting a tech and general class ham radio license today, and investing the the many hours and days of tinkering and practice it takes to become any sort of effective at programming/using radios, let alone talking to someone, is about all that matters when it comes to useful emergency communications. Buying a GMRS radio and talking a few blocks to family, or maybe even on a local GMRS repeater, does not equal what real hams are capable of. And I’m not talking about he old farts rag chewing about their ailments. There’s way more to amateur radio than the memes and the stigma. You can either look past that and realize what’s out there for you to utilize, or you can adopt Randy’s vendetta as a personality trait and be stuck talking on 22 channels. You decide.
I am going to do a video on ham radio soon. Thanks
Not everyone has the motivation and ability to explore these capabilities to the fullest. Not every driver needs to be capable of qualifying for the Daytona 500. Basic understanding of GMRS and practical capabilities are a life-skill, in my opinion. Not everyone needs to be a "Bob" who has the giant antenna in his yard and the set that can communicate with Australia...but everyone should be capable of talking to their local "Bob". That's where a 5w Baufeng is extremely useful for the average person, along with some basic knowledge. Just my opinion. Read/watch the stories coming from Western NC. 5w radios helped a lot of people.
@@woodystube1000 The problem is that most people who buy a baofeng do that, and that alone. They stop there. They buy their $18 radio, and don't think about it beyond that. They don't understand that you can't just turn it on and start calling out for help. They think it's a cell phone. Half of them think it's a CB radio, and that they need to talk on channel 19 to get ahold of the cops, just like in Die Hard! Reality of the situation is that you need to spend like a solid two weeks of your life playing radio with real radio operators before you'll be any sort of effective at it. Then you need to be regularly using it too, or it goes away. But to pretend that GMRS is an alternative to ham is just misleading the people. They think they can stop there and someone will be out there listening to them if they need help. That's not really true, not unless you happen to be lucky enough to live somewhere where real ham radio guys have spent the time and money to set up GMRS repeaters so they can play radio with their families. That's few and far between. I happen to live in one of those areas, and yeah my GMRS group has some pretty wide coverage, but is absolutely nothing compared to the coverage the multiple state wide linked 2m and 70cm repeater systems have, which can only be accessed and learned if you have a ham radio license. Besides, the other aspect is this - I have taught at least 5 people I know how to get on the GMRS repeaters and what channel to call into if they need help, I also programmed their radios for them. That was cool and all, and sure they can do that, but because they never actually learned how to do it themselves, or took an interest in doing it themselves, they're often asking me how to do stuff they already should know. So what I'm doing now is encouraging everyone who wants to get into radio to not do themselves a disservice, and go ahead and do the leg work to get a Tech and General class ticket. THEN I will show you how to do it for real, not just stop and barely scratch the surface on Diet Lite Ham Tech , aka GMRS.
First Rule, only use phonetics when necessary. According to the FCC, you're supposed to say your call-sign as it appears on your license. That's one thing that many Amateur Radio and GMRS operators get confused about. I'm not saying that you can't use phonetics, but its procedure to just say you call-sign as it's printed on your license. Now, if you were to ask my call, I would use phonetics, so you could understand. but I have to ID in accordance with the way FCC says too. CORRECT WAY K3JCP Ham WQAI363 GMRS INCORRECT WAY Kilo 3 Juliet Charlie Papa or Whiskey Quincy Alpha India 363