My ski club uses low-end GMRS radios to communicate on the slope.
I’m looking for a URL that has reviews of low-end GMRS, like the Motorolas, Cobras, etc. These are in the $20-$90 range. I know that there are high-end GMRS as well, but at $300 apiece, nobody is gonna want one for recreation.
If you have a recommendation or warning, post that too.
One more question: you can use repeaters with GMRS. Is that feature only available with the high-end units, or can I get my low-end unit to do it as well?
After you’ve paid the $80 licensing fee, I can see where one would balk at paying $300 for the radio. But being in the mountains, you are going to want to pay for a full 5 watt radio, even with a repeater.
As to the repeater question; the only ‘security’ feature that repeaters routinely enable is the CTSS tone feature. If your repeater is configured such that this sub-audible tone is required to key it up, then you will need radios cabable of transmitting this audio tone. That being said, all of the FRS/GMRS radios I have ever seen have this feature. Motorola touted this option as a ‘privacy’ feature. The reality is that this feature doesn’t make what you transmit private, it only limits the radios that DON’T hear you to those that have chosen to enable this feature. Clear as mud?
A warning: Each member of the club needs a GMRS license to operate those legally. It is an $80 fee per person. Those licenses are good for five years. If there are family members in your club, a family may share one license. A club cannot obtain a license for member’s use, this is an individual license. And there are large monetary fines if you’re caught operating one without a license. Use of FCC-assigned callsigns are required.
Now, if you use the FRS radios, you don’t need a license. However, you’re limited to 1/2 watt on 14 channels.
Repeaters - the low end ones usually will not do repeater operation. To facilitate repeater operation, you have to have split-frequency operation, such as receive on 455.100MHz and transmit on 450.100MHz. The other thing is - there will need to be a repeater in range of your intended use. Most ski areas, AFAIK, have none.
Gaah! Of course, Rico is correct here. I don’t know where I left my brain today. I completely leapfrogged over the fact that all FRS/GMRS radios are simplex only. Sorry.
Ah, you’re right, I had forgotten this. Obviously the low-end ones won’t work with repeaters.
Ski areas probably won’t have GMRS repeaters, but surrounding mountain areas may have them. I have served as a backcountry ski patroller and used UHF repeater radios on the US Forest Service net. I could hit repeaters from local ski resorts. In California, at least, most ski areas are in USFS.
On the other hand, I would guess that GMRS repeaters are privately owned, and not that prevalent in the mountains.
I’m gonna guess that less than %1 of the people using GMRS at a resort are not licensed. I know that the FCC will throw the book at ya if it catches you, but with low-power radios you’re not making much of a mess.
If you showed up with a high-power repeater GMRS at a resort and no license, and if you started walking over non-resort transmissions, and if someone could figure out who you were, then the FCC would come after you.
In contrast, a ham radio Technician class license only costs $15 dollars and is good for ten years. Your ski/ham club could outfit a snowmobile with a 50w mobile rig capable of cross-band repeating and use it as a base will you guys are out skiing and chatting on your radios
Yeah, interesting idea. Here are some of the drawbacks:
[ol]
[li]I don’t think your Technician license allows you to use GMRS[/li][li]You have to position the repeater at a useful place. Hard to find that for a ski resort; the best place for the repeater is at the highest point of the resort, which is usually resort property. They might object to me putting anything there.[/li][li]GMRS or non-GMRS, a radio capable of using a repeater is gonna cost a lot more money. I can get 2 rechargeable “10-mile” GMRS radios at Costco for $60.[/li][/ol]
Correct, but the point was to get away from GMRS completely and use amateur radio frequencies on full power amateur radios.
I doesn’t always have to be the highest spot. A car parked in the parking lot would probably be good enough in many places. The base can have a much higher gain antenna than the little rubber-duckey antennas on the HT.
I’m not knocking GMRS. I actually have a license and use them occasionally, but you pay for what you get here. Ham radios will offer you more versatility and power, they generally have better, more sensitive receivers and you have the option of using different antennas if you need to.
You’re right. But you do get to use up to 1500 watts of power in over 7 frequency bands. Drawback - all members of the ski club would have to get their ham license.
Glad to see you put the “10 mile” figure in quotes. That figure’s really only good if both units are in the middle of the desert or out on the ocean with no obstructions or nothing in between you - and then it would be a real stretch. Real life - 1/4 mile if you’re lucky.
