In this episode, Caleb Nelson (K4CDN | WRBR237) breaks down what GMRS can really do—and what it can't.
You'll learn how far GMRS actually reaches, why antenna height beats transmitter power every time, and what equipment upgrades make the biggest difference for families building real communication plans.
We'll also cover license coverage, the truth about 50 watts, repeater basics, and why investing in a better antenna might triple your range overnight.
Links & Resources: Free GMRS License Express Guide → Live Family Connect Webinar → Thursdays 7 PM ET | Replay Fri–Mon → More episodes → @PrepComms
Recommended Gear: BTECH GMRS-50PRO → Retevis RA86 → ZBM2 QP Whip (use code PREPCOMMS) → Wil-Coms Roll-Up J-Pole → Centerfire Ground-Plane → Find Repeaters → https://mygmrs.com
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Welcome into the PrepCom's podcast.
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I'm your host Caleb Nelson, K4CDN, WRBR237 in
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the squeaky chair today and we're going to
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the GMRS series episode number two.
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So we've recently finished up a little small
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series about the FRS radio before that MURS
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radio.
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If you've missed those, go check them out.
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Matter of fact, go back to the beginning
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and come all the way through with us.
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A lot of great information what to listen
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to, how to listen to, why you should
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be listening in case of an emergency or
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any prepper dystopian nightmare you may have.
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And we're here to help you figure out
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your communications for those scenarios you may be
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prepping for.
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Even if you're not preparing for anything, we
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can still help you learn through how to
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talk to folks when maybe the phones go
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down.
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Maybe the AWS goes down again and this
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time it affects a sailor carrier.
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Wow, yeah, what would you do?
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That's what we're talking about here.
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So this is episode number two of the
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GMRS series.
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Again, I'm Caleb.
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Thank you for being here with us and
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genuinely appreciate all the conversation that we have
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in regards to these episodes.
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Yeah, if you've missed the first episode, we
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just began talking about GMRS radio, the general
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mobile radio service.
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And it's free for people to use in
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the US as long as you pay a
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$35 licensing fee and your whole household can
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use it.
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So we've talked about that.
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We're going to talk about that more in
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depth this time.
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And why this is really the best starting
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point for families who want a real working
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communications plan, who want a little bit more
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than the bubble pack radios that their kids
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got for Christmas about six years ago.
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And they just found them as they were
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cleaning out for the for the art sale.
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So we're actually going to get into the
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what does GMRS do when the rubber meets
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the road or when the cell towers stop
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working and you need an alternative, right?
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So we're talking range, power and reality.
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We're talking marketing versus miles and no offense.
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No offense guys, but we're not talking YouTube
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hype here.
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I'm not trying to sell you the newest
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latest greatest battle thing for $17.
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I just want to help you understand what
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these radios in this service can and cannot
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do for your family.
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Before we continue, this show is sponsored by
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the family connect system is a system that
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I've developed to help you and your family
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stay connected.
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If and when these cell networks go down,
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if and when AWS collapses, again, maybe stuff
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just maybe it's a bad day.
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Maybe it's a tornado.
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And you don't know what to do what
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what you would do.
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Family connect system will help you with that.
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We'll talk about it more in a few
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minutes.
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But first, this is one of the questions
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I got and and folks wanted some more
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clarification on after the first episode here in
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the series.
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If I buy this license, really who can
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talk underneath me or underneath my license.
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Well, we'll go back and we look at
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the FCC rulebook who is in charge of
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the spectrum in the US part 95 subparty
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and you'll find 955. You can look
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it up and I think there's a link
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in the show notes or in the blog
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post here.
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It says that GMRS license covers you and
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your immediate family members.
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Now, you know, I know some people's trees
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are different.
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Right.
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So like your tree may come down a
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couple of branches and split and just start
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a whole new tree or you may have
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a tree that's grafted in.
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And now it's got a couple of different
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kinds of fruit on it.
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I don't know.
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But but that's my funny way of saying
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spouse, kids, parents, grandparents, brothers, sisters and in
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-laws.
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Brothers of your dad, maybe is an uncle.
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I mean, again, it's a great area.
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Here's here's an easy way to look at
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it.
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If they're in your family tree, they can
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pick up and talk and use your call
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sign.
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They don't have to pay any fees.
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They don't have to take any test or
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anything.
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They can do that.
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The catch there is a catch.
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You, if your name is on the license,
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if you're the license holder of that call
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sign, like I am the license holder of
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WRBR 237.
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That's my GMRS of associated call sign that
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the FCC gave me when I applied and
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paid the fees.
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Okay.
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I'm the license holder.
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I am responsible for everything that happens underneath
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that call sign.
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So my kid picks up the radio and
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gets on one of the local GMRS repeaters
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and is being foolish and saying things that
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are dumb and, you know, calls in interference
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or whatever.
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And he's using my call sign and I'm
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out in Reno, Nevada on vacation and he's
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here in South Carolina.
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It doesn't matter because he's still doing it
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with my call sign, which makes me responsible.
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I am the responsible party for everything that
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happens if someone's using that call sign.
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All right.
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That's just how it is.
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So you have to be cautious in who
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you share.
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You have to be cautious in who you
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share your license with.
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Now, the license is a piece of paper
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that you can print and the call sign
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is what's on the license.
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So it's not like you have to hand
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your brother-in-law a paper copy of
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it, but he does need to be aware
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of what the call sign is because just
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like we talked last week, every 15 minutes
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and at the beginning and end of the
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conversation on the radio, you have to identify
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yourself with that call sign.
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The easiest way to do this is a
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silver Sharpie marker.
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And you take the silver Sharpie and you
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write on because most radio chassis are black.
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You write with the silver Sharpie on the
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radio the call sign.
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If you've got a one of those printers,
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the little label makers, it's even easier.
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Type it in, print it off, stick it
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to the radio.
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Ta-da.
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So here's the easiest way to say it
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going back to whom you should allow to
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use it.
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Okay?
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The rules are written on purpose.
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You have to trust the people you're allowing
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to use the radio under you, under your
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call sign.
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GMRS is for, you know, we're talking families
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here, so they're expecting you to be familiar
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with the people that you're allowing to use
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your call sign and trust them.
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And I would say, here's how it's at
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in South Carolina.
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If you wouldn't hand that person, the keys
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to your pickup truck, don't let them use
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your call sign.
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There you go.
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That's that's an easy way to do it.
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If you don't trust them with the keys
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to your boat, don't trust them with your
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call sign.
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Okay.
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All right, so we've heard in the last
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show and you hear online and the marketing
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and whatever, you know, let's talk about wattage.
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We'll talk about more power, more power, and
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you'll see some of the and that is
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the legal maximum output power for mobile based
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and repeater transmitters under 95. I'm sorry,
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1767A1.
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But here's the thing.
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And we've talked about this before.
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We'll talk about it numerous times until we
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finish with this program.
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More power doesn't always mean more distance.
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Go all the way back to the CB
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radio shows where I was talking about as
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a kid illegal power amplifiers.
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You haven't plugged into a junky antenna and
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you're like, I don't know why they can't
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hear me.
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This is a Texas star 250, you know,
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but you had this this antenna mounted to
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your bumper.
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There was a fiberglass whip that was only
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about four feet tall because you thought it
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looked cool, but it wouldn't perform worth anything
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because there was no ground plane.
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And I'm not trying to talk above your
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head.
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I'm just saying more power doesn't always mean
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more distance.
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Okay.
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That's a great example from back in my
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ignorant days of CB radio operating not that
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CB guys are ignorant I was because I
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didn't understand the antenna makes the difference.
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Okay.
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So you can take a five watt walkie
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talkie with a roof mounted antenna on your
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home and it will outperform a 50 watt
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base station or a mobile radio like in
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your car connected to a junky antenna.
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And again, especially in regards to GMRS, it's
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because how you get out there, how your
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signal is sent and received with these type
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of frequencies is line of sight.
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So elevation, getting above things, right?
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Having more forward gain on an antenna, it's
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great that people can hear you, but can
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you hear them?
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I mean, so you have to you have
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to take all these things into consideration because
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radio radio waves, they travel straight, right?
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So the higher you get there and it
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can be seen.
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So you want to be able to have
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a good antenna, you want to be able
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to put in place an antenna at the
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highest point that you can.
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And let's just take your car, for instance,
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you're inside your car with a walkie talkie.
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So you've got a little radio with a
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little antenna surrounded by a fair day cage.
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And you're like, I don't know why anyone
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can't hear me.
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Get a magnet antenna, put it on the
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roof of your car, and it's going to
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change your life because the signal's able to
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get out.
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It's elevated, it's tuned, and it's not inside
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a fair day cage.
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Think about it like a flashlight.
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So you're out in the field, you know,
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you just imagine it's dark and you're out
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out there in the corn, like the children
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of the corn movie, right?
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And you can only kind of see as
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far as your light will go and won't
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go real far because it's you've got a
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lot of stuff in the way.
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You've got like corn stalks and weeds and
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you're down at that level.
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But just imagine if you were to get
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up on top of the barn or maybe
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the silo and you were able to take
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the same flashlight, you could see a lot
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further.
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Yeah, I mean, you can see a lot
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further because you have that space where there's
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nothing between you, your line of sight.
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So you're you're increasing your capacity, you're higher,
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you're above the things.
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And it works the same way with your
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radio.
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That's why you that's why you see people
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when their phones aren't working, they're holding them
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up over their heads, you know, trying to
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find a better signal or something.
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It happens all the time on my farm
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because we only have one carrier that really
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works down here, which is kind of fun.
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But anyway, stuff gets in the way of
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radio signals.
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So, you know, the power is going to
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help get you through those things.
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But at some point, the power is only
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going to do as much as it can.
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And then you're going to really need you're
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really going to need that elevation.
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You're going to need that extra antenna that
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above the roof of the car above the
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roof of the house.
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So you can have 50 watts.
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Okay, 50 watts up to 50 watts on
00:11:20
GMRS makes a big difference.
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I mean, it really makes a big difference.
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Unless you don't have a way to control
00:11:28
that or a way to to amplify that,
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which is the wrong word to use, maybe
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send it in the correct direction or have
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it above the distractions or the the displacement.
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The stuff that's in the way of the
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signal.
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So, height above ground level, just like going
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back to MURS, because we can have these
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external antennas, we can have this height above
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ground level.
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We can have these bigger numbers of output
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wattage.
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You got to have it.
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So, if you're thinking about doing GMRS and
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the cool thing about GMRS is everybody gets
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hung up on walkie talkies in regards to
00:12:02
every radio service, except maybe CB radio, everybody,
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all they want is walkie talkies.
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And it's because we're used to having a
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phone in our pocket and we see them
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use them in the movies and they're talking
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all over the world and whatever.
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Oh, man, I have so many walkie talkies,
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this embarrassing.
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I honestly don't know how many I own.
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I really don't know.
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And outside of running fire calls with the
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local fire department squeaky chair without, if I
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didn't do anything with the fire department, I
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would almost never use a walkie talkie or
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in the hand radio hobby, we call it
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a handy talkie, an HT or a WT.
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How's that?
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So, don't get hung up on the walkie
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talkie thing.
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You can buy these radios for GMRS. They're
00:12:50
micro.
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I mean, they're so tiny.
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You can install it in your car.
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They're small enough to go between your front
00:12:58
seat and your console and you don't even
00:13:01
have to have a mounting bracket.
00:13:02
You just kind of shove it in and
00:13:04
it's going to hold it there.
00:13:05
They're so, they're so tiny.
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They'll go in a little spots like that
00:13:08
and they'll give you so much more power
00:13:11
than your handy talkie, walkie talkie.
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And they also connect to an external antenna.
00:13:17
And oh, man, I'm telling you, just don't
00:13:20
get hung up on the walkie talkies, especially
00:13:22
if you want to talk to your friends
00:13:23
while you're driving to work or maybe you're
00:13:26
traveling with your family.
00:13:28
The external antenna on your car is going
00:13:30
to make a huge difference.
00:13:31
Now, last time, again, we talked and we
00:13:33
even mentioned this in the FRS series, but
00:13:36
we talked about the marketing on the boxes.
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I'm sorry about my chair.
00:13:41
It just makes too much noise.
00:13:43
I sat down in the wrong one as
00:13:44
I started recording.
00:13:46
So on the marketing box, the boxes are
00:13:49
the claims on the internet, the reviews.
00:13:53
99% of the people are going to
00:13:54
be straight with you.
00:13:55
They're not going to talk as far as
00:13:57
they claim on the boxes.
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They're just not going to do it.
00:14:00
And it's marketing.
00:14:02
It's not reality.
00:14:03
So can you talk 36 miles on GMRS?
00:14:07
You can probably talk a lot further than
00:14:09
that if the conditions were correct.
00:14:11
If you were, you know, in the middle
00:14:12
of space with nothing between you and the
00:14:14
other station.
00:14:16
Yeah, you could do that.
00:14:18
Is it realistic most for most people?
00:14:21
No, it's not.
00:14:21
It's not unless you live out, you know,
00:14:23
in the high planes or something.
00:14:25
And a lot of people live in a
00:14:27
neighborhood.
00:14:27
A lot of people live in the city,
00:14:28
even like us out here in the rural
00:14:30
area, our VHF radios, which would be like
00:14:34
the MERS.
00:14:35
We've talked about work better than the GMRS
00:14:37
radios, just because the signal happens to interact
00:14:43
with its surroundings differently.
00:14:45
So if you live in town with houses
00:14:46
and trees, you could probably expect maybe a
00:14:49
mile or two with GMRS. And that depends
00:14:53
on how many houses and trees you have
00:14:55
between you and the other station.
00:14:57
Okay, it also depends on what type of
00:14:59
radio in antenna are you using?
00:15:00
And what type of antenna and radio are
00:15:02
they using?
00:15:04
Right, it's one thing that you can get
00:15:05
out.
00:15:06
You've got 50 watts in a big antenna.
00:15:08
But if they don't have enough to get
00:15:10
back to you, they may hear you, but
00:15:12
you may not be able to hear them.
00:15:14
Suburban areas, you may get three to five
00:15:16
miles again.
00:15:18
What's in between you and the other station?
00:15:20
Open ground rural 10 to 15 miles.
00:15:23
I think that's kind of a stretch.
00:15:24
But you got repeaters?
00:15:27
Well, if you can get to the repeater,
00:15:29
however large the footprint of the repeater is,
00:15:32
is how far you can talk, maybe 20,
00:15:33
30, 50 miles, depending on the height of
00:15:36
the repeater and its footprint.
00:15:38
So, you know, you don't, you can't judge
00:15:41
by what the box says.
00:15:43
You can't judge by what the Amazon description
00:15:47
says.
00:15:48
You're going to have to judge it by
00:15:49
the terrain it's going to be used in
00:15:50
how you're going to use it, how your
00:15:52
antennas are going to be situated.
00:15:55
If you live in hills, or if you
00:15:57
live in a wooded area forested area, it's
00:15:59
going to eat your signal up pretty good.
00:16:01
But if you live out on the flat
00:16:02
plains, we've mentioned a hundred times, or maybe
00:16:05
down even near the coast where it's just
00:16:06
flatter, you're going to, you're going to be
00:16:08
shocked.
00:16:09
But again, it's still going to depend on
00:16:10
your antennas.
00:16:12
Are you guys tired of hearing me say
00:16:13
that yet?
00:16:14
It's the antenna.
00:16:15
Alright, so if you want to take it,
00:16:17
if you want to make a test, you
00:16:18
and your, your partner, your, your wife, your
00:16:20
spouse, your oldest kid, whatever, you stand them
00:16:25
there in the front yard and you get
00:16:26
in the car and you take off and
00:16:28
you go a certain direction and see how
00:16:29
far you can talk.
00:16:30
And then when you get to the end
00:16:31
of the neighborhood and you're like, man, I
00:16:32
can't talk any further.
00:16:34
Then say, well, what would it be like
00:16:35
if I had an elevator antenna on the
00:16:37
house?
00:16:38
It's worth the 70 or 80 bucks you'll
00:16:39
spend, I promise.
00:16:41
You probably should run tests like this.
00:16:43
So if you buy your stuff and you
00:16:45
get your license and you're, you're wanting to
00:16:46
see how far we can go, and all
00:16:50
you have is walkie-talkies, we'll try it
00:16:51
with walkie-talkies.
00:16:52
And then say, well, what if I put
00:16:54
a magnet antenna on my car and connected
00:16:56
it to my walkie-talkie?
00:16:58
That'll make a difference.
00:17:00
What about if I put my walkie-talkie
00:17:01
connected at home to an external antenna that's
00:17:04
on the chimney?
00:17:05
Big difference.
00:17:07
And test it that way and see what's
00:17:09
working best for you.
00:17:11
And that way you'll know when I go
00:17:12
to the office, I can call back home.
00:17:15
It might be that you have a nice
00:17:16
little base station at home and you work
00:17:19
on the 12th to 13th floor of some,
00:17:21
some building and you take a walkie-talkie
00:17:24
in and from that elevation to your elevated
00:17:27
antenna at home, you might have an intercom.
00:17:29
It'd be great, but you won't know till
00:17:30
you test, right?
00:17:32
And again, oh, antennas, antennas, antennas.
00:17:36
Yes, it's, oh man, this is in Ham
00:17:40
Radio and CB radio and these GMRS radios.
00:17:44
All these hobbies you find, the last thing
00:17:48
that anybody wants to talk about is the
00:17:50
most important thing anybody wants to talk about
00:17:52
and that's the antenna.
00:17:54
Again, I'm sorry, we're going to have to
00:17:56
stay there for just a minute because I
00:17:59
like in the amateur radio hobby, Ham Radio.
00:18:01
We have these guys and they'll go by
00:18:02
these, you know, $4 Ham radios to
00:18:06
put in their radio shack, their room, where
00:18:08
all their radios are and they'll connect it
00:18:11
to this junky antenna and they'll get online,
00:18:14
oh, this is the worst radio.
00:18:15
I made the biggest mistake ever spending all
00:18:18
this money and I got a junky antenna
00:18:20
or these guys buy these really nice BTEC
00:18:24
GMRS Pro radios and they're like, man, I
00:18:27
just wish it would perform better and they're
00:18:28
still using the factory antenna, which is a
00:18:30
good antenna by the way, but those can
00:18:32
be replaced with an even better antenna.
00:18:36
So don't get hung up on buying more
00:18:40
stuff or if you buy something and it
00:18:42
doesn't work as well as you thought it
00:18:44
would, have you tried the antenna yet?
00:18:46
Have you tried to replace the antenna?
00:18:48
Have you tried to use something better than
00:18:50
what came with it?
00:18:52
Don't go buy another, this was a huge
00:18:55
Instagram post of mine a while back, don't
00:18:57
go buy another radio, buy something to make
00:19:00
the radio you have perform better.
00:19:03
So the little rubber duckies that come with
00:19:04
the radios out of the box, they're not
00:19:07
the best, I mean they will transmit, they
00:19:08
will receive, but they're in the large part,
00:19:13
they're not great, some of them are huge
00:19:19
people to find an alternative antenna.
00:19:21
Of course, I recommend the ZBM2 QP whip,
00:19:25
it's thick, it works great and you can
00:19:27
save some money with prep comms coupon code.
00:19:30
Link in the show notes.
00:19:32
Another one that we're carrying in our store
00:19:34
now, just sold out yesterday, is the Wilcom's
00:19:38
roll-up J-pole, now for MERS and
00:19:42
GMRS. So we have the ham radio version
00:19:44
and the MERS, GMRS, we're backstocking that now.
00:19:50
And then there's, Centerfire Antenna makes a great
00:19:53
one, I put it in the show notes,
00:19:55
it's a tunable ground wave, a quarter wave
00:19:58
sorry, a quarter wave antenna to use on
00:20:01
those frequencies.
00:20:02
So another great way, you can get on
00:20:05
Amazon, there'll be show note links, I mean
00:20:07
it's all out there, you're gonna spend money,
00:20:10
you're gonna, if you're not spending more for
00:20:13
your antenna than you are your radio, you're
00:20:16
kind of doing it wrong.
00:20:17
Especially when it comes to these little $20,
00:20:19
$40, $50 walkie talkies, if you can replace
00:20:23
and improve the antenna and it doesn't cost
00:20:25
you more than the radio itself, you still
00:20:29
didn't do it up.
00:20:30
Oh man, everybody hates that, it's like the
00:20:32
water filter business, nobody wants to buy a
00:20:34
water filter because it's not sexy and you
00:20:36
can't talk about it and it just sits
00:20:38
there and makes clean water, but you have
00:20:40
to have clean water to survive.
00:20:42
Check the show notes, you can exponentially increase
00:20:47
the range of your radios by just swapping
00:20:49
the antennas, maybe stepping on top of the
00:20:51
roof of your truck, maybe going to a
00:20:55
couple of floors up in a building, height
00:20:59
over ground level with a great antenna, it's
00:21:03
like putting a supercharger on the 392 charger,
00:21:08
I don't know, those sound great by the
00:21:10
way, and it's really, you go spend more
00:21:13
money than you think you should, but the
00:21:14
results are gonna be fantastic.
00:21:16
Alright, so we're getting close here, let's talk
00:21:20
simplex repeaters, simplex and repeaters, so there's two
00:21:24
ways to talk on GMRS, we've talked a
00:21:26
little bit about this before, but sometimes it
00:21:28
still messes with people, they don't know the
00:21:30
terms and it doesn't make you a dummy
00:21:32
that you don't know the terms, you're not
00:21:34
a radio guy, maybe, maybe you are, but
00:21:36
the term simplex, alright, and just think about
00:21:39
it, take the X off of it, it's
00:21:41
simple, and what the term simplex means is
00:21:45
you're talking directly from one radio to another
00:21:49
radio on the same frequency, alright, so when
00:21:52
you and your kids are in the backyard
00:21:54
playing with the walkie talkies, you're talking simplex,
00:21:58
when you're talking on the CB radio to
00:22:00
another station, you're talking simplex, when you're using
00:22:03
MERS radios at your job at Costco, talking
00:22:07
to the guy at the front while you're,
00:22:09
you know, breaking down boxes, you're using simplex,
00:22:12
one radio to another radio on the same
00:22:14
frequency, that's it, that's what simplex means, you
00:22:18
see how simple that is, simplex, one radio
00:22:22
to the next, there's nothing in between you
00:22:24
guys except space, right, the other option is
00:22:28
repeaters, and these things are usually on very
00:22:32
tall towers or maybe a mountaintop if you
00:22:34
live nearby, and they listen on one frequency
00:22:37
all the time they're listening, and whatever they
00:22:40
hear, they are rebroadcasting or repeating that same
00:22:45
thing on another frequency, alright, so on GMRS
00:22:49
is typically listening on 467 megahertz and retransmitting
00:22:53
at the same time on 462 megahertz, okay,
00:22:59
does that make any sense, it's listening on
00:23:03
one, so when you press the push to
00:23:06
talk button it transmits on frequency A, the
00:23:10
repeater receives it and then retransmits it on
00:23:14
frequency B, which your radio is programmed to
00:23:17
be listening to, it only changes frequencies when
00:23:21
you press your push to talk button, and
00:23:24
they're programmed that way, and they're meant to
00:23:26
work that way, it allows you to repeat
00:23:30
what you're saying over a broader area, so
00:23:35
we got simplex, you and the kids in
00:23:37
the backyard, radio to radio, repeaters, you in
00:23:41
the backyard to the repeater, your buddy on
00:23:44
the other side of the town listening and
00:23:47
hearing you, they can literally take your little
00:23:50
five mile bubble that you've built with your
00:23:53
simplex GMRS radios, you stretch it across the
00:23:56
county, some multiple counties, but you got to
00:24:00
remember that people have paid for this equipment,
00:24:04
they've bought it, they've installed it, they've serviced
00:24:06
it, they maintain it, they pay the bills,
00:24:09
they pay for the tower rent, they make
00:24:11
sure that the antenna is operable, everything, and
00:24:15
generally what they ask you to do is
00:24:18
to ask for permission to use that system,
00:24:21
and it's pretty simple, there's some websites I'll
00:24:23
link it in, I think it's my GMRS
00:24:25
.com, but they've got the different repeaters and
00:24:28
different geographical areas around the US and who
00:24:30
to contact and ask permission to use, and
00:24:33
some people may say okay you can use
00:24:34
it, but what are you gonna be using
00:24:35
it with, they want to know what equipment
00:24:37
you have and whatnot, so if that offends
00:24:40
you, I don't know what to tell you,
00:24:42
it's their stuff, it's their sandbox, the biggest
00:24:45
thing to do is remember to always add
00:24:47
to yourself on the repeaters properly, and follow
00:24:51
their etiquette, they may have certain rules where
00:24:53
you know they want you to say your
00:24:56
call sign in your name, or it might
00:24:57
just be the number part of your call
00:25:01
sign, I don't know, it's their sandbox, you
00:25:03
guys will have to learn how to play
00:25:04
in their sandbox with their sand, so we're
00:25:08
going to get more into repeaters, how to
00:25:10
find them, how to connect them, and how
00:25:11
to talk to those folks, and make sure
00:25:14
you're not getting in the way, or doing
00:25:15
it wrong, or offending people, and you know
00:25:17
well it's America, I get that, but these,
00:25:20
this is somebody's stuff that they've bought, they've
00:25:22
spent thousands of dollars on, they're paying a
00:25:24
monthly power bill they probably never ask you
00:25:26
to contribute to, and all they're asking you
00:25:29
to do is to do it the way
00:25:30
they want it done, so simple, we'll talk
00:25:32
more about it next time, just leave your
00:25:34
fence at the door, because I'm trying to
00:25:36
help you, I'm really trying to help you
00:25:38
get this to make it work for you
00:25:40
and your family, and it might be like
00:25:43
well I don't want that, I want my
00:25:44
own, but that's great, find you a mountaintop,
00:25:47
I can help you with the equipment, when
00:25:49
get you plugged in, get you started, and
00:25:50
you have your own private repeater, and then
00:25:52
you can determine who is and who's not
00:25:54
on there, I mean I don't know, other
00:25:55
than that what are you going to do,
00:25:57
that's a great thing about these radio services,
00:26:00
that's what I love about them in regards
00:26:01
to preparedness, is it there, like in the
00:26:04
amateur radio community, we build our own infrastructure,
00:26:07
with the GMRS folks, they're building their own
00:26:09
infrastructure, and it's out there, and they're opening
00:26:13
it up for the majority of people to
00:26:14
use, they just ask that you follow their
00:26:17
rules, which coincide with the FCC rules, I
00:26:20
don't think it's too much to ask, I
00:26:22
am that guy, alright so here's what you
00:26:24
got to remember before we go, I've gone
00:26:25
long, I say that every time and I
00:26:27
apologize, the more power helps, so the 50
00:26:30
watts that you can get on GMRS, yeah
00:26:32
thumbs up, more power, but don't forget that
00:26:35
height and a better antenna is always going
00:26:38
to trump the extra power, remember it's not
00:26:42
about gear, you got to know the limits
00:26:44
before you need to use them, so if
00:26:47
you're building a system for your family, you
00:26:49
really need to be testing this stuff, you
00:26:52
really need to be testing with it, if
00:26:54
you haven't got your GMRS license yet, it
00:26:56
might be because the government is still shut
00:26:58
down, but that doesn't mean that you can't
00:27:00
apply, and as soon as they open up,
00:27:03
you'll be in the queue and you can
00:27:04
get your license, so check the show notes,
00:27:07
I've built a license express guide, and the
00:27:10
FCC I said it last time, their website
00:27:13
is terrible, it can be so frustrating, even
00:27:16
the people who use it a lot, so
00:27:17
these, I built this guide, there's a set
00:27:21
of prompts, and you follow the prompts, and
00:27:23
it tells you exactly where to click, what
00:27:24
to click, what to put in the boxes,
00:27:25
and you can get, you know, get prepared
00:27:27
to get your license, don't forget on Thursday
00:27:29
nights, on Facebook Live, I'm doing the Family
00:27:31
Connect System webinar, I have a replay from
00:27:34
Friday to Monday, if you want to learn
00:27:36
more about it, you can connect with me
00:27:37
there at familyconnectsystem.com, this is in the
00:27:40
show notes, but it's familyconnectsystem.com, where I
00:27:43
will teach you, and help you understand how
00:27:45
to build these systems for your family, anyway,
00:27:49
I'd love to have you there, it's Thursday
00:27:50
nights at 7 p.m. Eastern, because I'm
00:27:53
an Eastern time kind of guy, I'm Caleb
00:27:55
K4CDNWRBR237, I appreciate you being here, hope you've
00:27:59
enjoyed the show, thank you for the, for
00:28:01
the chats, and the comments, love hearing from
00:28:04
you, show this with your friends, your family,
00:28:06
everybody needs to be putting these things in
00:28:08
the place, because we don't know when it's
00:28:10
gonna stop working again, that sounds, that sounds
00:28:13
so fun, right guys, thank you again for
00:28:15
listening, 73, God bless.