GMRS Radio
Available to everyone without an exam
General Mobile Radio Service (GMRS) is a two-way radio service designed for short distance communications. It requires a license by the FCC here in the US.
GMRS operates on UHF providing 30 channels in the frequency range of 462 to 467 MHz. 16 of the main channels are used for repeaters and radio-to-radio communications.
There are an additional 14 channels in-between the main channels used by handhelds. These channels are limited in power to less than 5 watts, and used for handhelds. The main channels can transmit up to 50 watts.
Family Radio Service (FRS) are handheld radios commonly sold at stores everywhere, and do not require a license. They operate on some of the same frequencies as GMRS, and in fact GMRS radios can communicate with FRS radios, but not vice versa. This is because FRS radios are limited to 2 watts on most channels, and .5 watts on others.
GMRS Licensing
One license covers the entire family, and does not require any exams. There is a small fee from the FCC for the license.
A license is valid of 10 years, at which time you must apply for a renewal.
Here is the cool part about GMRS - you can use a repeated with GMRS. In fact there are many popping up now in cities. Many install repeaters in their RVs with mbile units in their ATVs and 4x4s.
When used with handhelds, GMRS radios are very useful in tactical situations. During Helene, a lot of search and rescue, as well as welfare checks were done using GMRS handheld radios communicating back to a “command center” setup someplace. This allowed anyone to assist in the operations without having an amateur radio license or emergency services radio (during most catastrophes, emergency service radio service is unavailable).
The command center can then be equipped with amateur radio for long range HF communications. This is actually becoming a common tactical technique and many amateur radio operators are embracing GMRS as a supplemental resource.