HRN 479: GMRS is the New Novice

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Back in the day, 11 meter CB was a gateway to ham radio. The real Novice license existed back then, but it offered limited privileges (phone only on 2 meters), and required Morse code (5 wpm). So for many, their first taste of radio operating happened on the 23 CB channels (later expanded to 40 channels). That was Gary K4AAQ’s route. Ask ‘who got their start in CB’ at any ham club and you’ll find a lot of hands raised. But not David W0DHG’s or Jim NO1PC’s. Their route is more pure 👼. 10-4, good buddy.

PROMO

Today, GMRS – the ‘anyone can play’ radio service using FM and repeaters in the 462-467 MHz spectrum – is beginning to boom. Maybe it was the reduction in license fee from $70 to $35 last year. Maybe it’s promotion on a bunch of YouTube channels. Maybe it’s a bunch of new equipment - mostly Chinese - from some of the same sources feeding ham radio with inexpensive radios.

It’s probably all of those things. The bar to entry into GMRS is the $35 fee for a license; the ability to navigate the FCC web site (a major complaint on some GMRS Facebook groups); and gaining enough knowledge to actually obtain and operate those radios effectively (also a common topic on the Facebook groups). One license covers an extended family.

Is GMRS a ‘hobby’ radio service? The rules don’t make that statement, but they do permit just about any kind of legal conversation among licensees (and with unlicensed FRS radio users). In some areas, conversations on GMRS repeaters are indistinguishable from ham radio conversations, except for the call signs.

All it would take to make GMRS the ‘New Novice’ license is pointing people with a potential interest in radio communications… but not enough interest to get a Tech license… to GMRS. And maybe help them with the first radio thing. They get their feet wet, see if they like it, then bump up against the limits of GMRS (only FM on only 8 repeater channels) and maybe itch for more. Hello, ham radio!

But before we get to that, Gary tortures Kyle AA0Z by holding a bottle of Kyle’s favorite soda (pop), Sun Drop Cherry-Lemon. There are oceans of the stuff at Gary’s local food store, but not a drop within a 3 hour drive of Kyle’s house. To compensate, he has White Castle, and Gary is 90 minutes from the nearest Krystal (a kissing cousin of White Castle). Anyway, Gary eventually does a taste-test, comparing Sun Drop (the Cherry-Lemon version) to another born-in-the-south favorite, Cheerwine (no alcohol, despite the name). Conclusion? Watch and see (did you really think we were going to spoil that one for you here?).

A few quick notes on H.R.3241 - Amateur Radio Communications Improvement Act, recently reintroduced in Congress, and RM 11785 (60 meter band NPRM) which is now getting comments.

And then we round things out by taking a look at Gary’s new Yaesu FTM-300 DR, a dual-band (dual-receive) Fusion radio. It’s not the new FTM-500, but it’s fairly recent, and much cheaper. Gary gets his first taste of operating the C4FM digital voice mode.

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