GMRS radios

[Arctic Lake]

Fellas I just bought an ICOM F1000s Handheld radio for FSR travel has the Lad channels and all the RRs programmed in. Whip antenna for the truck roof etc. It was pricey .

What about a pair of GMRS radios to keep in touch with a fellow hunter . Ease of use but get as much range as possible . So I think it needs to be 5 watt ? I realize that advertised range is not what you get !



What ones do you fellas use and are they any good . Make and model number would be great !

I have heard about Midland being good . BCA radio 2.0 version gets great reviews they are only 2 watt though ,used by lots of snowmobilers . What about Rhino etc.
Thanks fellas

[MOUNTAIN MICKEY]

frs/gmrs----bca--all use the same frequencies/channel numbers. chatterbox use these same frequencies too--just a different channel listing. You can program all these frequencies into a Baofeng hand held radio along with your RR frequencies. If your ICOM is dual band you can also do this. Most Baofeng hand helds can be set to monitor 2 frequencies at the same time too.

[Arctic Lake]

https://www.gpscentral.ca/products/icom/ic-f1000ts.html Mike this is the handheld radio I purchased the Icom F1000s .Not at that price point though
Arctic Lake

[mpotzold]

Fellas I just bought an ICOM F1000s Handheld radio for FSR travel has the Lad channels and all the RRs programmed in. Whip antenna for the truck roof etc. It was pricey .

What about a pair of GMRS radios to keep in touch with a fellow hunter . Ease of use but get as much range as possible . So I think it needs to be 5 watt ? I realize that advertised range is not what you get !



What ones do you fellas use and are they any good . Make and model number would be great !

I have heard about Midland being good . BCA radio 2.0 version gets great reviews they are only 2 watt though ,used by lots of snowmobilers . What about Rhino etc.
Thanks fellas

Have/have had 4 of the following for many years used when surveying &/or hunting. Rating-excellent.

Also have a big Icom unit in the truck.

Icom IC-F33GS - Portable UHF Transceiver

[Arctic Lake]

Sorry Mpotzold but which of the 4 have you had ?
Arctic Lake

Have/have had 4 of the following for many years used when surveying &/or hunting. Rating-excellent.

Also have a big Icom unit in the truck.

Icom IC-F33GS - Portable UHF Transceiver

[mike31154]

I picked up a couple Baofengs to supplement my 8 channel Kenwood which is not 'user' programmable. Baofeng has 2 bands of 100 channels each so theoretically 200 channels including GMRS frequencies. I have the same frequencies programmed into both A & B band since 100 channels is more than enough to have all the RR frequencies plus GMRS + room for more..... Came in very handy on a shared LEH moose hunt a couple years ago with 2 buddies. I have them set up so that they display abbreviated channel name on band A & frequency on band B.

The Baofengs are programmed such that the RR# corresponds to the Channel# to keep things simple. In the photo band A is selected (Channel 0) & is on LAD-2 which is the frequency assigned to my license. Band B is on Channel 28 which is programmed to show frequency & corresponds to RR28. I think the RRs go up to about 35 these days. The GMRS & FRS channels I have programmed on Channels 90 & above. I also have many frequencies for back country lodges for ski touring. The more radios in a group when your in avalanche country the better. Lodge owners are always glad to provide permission to use their frequency. Finally, I have the frequencies for some helicopter companies that service back country businesses. When your life is at risk in remote country anyone you can contact by any means is a good thing.



This link to wiki includes a table of freqs. assigned to GMRS & FRS. If your Icom can be programmed to any of them you don't need to buy an extra GMRS unit. Just be aware of the power, it should be lower than for a licensed radio & might be adjustable on your Icom.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genera...ter%20outputs.

[mpotzold]

Sorry Mpotzold but which of the 4 have you had ?
Arctic Lake

The newer 2 are the Icom IC -F33GS
The 2 older ones(still use them) are the IC-F11S

The one in the truck is IC-2100 FM TRANSCEIVER

[MOUNTAIN MICKEY]

Hey Artic. To keep things simple a FRS/GMRS is a decent way to go BUT in my opinion I would still pick up a Baofeng hand held and that way you would have another radio that will communicate with your single band Icom and will probably be cheaper to purchase than a GMRS radio and there are lots of acessories for a UV 5R. AA battery pack, 12v battery eliminator. 12v battery charger, longer antennas, external antennas, speaker mike, etc--none of which are available for a GMRS. The Baofengs all have 128 programable channels not 200.

[moosecaller]

With the baofeng hand held my cousin and I got 20 km easy and it was clear as all get out these were the 5 watt ones now we have the 8 watt but haven't tried distance guessing it's as far and then some as the others. Good price and user programmable. Get the larger whip antenna (12" or so) rather than the one that comes with it made a world of difference.

[alpinedust]

The Baofengs are programmed such that the RR# corresponds to the Channel# to keep things simple. In the photo band A is selected (Channel 0) & is on LAD-2 which is the frequency assigned to my license. Band B is on Channel 28 which is programmed to show frequency & corresponds to RR28. I think the RRs go up to about 35 these days. The GMRS & FRS channels I have programmed on Channels 90 & above. I also have many frequencies for back country lodges for ski touring. The more radios in a group when your in avalanche country the better. Lodge owners are always glad to provide permission to use their frequency. Finally, I have the frequencies for some helicopter companies that service back country businesses. When your life is at risk in remote country anyone you can contact by any means is a good thing

Do you need a license to operate these radios on logging roads? Can anyone get a radio license or only if you are in industry?