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So you bought some equipment and you're ready to hit the PTT button? good! here are a few basics to help you get started:
A) GET THE MOST from your handheld.
- That's easy IF you KEEP IT WITH YOU, and if you go out of your way to USE IT.
- FIND FRIENDS who will pursue the interest with you. its easy to lose interest if there's no one to talk to, so find people. scan the channels, or talk to amateur radio friends, encourage radio communication.
- make use of local GMRS repeaters. Join their "nets", talk to other operators.
- start an EAV chapter!
www.EAVolunteers.org
B) learn the LIMITS of your handheld.
- line of sight communication is the best you can hope for.
- create line of sight by elevating yourself, on a hill, an upper story of home of building.
- avoid valleys, keep obstructions out of your path, buildings, trees, hills, etc.
- STAY WITHIN YOUR LICENCED band. the GMRS band is separated from ham, military, and aviation frequencies for a reason. Yes, you can use other bands for "emergencies", but an emergency in your area is no excuse to interrupt communication on ham bands! a REAL emergency is "needing" medical, fire, or police, if you can't reach them, THEN maybe ask the Amateur Radio group for help. You can ALWAYS LISTEN to ham radio during emergencies and relay info back to friends on GMRS.
C) PUSH THE LIMITS of your handheld.
- install improved antennas. maybe even put an antenna on a mast or tower to get better elevation (line of sight!), and connect it to your HT via "quality" coax (LMR400 minimum).
D) PUSH THE LIMITS of your mobile/base.
- the greater power of a mobile unit will already improve your range. add to that the fact it is likely already attached to a higher antenna and you've pushed that limit a good bit!
E) make use of REPEATERS.
- a repeater does what it says. If you transmit to a repeater it instantly re-transmits that message from its location. Typically repeaters are located in places where their range is an improvement over what others can expect when working "simplex" (radio to radio directly).
- not all radios are "repeater capable", they must automatically transmit on a different frequency than they receive on. example, to use our channel 22 GMRS repeater i must transmit on 467.725, even though the repeater transmits on 462.725. My cheap Baofeng does that automatically for me when i hit the PTT button, assuming i programmed it correctly.
add your questions and comments below!
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