Ham radio is, for the purpose of disaster planning, the gold standard of citizen-use radio. Depending on your equipment and setup, you can talk to the other side of the globe with a ham radio, or into space as recently experienced in our area where hams helped students from the Cache County School District communicate with the International Space Station.
But, what if the people you want to communicate with in the event of an emergency are not licensed radio operators?
As I mentioned before, I have not been successful in my attempts to encourage my family members to become licensed operators. Thankfully, there are other radio services available for personal communications. While they have limitations, for those who are not interested in obtaining an amateur license they are worth considering.
Family Radio Service
The Family Radio Service (FRS) is a private, two-way, short-distance voice and data communications service for facilitating family and group activities. The most common use for FRS channels is short-distance, two-way voice communications using small hand-held radios that are similar to walkie-talkies. The service is licensed-by-rule so the general public can use the devices without having to obtain a license and channel sharing is achieved through a listen-before-talk etiquette.
Due to the transmit power restrictions in place you won’t be able to communicate with family members who are more than a few miles apart, but these radios do have value in close proximity, such as coordinating the activities of CERT members or other first responders who will be operating in our small communities.
A FRS radio in the EOC would be a valuable means of communicating with non-amatuer personnel working in the field, allowing you to collect information that can then be sent to the County EOC over amateur frequencies.
General Mobile Radio Service
The General Mobile Radio Service (GMRS) is a licensed radio service that uses channels around 462 MHz and 467 MHz. The most common use of GMRS channels is for short-distance, two-way voice communications using hand-held radios, mobile radios and repeater systems.
An FCC license is required to operate the GMRS system, but licensees are not required to pass an exam in order to receive a license. A GMRS license authorizes an individual and his or her immediate family members to use the GMRS frequencies for personal communication. Licenses are issued for a ten-year term and can be renewed between 90 days prior to the expiration date and up to the actual expiration date of the license. The current license fee is $35.00 for the 10 year license period.
GMRS uses the same 22 channels that FRS uses, but at a much higher power — 5 Watts to 50 Watts, depending on the channel. This gives them a significant distance boost from FRS. A handheld GMRS radio, with limited interference from nearby buildings and an inexpensive "whip" antenna extender, could easily transmit five miles.
As a tool for responding to an emergency, a group of individually licensed persons can use their own GMRS authorization to coordinate the response and recovery operations in a community, or section of a community. With the increased transmit power allowed, handheld and mobile GMRS radios are a valuable option to consider for personal or emergency communications.
Here’s where GMRS gets really interesting: A series of standalone repeater sites have been installed in Cache Valley, including one on top of Mount Logan. The effective distance of the Mount Logan GMRS repeater is estimated at 85 miles, per its listing on mygmrs.com. Using information about these repeaters obtained from the Bridgerland Amateur Radio Club website I have been monitoring these sites for some time and it prompted me to obtain a GMRS license to use for family communications.
Another upside is GMRS handheld and mobile radios are relatively inexpensive. The basic features needed to access the repeaters and to communicate on simplex channels are common in any of the GMRS radios on the market, allowing you to get your family on the GMRS airwaves without a significant cost.
Depending on your need - to communicate over longer distances, or in close proximity, the FRS and GMRS services are options to consider for those of us who have family members who are not interested in amateur licensing.