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Thread: New to Comms

  1. #11
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    Quote Originally Posted by sandsunsurf View Post
    The ham amateur license is pretty easy to get and offers you a whole new level of communication options. With that said, most of the semi-cheesy frs/gmrs radios are good enough for family comms and hunting stuff. I haven’t bought any in a while but they usually have a setting that would technically require a license but nobody seems to care.


    Don’t buy a ham radio and start d!cking around on the frequencies without a license- there are many self-appointed guards of the frequencies that WILL locate you and send off complaints to FTC LE about you. They are crazy about it in my AO..
    About a month ago, I found a 2 radio set from Midland for a super discount (~75% off) and jumped on it. Camping, hunting, hiking, etc was the thought of their use. They are GMRS and have 50 channels. They've been sitting on my shelf ever since I read in the instructions it requires an 80 dollar license to even use. Further googling revealed that apparently the gov can come inspect them whenever they want once you have that license. It seems like a lot of BS/money/headache for something to use while outdoors. I wanted something that wouldn't fall apart and be reliable.

    For my intended use, is it even worth dumping money (more than double of what the radios even cost me) plus the promise of potential inspections? Is there a way to use them that won't tread on pay-the-gov-to-use frequencies? I had always found the concept of HAM interesting but just want something to use for fun and if SHTF, to have comms. Would the self-appointed guards track you down for using hand helds?

    Completely new to this stuff and want to learn without getting in too deep.

  2. #12
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    Quote Originally Posted by StovePipe_Jammer View Post
    About a month ago, I found a 2 radio set from Midland for a super discount (~75% off) and jumped on it. Camping, hunting, hiking, etc was the thought of their use. They are GMRS and have 50 channels. They've been sitting on my shelf ever since I read in the instructions it requires an 80 dollar license to even use. Further googling revealed that apparently the gov can come inspect them whenever they want once you have that license. It seems like a lot of BS/money/headache for something to use while outdoors. I wanted something that wouldn't fall apart and be reliable.

    For my intended use, is it even worth dumping money (more than double of what the radios even cost me) plus the promise of potential inspections? Is there a way to use them that won't tread on pay-the-gov-to-use frequencies? I had always found the concept of HAM interesting but just want something to use for fun and if SHTF, to have comms. Would the self-appointed guards track you down for using hand helds?

    Completely new to this stuff and want to learn without getting in too deep.
    You need a license to use either GMRS or FRS channels (I can't remember off the top of my head which one) in a national emergency the license isn't required.

    Even if you get your technicians license the likelihood of the government visiting you is 0% unless you're holding the key down so people can't use the frequency thus tying up the channels or being a complete D Bag and using the radio to harass people.
    Those Midland radios advertise 30 miles but you'd be lucky to get a mile if you have line of sight.

    Sent from my SM-T860 using Tapatalk

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