How I Program My Radio for Emergency Communication - Get Ready Now 

Absolutely IMPRESSIVE! I wish that with all the years of experience I have as both a ham and federal telecommunications specialist that I could have added to the discussion, but the fact is, your presentation far exceeds anything I have ever seen. You've set the benchmark for organization and insight. Period!

Great info, thanks! As an update, on the 1.25m band, for those having the Baofeng UV-5R, it can be reset to Rx/Tx on the 1.25m band. I did the factory reset, and a small change using Chirp to add the frequency numbers on the VHF Upper limits numbers, changing the number from 175 to 226, then upload the software to the radio and the Baofeng will work on 1.25m band. 🙂

Very well thought out plan Gaston. The one other group of public services you may want to include is the City, County and State road crews / DOT. They are dispatched to many road hazard areas. Great for finding out road closures, wild fires, damaged roads, trees down and sometimes accidents. They also tend to be more on the bucket mouth side, so many times you can get details that agencies such as LE don't put out over their channels. If you live in a snow area, sometimes you can find out which roads are being plowed if you need to find a way to get somewhere after a major snow event.

I am NOT one to Ever thank YT, but today IS the day! Just purchased my first Ham Radio and YT recommended THIS video - AND you are in the PHX area as am I. I am interested in the repeater info and how you can use many of them to go long distances. Cannot wait to watch more of this video and any other you might have, YOU ARE A GODSEND. I first thank God for this, then YT.

Cool 😎 content. I’m glad I found you or the Algorithms found me for you . Glad to be here . I love radios and have since my grandparents had a shortwave radio to receive programming in Eastern Europe land

Extremely well done! I do something similar but I gleaned one or two of your ideas. :)

Great video. Unlike some (most) videos on RU-vid, no annoying loud heavy metal music, you are not talking fast and yelling, and you are calm and speak clearly. Those should be in the RU-vid community guidelines. Thank you.

Awesome information! Thank you 👍

Thank you for the video! I bought a radio (baofeng UV-5R MK5) for emergency purposes and I find every aspect of it facinating, but I am having such a challenge picking things up. I feel like giving up, but your video gave me a little hope to at least be able to program my radio and make it somewhat of a useful tool. I hold my own mechanicaly and I typically pick things up quickly, but I have slight dyslexia and all the information and abbreviations gets jumbled up in my head. I usually overcome it by reading things multiple times and physically appling it...but this has really been giving me a hard time. At least now I can program it in case of emergency. Thank you again for the great video! UPDATE (12 hours after the initial post): Thank you-Thank you-Thank you! I can't tell you how much this helped me! This is probably going to sound stupid to many, but I'm sure I'm not the only one that finds hams facinating but suffers from brain farts when it came to understanding how it all works...the layout of the land (sorta say) of the ham world. It felt kinda like moving to a new city and not knowing where anything was or which neighboorhood was which, and how it all related to eachother. Idk...it's hard to explain a brain fart. But, after watching your video I got so excited (which doesn't happen much after 50...lol) I spent all night working on my own excel layout, and whatta you know...I finally don't feel so lost. Very cool!! I can't tell you how grateful I am! I have always been facinated by ham radios since I was a kid and I've long passed that, but it always caught my attention. Even as a grown up, every time I see a HAM antenna I get a child like feeling, but I never thought I was going to be able to grasp it. After watching your video and working on my own sheet, I didn't feel so lost anymore. I obviously have a lot to learn and reaserch to do, but I'm pretty excited that I have an understanding of what to do with all the information, how to break it down, and most importantly...how to use it! Pretty freak'en cool!! Here you thought you were making a video about programing your scanner, and what you did was make a video on "Unlocking the use of a HAM radio for dummies". Awesome my friend...Thank you!

VERY well done - thank you!

Nicely done! Just subscribed.

Very good scheme with all the right detail! Keep up the good work!

This is great. Very helpful and inspirational. Thanks!

This is the style of video I love! How to set up a radio plan to work in as many ways as possible with several radios. Way cool.

The VX-6 is an amazing HT.

This video is pure gold and 100% spot on. Very well done.

Thank you! This will help me get my radios ready for the eclipse East Texas on April 8th

Great video! I hope this is the first in a series. Radio Reference and Repeater Book are great tools and each deserves its own video. I had no idea Field Operations Guide - NiFOG was a thing.

I have a similar philosophy with my radios, although I'll happily stuff a lot more 'stuff' into radios with more memories (like DMR's), as they usually offer you the added convenience of breaking things up into zones. For everything else though, while I may not have one to one channel correspondence between radios, they’re close enough to where I can find what I want fairly quickly.

Well thought out and organized. This is exactly where my mind is on this. You of course, thought of things I didn't. Thank you for sharing.

Nice Setup

Thanks for sharing lots of good ideas here. Had been thinking about syncing up the channels on my radios this is a good frame work to build off of.

This is very helpful. Thank you for putting this together.

Great ideas here. This definitely inspires me to update my radio programs. I especially like the thought of having identical memory programming between radios. The cheat sheets for common functions and field programming is also great; I have the same radio as my home base station and my mobile, and I keep a copy of the user’s manual at my desk and in my car for this reason. I need something for my HT’s though, so I’m going to have to create some cheat sheets of my own.

Brother I got a copy of that field guide. That book has very useful information . Better to have and not need, then need and not have. I’m all about preparedness and this book took me up a notch on my preparedness level. DL the PDF version and take a look.

Most informative, USEFUL review I've seen to date!!! THANK YOU!!!!!!

Great video with lots of practical info. I'll be adding commercial AM and FM to the FT3DDR for emergency info and news. 73 and thanks for posting.

I’m in gold canyon just getting into radio. Thanks for the video.

WELL DONE....THANK YOU 73

Excellent video, this is just what I needed. I have programmed my VX-6 but not like that and have been needing to do just what you did. Thank you so very much for sharing such an invaluable video. Very much appreciated. As someone who is preparing this is the ticket to knowing what is going on around you. Thank you again.

Very thorough video, one question, why not include all the 2m simplex freq (20kHz spacing) so as to not miss any traffic local to you when scanning memory mode

As a new ham, I found this very helpful in so many ways! I only have 2 radios (so far!) but can see how planning for consistency between radios can really help! Labeling in a logical, consistent manner will also help!!! Your laminated cheat cards will be incredibly helpful for me. Thanks so much!!

Harris County ARES Texas has a list of VHF freqs in a CHRIP file. Convertible to RT Systems. All my 2m rigs have them in that order. I have a few .70M repeaters come up afterwards in the UV5R. 400 series channels on the TFM 6000 and FT70D. So at least on 2M, the 146.17 repeater is on Channel 4 on all rigs....

Excellent video, Gaston! I do a lot of the same as you do for the setup. Especially the MARS mod! I also learned a few new tips for the setup. I do need to review everything to verify they're set up how I need them. Great idea on the business cards. 73!

I was on a UHF net in San Francisco where we shifted to the listening frequency in simplex. Signals were highly variable, but that's a good option if the repeaters go down. You really need a 50 watt VHF/UHF unit on battery for emergencies. NVIS on HF is also a good way to go. I have a home-made dipole for VHF/UHF and a fence-top long wire for NVIS.

Very educational... thx

Thanks for the important information.

I have been setting up my own system similar to yours. I may be being a bit ambitious, but I am creating files for travel routes that I use regularly or expect to use at some point. That would be the routes I travel to see my kids in FL and GA. I have a laptop that stores the info I I load using RT Systems or CHIRP.

Helpful information being I'm In Az Also

Thanks, Gaston.

I just bought 2 of the retivis hag1 gmrs radios and looking forward to unlocking them even though they are ready to go out the box.

The metrolink system is great. I have found that the Shaw Butte repeater is fairly accessible from many areas of the valley. I have all the metrolink repeaters programmed in my radios and labeled similarly. I use ML and RL to distinguish between the metrolink and rim link repeaters on my radios. Example, MLSHAW and RLSHAW. So far it’s working for me.

Nice video. Thanks for sharing your radio setup. I have one of the VX-6R radios too....Great radio, but way more than I need. (I was thinking about posting it for sale at a good price to another HAM)....I found I always grab the Alinco DJ-500 when I am going to use an HT. (It is much easier to program and use than the VX6, plus it is only slightly bigger, and it is much cheaper) I set mine up very similar to yours, except I put NOAA on channel 0 and I put the area Sky Warn/RACES on channel 10 - Whenever a storm is rolling through, I grab the DJ500 and stay up to date with all the live reports. When I was younger, I was a member of the Sky Warn service, but I don't get around well enough to do it still. Thanks again - you gave a very good presentation that both beginner and experienced HAM's should find useful. 73!

Absolutely Awesome video for us rookies... my WOUXIUN UV9Dplus comes preprogrammed However, love your logic and system organizing your local and national needs. Thank you for posting your spreadsheet system!

Great resource! ThANK YOU!

Excellent video as usual, Gaston. Unfortunately, I only have 3 repeaters in my area... the capital city of Australia, haha, go figure. Lol I think I need to make a repeater for my vehicle. Lots to think about and do now. :)

Brother, your timing, content, and professional delivery is amazing. Thank you. Just got my first HT and working on a base station setup all thanks to your succinct, detail-rich presentation that has been so helpful in understanding this broad scale topic.

I've been with you since the start and find this is one of the best videos you have produced!! Hitting Shaw Butte from Gilbert (Pecos and Lindsey) is easy as is Usery. What a range those repeaters have!! Now I have a few hours work organizing my HT's and 7100!! Thanks for your time and effort for the community!

Probally alot of clutter like you said but I went through repeaterbook and programmed the first 100 repeaters I could key in order of distance. Went far east north south and west for 50 miles. Then I added 101+ to my personal frequencies. Then used chirp to program several radios the same to put in all my vehicles and hand out to family/friends just for emergency as they are unlicensed

Great video! Thanks for sharing your strategy. 73

Good video well needed ;)

DAMN THIS WAS HIGHLY VALUABLE....... & DRINKING FROM A FIRE-HOSE....SOO MUCH TO LEARN ...I LOVE THE ORDER AND SYMMETRY YOU CREATED PROGRAMMING THE RADIOS ...THANK YOU VERY MUCH.......just call me a bit overwhelmed

Them Laminated cards for the radios is very nice

Very nicely laid out! I would add that if there is one near you to get involved in ARES Amateur Radio Emergency Services, you’ll get a lot of good training. If you can’t find an ARES near you look for RACES or CERT training.

Very informative!

I have a VX-8 and two FT-65's. All three ARE programmed exactly the same for my area.

It would be great if you could share an example of your spreadsheet you use for these frequencies. Thank you for sharing this information. It will help me better program my radios.

thanks man

More important than ever as the transformation of America intensifies.

I live in the PHX East Valley and tracking with everyone you were saying. I’ve gone back and forth whether I want to include all freqs for a service vs. just the ones I can hear or live near by. In real world exploring, I’ve found it more beneficial to include the freqs and just lock them out so they don’t scan, but I could still manually navigate to them in case I ever need to. I also just picked up a Tidradio TD-H8 which allows for programming on GMRS, Ham or Unlock, which supports everything. Nice thing is I can transfer freq profiles I’ve saved on my phone via Bluetooth and no internet is required. Quality of the radio is better than I initially gave it credit for and hoping 1-2 versions in the future, it’ll be as solid as a Yeasu or Icom.

Dang I was hoping there was a spreadsheet download for your list you made

Our group uses VX-9s. We like them because when we want "privacy", Base transmits out on 6 Meters, and the Field radios answer vcc on 220 MHz.

Nice thing about the VHF fire, is that they'll still keep it for interop even if the switch over to P25 or P25 encrypted. Also I use the eNIFOG app on iPhone. Works great. Thanks Gaston for all you do

Im definitely buying you a coffee! Ive been a longtime ham but never dug into programming etc. I have radios for my prep but they are virtually worthless without channels programmed. I love outdoors (hiking 4x4 etc) and live in gilbert. This video hit very close to hone for me. Now a radio can be part of my packout when im on superstition ridge and can be tool for SAR or whatever. Is there a local community on meetup, fb or anywhere where these kind of tips can be shared and exchanged? We live in "exciting" times and need to build out my network faster than the rate its happening. Great job man! Ill need to rewatch many times to help me build my own list.

Great video, I would be interested on hearing more on GRMS/FRS “code” as you only have Ch without the DCS code can you change in the field or is it always Ch X 0, great info, coffee inbound

I have been programming my radios in almost exactly the same manner for a couple of years now. I would also recommend programming your vehicle mobiles the same way. And if you have one capable of cross-band repeat, you can use one as a base station which will allow for the use of much higher power. Just a thought! Great video!

Great video and I am definitely going to re-evaluate how I have my radios configured. Out of curiosity, where did you get the spiral bound NIFOG?

Another great video. I have programmed the same type of frequencies in my radios. I am looking to get 220 and or 6 meter radios for my wife and myself. We are both licensed. We both have the Wouxun KG-UV9D Plus that have 999 channels and extremely wide band receive. With CHIRP, the transmit frequencies can be extended for emergency use.

As usual, another excellent video. I've been doing this a while, but I tend to mix 2m calling, 70cm calling, and local repeaters in the first 10. I may keep this for convenience and then add the rest of the 2m in the 10's, 70cm in the 20's, etc. Also, good call on working split on 2m... I'm disappointed I never thought of that!

As a prepper i'd like to gain any information that I can, there was a lot of good information here to learn.... I set my radio channels up mostly the same with one exception... I add marine VHF channels, I add them to my handheld radio with the corresponding channels of VHF radio and the channels on my radios. That way if I go to channel 16 on my radio, I know it's a Marine VHF channel 16 and 22 on my radio is 22 on Marine VHF And so on..... There are around 30 VHF marine channels, So this doesn't take up a lot of space on my hand held.

Great video man. Keep up the great work. This inspired me to re-program my radios. Do you know where to get a spiral bound copy of the NiFOG?

Got a link to that spreadsheet and quick reference card

Hi Gaston, one other thing that I do is to have a separate scanning bank of the little used repeaters in my area. We have 16 VHF/UHF repeaters that I can access with either a HT or Base depending on their distance from me. There are about 8 VHF repeaters that get the majority of the traffic. These are also the repeaters used by Ares, Races, Cert and the LDS church Emergency Response. These repeaters will be very active during an emergency as long as they are operating. Most of the UHF repeaters see very little use and will be an asset in an emergency because they will have much less traffic. Therefore, they are a good bet when you need a repeater to communicate with a friend or family member as the others will have nets running. Your comms plan will have to be in place so these people know which repeater (s) you may try to contact them on. For that reason, if you have an extra bank or memory, it's good to have the little used repeaters already programmed. Some of the UHF repeaters are in commercial sites, so they will have back up power, at least for a period of time. These repeaters will be the A or the C in a repeater PACE plan.

This is exceptionally done. Time to get programming again. Any advice for doing multi-states. My thought is to use Baofangs for states that aren't primary comms or build out chirp templates etc. for fast swaps.

This is a GREAT way to organize and keep the big picture in mind. May I have a copy of that Spreadsheet you are using? That would help me a great deal, to program, group, label, synch my radios, and be consistent with it all.

Very good ideas, and gave me a few of my own. Using my FTM-400XDR as base, I have made use of the ability to program the B-Band frequencies as my "specialized" side of the radio (e.g., APRS, ARISS, cross-band repeat, and my three most used repeaters adjacent to their input frequencies). In my case, that was only 23 memory slots. Using your methods on all four of my HTs, I made quick work of synchronizing those HTs-- a total of 94 memory slots each-- much as you have done. Using RTSystems programmer for the three Baefangs, I copied the 94, and went to my RTSystems programmer for my FTM-400, and selected the B-Band tab, scrolled past my original 23, all the way down to line 100, and pasted the 94 from that point. Instant update! So now, if I should need to direct a team using the 'Fengs in the field, my base will use the same numbering system, plus 100, as the HTs. Next, is to create a Bank on my FT3D, and name it Baofeng, using the exact same 94 channels created here. That is four field radios, one base, plus two FRS I have lying around. I can at least equip my neighbors with little training, if necessary. Next up: notecard Baofeng instructions in ziplocks so the uninitiated have a quick reference to go with the loaner radios. Should include power saving check-in schedule.

This video perfectly demonstrates why the vx-6r is vastly superior to the baofeng

Been a ham for 5 years now. My HT memory banks are a mess. This is exactly the organizational thought process I needed to hear. I don't guess you have a version of your spreadsheet that's published, do you? BTW, I have several VX-6R MARS mods too - it's been my go to for years. Thank you for sharing!

Thank you.. newly subscribed. Could you tell me what MURs models these radios were? Great tutorial.. it helped me considerably.

Helpful and and highly informative video Gaston! But one question to you. Do you have experience with programming the vx-6r with CHIRP? Because according to one online forum user, CHIRP can potentially brick a yaesu radio. (I'm aware of RT Systems but would rather find out before spending extra from my already low college student budget). Cannot find much clarity or supporting evidence online, would appreciate your input. Thanks!

Great video! Is it possible to share the frequencies (csv) that you think should be carried by all no matter location in the US? If not, I can re-watch and figure it out. I get what you're doing.

Hi Gaston, I watched this as a way to get different perspectives i can use to consider how I'm keeping my channels organized. Thank you. Kim KC6ARY

Cool . I keep 16 vhf and 16 uhf freq as my main list. And all my radios frist 32 ch will be the same . And I post same paper label around my radios .

Very good organization. Don't forget to include bandwidth in your programming.

Suggest VTAC and UTAC from the NIFOG, often there are repeater pairs in areas in those VTAC and UTAC channels. In times of major emergencies those get used.

I love everything about this. Logically selecting the right frequencies is not simply programming “everything”. Using the Bank capability of the vx6 is a great way to group the like things together. I would add an additional bank/zone for gmrs. I use 2 banks/zones actually. One is for the known gmrs repeaters in the area and the second is a “travel” zone where I program each repeater pair with 141.3 tx and csq rx - and also program each as talk around (tx and rx on same freq) I also usually add a “mains” bank that has one or 2 primary frequencies from each of the banks that would serve as a place to listen to get first indications of something - sort of cherry picking the best of each of the other banks

Railroads are a thing you could put in incase you have to opt in to hopping a ride one day. I know it's not the safest and legal thing but when you're desperate you will consider it. Also consider setting up a special "zone"" in your radios with some nonstandard frequencies in an obscure part of a band like 170 or 510 MHz ranges just incase you want you and your own people to have a bit more privacy out of the way of heavier used parts of the bands.

I don't know if it's been said because I didn't read every comment on here. You can make the UV-5R transmit on 220. You just have to raise the upper band limits in chirp and you can talk on it.

Not sure if you covered it because I skipped around the video quite a bit, but I live near Lake Michigan, so those living along coastlines of the oceans and great lakes might want to program marine VHF channels, at the very least channel 16. There are other channels commonly in use in different areas of the country and it varies widely by location, but 16 is a must if you're near large bodies of water. The Coast Guard was beaconing a message here looking for a missing person in the water for a few days on channel 16. I am able to hear ships, boats, and at least two Coast Guard Stations from my location.

I group gmrs/frs first, then all of my most commonly used fire, EMS, Leo, public safety frequencies for SHTF. In an emergency, they could be a lifesaver, not just for learning what's going on in your area, but warning unaware people of danger. As important as all this is, (and I know you said it was already a long video) you should have had a section where you discussed back up batteries, alternative power sources, solar panels for grid down situation, which antennas to have in emergency kits (every HAM knows how important this is!!!!) and all of this would be worthless in an EMP situation without adequate Faraday cage protection. This is more like an intro to emergency radio for beginners tutorial. Share it with anyone who isn't prepped!

Excellent video thanks for the great information. Where can a person find your buy you a coffee link?

Hello! I also live in the same area of AZ as you! Would you share your spreadsheet with me with all of those numbers/frequencies? That would be amazing!

You should upgrade your licence so you can use HF as interstate digital comms and integrating with the Red Cross and state wide ARES and OEM comms are vital, and not limited by range. Sunday at 7:30AM freq. is 3990 khz and I and many others.

I’d really like to see a complete band plan. Not just the tiny ham sections but the whole rf spectrum. Where that?

A really neat trick is to get two Icom ID-50a/52a radios and do the same programming however one can turn on digital mode in both and that will prevent casual eavesdropping on whatever freq you're operating on. Same goes for the Yaesu FT5DR with the Yaesu having a much more wideband receive capability than the Icoms. Technically it's *not* encryption and allowed for use on amateur bands however unless that person has an Icom or Yaesu radio capable of decoding it (or an SDR package running on their PC) they're not going to be able to listen to what you're saying. And if you use it on somewhat busy FRS/GMRS freqs then it makes you harder to track down within the analog noise in a metro area if you keep your transmissions short.

I have bunch cb radio from when I drive a truck all are side band and one just am and a vr5

I'm interested in starting to use these radios do you have any other videos or recommendations for beginners equipment wise? Thanks for your information looking forward to checking your Channel

That's funny. I literally just programed the extra shtf radios so my lady knows what to do. Like, couldn't be better timing. I got a gmrs license just incase and I'm printing up a cheat sheet and laminating it so she knows exactly what band and freqs she's on and can use it accordingly. I'm waiting on the final electrical inspection so I can get on the roof to clamp on a bunch of ferrites on the solar panels they finally installed. I need her to know about HF and found a cheapo radio, that has SW built in, at Ross of all places. Glad to see another video, my guy. I hope you're having a good one. One of these days I'll have JS8CALL running. I just keep telling myself I only have to wait a little longer.😆🤙🏽

16:43 What is WWM? For time you have WWV (Colorado) and WWVH (Hawaii) on 2.5, 5, 10, 15, 20 and sometimes 25 MHz. You also have WWVB on 60 kHz which is what automatically sets your "atomic" clocks in your house, but has no voice announcement. Additionally CHU Canada is quite strong on 3.33, 7.85 and 14.67 MHz.

What antenna do you use for the 6Meter band to transmit?I have this radio with the Mars mod and would like to use it with my quad band mobile. Thanks!