You need a License GMRS too.. The 50 watts you said, is really meant for repeater stations. you do have 8 channels, but each channel duplex. You really have 16 channels. 8 repeater channels and 8 simplex channels plus 7 additional channel shared with FRS.
Side note: for GMRS you will need a license. They cost (as of this post) $70.55. They are very easy to obtain. There’s no test, just a national registration process.
One thing I did was buy 8 of the Baofeng 888s radios and programmed them all the same (16 channels) including GMRS. They are cheap to buy and program. This way you can hand them out to your convoy if necessary and everyone will be able to communicate together. Like you I run all the same communications in your rig. Keep up the great videos!!
I had CB in my Wrangler, it worked for the most part. Advantage was most others had one as well. We found that with Ham Radio, was a better way to communicate in a lot of other ways. If we were going to meet up and go wheeling, we could all hit a common repeater at least a hour of freeway driving from each other. Depending on the location, 3 of us were talking off a repeater many miles apart and could easily communicate. Some of the new Radios can even send Emails, Text messaging, Photos and APRS. It's is great for someone at home to follow your progress on a smart phone or computer. Just the other day not very far from plenty of Cell towers and a large city, my buddies and were down in a bowl doing some target practice on private property. NO cell signals could get in or out. One of the other guys was running late and did not have his Ham HT with him. We couldn't call out on Cell phone, but the Ham radio worked. I was able to send a Text from my Ham radio to his cell phone and give him the directions on how to find us and unlock the gate. Worked perfect. The person receiving the text doesn't have to be a Ham to receive a message, but does to return the text message. So many more things you can do even with a basic 2 meter 55 watt radio. 4 wheeled up to Tip Top mountain just east of Big Bear Ca. 7000'+ alt. Looked at my repeater book and found a repeater in Arizona. Entered the freq. and the PL code and called out my call sign and location. Next thing you know I was talking to someone in no other that Utah! That was fun. Have fun everyone. I miss Jeeping with my old Desert buddies. Kilo 6 Whiskey Whiskey Oscar. 73 that's Ham talk.. FTM-400
I can't wait for you to get your HAM license and then make another video like this. Cover why CB (AM) sounds horrible and FM bands sound better, how the band itself impacts propagation, and where you put your antenna and how to properly run your cabling and grounds to avoid common mobile radio issues. We could put together some really great content for members on this topic. KE0GCN
@@whatabouttheearth plenty of time to learn the detailed info. there are online test engines that you can practice the exam from the pool of questions that can be on the exam. memorize the math formulas for those types of questions as well.
HAM radio Technician License is extremely easy to get. Testing is low-cost ($15 usually, sometimes free, depending on the VEC). Anyone watching this, do yourself a favor and go get a HAM Tech license; it's all you need to operate the common mobile rigs, and even the cheap Chinese mobiles will work perfectly well for general comms. 73 de KN4HAC
Honestly, this is all but irrelevant. GMRS licensing is literally not enforced at all, and they have been talking for years about un-licensing the band. I had mine for two cycles and let it lapse. It's a joke and it's the FCCs fault.
FRS work pretty good for us rig to rig, spotters,etc. they great for kids chatting rig to rig who are being deprived of Smapchat, etc. HAM is always my back up plan. But beyond just getting your license, it takes an investment in time to learn how to master the frequencies, repeaters, scanning, etc. One other antenna we sport is a cellular booster. Definitely helps back in the sticks. Good vid!
I used my frs radio last weekend over two miles through trees in a dense mountain canyon. It was so I could confirm to my buddy he was on the correct trail that we were camping on. To say they are useless is a bit elitist.
I currently run a HAM, 2 meter (which is VHF). If you can swing it, "high frequency" or HF is great because the radio waves will bounce off certain layers of the atmosphere. Giving you more range. It's a little out of my skill level still. But sounds useful.
This is a great post! Just one thing to consider if you decide to go the Ham license route is what band to use. UHF and VHF bands (70 cm for UHF and 2 m for VHF) will probably be the better bands to use for this application because of the shorter ranges involved (in my humble opinion). But keep in mind, to take maximum advantage of the FCC privileges you get with a Ham radio license, everyone in your “communications network” has to have a Ham license (at least a technician class license) to legally use frequencies outside of FRS/GMRS/CB/marine frequencies. One of the practical things to consider in using a ham radio in your vehicle is who has the capability to communicate with you on those “Ham privilege” frequencies. Just food for thought. I am currently in the process of figuring this out myself. Getting a technician class Ham license is pretty easy to do though. I think I spent about 15-20 hours studying over the course of 2 weeks before I took my test. It is a 35 question multiple choice exam. I just bought a book and studied from that.
Posted this in the forum too, but figured might as well here too. Just a few things to mention, for the benefit of all: -- I'm also surprised GMRS hasn't really taken off. Last I looked it was something like $65/5yrs per family which means all your vehicles can have GMRS radios in them. You can do fancy things with GMRS like build repeaters, which extends communications significantly. And you can have heavy duty, commercial radios, which high output power and good external antennas, which are all game changers. You can also share frequencies with those folks that are just carrying little FRS radios around. They may still have a hard time getting to you, but you can easily get out to them. I think GMRS should be the primary trail rig and frequencies. It's catching on, but CB is hard to dislodge from the culture. -- CB is limited to 5 watts which means there isn't much output power. And given the frequency, antenna size on a vehicle is going to hamper the ability to really do well on CB frequencies for "mid" distances. AND CB frequencies, to do well, are really, really dependent on the sun spot cycle, oddly enough, which is why CB was super popular in the 70's (high point in the 11 year sun spot cycle) and why they pretty much suck now (low point). There are more technical reasons why CB is awful, but I guess if you can hear the other person and they can hear you, to each their own. -- Ham radio is kind of overkill for trail communications, but not if you want to do fun radio things once your'e on a mountain top. There was a year long "event" in 2016 called National Parks On The Air. People would drive out to a national park, set up a temporary station for the day and see how many people they could contact. This is with a small, but very capable ham radio that operated on many frequencies and typically with 100 watts or less, and a portable antenna. You can talk across the country easily on many frequencies and a portable antenna. You can't call someone specifically, unless you both agree to be on that frequency at that time, but if you just want general, or emergency long distance communications (with some limitations), ham radio is the way to go. The only thing two people need is radios and an antenna. Easy. -- Studying to get a license for ham radio is trivial, but you will want to learn a little about electronics. With the entry license ($15 and then take a test), you can talk on a few different frequency "bands" including those most commonly used for off-road adventures: 2m and 70cm (refers to the length of the radio frequency, 2 meters and 70 centimeters, ~145mhz, just above the FM radio band, and ~440mhz). You can also talk on 10m (28mhz) which is in the same neighborhood as the CB frequencies. 10m is also not good right now because of low sun spots.
For ham it's 15 for all tes as long as you keep passing, so you can get the expert license for basically free if you pass both the technician and general test
Another option: goTenna Mesh network. It's instant messaging using your phone that connects via bluetooth to a UHF "dongle". They have a range of about 3-5 m. If each truck has one of the dongles, they will automaticall self organize into a mesh network to extend your range. Very cool.
Doesn't hurt to have both. CBs are cheap and as long as you get the antenna Matched with an SWR meter it will work great. Get the antenna matched and everyone will think you have a better radio than them. Most old Ham guys will have a meter to adjust the antenna, or some major truck stop locations as well. The Ham radio in the 2 meter band is good for only having more wattage output. It will work on a trail in Simplex all day long. It's the repeaters that you can hit and use if need be that is the kicker with Ham
So I have FRS/GMRS radios as well as CB and HAM [KI7NNK] and I've come to the conclusion that people are too picky with communications. You know what works really well for my group? CB. With a properly tuned antenna I've never had any trouble reaching out several miles with CB with sufficient clarity. plus its cheap and durable and its most likely that people in your group will have that. they work fine. The Key to CB is getting and tuning a quality antenna. Once you do that, (and assuming you don't have any grounding issues) you can expect clear communications for several miles which is more than you need for anything but the longest of wagon trains or dealing with people joining up. FRS? Not toys, they work great for cheap comms for up to 2-3 miles and for spotting. I got my HAM because I liked learning about it and I wanted the additional capability for safety reasons but I don't really use it in the field plus its hardly plug and play, there is a lot of context in the HAM community and a lot you need to know to use them without even stepping on peoples toes, let along getting the most out of them so it takes some upkeep. For me I would say to start with FRS then move to CB, then go to MURS/GMRS with license and then HAM if you want. Frankly most of the benefit of HAM is found in the GMRS license without having to worry so much about the vast and sometimes complex world of HAM.
Patrick Rich I got my ham license when I was 14, it's not that hard or complex unless you want to go past a tech license. Once you get into the general class +, it can be a bit more complicated. I have my general license now but for 90 percent of what I do I only use the tech privileges. KC5LAF.
Agree on the stepping on toes mentality. There are so many different things you can do on the amateur bands and you're bound to get an unsolicited opinion more than a few times. While I think ham radio offers a very capable setup, it's overkill most of the time unless the team is spreading out significantly. But with a ham rig that does more than 2m/70cm, say an all-band rig like the IC-7100, you can throw up a wire antenna in a tree and reach around the world from a bad spot if you need to. KM4KIS
Ham radio is by far the best. Let me tell you the story about what talked me into getting a ham radio and my license. 11 years ago I was just getting into off-roading. We went on a trail about 70 miles north of metro Phoenix that basically went in and out of a creek bed. This creek wasn’t completely dry but it was navigable with the rigs we had which were mostly jeep TJs and a few XJs. It had rained early in the morning but the creek was fine all day until late afternoon when a flash flood almost inundated our group and it did end up turning the path we came in on into a raging muddy torrent. We were out of cell service range as we were in some mountainous terrain. I felt there was no way to get in touch with our loved ones back in Phoenix but one person in our group had a ham radio. Everyone had been using CBs for in group communications but the one guy with the ham radio was able to drive to a nearby hill top with his Jeep and was able to hit a repeater and get a hold of someone in Phoenix metro who was in turn able to relay messages to our loved ones that we were ok and we may be out there for a few extra days. After this incident, a ham radio was a must have for anytime I ventured off the grid.
110degrees Today you don’t have to drive to the top of the hill. Just use your Garmin Explorer+ to send a text saying you are okay. So much easier then Ham. Ham is to complex.
@@huskers993 Hey that's great, I have a Garmin inReach Explorer as well. But having both is even better. Too complex? Ha! If you can navigate a smart phone then you can figure out a ham radio. It's not that complex.
@Overland Bound1st search for kb6nu no nonsense technician study guide and read it. 2nd go to qrz.com and take the practice tests until you reach 85% consistently. Test free or up to $20.
So ham is a broad-spectrum what channel and frequency does everybody use because most radios have to be programmed by somebody so is there a common Channel band frequency that overlanders use?
Get your Ham license it's great to have I love mine and you can get into a mobile unit as cheap as $100 and hand held as cheap as $30 and the sky is the limit this is KD8ZLR saying 73s and we are clear standing by
Guess what? Throw most of this out the window if you are in Canada. Who knows about other parts of the world? Canada: GMRS up to 2w does not require a license, FRS up to 0.5w Canada: CB is far less common here (at least western Canada), the logging roads are all VHF now. Canada: satellite coverage over parts of Canada is a little spotty Also, you totally skipped over MURS I'm far from an expert on this stuff, but have done a bit of research recently. I live very close to the US border, so it gets even more complicated.
Great coverage of analog voice options. My next build is going to make use of mesh or peer-to-peer data and VoIP networks. Basically, I intend to turn the van into a mobile network hub.
Get you ham radio license, you can send and receive data photos PDF documents videos whatever you want with ham radio at no cost just buy the equipment and get your license it is super cool! KE7FVB, Overland Bound member #1883
People seem to only state the way they like things and have a real bias on alot of radios first off frs gmrs cbrs are great I personally use both cbrs and gmrs but gmrs is way better i have a mxt 400 and a hole lot of wakies and I get a great distance on the road and in wooded areas with gmrs and with my license I can have my family on it with no problems ham radio i don't have a license yet I am getting into that but I wouldn't ever us that for just going out with family and friends it's way more money in it and the guys on it don't want to hear alot of radio traffic now in some areas you maybe able to find a frequency that is more less dead no one on it but than your hole family and who ever else would have to have a license so just for fun irs way to much to put into for just a day out on the road and camping.
GMRS & FM CB radio are similar... however if you go SSB/AM CB radio you can communicate across a state/region/countries..... you might want to know your subject.
GMRS is superior to CB , its FM (therefore the signal to noise ratio is much better) and you don't need a large antenna , the power factor is not the reason but more is always better.. You forgot to mention MURS radios , 5 VHF channels that will have even better range than the GMRS , most new Marine radios have these channels but you can program them into inexpensive portables or mobiles .
he says you can talk up to 90 miles with ham radio. LOL I talk all around the world with ham radio. Ive talked thousands of miles. Even from my car. It depends on what band you are on, how many watts you are running, where you are located, what format you are using, etc. There are people who routinely talk thousands of miles on only 5 watts who use certain bands and certain formats.
I am a CB operator along with a text no code because I got my amateur radio license back in May of 1995 do you had two options right out the gate option number one take both the novice and technician written option number two would be to take the five words per minute code test and obviously I didn't choose that route I went after my novice and Tech and then years later they drop the code requirement code will always get through when all other communication does not work because of conditions something about code will always get through n0spw is my amateur radio call sign
@ 24 seconds right above the N. is a perfect Ham solution for overlanding. Yaesu 857 its not a huge brick and you can remove the front plate and put the rest of the box out of the way. ( it's smaller than a Cobra 148 CB ). Here is a for example link. www.qsl.net/g0isw/FT-857%20closeup.jpg. And smaller than the GMRS on the dash in 0000's FJ80
Ham radio requires a license as mentioned. There are tons of duel band rigs out there 2 meters VHF and 440 UHF both modes are excellent for communication. Check the area you want to go for repeaters. The duel band mobile rigs will operate 2 meters 50 watts 440 35 watts. There is so much more you will learn ( that is easy stuff. ) Great hobby and I read an article that mentioned ham radio is on the rise. And as mentioned before the technician class license is real easy to pass. With the computer modes today FCC has dropped the Morris code requirement, no code. License are good for 10 years, no retesting when you renew your license in the required time. A lot of good hams out there who will help new hams get started. Go for you will not be sorry. k5dyu Norris Amarillo Texas.
4 watt cb and a good antenna is good for at least 10 miles or more. But you also have higher out put 10/11 meter radios that range from 50ish watts to close to 400 watts. With a good antenna these radios will get out and then some.
Frs and gmrs should be held as the same because they are on most "walkie talkies." Those same kids toys as you put it have an effective range of a few miles in rough terrain sorry but you can't yell that far. The rest of this was pretty spot on but using the stereotypes of old Frs systems compared to today's frs/gmrs systems kinda made me cringe.
Good vid. Hope people get a good idea of what they could need and what to expect from the various radio types out there and also get there ham license. I my self have a Yaesu FTM-400 and a Yaesu FT-857 and a UHF CB ( 477Mhz Australian ) in my Jeep, 5 antennas sticking out of a 2003 GC Overland :) , it is a lot of work getting it all in there but when you overland Australia you really do not want to cut corners, It could be a loooooong walk home... 73 de vk2ccr
Very timely video. Just got a CB and thinking serious about the IN Reach but also giving serious thought of getting the Ham license and making that step.
You didnt mention HF Land-Mobile radios! They are GREAT for long distance comms and u dont need a Ham licence to operate them (just subscribe to an existing service provider). With HF Land-Mobile radios you can even make telephone calls, send SMS's and GPS location data! The radios tx at about 100 to 125w PEP and at times, u can literally talk all around the world when conditions are right!
Mentioned below by others, but GMRS also requires a license. Easy to file, cheap for what it allows. Just like you need to learn legal and safe operation of your motor vehicles, you should also learn legal operation of your radio systems. I wish manufacturers would not have bundled FRS and GMRS into a single radio. Huge mistake.
Thank Michael! As already stated in the comments, I'd group FRS with CB in terms of max range as well as popularity, ease of use and investment. GMRS is the edge of the band with some overlap (no tones) that, as you mention, has greater range via more power. HAM is a big umbrella over the others and licensing is there for a reason. Side benefit, it keeps the chatter to a minimum and teaches a common communication protocol. All of these are "line of sight" so range greatly effected by terrain but generally very effective in convoy or mountain top to mountain top ;-) DeLorme, inReach and the other Sat providers are different tools for minimal, mostly emergency, contact from those "hard to reach places" type of jobs. Ham has been the Go-To choice for me for years and many clubs. I also have CB and a GMRS in my rig if needed (larger groups where some folks on the trail don't have Ham) and I can relay if needed. Thanks for the info buddy, take care!
i like them both to but the Expedition Overland some of their gear was donated to them i dont see a prob in that but i looked up a rigid light bar for my 3ed gen runner and it was around if not over 1000$ thats not worth it in my book but with Overland Bound its rigs for the common man they both have there good and bad
How do these relate to the FM radios that wildland firefighters use? We talk to each other simplex and can use repeaters to talk to dispatch as well. We use handheld and vehicle mounted FM radios. I am a Leadplane Pilot and I only really have experience with the TDFM 136 in my airplanes.
Ham radio is the closest thing to radios used in the wildland fire and other public safety services. Hams use frequencies just below those used for public safety. They also use NFM and digital modes like the P25 approved radios. TDFM radios cover all of the VHF band from 136 to 174 Mhz in both analog and digital FM modes, ham uses 144 to 148 Mhz and is mostly analog, but digital is catching on pretty fast as gear gets cheaper.
Ham and general radio geek here. As it's been started, FRS and GMRS are great forms of communication. Much better than CB in my opinion. GMRS mobile rigs are generally much better built than CB rigs. The antennas are smaller, the sound quality is better. GMRS mobiles can also communicate with low cost handheld which is a huge plus. Love your channel but what you said about GMRS and FRS does a disservice to everyone.
Overland Bound The part where you say FRS is not effective for trail or overlanding. Having a radio is better than not having one. You can walk in to any Walmart and pick up a FRS and be communicating. CB can be pretty useless depending on atmospheric conditions. The "limited" range of UHF is a plus in caravans. You don't get interference from radio wave propagation or truckers running 1000 watt amps. I think the biggest drawback of frs/gmrs is lack of adoption. UHF FM is simply better for medium and short range communications. CB's long range abilities really are a crap shoot. Don't get my started on CB handheld radios. Anyone have 10 AA batteries?
I asked because sometimes I'm just wrong, and have no issue admitting it. I agree, radio is better than no radio, but when I meet with a variety people and groups on the trail, people are rarely using FRS and I personally have had recent issues with FRS radios that wouldn't reach around the next corner. Just my take, FRS isn't enough power. Perhaps I've just had bad experience. I believe I said GMRS is good, but again, not many have them until it picks up in popularity. I have a GMRS on my dash, and when there is someone to talk to, it is great! I guess we do disagree on FRS. If someone asks me which radio to get if they can get just one, I hope they do not get an FRS.
Overland Bound I wonder if not being able to reach around the next corner has something to do with all the metal around your rigs. Technically what you experienced shouldn't happen. I think UHF for overlanding is very popular in Australia. I wish it could be more popular here.
KG5PGB here, happy to see ham is well accepted in the overlanding community. The plus side is the ability to bounce your UHF/VHF frequencies off of most reflective surfaces. Using my tower I bounced one off of the moon once.
Grevlain I'm interested in getting a GMRS radio and was under the impression you had to pay the FCC for a license to operate a GMRS radio. Not sure the price.
Correct. Remember, it's also per family, not per person. So $70 for 5 years is pretty good, I think. I've taken commercial radios and converted them into GMRS. They're bulletproof.
@@davidsweeney8472 Ham radio is more than 2M. If you know what you are doing, you can send an email over shortwave thousand of miles away. Ham radio is a lot more than a 2M handheld, but you can't get much past that unless you get your General Class license. BTW, you can talk to satellites with your 2M/70cm ham radio.
@@TXLorenzo I know...but they were talking about 2m radio to radio. not about all the things you can do. you can have an HF rig in your car too. and talk around the world without the Net. I do in my Jeep JKU, with my Yaesu FT-891 with a Tarheel 200A. N1SRD Dave 73
@@davidsweeney8472 I know, I have a FT 891 with a Diamond screwdriver antenna in my SUV alomg with a FTM 300 connected back to a wires-x PDN network. 73s
As I understand, GMRS does require a HAM license. CB is good, but range is a problem, and the US is probably the only country where AM CB is still popular. I don't know for the US, but in a lot of countries there are certain VHF frequencies that are open to the public (for example, Australia's CB is in VHF FM) and they don't require a license. In Mexico you can use these frequencies legally up to 40W. There are several cheap dual band (VHF/UHF) HAM radios that allow you to use the VHF and UHF open frequencies without a license and with the added bonus that you can also talk with FRS and GMRS, making them the most compatible. Unfortunately, the CB radio laws in the US state that any radio that can transmit in the US CB frequencies should not be able to transmit in other frequencies, therefore even though the HAM radios can listen to CB, they are factory set not to transmit in those frequencies to comply with this antiquated US law. If this law was repealed, a multi band (HF-VHF and UHF) HAM radio used only in the open frequencies would be compatible with all, would not require a license and would be king of the Overland crowd.
a HAM can be modified to speak to GMRS. its not legal but can be done. I was just making a comment that GMRS requires a family license. You are correct. a ham license does not allow you to operate on GMRS only that a HAM radio can speak to GMRS if modified. Thanks for the clarification.
A lot of things can be done but may not be legal. GMRS radios can be modified to transmit on amateur frequencies as well. Commercial radios can be modified to operate on amateur frequencies. CBs can be modified with 30kW amplifiers. You can build a radio to transmit or receive on any frequency you want. Ham radios can be modified to transmit on aircraft bands and receive cellular frequencies too, but it's all against the law. I honestly don't know why you felt the need to make the distinction with regard to modifying a ham radio to transmit illegally on a GMRS frequency unless you just didn't know better. It's a common misconception that having an amateur radio license grants you operating privileges on GMRS bands. And colloquially, Ham is not an acronym. It's a plain word referring to a nickname for amateur operators and doesn't need to be capitalized.
