DISCLAIMER: Transmitting on any GMRS frequency with GMRS radios require an FCC license. It is just going to the FCC site, paying $35 for the license, valid for 10 years, and waiting for your callsign to be issued. The callsign can be used by the entire household. Anyone in your household transmitting must identify themselves with the assigned callsign, and every 15 minutes the callsign must be stated during the communication. Please get your license before transmitting on GMRS frequencies with a GMRS radio, and do not use a frequency modified radio that is not FCC part 95 E certified as it is illegal to do so. You are solely responsible for any illegal activities, and it is not my responsibility nor will I be held liable for your actions.
This seems to be the most common question I get after people have purchased GMRS radios and started using it. The short answer is, NO, but it depends. There are GMRS repeaters (which I will be reviewing in the near future) that allows a group of people nearby to use to communicate at a further distance than they can using just their handheld GMRS radios. Line of sight is somewhat important, but you definitely will get a longer distance coverage than just the handhelds (I have reached as far as 30 miles between two people, each of us were about 15 miles from the repeater. The signal was faint but clearly can hear the intended message.)
If you have setup base camp after some disaster in a remote area or you’re camping in a remote area, do you need to communicate that far apart? 5-10 miles between 2 people should be enough coverage using just handheld GMRS devices. Now if I was building a survivalist community on a 640 acre parcel, I may put one up in the center of the property using both solar and battery, so we can all communicate clearly using that repeater. It is useful to have camping in remote locations with some terrain full of peaks and minimal valleys, but that GMRS repeater would have to be at one of the peaks with a large enough antenna. Of course, people always ask me, “Do you have a GMRS repeater?”
Yes, I do, and I use it often enough to make the investment worthwhile.
