This question is often asked of me but simply put, ham radio requires passing an exam in order to obtain a license, and GMRS does not require passing an exam. GMRS goes a step further where everyone in your household can use GMRS radios once you acquire the license with the same callsign. Ham radio requires everyone to have their own license in order to transmit and communicate with other amateur radios. This is the legal aspects of it, but there is much more and I highly recommend reading the document you are agreeing to with regards to GMRS license, and ham radio has its own set of rules and regulations you are abiding to.
In reality, when there is an imminent life-threatening emergency, you can use GMRS and/or amateur (ham) radio without a license. This doesn’t mean you go out and buy both types of radios, let it sit there and never use it or get accustomed to its use, and hope you can communicate in an emergency. I highly recommend getting licensed for GMRS or amateur radio and everyone in your group practice using your devices on a regular basis. Both provides weather updates from NOAA these days, cost of both types of radios range from $10 per radio to $700 per radio. Similar to all survival tools I speak of, high quality is key. I do not recommend buying a cheap radio. It will work, but there are reasons why they cost so little. I will go into more detail in other posts about each type of radio.
GMRS radio
Pros
- No exam licensing – Just pay $35 for a 10 year license, and the entire household can use it
- Easy to use – Once programmed, it is as easy as selecting a channel, push the PTT button, announce your callsign, and talk without interruptions from other people on that channel. Make sure to announce your callsign every 15 minutes for long winded conversations, and at the end of the conversation or call
- Lower priced equipment – This one is also a bit questionable, but in general it is lower priced than amateur (ham) radios. A high quality GMRS radio runs between $100-$200, though there are some decent ones for about $50-60 as well
Cons
- Shorter communication range – This is somewhat questionable with GMRS repeaters these days, but if the power is gone, there may not be too many reliable GMRS repeater. Between radios, on a lower quality radio, I have gotten as far out as 6 miles with clear communication. Higher quality radios, I have gotten as far out as 15 miles. Both of these distances requires some excellent conditions
- Limited to UHF and a set number of channels – Depending on whether you get a handheld transceiver or a mobile unit, and depending on whether you get one that supports GMRS receivers or not, you get between 22 to 30 channels
- Lower power – This just means you are limited to how far you can communicate with others, but with mobile units, they can be as much as 50W and handhelds go to about 5W. Doesn’t mean the 50W radio can connect 10x as far.
Amateur (ham) radio
Pros
- Longer communication range – Ham radios can go quite far if you use the right bands in the right conditions. Not like 1 to 20 miles, but more like 100s to 1000s of miles. Most handhelds are still limited to similar distances to GMRS, but I have gotten as far out as 40-50 miles on an amateur (ham) radio without using a repeater
- Wide range of frequencies on HF, VHF, UHF – Depending on whether it is mobile or handheld, you can get many frequencies and channels. If you are using simplex, device to device communication without a repeater, you still have a lot of channels, though your distance between the communication devices will be similar to GMRS, unless you are using mobile to mobile communication on high watts
- More features – Send GPS coordinates, text messages (short), images, videos (not high res or frame rate), morse code or CW, and even email using amateur radio. And there is a whole lot more you can do
Cons
- Requires passing an exam before getting the license – And there are 3 exams, though you only need the Technician license (the first level exam).
- More expensive than GMRS – This is questionable to some degree because I have some good enough amateur radios for under $100. But I trust my top brand ham radios for EmComm (Emergency Communications) like Yaesu and Icom. These brand names will start at about $150 for less featured devices and can go up to over $1000 for base stations. Mobile radios are less than $1000.
- Learning curve – There is a learning curve of both the equipment, the rules and regulations, and how to connect. Once you program the radio, it’s not as bad. And when you communicate over simplex, it is fairly straight forward — push the Push To Talk button, announce your callsign (and potentially the callsign of the person you are trying to reach) and start talking. Make sure to announce your callsign every 10 minutes for long winded conversations, and at the end of the conversation or call
