New user question

[Jeff-Randall]

First of all thanks for the great forum. I'm a total idiot when it comes to 2-way radio and have learned a lot reading through the forum.

Here's my question:

We operate a training school on 170 acres of property. We have been using handheld GMRS radios to communicate with our instructors and teams when we do land nav courses, tracking courses, field med, etc. GMRS has worked out great. We are wanting to put a GMRS base station in our classroom to monitor the teams when they are in the field, as well as communicate with them. So far I have not found anything except handheld besides this unit: Icom F6011 / F5011 Base Station. My question is will this work and does is have to be programmed for the standard GMRS frequencies. If so, is that programming something that an idiot like myself can do pretty easy?

Any input or help would be appreciated!

Jeff

 

[Jeff-Randall]

I just realized I probably posted this in the wrong forum. Mods please move to the correct forum if need be. My apologies...I'm new here and at this radio thing.

Thanks,

Jeff

 

[WA0CBW]

Your description of how you are using GMRS radios for communications seems to be contrary to the GMRS rules unless all of the instructors and teams are the same family or all of them have their own GMRS license. That wasn't stated in your description so maybe I missed something.
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[Jeff-Randall]

Your description of how you are using GMRS radios for communications seems to be contrary to the GMRS rules unless all of the instructors and teams are the same family or all of them have their own GMRS license. That wasn't stated in your description so maybe I missed something.
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I appreciate your concern but it has nothing to do with my question. I may be dumb when it comes to radios but one thing our business does well is stay on top of licensing and insurance requirements to operate in the fields that we do. Some of the regulations we are required to adhere to are much more complicated than radio licensing. With that said, each instructor has a license to operate GMRS. Mine is WQQJ541. Again, thanks for at least taking the time to respond.

Best regards,

Jeff

 

[WB4CS]

Hi Jeff,
Welcome to RR forums!

As for the licensing, I'm sure no offense was intended. We see a fair share of people who are new to radios and are not aware of the FCC rules, especially in the "New User" forum. Since you said you were very new to radios (a idiot in your own words lol) the question had to be asked to be sure you were aware of GMRS rules.

With that out of the way...

From what I understand, GMRS base/mobile radios can be a little hard to find since not many are type accepted for GMRS. You may be able to get the range you need from a handheld unit. If you have an extra handheld and it has a detachable antenna, you should be able to erect an outdoor antenna and connect it to the handheld. Depending on the terrain you're dealing with, that might be more than adequate to get the range you seek. The only benefit to the base/mobile radio would be the extra power you can run (up to 50 watts on some GMRS channels.)

If you'll take a look over the GMRS sub-forum here you'll see that the topic of mobile/base GMRS radios has come up several times. It's possible one of those older threads may have information on radios that are type accepted for GMRS that would work. However, before you spend the money I'd suggest trying the handheld with an outdoor antenna and see what results you have.

Good luck!

 

[Jeff-Randall]

Thanks for the welcome and info.

I go back to my original question

My question was will the Icom F6011 / F5011 Base Station work for GMRS and does is have to be programmed for the standard GMRS frequencies? If someone can answer that question it would be much appreciated.

Best regards,

Jeff

 

[WA0CBW]

As W4BCS indicated I was probing for additional information without being accusatory. There is a wide range of understanding of the individuals that ask questions on these forums. I meant no disrespect to you. As for base radios it is hard to find GMRS certified radios, especially new ones. As for programing the ICOM radios they aren't hard but can be confusing because of differences in terminology. Are your handhelds 2 watts or 4 watts? Obviously using 4 watt radios will get you additional distance. Using a base antenna as high as possible with 6 to 9 db gain fed with low loss coax can also help.
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[majoco]

Deleted . Failed to read the question!