KMD877-KMG983
Member
(Feel free to point me to an existing thread or threads if these questions are already covered.)
First off, I'm really glad to see that there is a GMRS section on this board. This is an issue that I have been looking into and my sense is that I'll probably get good information from this group.
I'm retired fire service and since moving out to a rural region I've ended up being asked to provide some organization and training for an all volunteer large animal emergency response team. Since we're not technically law enforcement, SAR or Fire, it would be extremely complicated to get authorization to use those channels, and even at that it would be limited to low power HT simplex. So for now we use FRS HTs that work pretty well in close quarters, but we have to rely on cell phones for coordination to team rendezvous or incident staging, keeping track of each other if individual units are assigned out of the team when at staging, etc.
Mobile telephones tend to get a bit unreliable when you're called out to a 3,000 acre fire in an urban area (e.g., Reno) and quite literally 10,000 people are being evacuated. Try to get a cell channel with all that urgent citizen call load on the network. GMRS simplex appears to be the most practical option as it could allow person-to-person close range communications using HTs and reasonable distance mobile-to-mobile communications. There is also a need for HT users to be able to hear the mobile broadcasts as there may be critical personal safety information that needs to be heard by all.
Am I off base here or would it be practical to acquire (and license) GMRS mobile equipment to use with FRS portables that overlap onto GMRS channels?
Looking for ideas. Thanks in advance.
":O) Willis
Stagecoach, NV
First off, I'm really glad to see that there is a GMRS section on this board. This is an issue that I have been looking into and my sense is that I'll probably get good information from this group.
I'm retired fire service and since moving out to a rural region I've ended up being asked to provide some organization and training for an all volunteer large animal emergency response team. Since we're not technically law enforcement, SAR or Fire, it would be extremely complicated to get authorization to use those channels, and even at that it would be limited to low power HT simplex. So for now we use FRS HTs that work pretty well in close quarters, but we have to rely on cell phones for coordination to team rendezvous or incident staging, keeping track of each other if individual units are assigned out of the team when at staging, etc.
Mobile telephones tend to get a bit unreliable when you're called out to a 3,000 acre fire in an urban area (e.g., Reno) and quite literally 10,000 people are being evacuated. Try to get a cell channel with all that urgent citizen call load on the network. GMRS simplex appears to be the most practical option as it could allow person-to-person close range communications using HTs and reasonable distance mobile-to-mobile communications. There is also a need for HT users to be able to hear the mobile broadcasts as there may be critical personal safety information that needs to be heard by all.
Am I off base here or would it be practical to acquire (and license) GMRS mobile equipment to use with FRS portables that overlap onto GMRS channels?
Looking for ideas. Thanks in advance.
":O) Willis
Stagecoach, NV