Ham Radio, GMRS, CB, MURS & FRS - What Is The Difference Between Radio Services & Which One Is Best?

Today again I am not my normal, energetic and joyful self. I didn't sleep at all last night. I kept having a strange dream. A recurring dream. I've had it since I was a kid. It is quite common. You've probably had the same dream where you're running and then you're trying to run faster and then Jesus Christ is hitting Mickey Mouse in the doo-doo hole with a lawn dart while Garth Brooks gives birth to something that looks like a tree trunk. Cheddar cheese with almonds on Santa's belly. What is the idea? because today's video comes from a veteran viewer, Scuba Steve, Scuba Steve wanted me to compare all the different types of

radio

services

and go over all the pros and cons of each of the different

radio

services

that are out there now.

I've already made a couple. videos that go over the different types of radio services and

which

is

best

, but it's been a long time and times have changed. Oh wow, times have changed, so as per Scuba Steve's suggestion/request, this video will be a high level overview of everything first that is a radio. service is

what

that means and then an overview and comparison of all the different popular radio services so you can decide

which

radio service

best

suits your lifestyle, whether your lifestyle is active or even if It's a 600 pound basement home discovery channel, fat no.

No matter

what

, there is a radio service for you, my favorite viewer. I'll keep this video short and to the point. I won't try to impress you. I won't try to sound smarter by using a bunch of fancy jargon and big words that I gave. I gave up trying to sound smart a long time ago, I'm just a YouTube bum trying to ride that YouTube train to Tuna Town, so I'll go over the key features and benefits of the five most popular radio services. Comparative listing of all the radio services out there, no doubt someone will leave a comment asking why I left out some radio service that no one has heard of and they will want to know why I didn't include it in my list and I will answer them. which now the reason is because no one has heard of it or no one cares.

I don't mind. I'll go through the list of radio services in order from what I think is least versatile to most versatile. This will be my opinion on what I think it is. Basically from worst to best, other people may have different opinions and that's okay, that's how it's supposed to work, apparently a lot of people have forgotten and I'm not going to declare which one is better because better means different things to different people, each has different desires. and needs in your radio service and only you can decide which is best for you, so when we see what we see so often, oh God, so often when some people declare that amateur radio is better, amateur radio is better when You see those comments on YouTube. videos or on online forums what that person really means is that ham radio is the best for me and I am too stupid to realize that other people's needs may be different than mine before I start you may need to clarify what a radio service is.

It is a radio service, it simply means a different type of radio, a different range of frequencies with different rules and different requirements, so they are basically different types of radios, each radio service usually does not always require its own type of radio, usually not always that specific type radios can only broadcast on that specific radio service, many radios can broadcast on their specific service but listen to other services and some radios can broadcast on multiple services, sometimes that may or may not be within the rules and FCC guidelines. regulations, guidelines, not laws, so the five different services I'll be reviewing are frs cb radio mers

gmrs

and ham radio for much of this video.

I'll be reading my notes because xenu forbid, if I'm wrong about something, some people will break their arms. I'm trying to leave a comment to correct myself, so I'll refer to my notes. No need to leave a comment to let me know I'm looking down. I know I'm looking down because I'm the one doing it. The first service on my list is the frs family radio service. This is an example of frs radio. They are generally very economical. I think this one was around 25 for a two pack. These are the type of radios you find at Walmart and say.

You can talk 12 miles or 10 miles, they are usually very inexpensive and you can find them everywhere, no license is required to use a FRS radio, anyone can use and talk on a FRS radio, they have 22 channels in the 462 megahertz range that shares. channels with

gmrs

that makes frs radios very versatile because it shares the frequencies with gmrs radios. I'll talk about that radio service, the gmrs radio service in a minute, so it's basically the same frequencies as gmrs but with some limitations that I'll discuss. you cannot hear any other frequencies it is coded to receive only those frequencies that you cannot put on other frequencies it is very limited in the controls that are on the radio the maximum output power is 2 watts and a frs radio has a fixed frequency no - removable fixed as in fixed attached to not fixed because it was broken non-removable antenna you cannot connect an external antenna larger antenna frs radio does not have repeater capacity there are no repeaters you cannot talk to repeaters you can listen to gmrs repeaters again because they share of those channels I'm going to talk about gmrs in a moment wait, you can use the so called privacy codes that are not private in any way if you want to learn more about the privacy codes and the lies of the entire big radio corporation about privacy.

In that video you can transmit some data using frs, although I've never seen a radio that does this. It is allowed to send very short messages, such as your location or a request for someone's location, it cannot be automated, it has to be less than one. second long and only once every 30 seconds or so most frs radios don't do that but they are allowed to do so how many distances does it talk at? Distances are limited. Very limited distances on frs radios due to low power and antenna restriction you are lucky if you get a mile even though the box says 10 miles or 9 miles if you were standing on a mountain and there was someone 10 miles or 9 miles away distance on a mountain and you could see it, maybe on a good day it talks up to that distance, but in general the distances are very limited on a French radio.

The general use case of a frs radio. anyone can use it. They are great for talking short distances if you are camping and want to talk. At camp or in the neighborhood kids play with them. They are basically walkie-talkies that anyone can use. Next on my list is the CB radio. Now I don't have a CB radio to show you, but everyone knows what a CB radio is. It is and looks like a cb radio it is a cb radio cb is a radio service like these other services, but since I don't have one to show you, you will have to use your imagination just like you did when I told you about it. my dream cb means banned citizens you don't need any type of license to talk on a cb radio cb radios have 40 channels some can also do it the most expensive ones can also do what is called single side band or ssb some people call it more channels In In reality, it is not about more channels, it is the same channels that are shared, but it is complicated.

Now you may have heard the big news and probably seen all the other youtubers breathlessly talking about it with all the clickbait thumbnails about what cb radio can stream on fm. CB mode so far has been AM mode only like an AM radio in your car. The FCC will now allow CB radios to transmit in FM mode which is clearer and has other advantages just like the FM radio in your car for many people. I've been asked what I think about this and what I think is that I'm not going to think about anything until I see an FM CB radio on the market.

Until then it doesn't matter, the frequency range of CB am or FM radios is 27 megahertz. that is very low on a gigahertz scale the power is limited to 4 watts or if you have one of those fancy ssb single sideband cbs you can go up to 12 watts without repeaters no privacy tones although the privacy tones are not private no tones or data transmission is allowed on cb, cb radio distances vary, you can talk in very specific conditions thousands of miles by getting on the skip, so when someone says they have used their cb radio to talk thousands of miles, it is possible, but it is very specific conditions and you don't just grab your CB radio and start talking as far away and generally you don't do it with the legal amount of power than 4 watts or 12 watts allowed by the FCC generally your distances will be between 1 mile or less and 10 or 12 miles, depends on your antenna.

If you have a large antenna in your house instead of a walkie-talkie CB radio or mobile radio, your distances will vary from 1 to 10 or 20 CB miles. It was very popular in the old days, when I was a kid, I had a surprise with CB radio, but many people say that CB radio is dying and being replaced by GMRS, some people still use it, mainly used by people in cars, uh, four by Fouring truckers used to use cb a lot, some still do, but it's dying out. The next radio on my list is mers

murs

e. This is a mers radio.

It looks a lot like a gmrs radio. Mers means multi-purpose radio service. No license required in Mers. Radio are limited to five channels in the range of 150 to 154 gigahertz 2 watts maximum output power You can use an external antenna, so most radios with mirrors the antenna is removed so you can put an antenna in your car or even on the roof, however there is a limit that a mers antenna cannot be more than 60 feet above ground level. Repeaters are not allowed on

murs

, but as I'm sure some of you know, it will be all about breaking your arms to leave a comment to say that there may be some elderly grandparents. in the murr repeaters that existed back in the days when they were allowed so you might hear a mers repeater but now with the current FCC rules and regulations, rules and regulations, not laws, they are not allowed repeaters in murs unless protected by mers. privacy tones CTS and DCS tones are not private, remember I mentioned before data data data data you can transmit data through mirrors as much as you want so you can go to town if you have a radio or device that transmits data.

Use the MERs frequencies to transmit that data unlimitedly as much as you want. mers does not have many distances due to low power, it is usually limited to only a few miles, if the distances are very similar to frs radios, however, because mers radios operate in a much lower frequency range than FRS MERs radios may be a better option and can transmit further than FRS or even GMRs radios in certain conditions which may be conditions where there is a thick forest between you and who you want to talk to or in urban areas. areas, so in some cases the MERS can do better and in some cases, in some conditions, they can outperform the FRS and even GMRS radios.

Common use cases for mirrors would be commercial warehouses because no licensing is required. Walmart. Walmart likes the management of mirrors. At your local Walmart with a Mers radio on, scan the channels and you'll probably hear a call for a cleaning in aisle 5. The next radio service on the list is GMRS. This is a gmrs radio. Gmrs means general mobile radio service to broadcast on a gmrs radio you need a gmrs license there is no test you buy the license just like you buy a phishing license and that license is valid for 10 years and covers your whole family everyone would use the same call sign is a A very common question about family use of the gmrs call sign, but everyone covered by that license uses your call sign and you must identify yourself with that call sign when you first transmit, if you talk for longer 15 minutes, you should do it. identify yourself again by using that call sign at least once every at least once every 15 minutes I told you I wasn't feeling well are the dreams and then again at the end of your broadcast and you use the same call sign throughout the family, like this that I announced my call sign if my son, my wife, my stepsister, my mother-in-law, if any of them pick up their gmr's radio and transmit, use the exact same call sign, they can optionally put an identifier at the end, as a unit b or mobile or dash 2, but the call sign itself is the same, you don't need to change it, you can all use the same call sign, it's very simple, gmrs radios now have 22 channels in the range of 462 megahertz and 467 megahertz. some people will argue that gmrs radios have 30 channels and other people who love to argue about the stupid and insignificant little things will argue that those eight extra channels are equal to the 22 channels or most of them because they share them. channels, which is correct because thoseeight additional channels, those repeater channels, that's the argument about 22 standard channels, eight repeater channels on all gmrs radios, but those repeater channels are split channels, they are actually two combined frequencies, one for transmitting and one for receiving, because This is how repeaters work. work so technically either would be correct 22 channels are correct 30 channels are correct so if anyone ever tries to argue whether gmrs has 22 channels or 30 channels just tell them to give themselves a life because apart from the purposes of a pissing contest, no matter the power output.

On a GMRS radio it is up to 50 watts, there are some limitations on some channels, those limitations are built into a real GMRS radio. Many people ask how can I tell if my radio is a gmrs radio. You know if you bought an agmrs radio because it would say gmrs on the box, if it says gmrs then it has all those gmrs rules and limitations and everything built into radio repeaters is allowed in gmrs, but because gmrs is not as popular, It hasn't been around for a long time. for many years but it has only recently become popular, there are not many gmrs repeaters in most areas in my area, i am lucky to have repeaters, we are stuck, we have too many repeaters in the southern california area, but most of the areas have very few repeaters, if any, you can use the cts and dcs tones for privacy on gmrs, but they are not private, as i mentioned above many times, you are allowed to transmit short bursts of data on gmrs if your radio supports it , just like in frs, you can't automate a second or less once every 30 seconds.

For the most part, you can't get data in any meaningful way on GMRS other than those short, limited bursts of data transmissions. Line of sight that, like frs radios, if you can see it, you can talk to it even if you need a telescope to see it, as long as there is nothing between you and it, you can talk to it depending on your radio and the power of exit. the antenna and the antenna and the radio on the other end that you are trying to talk to and what is between you and it, your distances will vary from half a mile to 100 miles, just remember anything between you and who you want to talk to. they will reduce or block the signal forests many buildings hills mountains everyone will block the signal because it is in the line of sight if you can see it you can talk to it gmrs is becoming more and more popular it is used in cars many truckers now using gmrs replacing their off road paintballers with cb radio, its good for ham situations, many preppers are using gmrs radios gmrs is basically cb radio 2.0 and the last option on my list of radio services is ham radio. license and there is a test for the license and there are multiple levels of license, just like in Dungeons and Dragons, there are no channels like in the simplest radio services, only frequencies and the number of frequencies and frequency bands is enormous, the number of watts o The output power depends on the band you are in and the license you have, it varies, but in general the power limit is a lot.

Repeaters are allowed in amateur radio and that is one of the great advantages of amateur radio is that practically the entire country is covered. In amateur radio repeater coverage, AM radio broadcasts the same CT CSS and DCS tones as most other radio services I've talked about, it can also do digital transmissions, but person-to-person encryption is not allowed because then how would the government do it? you know what you're doing and yes you can transmit data again, you can transmit digital data, you can do it all as long as it's not encrypted, distant ham radio data is much further away than any of the other services you can talk to With the moon.

With the right equipment and the right license, you can talk around the world or almost around the world to many faraway places on ham radio, that doesn't mean you're just going to grab any old ham radio and start talking to the moon or around the world. It depends on the license you have, the equipment you have, and the band you're talking to. To me the most important aspect of ham radio is its use in emergencies or real hobby situations, I'm not talking about when you can't find toilet paper in the supermarket, I'm talking, rick grimes on the street hits the fan because of the distance which some radios can talk to and because of the network of repeaters across the country and around the world, ham radio is invaluable in a real emergency, it should hit the fans, that's when those guys will stop being idiots and really they'll be important, they'll probably save us all, but in the meantime, in non-shit situations, hit the fans, which is 99.99999999999 percent of the time.

Amateur radio is just a hobby that seems to appeal to hobbyists and people who just like to talk and listen to themselves, not that there's anything wrong with that, it's more of a way of life, but it allows you to do pretty much everything that all the other services combined can do if you have any questions about these five radio services that I just reviewed, leave a comment below, comments, you know it all, ten paragraph comments from know-it-alls that answer questions that no one asks or comments that express disapproval of my dream, all those comments will be pinned to the top for everyone to laugh at.