What is GMRS/FRS and Amateur Radio?
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We’ve presented radios that operate on a variety of radio frequencies and services. But what are these various radio services, and do you need a license for them? It depends on the frequencies and channels you use.
FRS stands for Family Radio Service and operates between 462-467 MHz. The technology owes its existence to Radio Shack, which successfully lobbied the Federal Communications Commission in the 1990s to allow manufacturers to produce radios with preset channels within that frequency band. The change permitted walkie-talkies to have exceptional range, with far less interference. Users are limited to a power of two watts on these channels, and there is no license required to use these frequencies. Channels 8 through 22 on your radio are FRS frequencies.
(Editor’s note: Some radios have additional channels, but these are not official FRS or GMRS channels. The radios will still be able to communicate on the official channels, however.)
GMRS stands for General Mobile Radio Service, and is like an FM version of the CB radios of the 1970s and 1980s. Much higher power outputs are permitted — up to 50 watts — which results in much longer ranges. You cannot use these channels or GMRS equipment without a license –that costs $70 and is good for 10 years. With the license, you’ll also be able to use eight repeater channels located on channels 23-30, which allows you to use the radio for conversations beyond “line of sight.”
Finally, Amateur Radio offers a group of frequencies from shortwave to microwave that requires you to pass a series of tests to gain access to more and more frequencies. Thankfully, you’re only required to take and pass one test to use the frequencies that these handheld radios operate on. The advent of FRS and GMRS has made it unnecessary to get your ham radio license (some ham radio channels are quite close to the FRS/GMRS frequencies), but ham radio frequencies are far less crowded and it’s easier to find a clear frequency to communicate than either FRS or GMRS, especially in more urbanized areas.
