GMRS Frequencies & GMRS Radio
GMRS (General Mobile Radio Service) is a service using radios of low
to fairly high power transceivers that are used for hobby, personal, or business use. The
GMRS Frequencies used in this service are in the UHF band. So what are
these GMRS Frequencies, and how can you find them on a scanner? Are they narrow band or wide
band UHF? AM or FM? On this site, we'll look at GMRS Frequencies allocated to GMRS channels, along
with relevant information on this service including power output and GMRS repeaters. If
you're seeking to expand your radio horizons, aka bitten by the radio bug, you want to look into HAM radio, officially known as Amateur Radio. I put together a page showing
some excellent study guides and top quality radios for beginners
all the way to old-timers!
GMRS Radio can easily be confused with FRS Radio
(Family Radio Service). The difference between GMRS
and FRS is that GMRS Radio is permitted a higher output to reach
further distances, and has more channels (however, within the GMRS frequencies, FRS does
share some channels). FRS on the other hand, is very limited in power output.
GMRS walkie-talkies are available with outputs anywhere from 1 watt to around 4 watts output, and
mobile/base units are permitted by regulation of up to 50 watts output on certain channels. FRS
handie-talkies however, are limited to their 14 frequencies (channels) and to 500 mW (half a watt),
and are not permitted in mobile or base form. Also, FRS is restricted by a fixed antenna; you can't add an
external antenna (which will greatly increase your range) as you can with GMRS. However, there is no
license required for FRS use. It is entirely license free! That alone can save you $85, the fee
for a GMRS license. For more information on a GMRS
License from the FCC, go to the GMRS License page.
Although GMRS Radio is officially available only in the U.S. and Canada, although other countries do have
their own variations thereof. PMR446 is a radio service available in many European countries which features 8 fixed
channels in the UHF spectrum at 446 MHz, but it restricts users to 500 mW output, so it is closer to FRS than
GMRS. And the channels are not the same as North America uses for GMRS frequencies, so the two radios are not
interchangeable with each other; using a PMR446 radio in North America will land you in a heap of trouble as you
will be transmitting on someone's assigned frequencies; same thing would happen if you tried to use a North
American GMRS radio with GMRS frequencies, in Europe.
The most popular and least expensive type of GMRS 2-way radio is the walkie-talkie, also known
as handie-talkie (see below). There are also mobile units available, which offer much more flexibility
along with higher power and repeater capability, but the vast majority of GMRS radios on the market today are
the bubble-pack GMRS walkie-talkies. These are available in the absolute widest variety and at
the best prices from Amazon. You can find these in big box department stores as well, but
selection will be poor. Also, the professional GMRS Radios , which have longer
range, higher output and more features, will not be found at all in retail stores but
are available online at Amazon: Icom, Motorola and others (see right sidebar) offer higher power and have
GMRS repeater capabilities. Most all of these professional UHF radios
will have quite a frequency spread however, so it's important to make sure you operate only on
the designated GMRS frequencies and when on FRS channels, reduce power output to 500 mW.
There are changes coming from the FCC with GMRS which will probably result in lower power
output and the elimation of repeaters, but it is not cast in stone nor will any changes be in the short term.
See History and Future of GMRS for some more information.
FRS channels and GMRS
channels are shared between the two services and in fact many GMRS radios will operate on both
frequencies; however when using the less expensive walkie-talkies, output power is automatically reduced when
on the FRS frequencies.
The GMRS channels all work in the UHF band. Specifically, from fixed
channels in the 462 MHz to 467 MHz range. They all use Narrow Band Frequency Modulation (NBFM). There is a
GMRS frequencies to GMRS channels chart here which includes FRS frequencies.
FRS frequencies have 7 channels allocated to them specifically, but also
share 7 more GMRS frequencies, for a total of 14 channels. GMRS
frequencies total 15 channels, plus another 8 for repeater input, totalling 23 GMRS
channels. However, the 8 repeater input channels are typically not installed on bubble pack
walkie-talkies. As well, most walkie-talkies sold will included the shared 7 FRS
frequencies. So this means that most all combination GMRS/FRS units on the market today are capable of
operation on both GMRS frequencies and FRS frequencies, totaling 22 channels.
If you do purchase a walkie talkie made for FRS frequencies only, you will have 14 channels. As
mentioned previously, seven of the shared 22 channels are subject to FRS regulations and will only
be able to operate with 500 mW (half a watt) output. If you would like to use up to 50 watts in your
mobile on one of the allocated high power GMRS channels, you will need commercial UHF gear such as the Icom
IC-F221S shown here.

Icom IC-F221S-52 Mobile Transceiver
900 MHz Radios
There are some fairly new radios on the market which use the 900 MHz band and are license
free! So far, only two manufacturers, TriSquare and Motorola manufacture walkie-talkies on 900 MHz frequencies. TriSquare handies
are priced comparable to higher-end GMRS radios and are very reasonably priced, but the Motorolas are priced
much higher, as they are marketed as "business" radios.

TriSquare eXRS TSX300-2VP 900MHz FHSS Digital Two-Way Radio (Pair)
Don't forget to check the GMRS Frequencies to channels chart
along with all the most popular and best selling GMRS radio info in the links in the right
hand column.
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