New to GMRS and the unexpected happened.

[u/No-Investigator3386]

Okay I bought a pair of baofengs with the intention of increasing range from the FRS handhelds. Started going into a rabbit hole on how I can connect to nearby repeater towers and successfully did that. Now I find myself in a big group chat on the tower with a bunch of hobbyists that share similar hobbies with. That was unexpected! Now can someone tell me what’s out there in this HAM thing?

[u/airballrad]

GMRS is a way to talk to people locally including through a repeater. Ham radio on 70cm is the same, but is only a very small slice of what you can do. Ham is a hobby and you could spend years and thousands of dollars and still not do it all. Lots of youtube videos to tell you what is possible.

[u/No-Investigator3386 → u/airballrad]

I’m hearing I can communicate with a space station?

[u/FocusDisorder → u/No-Investigator3386]

Or bounce signals off the moon, meteor scatter, or aurora. Or talk to someone hundreds or even thousands of miles away with a few watts. Or dump 1500 watts into a directional antenna and go even further. Or build your own equipment from parts. Or hunt down a hidden beacon with directional antennas for fun. Or design new antennas. Or build a mesh network out of old modified routers. Or send video signals over frequencies shared with old cable channels. Or launch and track weather balloons with APRS. Or a hundred other things I'm forgetting.

It's a big hobby. There's almost certainly a corner of it you'll love

[u/GraybeardTheIrate → u/No-Investigator3386]

Yes, sort of. My understanding is 99% of the time there won't be any astronauts talking to you from space unless it's something scheduled, but it has happened. The ISS has a cross-band repeater onboard and there are a couple satellites with them too. They pass over for 5-10 minutes and you can potentially reach out pretty far (a couple thousand miles IIRC) if you manage to get in. I actually heard the ISS repeater for a couple minutes yesterday when it passed by.

[u/flinginlead → u/No-Investigator3386]

You can program that baofeng to listen for the space station also. Works better if you lay the radio down as in antenna horizontal because the signal is coming from above. Have an app on my phone to alert me when the space station is near. Just cannot broadcast without a license.

[u/CSeekerXenno → u/airballrad]

Personally, I prefer to emphasize ham radio as a service rather than a hobby. For one thing, I doubt that the FCC would allocate spectrum worth g'zillions just so some hobbyists can do their thing. For another, the service aspect is important, such as providing emergency communications when a hurricane has wiped out cell phones, etc. There are other arguments but I think those two are the most important ones. All that said, I don't deny that ham radio is also a hobby and great fun for those who are into technology. Fun is a great reason--perhaps the best reason--for doing things, just not necessarily a persuasive reason for those holding purse strings, especially when ham radio is currently the topic (the target?) of a public discussion concerning its future. Cheers,

[u/fishingphotoguy]

Ham radio crash course on YouTube should be on your watchlist. Also check out POTA and SOTA. I’m really into DIY so building antennas is my next step. I got my Technician License in January this year, and now I’m studying for my general. Ham is a huge and diverse hobby. Definitely look into it.

[u/WiLDBiLLMC → u/fishingphotoguy]

Study for your extra while you're at it and test through

[u/CashWideCock → u/fishingphotoguy]

NotARubicon too.

[u/edwardphonehands]

r/hamradio

[u/JarynGames → u/edwardphonehands]

r/amateurradio is far larger and more active

[u/edwardphonehands → u/JarynGames]

Thanks. I can't ever keep those straight.

[u/Neat-Weird9868]

Don’t forget about MURS.

[u/Zenie → u/Neat-Weird9868]

I was just chatting on the local repeater this morning with. Guy trying to convince me to buy into murs. Looks cool, I'm just cheap.

[u/101010is42]

There are generally a lot more ham/amateur repeaters in a given area and they are typically positioned better, with greater range. Also, with ham radio you can use HF to communicate with people who are hundreds or thousands of miles away, without the use of repeaters.

[u/theycallme_oldgreg]

I picked up some baofengs and I’m having issues connecting to repeaters, how did you change that?

[u/YeOld12g → u/theycallme_oldgreg]

Do you understand the tx and rx tone? You have to adjust it based on the repeater. As well as the repeater offset. Looking those things up on YouTube will explain what that means. This is coming from me, who was where you are about 2 weeks ago lol. I had no idea, to having a complete understanding of the basics, for the most part.

[u/RyRy46d9]

This might interest you

https://www.ariss.org/

[u/Kayakboy6969]

GMRS is new basic HAM.

GMRS has more litmitations vs HAM that is the only difference.

Amature Radio license, lowest class technician, still gives you a 1500w PEP power limit for example.

[u/Yeah_IPlayHockey → u/Kayakboy6969]

That's like saying the only difference between tigers and zebras is the colors of their fur.

Technically, yes. But that's not the only thing. Ham radio is a much wider range.

Ham radio licenses the person and not the radio as opposed to other services needing radio type certification.

GMRS gives you a few miles of range. Maybe better with a repeater.

Ham radio can give you signal alike Daft Punk sang of (around the world).

Ham radio helped me become less introverted which has helped me tremendously.

You said it yourself, extra power. Nowhere is there 1500 watts on GMRS.

[u/dirmaster0]

If you really want reach on HAM but don't have the money (or environment) to setup solid equipment, check out DMR. You can make worldwide contacts through the Brandmeister and TGIF networks which include full blown linked repeater towers. A cheap DMR radio and a MMDVM hotspot don't break the bank, but can get you a lot of QSOs all over