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in the giveaway. Sign up today and thank you for the support. I
got an email from one of the local clubs that I am a member of,
and it caught my attention. I thought, you know, that should
probably be the subject of a video. The title of the email is there's
been an influx of people using their GMRS call sign or maybe no call sign
at all on some of the amateur radio for forty frequencies in the North Texas
area, and we're going to talk about that right now. All right,
this may ruffle some feathers a little bit for you GMRS guys, or for
you guys who don't have a Ham radio call sign. The point of the
video is to share information. So I'm not going to come out of here
pointing my finger and saying you should do this, you shouldn't do this,
you should you should not. I'm not telling you that, but I'm gonna
give you my viewpoint on it. Okay, So here we go. Here
is the email. Now I've blocked out the gentleman who sent the email.
I blocked out his name because I don't really like sharing public information on the
Internet. But it is come from the Bedford Amateur Radio Club and it says
influx of people using either GMRS or no call sign at all on some frequencies.
So this is a pretty short email. He says, there appears to
be an influx of people using either their GMRS licenses or no call sign in
all on many of the seventy centimeter repeaters here lately. He's talking about seventy
centimeter Ham radio repeaters. This has been heard by numerous amateur radio operators all
throughout the Metroplex and surrounding areas. Most of these people are totally clueless that
they are operating in the amateur radio spectrum of the band. The fact that
they were able to program their inexpensive handheld radio and the amateur bands leads them
to believe that they can use the frequency. Okay, so first off,
I got to say two things about that. Number. One, I have
not personally heard this. I'm monitor from repeaters locally. I've got two or
three seventy centimeter or for forty repeaters that I'm monitor pretty regularly. The Bedford
repeater is one of the repeaters I have programmed into all of my radios,
but admittedly I don't monitor that repeater very often. The Bedford repeater for those
of you in North Texas, the Bedford repeaters on four forty two eight twenty
five. I should probably monitor it more. It's got pretty good coverage over
here in grape Vine, and every now and then I'll kee it up and
talk to somebody on it. But generally speaking, I'm not listening to that
repeater. I have not personally heard this before, but I can totally see
how this is possible. So we're gonna keep reading here and then I'm gonna
give you my viewpoint about it. In the past couple of weeks, i've
personally heard newly licensed GMRS users throwing out their GMRS call sign asking for radio
checks. Yeah, yeah, like a Brandmeister talk group. Perhaps Today I
engage in a conversation with a GMRS user on a local repeater in the Fort
Worth area. Okay, so I don't know if this was actually the Bedford
repeater that he's talking about or not, because he doesn't disclose that information,
which is fine, no problem. He had absolutely no clue that he could
not legally talk on the repeater he was on by holding a GMRS license.
His response was something to the effect of, I guess I have a lot
more to learn, and that pretty much ended the conversation. He mysteriously went
away, so he didn't key up anymore. So I don't know how that
conversation went, but okay, his final paragraph closes out. Just be aware
that this is going on. Lots of kerchunking the repeaters, lots of requests
for radio checks, lots of GMRS call signs being thrown around. Again.
I have not personally heard this, but I'm going to be listening for it
now that I've got this letter. And no, it's not really surprising when
there are folks like not Arubicon posting videos on YouTube making statements telling folks it's
pretty much okay, to be on amateur radio without a license. I didn't
write that, Randy, if you're watching, I didn't write that. Somebody
else wrote that. So what is my take on all of that? Okay,
so here goes. I've got a message to you guys who have a
GMRS only license, and I have a message to you guys who have a
HAM license. And here is my message to both of you. Okay,
you GMRS guys, know what you're doing before you do it. Okay,
So if you don't have a GMRS radio, if you have a full open
transmit radio like a Bowfanger something, then just be aware where you're supposed to
transmit. There's plenty of GMRS repeaters out there that you can talk on,
and the license you've purchased gives you the right to talk on those repeaters or
talk on simplex, okay, doesn't give you the right to go anywhere the
radio will go. I personally think that's a dumb rule. I think if
you have not the radio part, but I think if you have a license,
you should be able to talk with any radio on that frequency. But
you can't, okay anything. The amateur radio portion of the band is anywhere
from four hundred and twenty to four hundred and fifty megahertz. Okay, this
is something you would learn by getting your Ham radio license. And if you're
interested in getting your hand radio license, I highly recommend you go check out
ham radioprep dot com. You can save a twenty percent discount on all of
their licensing courses with the coupon code of Jason twenty. You can grab your
smartphone right now and download their app on your Android or iOS device, either
one and the app is free. Get started studying, Get started taking practice
tests today for free with their free app ham Radio Prep, and then if
you purchase their license courses, it gives you an expanded explanation of things that
they have and expanded explanations of answers and whatnot. So just check out hamm
Radio Prep if you're at all interested in getting your hand radio license. It'd
be sure to tell them thank you for supporting Ham Radio two point zero if
you guys contact them so. Your GMRS radios and frequencies and repeaters are around
the four hundred and sixty two to four hundred and sixty seven megahertz range,
which is right above the amateur radio band. Most of your Balfang radios will
go like four hundred megahertz to like either four hundred and eighty megahertz or sometimes
like five hundred and twenty megahurts, so they cover that whole range. And
while you're probably just purchasing those on eBay or Amazon, that's fine. You
just got to be aware that you can't transmit everywhere. People are going to
say something to you, especially with your GMRS call sign. Your GMRS call
sign only belongs on GMRS frequencies, which again are between four hundred and sixty
two and four hundred and sixty seven megahertz. It's your responsibility to know where
you're transmitting. I'm not telling you not to buy the radio. I'm not
telling you what radio to use or not use. Just know where you're transmitting.
That's all. In addition to that, those of you with a HAM
radio license, here's my take on this, we should be polite to these
people. We should just say if you hear a GMRS call sign, which
it's four letters followed by three numbers. Most of the time, my GMRS
call sign is WRFK three to eleven, four letters, three numbers. So
if you hear that on an amateur radio frequency, just go back to the
verson and say, hey, buddy, I think you're on the wrong frequency
or the wrong repeater. Sounds like you got a GMRS call sign. You
need to go to the GMRS frequencies for that call sign. You know what.
They might have a ham radio call sign and they were just saying the
wrong thing. Because I am guilty of throwing my hand radio call sign out
on GMRS repeaters just by mistake, just by sheer habit of saying case five
HWB. I've been saying that call sign for almost thirty years at this point,
so I'm just used to saying it. So we should be nice to
them, and we should be using our own repeaters. I can't tell you
the number of comments I get on videos where they say, oh, the
repeaters around me are dead. The repeaters around me are dead. Nobody's on
the repeaters around me. And my response is always the same to people who
comment that way, I'm like, Okay, how many times did you keep
on that repeater yesterday or last week or last month? Are you using the
repeat I listened to it all the time, nobody ever talks. Are you
keying up? The repeater, Are you talking? If the answer is no,
If you say, well I just listened and nobody ever talks, well
then you're not talking either. So you complaining about yourself. Okay, I'm
guilty of that. I'm guilty of that. Okay. So I've issued a
challenge on several videos since the first of the year. I've been trying to
I did it just this morning. Actually, I've been trying to practice throwing
my call sign out on our local repeaters at least once a day. So
on the ULSS repeater earlier for forty two dot nine hundred, I was,
I went and ran in their own earlier, got so lunch, I threw
my call sign out on the repeater. Nobody came back to me, and
that's okay. But you know what, I threw my call sign out.
I had a five or ten minute conversation with my brother who's a newly licensed
ham. He got his license about a year ago. He and I talked
on the ULESS repeater last weekend for about ten minutes, and after we talk
we put the radio down abound. Now later I heard him call me again.
He had another question, and after that we talked for another two or
three minutes, so we use the repeater twice in the last three days.
Okay, So throw your call sign out and get some activity going on your
repeaters. If you don't want people who are unauthorized to use it, and
if you're complaining that no one ever uses it, now, let me say
this to anybody out there at all. Okay, you say, well,
I should, I should be able to use whatever I want to. If
you buy a repeater, you spend your money on a repeater, antenna for
the repeater, hardline feed line, coaxs for the repeater. Maybe you're renting
a tower site, maybe you're paying for internet to that repeater, all the
hardware costs and whatnot. Now you own that repeater and it's got your call
sign on it. Whether it's HAM or GMRS, same applies. Now you
own that repeater and you've got your call sign on it. If someone came
along and started using the repeater without authorization, what would you have to say
to them? It's your repeater. You set it up to use on GMRS,
or you set it up to use on HAM radio and someone's coming along
and using it who shouldn't be using it. What would you have to say
to that person. I think most of you, if you're honest with yourself,
would probably say, well, no, we'd probably tell them not to
use it. Well, of course you would. Why wouldn't you. You've
done the work, if you're a Ham, You've done the studying, you've
done the testing, you've learned the material, you've done what a lot of
people are just flat out too lazy to do. Okay, I'm not saying
you're too stupid to do it. I never said that, but you are
lazy. If you're going to insist on using a HAM radio repeater and not
getting your call sign, you're going to find me. I don't want to
get my information on the internet. Give me a frickin' break, dude.
Pull your head out of your and realize that if you have a driver's license,
or a passport, or an electric or water bill in your name,
they already got your information. Son, If you've got a YouTube channel that
you've registered for and you're commenting on this video, they already got your information.
They're not gonna go to the FCC again get your information. They're gonna
go to the IRS to get your information, which is already there. And
there's a lot more of it. So don't give me the excuse that,
oh, I don't want to put my information. Your information's already out there
unless you just totally go off grid, and in which case you're not watching
this video. So I ain't talking to you right now, am I.
So don't give me that. No, you're just being lazy. You're being
lazy. You say, well, I don't have any need for him.
Fine, Fine, then don't go get a Ham radio license. Fine,
just stay the hell off the Ham radio repeaters, because it's an insult to
people who have actually done the work and learn the material and went through all
the steps the way they should. Now, you might throw around the term
Sadham. The term Sadam was a lit was funny for I don't know,
ten maybe fifteen minutes. It was funny, and then it stopped being funny.
The truth is that anybody gets called a Sadham, we just say,
hey, this is the law, this is what the rules say, this
is what you should be doing. I'm not telling you what to do.
I'm just telling you what the law says. Well, I don't care what
the okay, fine, you don't care what the law says. Good,
I'm not a cop. I'm not an FCC agent. I'm not an ATF
agent. I don't care. You can do whatever you want to, but
don't come and try to argue with me about what the law says, because
this is what the law says, this is what the rules say, this
is what the documentation says that we should and should not be doing it.
I'm gonna let you guys in on a little secret that most people probably don't
know. Amateur radio call signs and the A double L have been around a
lot longer than the FCC has. Yeah, been around a lot longer.
We've been segregating amateur radio spectrum radio spectrum and making call signs for ourselves and
doing licensing classes and tests for ourselves long before the FCC ever came around.
So that was a tradition from a long, long time ago, one hundred
years. A double L is one hundred years old this year, so it's
been going on a long time before FCC was around. So be respectful of
other people. You don't want to do the HAM thing, you don't want
to do the GMRS thing, that's fine. It's your decision. No one's
telling you you should or should do I'm not telling you you should or shouldn't
want to do that, but respectful of what other people have done. I'm
not gonna come to your house and walk across your yard and park my truck
in your front yard just for you to come out and say, why are
you in my yard? Well, would you care? I'm not hurting anything.
You've got a driveway right next to your house. I've got a vehicle.
Why can't I park in your driveway? Well, it's my property.
Yeah, And amateur radio bands or amateur radio operators property spectrum property. We
have gone through the testing and learning to get access to those frequencies. You
can use GMRS frequencies. You can use CB and MERS and FRS frequencies with
no license at all. You can use GMRS frequencies with just buying a license
and paying for it. Those of us who have Ham radio frequency licenses have
gone through the steps to learn the material so that we can get access to
those and guess what, you can too. The only thing stopping you from
getting a Ham radio license is you, nobody else. So go get a
Ham radio license. If you want one or don't, it's your decision.
Just be aware that people may get on the frequency and ask you to leave.
Hopefully they do it in appolate way if you're there without a proper call
sign, and those of us who have call signs, let's try to be
nice to these people and get them involved in amateur radio, because whether they
know it or not, they're probably gonna like it. If they've got a
radio, they've got an interest already, so maybe they'll actually like it.
Maybe we should show them some of these great ham radio clubs that we have
across the United States and across North America and get them interested in the proper
use of a radio and see what kind of expanded world they have access to
with an actual amateur radio license. Put a comment below, let me know
what you guys think. Seventy three