Hello. I’m new to GMRS, have my GMRS license (call sign WSEI895), and am looking to use the service in situations (whatever they might be) where the cell network is unavailable. This is for my wife and me to communicate locally (we live in Cheyenne, Wyoming), and also possibly (via repeaters) to communicate with our two daughters and their husbands in the Denver area.
I haven’t bought a GMRS handheld yet, maybe just get a single unit to see how well it works, then maybe additional radios if things look good.
So, here I am looking to buy a GMRS handheld, when handheld radios explode all over the place in the Middle East! It appears that there was sabotage in the handheld radio supply chain, in an attempt to produce a narrowly targeted kinetic effect in the ongoing war there.
My concern, of course, is not to become collateral damage. Any thoughts on this? And any recommendations for a first GMRS handheld?
Thanks.
– @prh47
Welcome prh,
It looks like you have several repeaters in the Cheyenne area. Getting a couple of handheld
GMRS radios would be a good start. You will be able to see if you are in range of any of the listed repeater. Simplex, radio to radio, may work for you if you and your wife are close enough. The local repeaters may increase your range significantly depend on terrain. GMRS, which is UHF, is line of sight for the most part. That is for the same for simplex and repeater operation.
Getting all the way to Denver will be a different story. I see there are repeaters along the way between the two cities but I have no idea if there is a repeater half way that you could hit from both locations. As linked repeaters are disappearing (a whole other barrel of worms) I doubt there are any linked repeaters.
My wife and I use GMRS radios in our mountain area for communication when cell service is down. We can get about 7 miles simplex if we are in the right places.
As far as the spontaneous rapid disassembly of handheld radios… the radios used were either older Icom HAM radio models or clones that were re-engineered for that purpose. As long as you have not run afoul of the Mossad I wouldn’t be concerned about exploding radios.
When I first heard about the exploding radios, and the news said what they were, I looked around and sitting there on the shelving were two of that model. Not for a moment did it make me wonder - it’s a great talking point when clients pop in!
ipokebadgers,
Thanks for the quick response.
Cheyenne is not a large city. It takes no more than about 15 minutes to drive through it, although it’s gradually expanding.
Denver’s another story. About 100 miles from here.
We’ll see what happens.
– prh47
paulears,
Still, it gives you paws. (And that’s really weird.)
– prh47
I have a number of Midland & Wouxun GMRS handheld radios and none have exploded! The situation you’re referring to involves Israel and the Palestinians. Those “ Walkie-talkies” had been modified to become remote controlled bombs.
GMRS radios are perfectly safe. I think you’ll find them to be fun to use in addition to their emergency communications function.
Best wishes👍
Tom WRQE346