Talk to Ham Radio operators
by David Harvey VK2DMH on Friday, September 4th, 2009 | 4 Comments
I live in Mesquite, Texas, and I own a 14-mile GMRS/FRS 2-way radio.
I want to talk with amateur ham radio operators and relay weather reports. Can I do that with a 2-way radio, or do I need to go and buy some other radio equipment?
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You need to get a license first (contact the nearest ham radio club). You can’t talk to hams on ham frequencies with a GMRS radio. The weather situation is already being handled quite well by hams in Texas already.
You will need to find out who the ham radio operators are that live in your area and if they also have GMRS/FRS radio to talk to you on, and if they are willing to relay wx information to you via GMRS/FRS.
But, if you get a ham radio license yourself, and equipment, then you can directly talk to other hams directly on the ham bands.
Yes, you need to understand that licensed Amateur Radio Operators (Hams) are only permitted to talk to other licensed Amateur Radio Operators. The radio frequencies used by Ham Radio operators – and there are thousands of possible frequencies or channels – are different from those used by your FRS/GMRS radio.
Of course, there are many Hams who own FRS/GMRS radios as well as their Amateur Radio gear, so they can talk to you on FRS channels if they want to, or on GMRS channels if they hold a GMRS license as well.
The best thing you can do is find where your local Amateur Radio club is, and go and talk to the Hams there. They will be glad to point you in the right direction. Try Googling ‘amateur radio club’ and adding your town or city, and search from there. Also any two way radio stores may be able to help you as well.
You are near Dallas, where Dallas County REACT Team is located (http://www.dallasreact.org). That REACT Team is Ham Radio and GMRS/FRS Radio. They run / support repeaters for both radio services and their members might be licensed for either or both services. They work lots of events using GMRS radios as well as Amateur / Ham Radios. Sounds like you might be a good fit for that group, or that group might be able to assist you in your stated task.
There are several very good and very active ham clubs in the DFW area that I’m aware of, but the Dallas County REACT Team would seem to me to be a good fit for your mission.
In San Antonio, our REACT Team supports 3 GMRS public repeaters in the area plus financially supports (pays the annual tower rent) for a major ham radio 2 meter repeater that covers 15 counties. The only “CB” we have in our group, is a couple of extra class hams named “Charles” and “Barbara”.