Quote:I have been interested in radios since I was about 12 years old. Long before cell phones were ubiquitous, the adult leaders in my Boy Scout Troop all had CB radios installed in their vehicles on road trips, and I witnessed them being used to good effect for communication between vehicles. I know now that the 11 meter band and the AM operating mode of those radios is a suboptimal choice for that kind of short-range voice communication, but it was the practical choice when CB was about the only unlicensed radio service available.

A couple of the scout leaders I knew also had amateur (ham) radio licenses, and I once watched one of them produce a handheld radio from his belt and make a phone call via a telephone patch system operated by the local ham club. Needless to say, he had my interest. That was long before I ever saw my first cell phone. Ham radio was out of my financial reach at the time, but I never forgot it.

When I got a little older, I had a few mobile CB radios, which I installed in various vehicles I owned. At the time I knew nothing about standing wave ratios or antenna tuning but got them to work. Later, I was briefly involved as a volunteer first responder in New York City around the time of the 9/11 attack. I bought a used Motorola Saber radio off eBay and learned how to program it with an old computer and some even older software.

My interest continued to grow, and I continued to tinker with radios. The 9/11 attacks, or more specifically the way the city government reacted to them, caused me to end my sojourn in NYC and return to Virginia. After more public safety work and more tinkering with radios, I eventually revived my interest in amateur radio. I took and passed the Technician exam (which by that point no longer required Morse code), and I bought both a 50 watt VHF (very high frequency) radio for my truck and a small VHF/UHF (very high frequency/ultra high frequency—capable of operating on both bands) handheld (called an HT for handie-talkie by amateur radio folks). I learned more by doing and by making mistakes.

I also quickly realized that through my ham endeavors, I knew more about radios and how they worked than anybody in the county emergency communications center or in the administration of the sheriff’s department I was working for. I am not an engineer by training, but I could read and tinker, and I have always been reasonably handy with computers. Over time, I upgraded my ham license to General Class and then finally to Amateur Extra—the top-level license in the US.

As I have learned more about radio, I have tried to share my knowledge with others—with mixed results. I frequently find myself in a conversation with someone either in person or online, who wants to buy a radio or two for emergency communications, and often we both end up frustrated. Most people have unreasonable expectations, both in terms of what a radio can allow them to do and how simple it will be set up and use. I’ve also found that I have unreasonable expectations as to how much effort my interlocutor is willing to expend in order to have emergency communications.

One of the other sequelae I experienced from the 9/11 attacks was that I started to get serious about emergency preparedness. I have been making provision for hard times ever since as resources have allowed. Everyone has different ideas about what sort of social, political, economic, and political events might require them to rely on their preparations and plans. I have been able to put my emergency communication skills to use on a number of occasions where there was an emergency short of a long-term societal collapse. These have included severe weather events, riots, and providing communications support for a large gun rights demonstration. This has led to a cycle of thinking through and evaluating my equipment and preparations.

What follows is my attempt at providing a primer on radio communication for preppers. It is not intended to be an exhaustive treatment or any kind of technical treatise; rather, I am trying to boil it down to the essentials to help you make some good decisions. I am not anything close to an expert on radios: I am at best an advanced novice. As a lawyer by profession, I have included a number of citations to the applicable FCC rules as published in the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) in case anyone wants to look up the sources for the information on the law.

Expectations
Before I go further, it is important to set expectations. I have fielded a number of questions online from people who seem to think they can buy a $25 Chinese radio and use it to talk to their friends all over the country with no license and no training. This is no doubt because folks are used to having a similarly-sized device that does exactly that—a cell phone. That is not realistic. Cell phones allow you to do all of that because of a very expensive and complex infrastructure. Take that away and they are useless. A handheld radio will allow you to talk to people in your immediate area, say a few miles at best. Add a repeater up on a tower, such as those used by public safety agencies or amateur radio clubs, and you can use it to talk to people in a metro area. Sometimes repeaters can be linked to extend coverage across a broad geographic area, but that is done using a hard-wired telephone or Internet connection that is not likely to last long once the grid goes down.

Lower frequency amateur equipment (“high frequency” or HF in ham speak) will allow you to talk to people all over the world if conditions are right by bouncing signals off the ionosphere (referring to these frequencies as “high” is an artifact of the early days of radio when the technology was focused on even lower frequencies). This is potentially very useful for gathering information, but it is not terribly reliable when you want to talk to one particular person at one particular time. I have had reasonably good success making contacts domestically at pre-scheduled times using digital modes where a laptop is connected to my HF radio. This type of communication works with lower quality signals than voice communication, so it can be useful. But any kind of radio communication beyond your immediate area takes expensive equipment, training, skills, and licensing. That is just how it is.

The RF Spectrum
Radio communication relies on modulating electromagnetic waves to carry information and then decoding them on the other end. The radio spectrum is a scarce resource. There is not really a lot of it compared to the number of possible users. Radio frequencies are most often measured in megahertz and less often in gigahertz (GHz). A hertz is a unit that measures the number of cycles per second. A megahertz, abbreviated MHz, is equal to 1,000,0000 (1 million) Hertz or 1,000,000 cycles per second. Killohertz (KHz) is equal to 1,000 cycles per second. Thus 1 MHz is equal to 1,000 kHz. GHz is billions of cycles per second. Think of it as 1,000 times more than mega, or 1,000,000,000 cycles per second.

Radio waves have the familiar sine wave shape of alternating current, and the number of waves per second is what determines frequency. A frequency of 150 MHz means the wave has 150 million cycles per second. Sometimes we also talk about frequency in terms of wavelength. This is usually measured in meters and is related to frequency. Often the two ways of referring to a given piece of spectrum will be used interchangeably in the same conversation. To convert frequency to wavelength you just divide 300 by the frequency. So, a signal with a frequency of 150 MHz has a wavelength of 2 meters. A signal with a frequency of 15 MHz has a wavelength of 20 meters. Ham operators often speak in terms of “the 20 Meter Band’ or “The 40 Meter Band.”

Another thing to know about radio spectrum is that signals at different frequencies have different properties. Lower frequency signals tend to propagate over much longer distances and penetrate walls better. High frequency signals tend to be highly directional and work better for line of sight (LOS) applications.

These two statements are oversimplifications, but they will serve for present purposes. Your cell phone uses frequencies in the gigahertz range. It is extremely directional and actually very short range. It must have line of sight to a tower, or it is useless. This is convenient because there are millions of such devices a trying to use the same portion of the radio spectrum, so it is a feature, not a flaw, that they are short-range and don’t interfere with one another. A 28 MHz signal can allow you to communicate around the world with the right conditions and the right antenna. Meanwhile, a 2.8 GHz signal will let you hit the cell tower up on the hill, but that is about it.

As an aside, while mobile phones are extraordinarily convenient (so convenient, in fact, that we voluntarily carry surveillance devices around with us at all times), they are highly dependent on a very sophisticated infrastructure. In any kind of grid-down situation that lasts for more than a few days, mobile phones will not be useful for communication.

Quote:Back to the matter of radio spectrum: It is regulated by the government, and it pretty much has to be. No matter how libertarian you lean and no matter how dim your view of government power, somebody has to regulate the spectrum, or it would be completely useless, with would-be users interfering with each other left and right. Every developed nation has a government agency that allocates radio spectrum to different uses, and in turn countries cooperate internationally via various treaties and agreements.

In the United States, this responsibility has been delegated by Congress to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). Setting aside the Constitutionally dubious nature of such a delegation, that is the legal reality. The FCC hands out licenses for people that entitle them to use different parts of the radio spectrum for different purposes, such as broadcast radio and TV, public safety, mobile phones, military, etc. As a basic rule, you are not allowed to make any radio transmission without a license. There are a few slices of spectrum that are available for the public to use for personal communication, and I discuss those later in this article.

Obviously, if we suffer a complete breakdown of the rule of law, then much of this may go out the window (along with the National Firearms Act, for that matter). However, radio communication takes practice to be useful in an emergency, and it is much more likely you will need your radio gear in a situation that is short of a complete societal breakdown. As a result, it is helpful to know the rules, at least in broad strokes, and to have a plan for how to communicate within them.

A Word About Baofengs
A few years ago, someone started importing cheap Chinese VHF/UHF radios designed for amateur radio use. There are various brands and models, but the most ubiquitous is the Baofeng UV5R. These were sold for amazingly low prices — as little as $20 each on Amazon. People, including many preppers, have bought them in droves. The problem is that most purchasers have no idea how to use the things. I have a couple of UV5Rs, and I have evaluated them. I was able to program them and get them to talk to a couple of local amateur radio repeaters. They seemed to work well enough, but the build quality seems dubious to me. Unlike most units made for amateur radio use, Baofengs will transmit outside the amateur bands out of the box with no modifications necessary.

Baofengs are not intuitive to program or use if you are not used to tinkering with amateur radio gear. Rather than using the keypad and menu system built into the radio, many people program them using a laptop, a $10 programming cable, and free software downloaded from the Internet, which is admittedly easier. I need to be clear here:  The only legal uses for a Baofeng are to either 1) receive and listen to signals, or 2) transmit on authorized amateur radio frequencies if you have an appropriate license. It is not legal to use them to transmit on FRS, GMRS, or MURS (these terms are defined in the following sections). You can of course listen to whatever you want, and for that purpose alone, a Baofeng is worth its price, but it is not a legal solution to most people’s radio needs.

I know a number of people who have purchased these radios and then put them in storage for future use without making any effort to learn how to use them. This is not a good plan. Unless you have a background in radio and specifically in tinkering with amateur radion handi-talkies (HTs), then you are likely to have a bit of a learning curve on your Baofengs. I personally don’t want to have to figure out my radio while I am trying to get out of Dodge.

Citizens Band (CB)
Citizen band, or CB, was the original people’s radio service when solid-state electronics made transceivers widely available. It uses a slice of spectrum in the 11 meter range (specifically 26-27 MHz). The spectrum is channelized, meaning that the government has decided in advance to designate certain specific frequencies within the range as having channel numbers, and users are only allowed to transmit on those specific channels. The frequencies for the various channels are spaced out enough that they don’t interfere with each other. There are 40 defined CB channels, and channel 9 is reserved by FCC rule for emergency use. See the applicable rule in the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) at 47 CFR 95.963, 95.931 (a)(2). The frequencies for the channels are as follows:
 
Channel
Freq.
Channel
Freq
Channel
Freq.
1
26.965
16
27.155
31
27.315
2
26.975
17
27.165
32
27.325
3
26.985
18
27.175
33
27.335
4
27.005
19
27.185
34
27.345
5
27.015
20
27.205
35
27.355
6
27.025
21
27.215
36
27.365
7
27.035
22
27.225
37
27.375
8
27.055
23
27.255
38
27.385
9
27.065
24
27.235
39
27.395
10
27.075
25
27.245
40
27.405
11
27.085
26
27.265


12
27.105
27
27.275


13
27.115
28
27.285


14
27.125
29
27.295


15
27.135
30
27.305


CB uses amplitude modulation, or AM, to encode information on the radio waves. AM consumes less spectrum per channel than frequency modulation (FM), but it tends to be less clear and harder to understand. AM also tends to work better over longer distances. By law, CB users are also limited to 4 watts of power when making AM transmissions. 47 CFR 95.967. Up to 12 watts is legal when operating single side band transmissions (SSB). SSB is a useful operating mode that allows communications to be made using much less bandwidth. SSB is very popular with ham radio operators. It requires much more sophisticated equipment, and most CB transmitters are not SSB capable. (I wouldn't own one that isn't - they're a little more expensive, but OHHHHHHH so worth it!)

CB transmitters are required to be certified by the FCC, 47 CFR 95.61, and it is illegal to modify one. It is expressly illegal to use a transmitter intended for amateur radio use for CB communication. 47 CFR 95.935.

With the right antenna, 4 watts can theoretically allow you to communicate a long way on 11 meters. However, the CB service has been rendered almost unusable in many areas by users who run illegal power amplifiers, often putting out hundreds of watts of power through poorly-designed antennas. It is expressly illegal to run an external power amplifier on a CB radio, per 47 CFR 95.939. The FCC is fairly serious about enforcing this, but it is flouted by many.

Once popular, CB has been relegated mostly to long-haul truckers, logging trucks, and off-road clubs at this point.

I do think that CB can be useful in some contexts, such as communicating between locations that are a few miles apart, but the keys are proper antenna design and placement and topography. 11 meter signals can in theory bounce off the ionosphere and allow the user to communicate over long distances, but at legal power levels this is unlikely to be consistent enough for reliable communications.

Family Radio Service (FRS)
With CB having become largely unusable, the FCC introduced the Family Radio Service or FRS as an unlicensed service for personal, short-range communications. The FCC defines it as “[a] short-distance two-way voice communication service, with limited data applications, between low power hand-held radios, for facilitating individual, family, group, recreational and business activities.” 47 CFR 95.503. FRS uses spectrum in the UHF range (specifically 462-467 MHz), and it is also channelized. There are 22 defined channels. No matter what it says on the box, these are for short range use. FRS radios are limited in power. They are allowed 0.5 watts of power on channels 8-14 and 2 watts of power on channels 1-7 and channels 15-22. 47 CFR 95.567.

FRS radios can only be used with the built-in antenna, and there are limitations on the design of the antenna which limit the range of the radios. 47 CFR 95.587.

Users may only use FRS units as they are sold. These are FCC-certified, and they may not be modified. FRS is “licensed by rule,” so you don’t need an individual license to operate them. 47 CFR 95.305. Just buy the radios, and have at it. You are not required to transmit any station identification. 47 CFR 95.351. Here are the channels for those interested, as listed in 47 CFR sec. 95.563:
 
Channel
Freq.
Channel
Freq.
1
462.5625
12
467.6625
2
462.5875
13
467.6875
3
462.6125
14
467.7125
4
462.6375
15
462.55
5
462.6625
16
462.575
6
462.6875
17
462.6
7
462.7125
18
462.625
8
467.5625
19
462.65
9
467.5875
20
462.675
10
467.6125
21
462.7
11
467.6375
22
462.725
Importantly, it is illegal to use modified amateur radio equipment for FRS (or GMRS, see the following section, in Part 3), per 47 CFR 95.335. You can only use transmitters that are FCC certified for FRS. There is, however, the overarching rule that an amateur radio station may always transmit on any frequency with whatever equipment it has, in an emergency. “No provision of these rules prevents the use by an amateur station of any means of radiocommunication at its disposal to provide essential communication needs in connection with the immediate safety of human life and immediate protection of property when normal communication systems are not available.” 47 CFR 97.403. So, in a true emergency, a licensed amateur radio operator could use his equipment to talk to users of FRS and GMRS radios if that is what was required to resolve the emergency.

FRS radios work fine for very short-range communications like taking the family to an amusement park or communication between vehicles on a road trip. I have had mixed success using them to talk to a hunting partner, depending on the distance between us and the terrain.

FRS radios can legally communicate with GMRS units. They use most of the same channels. 47 CFR 95.531©. You used to be able to buy combination FRS/GMRS radios, but the sale of such unit is now prohibited. 47 CFR 95.591

I have owned a number of FRS radios over the years, mostly made by Motorol along with a pair of Midland units. They all worked fine for what they were. They are clearly consumer grade, and I would not trust any of them to hold up under adverse conditions. (I will second that, from my experience with them.  Do NOT trust the "advertised distance" these things will cover either.  1/2 mile is about the max). That said, they are inexpensive and easy to use for most people.

(To be continued tomorrow, in Part 3.)

Quote:General Mobile Radio Service (GMRS)
GMRS is a personal radio service that uses the same frequencies and channels as FRS, but more power is allowed, and there are greater equipment options. The FCC defines GMRS as “A mobile two-way voice communication service, with limited data applications, for facilitating activities of individual licensees and their family members, including, but not limited to, voluntary provision of assistance to the public during emergencies and natural disasters.” 47 CFR 95.1703. Note that unlike FRS or CB, GMRS requires a license. 47 CFR 95.1705. There is no test, and the license covers you and your immediate family. It costs $70 for 10 years, and you will be assigned a call sign. GMRS stations are required to identify themselves by their call signs at the end of each transmission and periodically during transmissions. 47 CFR 95.1751. Many people operate on GMRS without a license, but doing so is illegal.

In addition to blister-pack type handhelds, it is legal to operate mobile, fixed, and base station radios as well as repeaters on a subset of the GMRS frequencies. GMRS covers all 22 of the FRS channels, and there are an additional 8 GMRS channels available that are exclusive to GMRS: 467.5500, 467.5750, 467.6000, 467.6250, 467.6500, 467.6750, 467.7000, and 467.7250. 47 CFR 95.1763. These additional channels are, however, reserved for use by fixed GMRS stations and stations using repeaters, so they are not useful for simple communication between handheld radios. For use between handheld radios, the frequencies are the same for FRS and GMRS.

Transmitters must be certified by the FCC to be legal on GMRS, and the rules expressly provide that if a transmitter has the capabilities to operate in the amateur radio service it can’t be GMRS certified. 47 CFR 95.1761 ©. This means you cannot use a Baofeng UV5R for GMRS (or FRS) without breaking the law.

The power limits for GMRS vary depending on which channel you are on. It can be up to 50 watts for some channels and is limited to 0.5 watts for others. 47 CFR 95.1767.

For most people, GMRS probably does not do much for them that FRS won’t, and most folks won’t go to the trouble to apply for the license. You do have the option of running mobile units and even a repeater, but there is a paucity of equipment available for such use that is certified, and it is expensive. Based on an Internet search, Midland offers the MicroMobile MXT400, which is GMRS 40 watt radio that can be used as a base station or in a vehicle. You would also need a suitable antenna, and if you want to use it as a base station you would also need some sort of power supply or deep cycle battery to power it.

GMRS can be a viable option for a family or prepper group if you are willing to 1) get the license, and 2) put together a system suitable to your location, which could include a repeater and one or more base or mobile units. This is going to take a bit of work and expertise, but it might be a good option if you have the interest. FM over UHF is inherently a short-range technology though, no matter if you are running 0.5 or 50 watts.

An Explanation of “Privacy Codes”
Handheld radios designed for FRS or GMRS invariably come equipped with “privacy codes.” This term is deceptive, and it is important for preppers and others who might use these radios for serious purposes to understand how this feature works and what it does.

First, FRS and GMRS transmissions are all unencrypted. They are generally limited to FM voice communications, and it is illegal to modify one to send encrypted signals. You can of course talk in code (e.g. “please meet me at rally point bravo 3”), but that is a matter of operating not technology.

When you select a “privacy code” on an FRS or GMRS radio, what you are really doing is telling the radio to do two things: 1) transmit a sub-audible tone in the background whenever you have the transmitter keyed up, and 2) only break squelch and play received signals that have that same sub-audible tone in the background. This can be a useful feature if there are others nearby using the same channel, as it will prevent you from having to listen to their conversations. When they are transmitting, you just won’t hear them, even if your radio is receiving a strong signal. Of course, if someone else is transmitting on the same channel you are trying to use, you won’t be able effectively use it at the same time, which limits the utility. It is important to understand, however, that selecting a “privacy code” does nothing to prevent others from hearing your transmissions. The other user could choose to select a different “privacy code” from yours, in which case he won’t hear your transmissions, but if he either selects no code or the same one you chose, then he’ll hear your transmissions as long as he is in range. This is why calling them “privacy codes” is terribly misleading—they do nothing to protect your privacy.

A better term is perhaps interference eliminator codes, but even that is wrong because as mentioned above if someone else is using the channel nearby it will interfere with your signals whether you have it blocked out with a code or not. The FCC rules say simply that it is permissible to transmit “subaudible tones or other signals for the purpose of selective calling and/or receiver squelch activation.” 47 CFR 95.377. That is pretty clear.

My suggestion is to leave these tones turned off on your FRS and GMRS radios. If you are getting interference, just switch to a different channel. The codes can be useful if your radios are breaking squelch from distant signals not strong enough to interfere with your intended communications. Under those circumstances, the feature can operate as intended to eliminate the nuisance of having to listen to a bunch of static.

Multi-Use Radio Service (MURS)
In 2000, the FCC created the multi-use radio service (MURS). MURS is a VHF radio service with five defined channels. It is designed for and popular with business users, and I understand construction companies are among its most common users.

Like FRS and CB, MURS is “licensed by rule,” so there is no need for an individual license. And there is no requirement to transmit station identification. The five MURS channels are 151.820, 151.880, 151.940, 154.570, and 154.600 MHz. 47 CFR 95.2763. MURS radios are allowed to transmit sub-audible tones to control squelch, much like the “privacy codes” on FRS and GMRS units (more on this below).

MURS transmitters must be certified by the FCC. 47 CFR 2761. They are allowed 2 watts of power. 47 CFR 95.2767. They are permitted to have external antennas which can be up to 60 feet above the ground. 47 CFR 95.2741.

I personally find MURS to be excellent for several reasons. First, it is VHF, rather than UHF, so all else being equal you can get more range for the same power and antenna type. If you are operating in a building or at very short range this may not matter, but it gives you options. More importantly, MURS seems to have far fewer users than FRS, GMRS, or CB. There are not many radios available that are certified for MURS, and the ones that are out there are more expensive than FRS or GMRS units. I have certainly observed people using modified amateur radio equipment (or unmodified Baofengs) to transmit on MURS, but this is illegal absent an actual emergency. Finally, the MURS radios that are out there tend to be high quality with robust construction, quality, long-lasting batteries, and well-designed accessories. They are built for professional use.
I have used the Motorola RMM-2050 MURS radio in several different applications to very good effect. We use them with headsets for our church security team, and some like-minded friends and I also have some we use for road trips, hunting, and training. I think for a prepper group, this is the best choice for most people. The radios are extremely easy to use. You just turn the power knob, which also controls the volume. The radio will then announce its battery level and which of the five channels it is on. In actual use I have almost never heard any other users on MURS.
 
Motorola seems to maintain a minimum retail price of $189 each for these radios, and I have not seen them offered at a discount other than used on eBay. Public-safety style speaker-mics are available from Motorola for an additional $49 if that suits your application. I’m sure some readers will balk at the cost, but that is actually a pretty modest price for a professional quality radio. I do not want to trust my life or the lives of my family and friends to a $25 radio.
A couple of details about the RMM-2050 that readers may find useful. First, the channels are out of order. Most people number the MURS channels in the order they appear in the FCC rules, with 151.820 being thought of as channel 1. On the RMM-2050 they are in a different order with channel 1 being 154.570, channel 2 being 154.600, channel 3 being 151.820, channel 4 being 151.880, and channel 5 being 151.940. The other thing to know if you intend to use the RMM-2050 to communicate with other MURS radios is that it comes programmed to use CTCSS codes for squelch. This works just like the “privacy codes” described above. CTCSS stands for Continuous Tone Coded Squelch System. It is a standard set of sub-audible tones commonly used on amateur, public safety, and land mobile radios.

The RMM-2050 radios come programmed to use a tone of 67.0 Hz. The radio will only break squelch if the incoming signal has this tone included, and when you transmit with the RMM-2050, that same tone will be included. This only matters if you are going to use the radios to communicate with other units of a different model or manufacture or perhaps with ham radio equipment in an actual emergency.

(To be concluded tomorrow, in Part 4.)

Quote:A friend of mine suggested that I include some discussion of less costly MURS radios for those prepping on a modest budget. There are not nearly as many options for MURS radios as there are for GMRS. A bit of research reveals that a Hong Kong-based firm called Retevis offers Chinese-made radios that it markets for MURS use. Their model RT21V is available in a two-pack for $44.99. They are CTCSS capable, but they do not come with any tones already set up. The Retevis units have the five MURS channels ordered in the sequence they appear in the FCC regulations: channel 1 is 151.820, channel 2 is 151.880, channel 3 is 151.940, channel 4 is 154.570, and channel 5 is 154.600 MHz. Here is a chart comparing the channels on the two units:
 
Frequency
Retevis Channel
Motorola Channel
Allowable Bandwidth
151.820
1
3
11.25KHz
151.880
2
4
11.25KHz
151.940
3
5
11.25KHz
154.570
4
1
20.0 KHz
154.600
5
2
20.0 KHz
 
I ordered a pair of Retevis RT21V radios and evaluated them for this article. My first impression was that you get what you pay for. The cases, batteries, antennas, and chargers all looked okay, but as soon as I started turning the knobs, they felt loose with a lot of slop in them. I charged the batteries for the two units and started testing them. The two would talk to each other with no problems. Where I ran into limitations was when I tried to get them to interoperate with my Motorola RMM-2050’s.

I mentioned above that the RMM-2050 comes from the factory set up to use a sub-audible tone of 67.0Hz for both send and receive. In contrast, the RT21V’s are not set up to transmit tones by default, so out of the box, I could hear the RMM-2050 on the RT21V but not the other way around. My goal was to configure the RT21Vs to work seamlessly with the RMM-2050’s, so they could serve as a less costly alternative. I was only partially successful.

I downloaded the free software from the Retevis website and connected a $10 programming cable purchased online. I was able to use this setup to program the RT21V’s, although there are very limited options as to what you can program, the principal setting being the CTCSS codes. I set the Retevis units to both send a 67.0Hz tone and to require the same tone in order to break squelch and play an incoming transmission. I then tried them again with the Motorolas. What I found was that they worked fine on 151.820, 151.880, and 151.940. On the other two channels, 154.570 and 154.600, I could not hear the Retevis radios on the Motorolas even with the correct tone programmed in. If you check the Allowable Bandwidth column on the chart above, you will notice that the two channels that do not work allow a bandwidth of 20.0KHz, whereas the other three only allow 11.25KHz.

In brief, bandwidth is the amount of frequency range that is used to transmit a signal. The nominal frequency is the center of the transmission, but the actual radio signal occupies a range of frequencies both above and below the nominal frequency. FRS, GMRS, and MURS radios all use FM, which means the frequency of the signal is varied in order to add information to the radio signal. When you key the microphone and speak, the frequency of the signal you are transmitting goes up and down as you talk. Radios can be designed to use more or less bandwidth to encode a signal. Narrower channel bandwidth will allow more users to simultaneously use the same range of radio spectrum in the same geographic area at the same time. Wider bandwidth may sound better depending on the circuitry, and the signals may carry further. I suspect this is why Motorola reordered the channels to put the two wideband channels first on the RMM-2050.

The manual for the Retevis radios indicates that they use the 20.0KHz bandwidth as allowed on 154.570 and 154.600, but the programming software shows all five channels using only 11.25KHz, and the setting cannot be changed using the software. I am fairly certain that the Motorola radios are actually using the wider bandwidth on these two channels, and that the reason the Motorolas can’t hear the Retevis units on the wide band frequencies has something to do with the bandwidth discrepancy.

The net result of my test is that if you are willing to program them, the Retevis RT21V’s can be made to interoperate with the Motorola RMM-2050’s, but only on three of the five available MURS channels. If you are going to buy only Retevis units and use them to talk only to each other, then this is not an issue for you. The build quality of the Retevis units is clearly not as robust, but they are also much less expensive. Like anything else in life, you get what you pay for, and the Retevis units may or may not hold up to serious use.

Amateur Radio (Ham Radio)
I frequently see questions posted online where people ask what kind of “ham radio” they should get for an emergency. The answer for most people is that you should not get one at all. If you have read this far, you now know that there are several other options available for emergency personal communications where all you have to do is turn the radio on, choose from a selection of pre-programmed channels, press the transmit key, and talk. With the exception of GMRS, you do not even need a license.

Amateur radio is a completely different animal. It is a technical hobby designed for experimentation and personal communication. You must have a license in order to legally transmit on amateur frequencies. 47 CFR 97.5. In order to get the license, you must take and pass a licensing exam. There are three exams, one for each of the three levels of license. The Technician and General tests are not terribly difficult. The Amateur Extra test is more of a challenge. The rationale for this is that amateurs are allowed to use a very broad range of equipment. Unlike with CB, FRS, GMRS, or MURS, your transmitter does not have to be certified by the FCC. You can build your own, and as long as it conforms to certain technical requirements, does not transmit out of band, and does not emit too much power or interfere with other communications, you are good to go. Few amateurs build their own transmitters in these days of (relatively) inexpensive solid state radios, but there is vast array of equipment on the market aimed at amateurs that would not be legal for any other use. In light of this, the FCC wants you to know the rules and some basic technical information.

With one minor exception (on 60 meters) amateur frequencies are not channelized. There are ranges of spectrum you are allowed to use based on your license class, and you are free to transmit within them using various modes of voice and digital communication. Some segments are reserved for data transmission specifically. You can build your own antennas (and many do), and in most circumstances you are allowed to run up to 1500 watts of power. 47 CFR 97.313. You are required to identify your transmissions with your FCC-assigned call sign. 47 CFR 97.119.

But the key to all of these privileges is you have to learn. You do not just pull a radio designed for amateur use out of the box and start talking. Even VHF and UHF handhelds need to be programmed, and that takes some knowledge and skill. It is not terribly difficult, but it requires more effort than most people, and even most preppers, are willing to exert.

If you get at least a General Class license, you have the privilege of operating on the HF bands as described above. This can allow you to talk to people literally all over the world, but there is a steep learning curve. When I had my newly minted General license and fired up my first HF radio, I was quickly sobered by how difficult it was to operate effectively. So, I practiced and learned. But if you are not willing to put in many hours of effort to learn the equipment and operating procedures, do not waste your money on an HF station. A basic setup is in the neighborhood of $2000, and it is not money well spent if you do not learn how to use it. After the grid goes down is not the time to learn.

A caveat to that is that an HF transceiver does make a really excellent (if expensive) shortwave receiver. Even without a license, you can listen to shortwave broadcast channels, and you can also listen in on ham traffic without transmitting. That can be very valuable, but you still need to know how to use the radio, and you need to rig up a suitable antenna and power supply that will work when the grid is down. And that takes knowledge and skill.

I have read many Internet posts by people who insist that they have no intention of asking for government permission and they will just operate on amateur frequencies illegally when SHTF. It is certainly plausible that in a wide-scale breakdown of the rule of law and the social order, the FCC will no longer be operating and there will be no one to stop you. The problem is that you will not have the skills to operate effectively. You will not know which modes to use on which bands, what time of day different bands are most effective, the meaning of the various shorthand codes ham operators use, or any number of other things you need to know to communicate effectively. The only way to learn such skills is to get a license, perhaps join an amateur radio club, and practice.
If you are not willing to do that, then save your money. Buy some FRS, GMRS, or MURS handheld radios and a shortwave receiver or two and be content. Amateur radio is not for everyone.

Recommendations for Preppers
So now for the TL;DR or “too long, didn’t read” part of the article. There is no magic radio solution that will replace the functionality of a cell phone when the infrastructure that supports cell phones is no longer available. Short-range communications among your family or group is readily achievable. Longer-range communications are achievable if someone in the group is willing to get licensed and learn to use amateur HF equipment. Ideally, someone in your group can become the radio expert, get licensed, and become proficient at programming and maintaining radios.

My thinking is to equip each group member with a Motorola RMM-2050 MURS unit and have a few spares. Remember that your communications are in-the-clear and act accordingly. There is nothing to stop you from using some codes on MURS (it is illegal on the amateur bands to transmit “messages encoded for the purpose of obscuring their meaning” 47 CFR 97.113). If that is more than you can or want to spend, FRS radios may serve your purpose, but most of them are too limited in build quality and durability for my taste. The Retevis MURS units may also be an option with the limitations discussed above.

If you do have someone with radio knowledge in your family or group, it is likely quite useful to have a field portable station set up with an HF rig, laptop, VHF/UHF rig, backup power, suitable antennas, and coax feedlines. In an emergency the VHF/UHF radio can talk to FRS, GMRS, or MURS radios, and it can always listen for transmissions on those frequencies.

Like every other aspect of prepping you have to identify the gaps in your capabilities, prioritize, and use the resources available to you. – R.F. King

(10-13-2021, 08:50 PM)Zombie.Hunter Wrote: Holy crap, that's a long read...
Here's my short short version I have some Cheapo radios I bought off of Amazon then I can use to talk to someone close by and keep communication with during an event. I figure they won't go too far however it'll kind of keep me in the loop of things when I am close by and Scavenging the neighborhood for goods and supplies... Until then hang out and keep the homestead safe

(10-16-2021, 01:25 PM)YllwFvr Wrote: I've got a mess of those baofengs with different antenna, and enjoy them for what they are. I'd really like a vehicle unit, have it picked out already.
I've tried studying for the test or taking repeated tests to no avail. One HAM club member just told me to take the test over and over, it will give you the right answer if you get it wrong, study the answers, not the material.

I just want my license. It's not exactly common sense stuff.