Family radio · Study guides
15 things worth knowing about keeping a family in touch
When the power goes out and the cell towers go quiet, a radio in every pocket keeps a family together. These short guides explain how GMRS radio works and how to use it well, from the license to the drive to the ranch.
Each topic opens a page with four parts:
Each topic also comes as slides (PDF) and as a Word document for printing. Your best test score is saved on your own device and shows beside each topic.
Fifteen topics, about ten minutes each. Start anywhere, or open them all in one page.
Open all 15 topics in one pageA repeater is a radio on a tall tower that hears your little handheld and rebroadcasts it with more power from up high, turning a 2-mile radio into a 20-mile one. Learn how they work, how to find the ones near Nashville and the ranch, how to ask the owner for access, and why you shouldn't count on one when the grid goes down.
GMRS signals travel in straight lines, and the earth curves away underneath them. This topic shows the simple rule of thumb for how far an antenna can "see," why raising it a few feet beats adding watts, and why two handhelds in the Arkansas hills should plan on 1 to 2 miles.
The cheapest way to double what your radio can do. Compares the stock rubber duck, a long whip, a magnet mount on the truck and a base antenna at the ranch, plus the connector to buy for the Baofeng UV-5G Plus and the one thing you should never do.
FRS, GMRS, CB, MURS and ham radio side by side: who needs a license, how much power each allows and what each is good for. Why GMRS fits a family, when ham radio is worth adding, and why an old CB still earns a place in the truck.
Your neighbors probably have cheap walkie-talkies in a closet, and your GMRS radio can talk to them on channels 1 through 22. Learn the power limits, how to match channels and privacy codes, and why a few extra FRS radios belong in the go bag.
Your GMRS radio doubles as a NOAA weather radio, with seven channels of forecasts and warnings straight from the National Weather Service, no cell signal or internet needed. How to find your best station at home and at the ranch before tornado season.
In a long outage, battery life matters more than range. Where the power goes, five ways to stretch a charge, and how to recharge from the wall, a power station, the truck, a small solar panel or a spare battery in the go bag.
A short list of radio words like over, clear, copy and stand by, plus the habits that make a call quick and clear. Also how to make an emergency call, and what everyone else on the channel should do when one comes through.
GMRS is a party line. Privacy codes only filter out other people; they don't hide anything, and encryption isn't allowed. What never to say on the air, and simple family code names for places so you can talk without telling strangers your plans.
Handhelds are only the start. A 50-watt mobile radio in the truck and a base station with a tall antenna at the ranch, running on the solar system, can reach family miles out on the drive in. Includes the right way to wire a mobile radio.
Primary, Alternate, Contingency, Emergency: four layers so everyone knows what to try when the phones fail, ending with a meeting point at the ranch. Why texts get through when calls don't, and how to put the plan on a wallet card.
Radios left on all day are dead by day two. A simple schedule of listening on the hour, roll calls morning and evening, and a Sunday practice check-in keeps everyone in touch for a week without draining batteries.
What a ham Technician license adds: thousands of repeaters, storm-spotter and emergency networks, and a path to statewide and worldwide reach. The 35-question test, how to study for it, and how your GMRS registration number carries over.
From 1940s tube radios called Class A Citizens Radio to today's $35 family license. Fun facts most people don't know, a timeline of the rule changes, and the channel-by-channel power limits that explain why the family plan uses channels 15 through 22.
Published ranges assume flat, open ground, so the only way to know what your radios really do is to test them. One person stays at the ranch while the others drive out a mile at a time and log what they hear. Comes with a printable log sheet.