Ham or CB

[MattLew]

To be clear, they share all of the simplex frequencies. When they made all those rule changes in 2017 they combined both services so now all 22 simplex channels are shared. The only differences being bandwidth settings and power. FRS will be narrowband and 2 watts on all channels except for the center channels 8-14

1-7
FRS
2 watts Narrowband (12.5 khz)
GMRS
5 watts Wideband (20 khz)

8-14
FRS and GMRS
0.5 watts and Narrowband

15-22
FRS
2 watts Narrowband
GMRS
50 watts Wideband

23-30
GMRS repeater inputs only (no FRS operation)
50 watts Wideband

These repeater inputs are all between those low power narrowband frequencies on channels 8-14 which is why I'm guessing the FCC kept those at .5 watts and narrowband.

thank you for the update. I do not have a GMRS license, so I have not paid much attention to it.

 

[dzahler]

As has been pointed out by others, the best answer depends on your circumstances. It also depends on what those in your area use.
Every form of communications has advantages and disadvantages... each also has certain aspects of communications that it serves well, and others that it may not work for at all.
No matter what communications methods (yes plural) you choose, they do no good if you do not have someone on the other end to talk to....

This was a really nice & thorough write up!

Mods may want to pin this.

 

[El-Dracho]

I am using CB for quite a time. Here in Europe not many overlanders are on HAM. I think this is due to the effort you have to put into the license, learning, passing the test and the fees.

CB works fine for me in a convoy. Range and speech quality is ok for that. I am upgrading to HAM now and will fit a 2m/70cm into the rig for several reasons: range, speech quality, lot of intersting options like APRS for example and I am just curious in learning and doing something new!

Safe travels,
Bjoern

 

[Polaris Overland]

I am using CB for quite a time. Here in Europe not many overlanders are on HAM. I think this is due to the effort you have to put into the license, learning, passing the test and the fees.

CB works fine for me in a convoy. Range and speech quality is ok for that. I am upgrading to HAM now and will fit a 2m/70cm into the rig for several reasons: range, speech quality, lot of intersting options like APRS for example and I am just curious in learning and doing something new!

Safe travels,
Bjoern

To be fair I haven’t bothered with a ham licence as cb radio or even pmr is more than enough for convoy travel and when off road and getting directions.

I believe the Ham licence is also only country specific ie I get it here in UK I can’t use it in Spain?
Plus the distances off grid we get are not big enough to warrant it.

I am lucky though as because I work in marine communications etc on trips like we took to Mongolia I had a loan of an Iridium Satellite Phone for use in emergencies. Thankfully it was not needed.

 

[Ubiety]

and I am just curious in learning and doing something new!

That is what dragged many of us in! Welcome to the dark side :)