How to Communicate with No Cell Service or Internet: GMRS Radios, the Plan, and What They Really Reach

Two-way radios. For a family that wants something that works out of the box, that means GMRS handhelds: turn them on, set the same channel and privacy code, and talk. Two radios need nothing else, no tower, no network, no account. A repeater on a hilltop stretches the range across a county. A NOAA weather radio to listen and an out-of-state contact everyone texts round out the plan; texts often get through when calls do not.

The Rocky Talkie 5 watt GMRS radio. It is waterproof (IP67), shatterproof, runs 4 to 6 days on a charge in the cold, has a carabiner and a leash so it does not get lost, gets NOAA weather alerts, works with repeaters, and has almost nothing to learn: channel up, channel down, push to talk. The Wouxun KG-935G Plus is the step up for anyone who wants more channels, scanning and a bigger screen, and the two-radio kit from Buy Two Way Radios is the cheapest way to put a pair in the house.

Yes. Radio to radio, called simplex, is the normal way to use them: both on the same channel, both in range, nothing else needed. The range is whatever the terrain allows, and a clear line of sight between the two radios is worth more than any amount of power.

Handheld to handheld: 1 to 5 miles in mountains and open country, half a mile to 3 miles in timber, under a mile in town, and 20 or 30 miles only when both radios are on high points with nothing between them. The 35 mile number on the box is that last case. Height beats watts: climb a hill and the range doubles; a mobile radio with a roof antenna reaches farther than any handheld.

Three ways, in order of effect. Get higher: a ridge, a roof, a second story window. Use a better antenna: a longer whip on the handheld, or a mobile radio with a roof or mast antenna at the house. Use a repeater: a radio on a hilltop or tower that hears your handheld and rebroadcasts it at higher power, which stretches a 3 mile handheld across a county. Many repeaters are open to any licensed GMRS user.

RepeaterBook.com lists GMRS repeaters by state and county with the frequency, tone and coverage notes. myGMRS.com does the same and handles the permission request for repeaters that need one. Program the nearest two into your radios now and test them; a repeater you find during the emergency is not one you will be able to use.

Yes, an FCC GMRS license: no test, about ten minutes online, a small fee, ten years, and it covers you and your immediate family on every radio you own. Get it; the how-to is on this site. In a real emergency nobody is checking, and the license is not what makes the radio work, but repeater owners will not give a callsign-less operator permission, and the license is cheap.

GMRS is 22 shared channels near 462 and 467 MHz, a license with no test, radios that work out of the box, and a range measured in miles or, through a repeater, a county. Ham radio is a licensed hobby with a test, every band from local to worldwide, and gear you have to learn. For a family that wants to talk across town, GMRS. For someone in the house who wants to reach across the state or the country with no infrastructure, a ham Technician license is a weekend of study and the start of a much deeper rabbit hole.

A primary channel and privacy code and a backup, written on a card taped to each radio. Check-in times, such as the top of every hour for ten minutes, so radios can stay off between and batteries last. A meeting place if radios fail. Who carries which radio, and where the chargers and spare batteries live. A NOAA weather radio at the house. And a practice day: use them on a hike or a trip to the store until everyone in the house can do it without thinking.