Emergency communications without a licence, and when you need one

Cell networks do not usually fail in a disaster. They get congested, which looks identical from your end and lasts longer. That distinction matters, because it changes what a backup needs to do: not replace the network, just move short messages between people who already agreed what to say.

What can I use with no licence at all?

FRS, the Family Radio Service. The bubble-pack walkie-talkies sold in sporting goods shops are FRS radios. No licence, no paperwork, no age limit.

The trade is power and antennas. FRS is capped at two watts on most channels and half a watt on some, and the antenna is permanently attached, so you cannot improve it. That combination sets a hard ceiling on range that no amount of shopping fixes.

Meshtastic also runs licence-free, on unlicensed LoRa spectrum. It sends text, never voice, and each node relays for the others, so a handful of devices spread across a neighbourhood can cover ground that no single pair of them could. It is the most interesting option on this list and the least ready for someone who wants a thing that works out of the box.

When do I actually need a licence?

The moment you want more power, a better antenna, or a repeater. That is GMRS.

A GMRS licence costs a fee, requires no exam, arrives in days, lasts ten years, and covers the licensee plus their immediate family on one licence. That last part surprises people. One parent registers, and the spouse, children and grandparents are covered.

In exchange you get up to 50 watts on some channels, removable antennas, and access to repeaters that can extend a handheld's useful range across a whole county. Many GMRS repeaters ask permission before use, which is what myGMRS exists for.

Amateur radio, "ham", is the next step and it is a different scale of thing. The entry-level Technician licence needs a 35-question multiple-choice exam drawn from a published pool. That is a genuine barrier and a small one: most people pass after two or three weeks of evenings. What it opens up is far more spectrum, including HF bands that bounce off the ionosphere and reach hundreds or thousands of miles without any infrastructure at all.

If you want to study for it, HamStudy is free and runs on the real question pool. We also built CallSignReady (one of ours, free), which does the same job as a game. Both work. HamStudy has been doing it longer.

Which one should I start with?

For a household that wants one decision and no hobby: GMRS. The licence removes the legal question permanently, the radios are inexpensive, and the family-wide coverage means you register once.

For someone who finds the technical side interesting: amateur radio, and join a local club, because the licence on its own teaches you very little. ARES is the organised emergency side, and the practice net is where a licence turns into a skill.

For a neighbourhood that wants text messaging with no infrastructure: Meshtastic, accepting that you will be doing some tinkering and that coverage depends entirely on how many neighbours join.

What range will I actually get?

Less than the box says, and the gap is not small.

Handhelds on these frequencies are line-of-sight devices. The advertised figure assumes two people on hilltops with nothing between them and nothing absorbing the signal, a condition you will never be in. Buildings, trees, terrain and your own body each take a bite, and a number printed on packaging has no way to account for any of them. Treat the box figure as the physical ceiling under laboratory conditions, not as a range.

We are not going to tell you your range, because it depends on ground we have never stood on. Measure it once, before you need it:

1. Programme both radios identically and hand one to someone carrying a phone, so you can compare notes without shouting.
2. Walk apart along a route you would actually use in an emergency, staying in contact as you go.
3. Stop at the point where speech becomes unusable, not where it merely sounds poor. That distinction is the whole exercise: a link you have to repeat every sentence on is not a working link.
4. Mark the spot. That distance, not the packaging, is your planning figure.
5. Repeat the walk with one radio at a first-floor window or on a roof.

Step five is the one that surprises people, and it is why repeaters exist. Height beats power on these bands, and raising an antenna is free. A repeater is that principle bought in bulk: it sits somewhere high, listens on one frequency and retransmits on another, and turns two handhelds that struggle across a neighbourhood into two radios that reach across a county. That is the practical argument for GMRS or amateur over FRS.

What most communications guides get wrong

They compare radios and ignore the plan. A radio with nobody on the other end is a torch. Before you buy anything, agree three things with the people you care about: a channel, a time, and an out-of-area contact. Ready.gov's plan template has a field for the last one, and it is the single most useful line on the page, because long-distance calls often complete when local ones will not.

They confuse licence-free with rule-free. FRS has power limits and antenna restrictions that are legally binding. Modifying a radio to exceed them, or using a ham radio on GMRS frequencies because it can transmit there, is a real violation with real fines. The FCC's amateur and GMRS pages are short, and reading them takes less time than the forum arguments about them.

They repeat the "any radio is legal in an emergency" myth. The rules do allow for immediate danger to life or property when no other method works. That is a genuinely narrow exception and it is not a licence substitute. People plan around it and should not.

They skip the scanner. A receive-only scanner needs no licence at all and tells you what is happening around you, which is more useful in the first hour than any ability to transmit. RadioReference lists what your local agencies use, and many areas now also have live feeds.

They treat Morse as a museum piece. It is a legitimate mode that gets through when voice will not, because a narrow signal beats a wide one at low power. Learning it is a hobby project rather than a preparedness step, and if you want to, Ditdah (one of ours, free) teaches the alphabet with sound and picture mnemonics.

The afternoon version

1. Write down a channel, a check-in time and an out-of-area contact. Give a copy to everyone in the household, on paper.
2. Apply for a GMRS licence. It is one form and it covers your family for ten years.
3. Buy two handhelds. Programme them the same way. Put one in the car.
4. Actually test them. Walk apart until they stop working and note the distance, because that number is your real planning figure, not the one on the packaging.
5. Look up your county on RepeaterBook and print the page.

Step four is the one people skip, and it is the only one that tells you the truth.