Family Radio Service

Introduction

The Family Radio Service, or FRS, is an unlicensed, simplex only, personal radio service in the US covered by Part 95 of the FCC's regulations. Hand-held FRS transceivers are typically used by families, children, and campers to communicate. Shopping malls, theme parks, and special events are all great locations to monitor FRS communications. Radios may not have external antennas or power amplifiers attached to them. Power output is limited to 2 watts on the 462 MHz channels (1-7 and 15-22), and 1/2 watt on the 467 MHz channels (8-14). Bandwidth is limited to 12.5 kHz (2.5 kHz peak deviation) on all channels. GMRS users may also communicate with FRS users since all FRS frequencies are now shared with GMRS.

Frequencies

Frequency	Type	Alpha Tag	Description	Mode	Tag
462.56250	M	FRS 01	Channel 1	FMN	Other
462.58750	M	FRS 02	Channel 2	FMN	Other
462.61250	M	FRS 03	Channel 3	FMN	Other
462.63750	M	FRS 04	Channel 4	FMN	Other
462.66250	M	FRS 05	Channel 5	FMN	Other
462.68750	M	FRS 06	Channel 6	FMN	Other
462.71250	M	FRS 07	Channel 7	FMN	Other
467.56250	M	FRS 08	Channel 8	FMN	Other
467.58750	M	FRS 09	Channel 9	FMN	Other
467.61250	M	FRS 10	Channel 10	FMN	Other
467.63750	M	FRS 11	Channel 11	FMN	Other
467.66250	M	FRS 12	Channel 12	FMN	Other
467.68750	M	FRS 13	Channel 13	FMN	Other
467.71250	M	FRS 14	Channel 14	FMN	Other
462.55000	M	FRS 15	Channel 15	FMN	Other
462.57500	M	FRS 16	Channel 16	FMN	Other
462.60000	M	FRS 17	Channel 17	FMN	Other
462.62500	M	FRS 18	Channel 18	FMN	Other
462.65000	M	FRS 19	Channel 19	FMN	Other
462.67500	M	FRS 20	Channel 20	FMN	Other
462.70000	M	FRS 21	Channel 21	FMN	Other
462.72500	M	FRS 22	Channel 22	FMN	Other

Recognized Channels

Some groups try to consistently use the same channel / tone combinations.

01 / 00 (462.5625 / CSQ) - National SOS Radio Network
03 / 00 (462.6125 / CSQ) - AmRRON CH3 Project
07 / 15 (462.7125 / 110.9) - MilCom/Airshow Hobbyists (backup)
11 / 22 (467.6375 / 141.3) - Birders (no roger beep, please)
14 / 38 (467.7125 / 250.3) - MilCom/Airshow Hobbyists
20 / 22 (462.6750 / 141.3) - Travelers information/assistance

CTCSS

Most FRS radios have CTCSS capability. Some higher end units may also have DCS. The companies marketing the radios usually refer to these tones as "privacy codes" even though they provide no privacy. Instead of asking FRS users to understand the actual tone values, integers are used instead. Most, but not all, manufacturers use the same numbers as Motorola:

CTCSS tone (Hz)	Commonly assigned "code"
67.0	01
71.9	02
74.4	03
77.0	04
79.7	05
82.5	06
85.4	07
88.5	08
91.5	09
94.8	10
97.4	11
100.0	12
103.5	13
107.2	14
110.9	15
114.8	16
118.8	17
123.0	18
127.3	19
131.8	20
136.5	21
141.3	22
146.2	23
151.4	24
156.7	25
162.2	26
167.9	27
173.8	28
179.9	29
186.2	30
192.8	31
203.5	32
210.7	33
218.1	34
225.7	35
233.6	36
241.8	37
250.3	38

Canada

American-standard FRS radios have been approved for use in Canada since April 2000. The revised technical standard RSS 210 has essentially the same technical requirements as in the United States. Since September 2004, low-power GMRS radios and dual-standard FRS/GMRS radios have also been approved for use in Canada.

RSS-210 Annex E - Canadian FRS/GMRS rules
SP 462/467 MHz - Spectrum Utilization Policy to Permit Licence-Exempt Devices in the Land Mobile Frequency Sub-bands 462/467 MHz

Mexico

Since tourists often bring their FRS radios with them, and since trade between the U.S., Canada, and Mexico is of great value to all three countries, the Mexican Secretary of Communication and Transportation has authorized use of the FRS frequencies and equipment similar to that in the US. However, dual-mode FRS/GMRS equipment is not approved in Mexico, so caution should be exercised in operating hybrid FRS/GMRS devices purchased elsewhere. http://web.archive.org/web/20091026203800/http://geocities.com/wd9ewk/xe-frs.html Mexico's Family Radio Service (FRS) equivalent retrieved 2009 Oct 23

Family Radio Service

From The RadioReference Wiki

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