License Comparison

Amateur Radio versus CB, MURS, FRS, and GMRS

Amateur radio is a licensed service for people of any age who are interested in radio techniques solely with a personal aim and without financial interest. This service presents an opportunity for self-training, intercommunication, and technical investigations. Twenty-nine frequency bands throughout the RF spectrum and 1500 watts are allocated to this service internationally for worldwide communication.

Millions of amateur operators in all areas of the world communicate with each other directly or through repeaters and amateur-satellites. They exchange messages by voice, teleprinting, telegraphy, facsimile, photos, and television. Over 1,300 digital, analog, pulse, and spread-spectrum emission types may be transmitted.

Operator Class & Examinations

The FCC currently offers three grades of license operator class – Technician, General, and Extra – each authorizing varying levels of privileges as you progress to a higher class. The class for which each licensee is qualified is determined by the degree of skill and knowledge in operating a station that the licensee demonstrates during an examination to volunteer examiners (VEs) in their community or via online testing.

Most new amateur operators start with the Technician license and then advance to the General or Extra operator license as their skill and knowledge increases.

Ken Bandy, KJ9B, demonstrates ham radio to a Scout at Philmont Scout Ranch.

Service	Max Power	Typical Range	Frequencies
Amateur Radio	1500 watts	Worldwide	29 bands (each band can support up to hundreds of simultaneous conversations) between 0.1357 MHz through 350,000 MHz.
Citizens Band	4 watts	Up to 7 to 15 miles	40 channels between 26.965 MHz and 27.405 MHz.
MURS	2 watts	Up to 1 mile	5 channels between 151.82 and 154.6 MHz.
FRS	2 watts	Up to 1 mile	22 channels in the 462 MHz to 467 MHz range shared with GMRS.
GMRS	5 watts on shared channels. 50 watts on repeaters.	2 miles on shared channels. Citywide on repeaters.	40 channels – 22 channels in the 462 MHz to 467 MHz range shared with FRS plus an additional 8 repeater channels.