PMC EP Radio Safety Net
Our goal is to provide a backup communications method when all others fail. When electricity, cell service and utilities are down, radios are our best way to check on neighbors and to let Patrol know that you need help.
A key part of this is through long-range walkie-talkies that are part of the FCC’s General Mobile Radio Service. Participating in the Radio Safety Net requires a $35 license, which covers your whole family for 10 years, and a compatible radio. We will have opportunities to program your radios, learn how to use them, and to practice using them under non-emergency conditions.
To get a GMRS license from the FCC, you will need to:
We recommend the Baofeng UV-5G (Amazon)
PLEASE DO NOT purchase the Baofeng GM-15 PRO, as we do not yet have a way to program it to work with the RSN system, but we are working on it.
Other repeater-capable GMRS radios may work with EP-RSN, but we recommend that you check with us first by email so we can confirm.
These radios also have a large range of accessories available that can be useful in emergency situations depending on your needs, such as:
Even if you have not yet received your callsign, please sign up for the program using this form.
Our next in-person training is yet to be scheduled, but will likely take place in June.
We also have a video of an online training available.
Our trainings, whether online or in-person include:
We need everyone to be familiar with their equipment, which takes practice. So, we will practice using our radios in a directed net twice weekly:
Regular check-in nets will be held on the RSN Repeater unless otherwise specified.
If you would like to reach the coordinators of the RSN, please email us at ep-rsn@pmcpoa.com, or else call us at 661-241-3754.
Thank you for helping make PMC more resilient!
We were on the ABC23 Bakersfield News!
At its current location, our repeater covers almost all of PMC, and even most of the way out to the Y. In the future, we plan to enhance coverage throughout PMC, and to connect with Frazier Park and with other communities.
Yes! These radios use the standard 30 GMRS channels, which are used across the United States by hikers, offroaders, and others who need reliable off-grid communications but don’t want to take a test for licensing like you do with amateur (“ham”) radio.
Yes! The 30 GMRS frequencies are consistent across the entire United States, which means that you could use these radios outside of PMC. Our repeater programming (channel 100) will only work within PMC, but the other channels can be used anywhere in the US.
Line-of-sight is the most important factor to the range of the radios. If you’re in a moderately flat place with some trees and/or buildings, you might get 2-5 miles of range from a handheld radio. If you’re on a mountaintop or in a desert, your radio signal will go as far as you can see, until the earth curves away.
No, these are short-range radios with line-of-sight limitations, and there are no GMRS satellites in operation.
Yes! While we recommend the Baofeng UV-5G, the following radios are also known to work very well with the EP-RSN system: