PL or Tone Squelch is not private

In addition to the 22 primary GMRS channels, it is possible to program special sub-tones within a channel in order to achieve a modicum of privacy.

There is a large misnomer regarding how this “privacy” thing operates. It does mean that other radio listeners on the same primary channel cannot hear you; it only means that your radio will only hear other radio transmissions encoded similarly to yours.

Strangers can still hear everything that YOU transmit, but your radio will filter out or block incoming signals that do not include your privacy code.

It is PRIVATE LISTENING, not private transmitting. By the way, the term “PL” was phrased by Motorola. The correct nomenclature is CTCSS (Continuous Tone-Coded Squelch System). That’s quite the tongue twister, so lots of us just call it PL or Private Listening for short.

If you are traveling in a very small group, it is still feasible for everyone to program their radios with a CTCSS tone. True, most of the people in your group will have absolutely no idea of what you are talking about or how to program their radio – but if it is only a handful of people, then one geek can get all the radios correctly programmed.

For larger or mixed groups, using a CTCSS tone is impractical. Too many radios, too many different brands, including at least a few that no one is familiar with. Just too difficult to accomplish.

Keep it simple. Stick with the primary channels, 1 through 22.

We suggest using channels 15-22, on account of GMRS permitting the use of higher output wattage (up to 50 watts) on those channels, compared to only up to 5 watts on channels 1-7.

The FRS channels 8-14 are restricted to low power only, up to only 0.5 watt.