The FCC requires a license to use GMRS radios. You file online, pay a small fee (I've forgotten the amount), and you have a family-wide license good for five years.

Old-time GMRS radios transmitted at 5W. I'm not aware of any GMRS-only radios now on the market, so if anyone can clue me, I'd be eternally grateful for fifteen minutes. GMRS radios usually have a half-way decent antenna on a BNC connection - you can take that antenna off and put on a good whip or connect to a magmount or other external antenna. You'll get some miles range out of a 5W GMRS with a good antenna.

Many radios today are combination FRS/GMRS, which has ruined GMRS because nobody gets a license and everybody is now using GMRS as if it were FRS. Combo radios have crippled antennas that cannot be removed; they transmit at a max of 2W on the GMRS frequencies and a half-watt on FRS. You'll get a range of several blocks in urban environments with 2W GMRS. I've never measured our range at Burning Man, where it's flat dirt for hundreds of miles, but we cover every distance apart we've been. Two watts is my minimum for communications I want to have.

FRS-only radios are also required to have non-removable antennas and transmit at a half watt. Any mileage ranges advertised are marketing horse manure. A block or two in a city is pretty much it. A half-watt at Burning Man reaches pretty far - so many people are on FRS, though, that all channels (even with CTCSS) are unusable.

I've bought cheap radios, ham, GMRS, and FRS, and _generally_ I got what I paid for. I have a drawer full of junk FRS radios that I give out at festivals and events to volunteers, hoping I get them back, but who really cares. I have had good luck with the Cobra and Midland FRS and GMRS radios that I've bought, but if you buy their cheap stuff, cheap stuff you'll get.

There's a place for cheap stuff, of course. That's why I've got a drawer full to hand out to volunteers. When they fail, I just give the volunteer another one and put the dead one in the recycle bin. If you can afford to have failures, go with a few cheap ones, especially if there's a high chance of loss or breakage and you have backups on hand.

I realize you're asking for FRS, but let me make couple of suggestions since you want range. Check to see if you have GMRS repeaters in your area. They make a _big_ difference in range. Also check how many ham repeaters there are. We can hit repeaters miles and miles away, and they give us more miles and miles range from their high locations, 25 or 30 watts, and big antennas. If you have GMRS repeaters, check into getting license and permission to use them (you'll need repeater-capable GMRS radios - I've got a Motorola T-7200). If there are ham repeaters, get your amateur license - no Morse code required anymore. Get a couple of 5W handhelds, and you're good to go. Then volunteer for events and learn to use your radio. :-)

> Anyone know if there is one i can remotly control?

If I understand FRS requirements from the FCC, remote control is prohibited.

I'm kind of in the same boat although the Motorolla FR-50's I bought 7 years ago still work fine. A little more privacy would be nice but from what I understand the MURS radios use a lot of juice and need frequent recharging. Anyone have real world experience with runtime?