I guess we haven't encountered that much competetion for an open channel. OTOH, we (i.e., my family) are accustomed to a fair amount of radio traffic. On many of our family trips, we have taken 2 or more vehicles. We have kept in regular communication with one another via CB radios. The competition there is substantial, but we have always maintained steadt communications. I guess the training and discipline developed there have made FRS easy.

I do agree that discipline needs to be maintained in the use of radios or else they will become a nuisance. On a recent family trip, we confronted such a problem, but my wife resolved it peremptorily with our kids. We haven't experienced it yet in Scouting. I suspect a similar imposition of reasonable self-discipline will also work there. We'll see.

Anyway, best Scouting wishes,

John

Thanks. There is considerable interest among several members of our group in getting their Ham license, and we are seriously thinking about running a Ham radio course next year.

fwiw, I am not only a licensed Ham myself, but I have a Restricted Radiotelephone Operator's permit (Aviation) and spent 5 years as a radio operator/communications specialist in the Canadian military. We used FRS radios for the Radio Proficiency because:

1. they were cheap and available;
2. they have limited range so, being in a semi-isolated area, we weren't likely to be bothering anyone;
3. the radio discipline on FRS channels is pretty abysmal in general, so the kids could screw up without fear of retribution (except from us <img src="images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" /> )