Hola!

Just bought a pair of Midland LXT310 radios at Circuit City...

Specs here

They are GMRS/FRS radios yielding 3 Watts of power. They came with NiMH rechargeable packs but you can also use them with 4 AAs (wanted that, rather than AAAs). I also like the NOAA/Weather Radio feature and I admit that i've been listening to the weather forecast pretty much every morning and evening since I bought them. This should wear off soon, I guess...

In my area, there doesn't seem to be a lot of traffic on the air... I heard someone talking while scanning channels the other night, but nothing since. I bought them "just in case", for hiking trips or other occasions... Is there any value in carrying the pair of radios in the car all the time? Does someone EDC a two-way radio?

Can't really think of anything that could warrant that... Can you? Is a GMRS/FRS radio a good "survival" purchase?

Yes, they are a good thing to have. Any transceiver is better than no transceiver. And your choice of AA batteries was a good one. I
suggest you throw a set of Lithium batteries in your pack. They weigh next to nothing and have a 20 year shelf life. Very long lasting under heavy use as well. That way should you need to use the radio you will be assured of a fresh set of powerful batteries. High power transmitters eat batteries. Try some NiMh rechargables to reduce operating cost.

You probably won't hear much until you get someplace like a provincial park or perhaps a large urban area.

Do a search on GMRS and learn about what is available in your area. Find someone else to practice with and learn to operate the radio under stress conditions. It is like a weapon. You have to learn how to use it when you will need it. And stress will probably be part of the scene. Test it to see what kind of range you will get under what conditions. How far in a Mall, How far in a city, or in the wilderness. What hsppens as the batteries die.

You might check out my blog about using ham radio. Lots of the infromation there may be useful to you.

http://n1ahh.blogspot.com

I consider a transceiver of any type to be a very useful emergency tool.

I had the following problem with FRS radios. When you test them at a random time, there are very few other people on them. When you go to some event where they would be very useful, there are so many people on the air that you can hardly say anything. Example: you go to an air show or fair with your radios. Everybody else that has them brings them also. If you're communicating between the roof (antenna adjustment) & your living room, They work great. At the time that they would be most useful, they're useless.

These are very useful in caravans and much better than cell phones at short distances in my experience. In areas where there are a lot of users is beneficial to use the sub-channels. Mine have 18 channels and 38 sub channels that is over 600 different frequencies I doubt there will be 600 different user groups. I suggest you go out and play with them to get a better feel for the capabilities. <img src="/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

I used a pair of FRS radios when we tried to get out of Houston during Rita. I figured that cell phones would be too busy to use and we had to take two cars. Gave one to the wife and I had one. Worked out well for the attempted escape.

Not bad to have in the go bag.

(Long )



Just to clear up a little misconception (and interject some good old technical gobledy-gook), the 38 sub-channels (also called "privacy codes") are not different frequencies nor do they ensure privacy. What they are are CTSS (Continuous Tone Squelch System) settings. CTSS works by utilizing a sub-aduible tone (too low for normal human hearing) that is processed by radio to "open up" the squelch system on the radio. Thus your radio will remain quiet until someone on your frequency using the CTSS code you selected transmitts. In practice it works like this:

Say your family goes to the airshow. You take you GRMS (or FRS) radios. You set the channel on 7 and the code to 26. You hand one to the kids and send them off exploring. Now half of the people there have done the same thing and 2 other families have selected channel 7. One has selected code 10 and the other has selected no code. Despite the number of radios being used, yours remains quiet until Junior calls in to ask about lunch. You then hear the other families discussing their lunch plans. What happend? When your squelch was opened by the CTSS tone transmitted by Junior's radio, it will allow _all_ of the signals being transmitted on that channel to be heard (or monitored). Most GRMS/FRS radios have a monitor button that overrides the CTSS system so that you can listen for any signals on a channel.

Some more tidbits:
- The 18 channel radio shown on the other post is a GRMS/FRS radio - 14 channels are FRS frequencies (GRMS shares 7 frequencies with FRS).

- In the U.S. GRMS radios require FCC licensure. The license costs about $75 dollars, is good for 5 years, covers almost your entire extended family and requires no testing (just $ and info).

- Canada has approved FRS radio for general unlicensed use (I don't know about GRMS). U.S. C.B. and (properly licensed) Ham radios are also legal in Canada. (Ham radio is permitted in most countries and licensed operators can easily obtain permits operate in other countries.)

- Check out the FCC Website for more information on U.S. radio regulations.

- Check out the ARRL Website for more information about Amateur (ham) radio in the U.S.

Radiate Safely,

73's

JimJr (KC5JIW)

My wife and I take a set just about whenever we go out. They are especially handy while shopping because we don't have to stick together. When it's time for me me to pay for all her stuff she can easily call me back from sporting goods. <img src="/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

-Mark

I don't know how the regulations are up in Canada, but you should try to get a basic amateur ("ham") radio license. FRS radios operate on very low powered UHF signals, GMRS are higher powered UHF signals, while with amateur radio you'd be able to use many different frequency bands (UHF, VHF, etc.). In addition, there are lots of "hams" out there and they have quite a few repeaters set up (such as on mountaintops). Not sure how the terrain is in your area, but VHF signals will generally carry farther than UHF signals in the woods, hills, etc.

I found a web site for Radio Amateurs of Canada here: www.rac.ca

The U.S. equivalent is the ARRL: www.arrl.org

My wife & I keep an older Motorola Talkabout FRS radio in each vehicle, and a pair in one of them (sometimes mine, sometimes hers). That way, we can always talk car-to-car with each other, & if we're with a friend or family member who doesn't have a radio of their own (though almost all do now), we have one to loan them. We also use them in stores (WalMart & Sams are pretty big), and when one of is goes in while the other stays in the car with the kids. Works out quite well.

My son got a set of GMRS/FRS radios for Christmas (>$20 at WalMart). I've restricted him to FRS channels, because I think it's ridiculous to pay $80 (that's the fee I found on FCC site) to be able to use a $20 pair of radios. When I get around to getting a Ham license, I'll pursue GMRS then.

But, yes, they're a great tool to have. Have saved us much trouble, & been a great boon on many occasions. On those rare times when we've found someone else operating on "our" channel & CTSS setting, we simply change to another pair. Early on, we tried simply broadcasting the change we were making, trusting the outside users not to follow us, but after running into some smarta$$ teens who insisted on monopolizing the radios, so that we couldn't use ours, we decided to use a simple code for changes. We simply change to a code/CTSS pair based on a family member's birthday (e.g., "Michael", who's birthday is March 12, would be 3/12). We know the birthdays, & they're not something new to memorize, so we're not telling to which channel we're changing. Has worked well for us in those rare occasions we've needed it.

I second the comments about the lithium AA batteries & rechargables.

David

JimJr Thanks for the clarification and the new info (well at least to me)