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#158771 - 12/17/08 06:16 PM Re: recommend an FRS radio [Re: philip]
Eugene Offline
Carpal Tunnel

Registered: 12/26/02
Posts: 2995
Originally Posted By: philip
> Anyone know if there is one i can remotly control?

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


I was referring more to gmrs.

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#158804 - 12/17/08 08:35 PM Re: recommend an FRS radio [Re: Eugene]
philip Offline
Addict

Registered: 09/19/05
Posts: 639
Loc: San Francisco Bay Area
You might consider a radio which has VOX - transmission is automatically keyed by voice. Set the sensitivity so you hear squeals of joy and squalls of anger, but not normal babbling.

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#158820 - 12/17/08 10:30 PM Re: recommend an FRS radio [Re: username_5]
LED Offline
Veteran

Registered: 09/01/05
Posts: 1474
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?

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#158887 - 12/18/08 01:16 PM Re: recommend an FRS radio [Re: LED]
KG2V Offline

Veteran

Registered: 08/19/03
Posts: 1371
Loc: Queens, New York City
Originally Posted By: LED
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?


Power use is directly related to power out - you compare a 1/2 watt FRS to a 5 watt MURS - of course the batteries go dead faster
_________________________
73 de KG2V
You are what you do when it counts - The Masso
Homepage: http://www.thegallos.com
Blog: http://kg2v.blogspot.com

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#158964 - 12/18/08 07:40 PM Re: recommend an FRS radio [Re: KG2V]
JohnE Offline
Addict

Registered: 06/10/08
Posts: 601
Loc: Southern Cal
If things like battery life and range are important, there's really only a couple of things that one can do. Use the cheap FRS radios for short distance comms, most of them have decent battery life and most if not all can use some sort of rechargeable battery. Alternatively, one can step up and get a Ham license and use some basic 2m or 440 band HT's. They'll get out further, can be used with repeaters and if needed, they can be used to communicate to other Hams in the event of an emergency, with obvious limitations,, ie, terrain and range. I'm not that familiar with GMRS except to know that there aren't a ton of repeaters for them and anecdotal evidence is that without a repeater, you're not gonna get much better use out of them than you will from FRS.

One could theoretically pick up some used business band radios and use them without the proper license but frankly, it's probably not worth the trouble given the lack of range. The only advantage would be battery life and you'd most likely have a pretty quiet frequency on which to transmit if you were out in the woods. Disadvantage is that you couldn't contact anyone other than someone also using the same frequency(s). They're also pretty expensive.

I'd look at what you plan on doing with the radios and make the decision to either get some cheap but decent FRS handhelds or splurge and get some 2m Ham HT's.

JohnE
_________________________
JohnE

"and all the lousy little poets
comin round
tryin' to sound like Charlie Manson"

The Future/Leonard Cohen


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#159312 - 12/20/08 08:07 PM Re: recommend an FRS radio [Re: philip]
philip Offline
Addict

Registered: 09/19/05
Posts: 639
Loc: San Francisco Bay Area
My experience with a particular brand of MURS radios at Burning Man, with photos of the radios:
http://civex.smugmug.com/gallery/5448419_VT5Sj

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#159343 - 12/21/08 01:29 AM Re: recommend an FRS radio [Re: philip]
username_5 Offline
Journeyman

Registered: 12/16/08
Posts: 54
What is this Burning Man thing y'all are talking about? I feel like I might be missing out. I don't much wish to burn as I sweat easily, but if it is a guys only thing I could use one of those.

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#159394 - 12/21/08 07:05 PM Re: recommend an FRS radio [Re: username_5]
philip Offline
Addict

Registered: 09/19/05
Posts: 639
Loc: San Francisco Bay Area
http://www.burningman.com

It's what you make of it, so if you want a guys only thing, that's what it'll be for you.

See our page at
http://www.cieux.com/bm/bmtoc.html
and scroll down for articles and photos.

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