| Author |
Message |
    
ravensjk
| | Posted on Wednesday, February 27, 2002 - 06:21 pm: | 
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I am looking to purchase a set of FRS radios this week and would appreciate comments from those who have experience with them. I will be using them for trail rides and camping trips and my budget is $100 and under. I will be doing some research tonight and tomorrow on all of the features offered, but while I am learning please feel free to let me know which options are useful and which ones are crap.
Thanks,
Jason |
Heath McGuire (Discoheath)
| | Posted on Wednesday, February 27, 2002 - 10:30 pm: |
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motorola talkabout, my choice |
Michael Villanueva (Michael)
| | Posted on Wednesday, February 27, 2002 - 10:46 pm: |
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I think they are all basically in the same ballpark. But I did get the bottom of the line Motorola talkabout. Advice based on experience: Get a unit for all who regularly go. Get a little neoprene booty for each unit -- while the booty is a relatively expensive option, it does (a) help when they are inevitably dropped and (b) provides unexpectedly needed friction when they are crammed in a pocket in a flash during a manuever. The hard plastic shell does tend to pop out of a pocket when your rover bounces. You can get those booties at Best Buy.
By far and away superior to CBs (with the sole exception that CBs are more common) for clear communication. |
PerroneFord
| | Posted on Wednesday, February 27, 2002 - 11:49 pm: |
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Micheal,
I have to disagree with you on the "By far and away superior to CB" comment. At short distances, meaning under 100 yards, and with no obstructions FRS is clearer. However, with a good CB, I find that outside that zone, CB is equal if not superior. I have a good mobile CB setup, a handheld backup, and Motorola 4 FRS radios. This has been my experience.
I have heard plenty of crappy CB systems though and would agree that FRS at its worst is better than those setups.
-P |
Michael Villanueva (Michael)
| | Posted on Thursday, February 28, 2002 - 12:07 am: |
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Wow. _Complete_ disagreement with you. Open highway, yes, CBs are better. In any type of a terrain they purely suck. 100 yards?? No way. But ok. No flame war here, but in Moab or in country with terrain other than flat unobstructed desert, I would take FRS hands down. You go around a hill, and CBs just die. FRS holds steady one, maybe mile and a half.
I honestly think CBs are the most overrated, underperforming pieces of equipement we carry. I only carry one cause other people do. Hey! I like that logic! |
Bill Bettridge (Billb)
| | Posted on Thursday, February 28, 2002 - 10:57 am: |
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There are lots of FRS choices out there - make sure you get one that has sub-channels - lots of the cheapies do not and it is difficult to get a clear channel sometimes.
Personally I like the Motorolas - I've got a couple and they have been abused and seem very durable. Lost one once on a trail in the snow and found it two days later after it had been driven over a few times. Still worked fine. I use the SLK280
Bill |
Ron Ward (Ronward)
| | Posted on Thursday, February 28, 2002 - 11:32 am: |
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Jason,
I bought a set of FRS radios from LLBean (I think they are Bell units) for $100 or so last year. They are 15 channel, but have no sub-channels and this is why they suck. Last month I was wheeling with my club and using the FRS frequency. Everyone was on channel 15, sub channel 5. I could only tune channel 15, no sub channels. So while I could receive the others, I could not transmit.
I need to replace them anyway since the batteries leaked in both and ruined them.
Ron Ward |
Robbie Donaldson (Robbie)
| | Posted on Thursday, February 28, 2002 - 11:43 am: |
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Anybody used one of the FRS/GMRS units yet? I believe you "need" to have an FCC license in order to use them but they say they have a range of 5 miles. Saw a pair of Cobras for $100 at Best Buy and was wondering if anyone has any experience.
Robbie |
tommy Dougherty
| | Posted on Thursday, February 28, 2002 - 01:23 pm: |
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Hey Jason,
I've got a set of Motorola SLK280's and they work very well and are rugged enough to withstand a 3yr old and a 1.5yr old grabbing them by the antennas and swinging them around and throwing them into a wall. 
I bought them a few yrs back and paid close to $100/ea, but I've seen them for high 50's , low 60's now (new).
-Tommy |
Michael Villanueva (Michael)
| | Posted on Thursday, February 28, 2002 - 04:53 pm: |
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FRS and GMRS use different frequencies, while both are radios, those terms should not be used interchangeably. They are not the same.
GMRS radios have better range -- typically upwards of 5 miles. But they are way mroe expensive than FRS.
You do need an FCC license with GMRS. But it is an expedited license -- fill in a form, send it in, and you are cool. FRS, like CB, requires no license burden. |
Robbie Donaldson (Robbie)
| | Posted on Thursday, February 28, 2002 - 05:13 pm: |
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Oh, I've been looking at the differences, and I actually filled out the FCC license form just for kicks, but the issue I have had is the 2 mile range of the FRS radios. Spend a lot of the summer on a wakeboard boat and usually more than a few miles from home. But they now have radios that work with both these frequencies:
http://www.frsradios.com/talkabout-t6400.html
and I was wondering what people's use/reaction had been to the longer range? Are they just as clear? Better? Is the 5 mile range accurate? Thanks!
Robbie |
Michael Villanueva (Michael)
| | Posted on Thursday, February 28, 2002 - 05:28 pm: |
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Don't like it. If that is your need, getting out a bit in the water, go with the GMRS -- but make sure you get a model that can pump out 2 watts at high power. The swiss army knife on that link you sent seems capped at 1 watt output.
Better yet, just get your ham license and get a real maritime radio! |
ravensjk
| | Posted on Thursday, February 28, 2002 - 06:36 pm: |
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I will definitely get the sub-channels; sounds like a must. As for brands, Motorola seems to be getting some good endorsements, but has anyone used or have an opinion on the Cobra brand? My local Circuit City seems to stock mostly Motorola and Cobra so I will likely choose between those two.
Thanks,
Jason |
Neal Glessner (Nealg)
| | Posted on Thursday, February 28, 2002 - 09:46 pm: |
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The more channels the better. You will be amazed how much traffic there is sometimes. I use my on the ski slopes. I got the mic/speaker combo so I can just leave the radio in my pocket and key the mike on my lapel. |
Groovy Dude
| | Posted on Thursday, February 28, 2002 - 10:12 pm: |
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I`ve been looking at this brand its a UNIDEN. Its a GMRS/FRS. Not sure how good they are but its 2 watts and only 80 bucks a unit at Bass Pro-Shop. It also get the wide band weather and crap.I`ll be useing it for hiking and camping so the weather reports will come oin handy. Heres the link to it.
http://www.uniden.com/product.cfm?product=GMRS480&page=1 |
Groovy Dude
| | Posted on Thursday, February 28, 2002 - 10:15 pm: |
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Heres what features the ABOVE GMRS/FRS radio has.
PRODUCT FEATURE LIST
FCC LICENSE REQUIRED - An FCC license is required to operate the GMRS480
UP TO 5 MILE RANGE
2 WATTS OF POWER
15 CHANNEL GMRS RADIO
8 CHANNEL GMRS/ 7 CHANNELS FRS BAND
TWO-WAY CONVERSATION
38 CTCSS TONE CODES
7 WEATHER FREQUENCIES
TEMPERATURE DISPLAY
5 CALL TONES
VIBRATE ALERT
WATER RESISTANT
10 CHANNEL MEMORY
CHANNEL SCAN
MONITOR MODE
BACKLIT LCD DISPLAY
HOLOGRAPHIC LCD DISPLAY
RECHARGEABLE NIMH BATTERY AND CHARGER INCLUDED
EARSET/MIC INCLUDED
OPTIONAL CAR CHARGER FOR NIMH BATTERY
KEYPAD LOCK
UP TO 50 HOURS OF OPERATION
OPERATING FREQUENCY (UHF 462.5625 TO 467.7125 MHZ)
RUBBER GRIPS/SEAL
Not bad for $80 dollars per unit. |
Groovy Dude
| | Posted on Thursday, February 28, 2002 - 10:19 pm: |
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The $80 Dollar version don`t come with the re-chargeable batt. and charger. That modles like $140 or something like that. Sorry. But i do know that Bass Pro shop has just the hand unit for $80 dollars.. I was looking at them tonight. |
PerroneFord
| | Posted on Thursday, February 28, 2002 - 11:24 pm: |
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Michael, I would argue that you have never witnessed a well setup CB if it is your feeling that they are not superior to FRS over distances. From my home, in my driveway, I can clearly talk to truckers on the highway. This is some 4 miles from my house. I have easily talked to "basecamp" at Land Rover rallys even from 3+ miles away in dense forest.
There are some specifics of setting up CBs that many people don't follow, like making sure 2/3 of the antenna is above the truck for best use, and installing non-performance CBs like those Cobra 75 all-in-the-hand units.
And no flames here. It seems our experiences have simply been vastly different.
-P |
Michael Villanueva (Michael)
| | Posted on Friday, March 01, 2002 - 01:25 am: |
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Perrone
Again: No flames and no set-ups. Here in Albuquerque, New Mexico, where it is relatively flat -- a little hilly at times, you are right: where I live I can talk to truckers whizzing by on I40 -- about three miles away.
Highways, relatively flat, or mildy hilly with trees, yes, I agree: CBs work well. But 20 yards away and have a trcuk go round a canyon wall, like in Moab or in Canyon de Chelly, and they are dead. Useless. Worse than useless: Dangerous cause you have come to count on them.
I have a well set up CB rig -- tuned antenna and what not, and it is great for the highway and ok for a caravan during wheeling -- but any type of serious terrain, and they just plain suck.
You start getting trucks separated by terrain features (not some forest) and they plain do not work as well as FRS, GMRS, or VHF/UHF (in that order). You have increasingly spotty, static, scratchy communciations -- CBs are highly susecptible to a host of shit that does not *as* strongly affect FRS or GMRS communcations. Sunspots, cross-talk, someone with too strong a unit too close (skip overs), no the list goes on.
Crap: Try using a CB over a distance of a couple of miles during an afternoon here in New Mexico: Interference from the sun is such a goddamn pain -- you have your up so high that you really cannot have a coherent conversation with a trucker unless they are practically on your door step.
The same stretch, say at 10pm, or better, 2am, and you can talk for apart to 3-4 miles if not more sometimes clear as a bell.
No, I wil stick to my assertion that they are the most overated and inefficient piece of off- raod equipement that I carry. They are plain unreliable for anything other than line of sight communcations.
while I do use mine nearly daily, and I have fun with it, I would _never_ willingly trust my life to the inherent strengths of a CB -- which is why I have gone to great lengths to ensure my truck has multiple paths to communications.
I have used them close to 25 years now. I know them well, both strengths and weaknesses. |
PerroneFord
| | Posted on Friday, March 01, 2002 - 07:29 am: |
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Ahh... now I understand what you mean! "Terrain featrures" meaning canyon walls and hills/mountians! Makes all the sense in the world. Even though I've not used FRS in those situations, I can understand how it would be better.
Basically we have a geographic difference of opinion. While I wouldn't trust my life to CB OR FRS (that's what 2m is for) it is apparent that where I live CB is a viable alternative to other things, and in your terrain it is not. I don't consider the CB in my terrain to be overrated at all, but I can see how its use in your terrain can become frustrating.
Thanks for clearing this up. Good to have these differences of opinion as now I have learned from you and no one got angry.
-P |
ravensjk
| | Posted on Saturday, March 02, 2002 - 01:12 pm: |
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Thanks for the advice. I researched a bit on the net and found Motorola held in high regard nearly everywhere. Thus, I went to Circuit City yesterday and bought two Motorola Talkabout T5200s. They were only $50 for the pair, but they worked great. They only feature I really *had* to have were the sub-channels and I have no complaints.
Thanks again,
Jason |
Eric N (Grnrvr)
| | Posted on Saturday, March 02, 2002 - 07:04 pm: |
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I was looking around at the FRS/GMRS Motorola's and did find one that was very nice.. It is the T7200 Talkabout.. It's 2 watts as well.. |
Erik Olson (Jon)
| | Posted on Sunday, March 03, 2002 - 09:51 pm: |
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I bought a pair of Fanon (they make bullhorns) FRS Courier radios with all the subchannels, headset jack and quartz tuning for $25 each (shipping included) on e-bay in a dutch auction.
My only complaint is the volume doesn't go quite loud enough and they do not take / use rechargable batteries. I've used them successfully with just about all Motorola radios out there.
I've never used a CB set up that works very well either. I've had systems in-home and car, "tweaked and peaked" and bone-stock and all with tuned antennas. Show me a CB that works nearly as well as even the cheapest FRS system and I'll buy another one.
Erik |
Koby (Koby)
| | Posted on Sunday, March 03, 2002 - 10:20 pm: |
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Groovy Dude
If you're interested in the Uniden radio and want rechargable capability, Amazon.com's got a special that gives $10 off a car charger and a NiMH battery, for a total price of $85 for radio + car charger + NiMH battery |
Eric N (Grnrvr)
| | Posted on Sunday, March 03, 2002 - 10:26 pm: |
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I went out and bought a uniden FRS440 yesterday and used it all day today.. It doesn't have a high enough volume on the unit alone but, if you use the included headset it is pretty damn good.. It also has some OK features like 7 weather bands and an FM radio built in to it.. It wasn't that bad for $40 bucks.. However, I will say that I still like my hand held CB better but, that's probably just because I have used that more. |
Groovy Dude
| | Posted on Sunday, March 03, 2002 - 11:51 pm: |
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Hey Koby, I went to Bass Pro shop the other night and bought 2 Uniden GMRS480 hand units. They cost $79.95 each and came with a 10 hour NiCad Batt, Charger and head set (VOX). Its got a range of 5 miles. I live in Pasadena MD. and we get alot of plane traffic from BWI and not to mention all the houses. SO me and my wife tried it out and in these conditions we get about a 2 mile range before we start to break up. I imagine in the woods off roading and hiking we will get a better range (less crap to punch through). Only down side is the license. We thought it would be a free license but the FCC wants like $ 75.00 per liscence. I`m gonna call them on monday and verify this. I can`t see spending $75.00 for useing a hand held unit. Shit the damn license costs more then the unit..I could see if i`m operating a Ham unit with a 10 foot antenna. These GMRS/FRS units come in handy as my wifes computer is in a diffrent room than mine so we slap on the head set when we are on our computers and communicate through them...beats yelling back and forth. This units great with its 15 GMRS channels and 38 sub channels. But anyway thanks for the heads up. |
Koby (Koby)
| | Posted on Monday, March 04, 2002 - 12:30 am: |
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Thanks man! $75 sounds stiff for a license... Amazon.com says that the license is $45? I can stomach $45, but $75 is steep.
Please keep this thread updated! |
Robbie Donaldson (Robbie)
| | Posted on Monday, March 04, 2002 - 10:44 am: |
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About the GMRS license, I went and filled out the online version and submitted it to the FCC. In the question where it asks you if you are required to pay a fee, I just said no. I couldn't find anywhere on the site that said how much I would owe, so I didn't feel like I was lying or anything. Received my official License on Saturday. Not encouraging others to do the same, and who knows, maybe they will come at me with a bill. We'll see.
Robbie |
Koby (Koby)
| | Posted on Monday, March 04, 2002 - 11:01 am: |
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What's the link to the online application? |
Robbie Donaldson (Robbie)
| | Posted on Monday, March 04, 2002 - 12:25 pm: |
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Here ya go:
https://wtbwww05.fcc.gov/cgi-bin/UlsDataEntry/UlsDataEntry.exe |
Koby (Koby)
| | Posted on Monday, March 04, 2002 - 01:37 pm: |
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Thanks Robbie! |
Groovy Dude
| | Posted on Monday, March 04, 2002 - 03:21 pm: |
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ROBBIE,
I think the question asking if your required to pay a fee is for the UNITS that require a AIR time FEE like a cell phone. The more powerful units that get 6+ miles use locale repeater stations and therfore require you to pay a monthly fee to company "X" and they will grant you accsess to there repeaters or towers. I could be wrong but if you look into the high end professional Motorolas they state they require a air time fee. |
Robbie Donaldson (Robbie)
| | Posted on Tuesday, March 05, 2002 - 09:29 am: |
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Cool, thanks man. I got the license just to use a 5mile range GMRS radio, so the cost shouldn't be an issue then. |
Ali
| | Posted on Thursday, March 07, 2002 - 09:45 pm: |
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Aren't these radios (FRS, CBs, GMRS etc), purely line-of-sight devices? How can one do better than the other when it's a unit to unit communication? CBs put out 4 watts (untweaked) where as the FRS and the GMRS radios have less output. Seems that a well tuned a CB should outperform a hand held FRS or GMRS units. I'm confused...! |
Groovy Dude
| | Posted on Thursday, March 07, 2002 - 10:01 pm: |
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1/2 watt or 2 watts don't really matter. Wattage keeps the signal stronger longer..hehe but won't stop a signal from bounceing. Its the frequency that gives the transmission the true punch. I`m no frequency expert but a longer frequency wave can punch through objects better than a higher frequency. HIgher frequencys tend to bounce off objects more so than a lower frequency. Imagine a small wave (high freaquency) at the beach and how easy that wave breaks around you while your standing (wave bounceing off a object). Now imagine a 7 foot wave (low frequency), The wave will most likely knock you down (punching through an object). FRS, GMRS and CB all work on diffrent frequencys. All wattage does is boosts the signal stronger so its recieved better and clearer. I`m not sure what the set frequencys are for all 3 types but you can check it out at http://www.fcc.gov |
Craig Kobayashi (Koby)
| | Posted on Thursday, March 07, 2002 - 10:23 pm: |
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Groovy Dude-
I just bought two of the Uniden GMRS radios that you picked up. Should be here tomorrow, just in time for our Hollister run on Saturday.
Let me know how your radios work out for you! |
Jeff Anderson (Groovydude)
| | Posted on Thursday, March 07, 2002 - 10:49 pm: |
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KOBY,
SO far so good with the UNIDENS. I live near BWI airport in Maryland and can transmit up to about 2-2.5 miles before break up. Thats not bad considering all the airplane traffic, houses and all the other crap in the way. I havent tested it out Camping yet but i`m sure it will do better since there is less AIR traffic and less LARGE objects to go through. I`ll be buying my First DISCO next weekend (woot woot). So i`m sure if the weather stays nice i'll do a camping trip for the weekend and test the radios and the DII out. I`ll keep ya posted. |
Craig Kobayashi (Koby)
| | Posted on Friday, March 08, 2002 - 03:04 am: |
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Great! Congrats on your decision to get a DSII! I have a 2001 SD and I have not been one bit disappointed. 11K miles already and not a single complaint!
It doesn't look like I'll get a chance to use the radios this weekend, as everyone going has CBs, but I will play with them as soon as I get a chance! |
Anonymous
| | Posted on Wednesday, March 27, 2002 - 12:27 am: |
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IMHO CB's are most often under rated because the antenna system is crap and just stuck anywhere to get a wire in the air. When I was 4wheeling in the Darian gap many years ago our CB's worked fine through the jungle and often the club was spread out across a couple of river crossings and several hills. Once, due to some pretty unusual atmospheric conditions, we had a member skiping and talking to a guy claiming to be in the US. While I doubt that's possible it was a fun experience. With a solid antenna system well installed CB's are just fine and even a cheap radio will work well across several miles. I'm using a $15 Goodwill special (radio Shack) CB and regularly communicate with truckers on the highway over 3-5 miles and occasionally further. One of these days I'll put in a SSB. Put some thought into your antenna system |
PerroneFord
| | Posted on Wednesday, March 27, 2002 - 12:58 am: |
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I don't doubt he was talking to someone in the US. I regularly get skip traffic on channel 6 from Vegas and LA, and I am in Florida. I've also gotten skip on 11 from Panama City which is a good 150 miles from me.
-P |
Craig Kobayashi (Koby)
| | Posted on Wednesday, March 27, 2002 - 01:16 am: |
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Me too on the skip traffic. I've gotten skip traffic from Salt Lake City in Southern California, the night I installed the CB in my old 'Zuki. Confused the hell out of me at first... |
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