Who has used the 2 way radios?

[DiveLeader]

There seems to be some confusion here over the two way radios, so I thought I'd better clarify.

In America you have FRS and GMRS. For the purposes of my explanation I'll concentrate on FRS.

FRS has 14 channels. These are on set frequencies in the region of 462MHz and 467MHz (actually 462.5625MHz to 462.7125MHz and 467.5625MHz to 467.7125MHz). I must be clear on this there are ONLY 14 frequencies available. There are NOT 532 total channels as an earlier post said.

"Subchannels" that are referred to is actually marketing speak for CTCSS tones. To call them subchannels is actually deliberatly misleading - although apparently common practice.

CTCSS - Continuous Tone Coded Squelch System. This is like a mains hum on the modulation, a constant musical note... almost as if someone is standing by you humming as you talk. The receiver can be set to only open its squelch if this tone is received. Using CTCSS a channel can be shared by many different groups each with their own tone, and each group would not be affected by the others. Transmit with a different tone and another set's receiver will stay quiet unless you change its tone setting to match.

Just to be absolutely clear - you are STILL using the same frequency. Even if you use a "subchannel" a radio without that capability, or with it turned of will receive everyone on that frequency. If someone transmits at the same time as you, you will still interfere with them.


While I'm on the topic - a couple of other points.

Europe has a similar system to FRS, called PMR446. Only 8 channels are available, and each of these is on a different frequency to FRS. If you buy a 2 way radio in Europe, it is not legal in the US. The frequencies are within the Amateur band, so you will be found out (presuming Orlando has radio hams).

Another poster asked about range. Well here's some estimates for PMR446 (borrowed from another web site). I would think FRS is likely to be similar :-

Really trying (!) : miles
High altitude, line of sight 125 or more
Freak conditions past the horizon 100 or more?
Normal use, ground level :
Outside, clear flat terrain 1.5 - 3
Suburban neighborhoods 1 - 1.5
Urban areas & car to car 0.5 - 1
Inside buildings 0.5 or 5 floors
Between buildings 0.12- 0.5 (1/8 - 1/2)
Woodlands, level, moderate vegetation 1 - 1.5
Woodlands, hilly, thick vegetation 0.25- 1

 

[Bear Necessities]

for all your information, DiveLeader!! There is way more to the radios than meets the eye. Almost too much LOL

 

[markm0926]

the two way radios were one of the best investments we've ever made for our vacations. i just can't think of any reason not to have them.

 

[DiveLeader]

Originally posted by markm0926
the two way radios were one of the best investments we've ever made for our vacations. i just can't think of any reason not to have them.

I'm sure they are. I wasn't trying to suggest otherwise. All I was doing was clarifying the reality for so called "subchannels".

We (me, DW, DD, DS, and DS) have just returned from a nearly 3 week trip to WDW over Christmas and New Year. We bought some FRS radios while we were out there. In actual use we only seemed to be able to talk within a land at MK (as a guide to practical range) - although we did hear people quite happily talking from Splash Mountain to Fantasy Land - not sure if they're FRS were better than ours, or they were GMRS and outputting more power.

I'm not sure in practice how much use they would be in the UK - even if they were legal here. I guess generally we use cell phones. From what I can gather Cell Phones are more widely used in Europe than in America. Talking to an American colleague when I was over in Charlotte a couple of years ago, America was still using analogue phones a lot, rather than GSM. Talking to people on this trip, coverage is still patchy. Do you all agree ?

By the By - why DOES America have a different GSM frequency to the rest of the world for cell phones ?

 

[twotime]

I bought a pair Cobra FRS over Christmas and extremely disappointed with the range. So I bought a couple of Motorola FRS. This was no better. The reason I was dissapointed was that I was transmitting inside my house to my son who was only two city blocks down the street when the signal broke up. I used these motorolas during my last ski trip and was extremely please with the range. I guess the moral of the story is FRS does not work inside buildings.

My question is how do most of you use these radios in the park? Do you scatter around the park without knowing where each one is going? I figure you have a 50% chance been inside as well as outside. Are you groups relatively close (ie within the same "land"). Can anyone give some examples of how far your groups were when you have a good signal.

I'm worry I will rely too much on these radio if my parties go beyond range. Then we really will get lost.

Thanks for any input.

 

[DiveLeader]

We still arranged to meet at a certain place and approximate time, as we found the Audiovox FRS radios we'd got only worked within a land, especially with so many people using them the channels get rather crowded (and we didn't have CTCSS).

As we didn't have CTCSS we tended to turn off the radios off, except around the time we were supposed to get together.

Like I said above, I did hear others using it quite happily with a longer range - but as all FRS radios are nominally the same power, I'm not sure what they were using (maybe the higher power GMRS radios that you need a license for).

Personally I wouldn't rely on the radios totally, just use them to help - say arrange to be in a particular land around a certain time.

 

[Nathan's Grandma]

We are taking radios in July when we go to use at the resort and our cell phones in the park.

At the motel we will need the short-range radio but if one of the groups goes to Disney and the other to Epcot we would have to worry about the range. With all of us having free long distance it will be much easier to meet up when we need to.

Kathy