Two way radios

[outahere]

I know I've seen several threads about two way radios on the ships, but I can't seem to find any thread that mentions specific manufacturers or models.

Does anyone have any experience (good or bad) using two way radios on either DCL ship?

Before this thread goes in the wrong direction.......... I know some people find these radios annoying, and I don't approve of their mis-use either. Our DS will be 11 on the eastbound repo cruise and wants the freedom of being able to sign himself in/out of the lab, and I want to be able to keep tabs on him.

Thanks.........

 

[inkkognito]

Whichever brand you get, make sure you get the kind that "lock" you onto your own set of radios and that block others from hearing your transmissions, especially if you will be using them to set up a meeting with a child. It's nice to think that a cruise ship is a safe place, but don't take the chance. Ours have those features and about a zillion subchannels as well. If you get the ones with only a few channels, you'll run into "channel rage," with people who feel they own certain numbers. Also, be aware that with all the metal on the ship, you probably won't get anywhere near the stated range.
Barb

 

[Cruise04]

I agree with Barb about the ones that you can lock and have multiple subcodes that you can choose. That helped us tremendously. The places that I found that they didn't work the best was in the internet cafe and in Animator's Palate. Those were the two spots that we found were the worst. Otherwise, they were great - oh and the elevators. We let dd have one and we had one with us whenever we were separated and they were great. She was 13 when we did our cruise and it was nice for when she was coming back from Common Ground. She would beep me so I knew she was on her way to the room and I knew about how long it should take her. Gave ME some extra comfort.

 

[tvguy]

Whichever brand you get, make sure you get the kind that "lock" you onto your own set of radios and that block others from hearing your transmissions, especially if you will be using them to set up a meeting with a child. It's nice to think that a cruise ship is a safe place, but don't take the chance. Ours have those features and about a zillion subchannels as well. If you get the ones with only a few channels, you'll run into "channel rage," with people who feel they own certain numbers. Also, be aware that with all the metal on the ship, you probably won't get anywhere near the stated range.
Barb

Well, not exactly a zillion subchannels. Family radios have just 14 channels*. They use tones (and there may be a zillion tone combinations) to keep the speaker (squelch is the official term ) off unless it "hears" the tone it is tuned to. They have a range of 1 mile, line of sight, less around a lot of metal. However your message may or may not get out in a heavy use area just because there are only 14 channels and there often others transmitting on the same channel as you.
So, take them, but don't COUNT on them on the ship.
We have a pair that we took to Disneyland, all 14 channels were always jammed up, so we left them in the hotel. I finally broke down and joined this century and got everyone cell phones, so next month's trip to Disneyland will be easier. But that's not an option on the ship since cell phones are useless there.

*http://wireless.fcc.gov/services/personal/family/

 

[geffric]

We used them on the spring break 2004 cruise and were very surprized that they worked really well. We bought the Motorola Mickey ones not sure of the specific model number..

 

[Mike_in_FL]

Motorola has two radios that have the feature inkkognito is referring to, where people cannot listen in to your conversations (the signal is scrambled before transmission, and descrambled by the other radio as long as it is set correctly). These are the T5920 and the T7200, and most family radios do not have this feature. Note that the codes are there to prevent you from having to listen to other people's chatter; they do not prevent someone from listening to you if they want to. Of course, even the scrambling is not guaranteed protection.

The radios referred to above are FRS/GMRS radios with 22 channels and a large number of codes (99 in the T5920), so you have better odds of finding a combination that is not in use. TVguy is correct in that FRS (Family Radio Service) radios have only 14 channels, but the addition of GMRS (General Mobile Radio Service) brings the total to 22. The drawback is that you need a radio license from the FCC, although that is not a big deal (except of course that they will charge you a fee ). The advantages of GMRS are more channels and higher power (meaning greater range).

I should also mention that family radios are licensed for use in the US only.

Hope this helps!
Mike

 

[minniemoms]

Mike-- does that mean you can't use them in Mexico on the up coming cruise?

 

[Mike_in_FL]

Mike-- does that mean you can't use them in Mexico on the up coming cruise?

minniemoms,
I don't have any info handy on specific countries, but it is most probable that it would not be legal to operate them in Mexico. The specific frequencies used by the family radios have been set aside in the US for this purpose. While some other countries now also have their own version of family radio service, in general they do not use those same frequencies (and they may in fact already be in use by the local police, fire department, taxi companies etc).
Hope this helps,
Mike