Walkie Talkies

[grace12499]

Do these really work on the ship? I have a pair that are rated for 5 miles and have multiple channels. They work good oudoors but have never had a chance to use them in a building or a ship. Any suggestions?

 

[clh2]

Family radios are a must - IMHO. We have the Motorola Talk-abouts, and used them on the ship. We have 14 different channels - and something that scrambles things - so we didn't have a problem with us getting other people's signals. And we are always very conscientious about what we say on them as well. Particularly, we never wanted DD giving her location if she was alone.

I also carried the pager form the clubs. There seemed to be about a 10 minute lapse from when she paged us to when we got the page. We much preferred the FR's instead.

Sometimes the reception is not the best, however, if we knew someone was trying to get ahold of someone else in our family - we would all just head back to the room and discuss "whatever" live.

 

[ksumom]

Would 2 mile walkie talkies work?

 

[MarkRG]

Some notes about the walkie talkies.

- The ship is made of metal. That will cut down heavily on the reception range. Also keep in mind the ship is long, so if you're at the adult pool on Deck 9(which is forward), and your cabin is aft on deck 5, you're not going to have very good reception, distance is distance, vertical or horizontal. Translation: the 2 milers have iffy range, the 5 mile ones will work better.

- Subchannels, subchannels, subchannels. Do not, under any circumstances get or bring ones that do not have this feature, or all you will hear is everyone who has one on the ship talking at once. Learn how to set the channel and subchannel, as you may need to switch them to find a combination that isn't too busy. Now what I mean by this; no you won't hear other people talking, but they are still broadcasting on the same channel as you, the subchannel just sets it up so you only hear from other radios set to the same subchannel.

- There are a lot of places those radios are disturbing; use them with courtesy for others, places like at dinner or the shows are a big no-no for them. Just during the day for them is fine in most places.

 

[tvguy]

I have a pair and didn't both taking them after my experience with them at Disneyland. Even with the tones to block out other transmissions, there were just too many people trying to use the same 14 channels. I think the metal in the ship would make them almost useless anyway.

 

[HooKooDooKu]

I've got both the 2 mile and 5 mile walkie talkies, and I can tell you that the 5 mile is really just a marketing lie.

If you look into the specifications, the 2 mile radios transmit with 0.5 watts, and the 5 mile radios transmit with 1.0 watts. But the real world reality is that this double power only gains you about 25% better performance. (Remember, to get this marketing claims, they test the walkie talkies in optimum conditions with ZERO obstructions.

Additionally, at least in the U.S., the 5 mile walkie talkies require an FCC license (other wise, you are using them illegally, the chances of you getting caught is a different mater). The license, which is only valid for adults, cost $75 per family.

 

[tkd lisa]

We took a pair of 2 mile ones on our two cruises. They aren't the greatest on the ship due to the metal that Mark mentioned. They will work fine if you're on the same deck though (think about people at various pools, and visiting the buffet). The other place they are great is at Castaway Cay. We used code names to be sure we were really talking to each other. There are an awful lot of Moms and Dads out there you know!! Anyone listening on our channel at CC would have been laughing hysterically. The conversation went something like this "Big Daddy to Spiny Lobster (that was me), come in spiny lobster". "Spiny Lobster here. I'm across from the heads up bar under a blue umbrella". "Big Daddy to Spiny Lobster. Do you know how many blue umbrellas there are?" I think he actually found me because he could hear the radio!

Short answer is don't bet your life on them, but they don't take up that much space. If you already have a pair, I'd bring them. If you're going to buy a pair, see if you can try them out around the store first (lots of metal in most of those stores, so you might get a fair idea of the performance).

Good luck!

 

[NYDisneyMom]

Okay...how cool is this? I bought a new phone system for home a few weeks ago. Got it at Costco, three cordless phones, one base, etc. Anyway...I didn't even realize these phones have something called "Direct Link". They work like walkie talkies only without annoying everyone around you!! Basically you just punch in which phone you want to call and it rings like a regular phone, you answer and talk like on a normal phone! I'm taking them on the ship with us so my husband and I can keep in touch. Pretty cool! Oh..they're made by Uniden.

 

[MarkRG]

Make sure to bring the base unit along, as it is managing the link between phones.

 

[NYDisneyMom]

Originally posted by MarkRG
Make sure to bring the base unit along, as it is managing the link between phones.

I don't think I need to bring the base unit. I just need to bring the unit chargers. I've tried them out at the mall, no where near the base unit. I'll read the manual and make sure, though.