2 way radios.

Discussion in 'General Discussion' started by jafo, Apr 4, 2020.

  1. jafo

    jafo Member

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    i want to buy a couple of radios for my wife to keep track of the boys when they are in the woods behind the house. I was reading up on it and was going to buy some motorola 260s but they look like they are only .5 watt for FRS channels. What I'd like is a radio that's FRS only, automatically uses max watts on whatever channel its set to although configurable would be an option as well. Any suggestions? User friendly is key. :)
     
  2. TerryD

    TerryD Member

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    So older radios are limited to 0.5W on the lower channels to help prevent interference since it's a non-licensed service. Newer ones are 2w now.

    You can spring for the GMRS license that gets you higher power plus its good for the whole family.

    Here's the info on it:

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Mobile_Radio_Service?wprov=sfla1

    Midland makes several inexpensive radios for this and you could buy one of the 15W units to set up a base station in the house that will receive better and have more power to reach out with.
     
  3. Jeff Randall

    Jeff Randall ESEE Knives / Randall's Adventure & Training Staff Member

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    I'd also look into MURS
     
  4. Wisdom

    Wisdom Member

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    The Dakota murs base station with sensors and radio is an awesome package. A little pricey, but works great. Your wife could use the base station at home and the sensors work out to a mile or so. If you have a long driveway these come in handy. Get the radios for the kids and your set. Less traffic on MuRs typically.
     
  5. jafo

    jafo Member

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    there are a lot of options for this. I found a snowboard forum that said they were having results on par with murs using 2 watt frs radios. I wound up getting a pair of 2 watt frs only dewalt radios for now. 65 bucks and if they stink I can regift them to my brother in law. Going to also get a set of gmrs radios, the knock on those is that I read you have to ID yourself with your call sign when using them but with privacy channels selected that seems suspect.
     
  6. TerryD

    TerryD Member

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    Privacy channels are a joke. You can receive any transmission with them off but only those with the proper tone with it on.

    It's more about limiting what YOU hear than keeping others from hearing you.
     
  7. jafo

    jafo Member

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    these came in and work well. clear communications through the woods but we've only tested them to about a little over half a mile so far. Hopefully heading out for a hike in a bit to test it a little further from home.
     
    Jeff Randall likes this.

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