Family Radio Service (FRS) Used by family, friends, and associates to communicate within a
neighborhood and while on group outings and generally has a communication range of less
than one mile.
General Mobile Radio Service (GMRS) Available to an individual for two-way voice communication
service to facilitate the activities of the individual's intermediate family members Limited to 5
watts max output and requires a license (easy to get, good for 5 years). Most available units are
currently limited 2 watts.
There are now available combo FRS/GMRS. Generally most FRS units are of the 500mw or 1/2 watt
variety some boast a whopping 1 watt. Considering that the FRS/GMRS frequency is
462.5/467.7MHZ....your in the "line of sight" spectrum and terrain will have an impact. I currently
use the older 500 mw 47mhz units and have been able to converse with the ride leader while I sweep
the rear. The best performance I have had was about 2 miles on flat terrain with fresh 9 volts. The
original use for these was to keep in contact with my wife while I was down on the boat. Helpful
also in a Wal/Mart. If you ever have a group of Scouts or Mentorees on an outing I believe a set or
two of the FRS/GMRS radios would be invaluable in keeping track of your group.
Jude....///Bacchetta AERO St. Michaels and Tilghman Island.. Maryland Wheel Doctor Cycle and Sports,
Inc 1-800-586-6645 "Ren Hoek" <
[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> "Jude T. McGloin" <
[email protected]> wrote in message
>
news:[email protected]...
> > My guess is the the FRS radios with the 2mi range are being
replaced
> > by the slightly more powerful new 5 milers. The longer range ones are
> priced
> > at what the now bargain priced 2 milers were when first introduced. My thought is that I would
> > prefer the added range.
> >
>
> Most of the "5-mile range" is no more than marketing hype - save your
money.
> These cheap GMRS radios generally don't have enough additional power to
get
> anywhere near 5 miles - even the pricey Motorola T7200. Most of them have the same output power as
> their sibling FRS radios, just the additional channels. Also, the ones that do put out a little
> more power suffer from horrible battery life (go figure!).
>
> If you're interested in learning more, go wander through the GMRS Forum on Popular Wireless
> Mag's site:
>
http://www.popularwireless.com/cgi-bin/forumdisplay.cgi?action=topics&forum=
> General+Mobile+Radio+Service+Forum&number=1
>
> You can get "real" 2-4Watt radios that'll work great - just not at Wal*Mart/Best Buy/etc...
>
> And by all means, if you do decide that GMRS is for you, make sure you
stay
> legal and get the FCC license ($75/5years covers your entire family
(except
> cousins...)) Please don't contribute to ruining a good thing.
>
> That reminds me, MURS is another option that, like FRS, doesn't require an FCC license. You can
> find more about it at that same site:
http://www.popularwireless.com/cgi-bin/Ultimate.cgi
>
> -RenHoek