Walkie-Talkies

[cookiend15]

Hello fellow scanners. I'am looking for some help with a question on family radios. Below is the criteria that I'am looking for.

(1) Must have atleast a 5-mile range.
(2) Must have good battery life, atleast 6 hours.
(3) I DO NOT want to get a pair of family walkie-talkies that require me to get an FCC license to use them.
(4) Must have the regular channels with the privacy channels.

I looked on RS's website and all the walkie-talkies I found there according to the customer feedback had very poor battery life, in some cases less than 2 hours of use.

I have a set of Uniden 2-mile walkie-talkies right now. The battery life is fairly good, however the range is not so good. I use them when I go fishing with my father, brother and a friend. The lake is 3-miles long, however my friend and I cant even hear my father and brother when we are roughly 1-mile apart on a wide open lake. I know that terrain plays a facter in range, but my god were on an open lake. I can see my father and brother with binoculars a mile away I just cant radio to them. Can anyone help.

Thanks.

 

[SkipSanders]

Sorry, no such animal exists. The 'range claims' on the GMRS radio bubble packs are pure lies. You will get reliable range from HT to HT of more than 2 miles ONLY if one or both is standing on a hilltop for more antenna height.

No license means 1/2 watt FRS channels. Best range you can even hope for, 1/2 to 3/4 mile in built up areas with homes and trees and suchlike. Maybe 1 to 1 1/2 miles in open country with clear line of sight. Sometimes, if everything is right, 2 miles.

Radios sitting on your belt are not going to receive well, your body absorbs/blocks the signal. Same for radio left lying in a boat.

The 'bubble packs' are generally not all that good a receiver, though they're usually not TOO bad. As always, you get what you pay for. Inexpensive radio = cheaply made radio.

You can get a GMRS license (only one person in the family needs one) and buy REAL GMRS radios, such as the ICOM handie-talkies, with honest to gosh real, quality receivers in them, and probably do fine in your stated conditions.

You could try MURS radios (Google for sources) which are VHF license free, though they'll probably be heavily congested in any city area.

There's a new type of radio supposed to show up shortly, 900 MHz spread spectrum 1 watt units, that might also be useful (no license needed), but until they're actually available, can't say how well they'll work. Motorola will lighten your wallet to negative values for their version of this, which is already available, but the 'eXRS' versions are supposed to be much less expensive.

 

[trixwagen]

Every time I use my cell phone to call another cell phone a few miles away, I too wish I had the amazing license free five mile range walkie talkie.

 

[Raven95150]

Nextel...thats about the only thing I know of that has at least a 5 mile range, long battery life, privacy, and doesnt require an FCC license.

 

[DaveH]

Hello fellow scanners. I'am looking for some help with a question on family radios. Below is the criteria that I'am looking for.

(1) Must have atleast a 5-mile range.
(2) Must have good battery life, atleast 6 hours.
(3) I DO NOT want to get a pair of family walkie-talkies that require me to get an FCC license to use them.
(4) Must have the regular channels with the privacy channels.

I looked on RS's website and all the walkie-talkies I found there according to the customer feedback had very poor battery life, in some cases less than 2 hours of use.

I have a set of Uniden 2-mile walkie-talkies right now. The battery life is fairly good, however the range is not so good. I use them when I go fishing with my father, brother and a friend. The lake is 3-miles long, however my friend and I cant even hear my father and brother when we are roughly 1-mile apart on a wide open lake. I know that terrain plays a facter in range, but my god were on an open lake. I can see my father and brother with binoculars a mile away I just cant radio to them. Can anyone help.

Thanks.

Too bad in a way you're on the U.S. side, otherwise could use the Canadian
"GMRS" which allows up to 2W radios without a license (actually it's "licence
by rule", you still have to follow regs). Vendor range claims are largely bogus,
as has been said before, on both sides of the border. My favourite is the
"40km" (25mi) range claimed by some new Moto model...but at least they
state it's for mountain to valley situations (right.....), and rate less optimal
environments accordingly.

Sounds like MURS might be worth a try. It may not be as bad as someone
is suggesting...I have the impression that MURS didn't take off as big as hoped
and may well be lightly used in your area. Go to gmsweb.com for further
info. If anything the radios might be a bit harder for find, but i recall seeing
Maxon radios on that site adverstised for $66 each.

As far as battery life, a lot of these cheapies are powered by four (or
three!) AAA cells, which is not condusive to long operating time. I tend
to FRS/"GMRS" units that use 3 or 4 AA cells. Size and weight are
a factor.

DAve

 

[cookiend15]

Nextel...thats about the only thing I know of that has at least a 5 mile range, long battery life, privacy, and doesnt require an FCC license.

Fellow scanner. I have thought of that, however were I go fishing there is absolutely NO cell phone service at all and I mean NONE.

Thanks for the help.

 

[N467RX]

Because it's for serious use, you should try MURS, radios are slightly more expensive, but you are using professional grade radios, and of course, they are bigger and heavier.
You could also apply for a GMRS license and get professional grade radios that will work even better.

 

[DPD1]

I don't think you'll be able to get the '5 miles no matter what' range with any consumer FRS/GMRS. But you should be able to do better than 1 mile on a lake. Maybe try the slightly higher power FRS/GMRS in a decent brand like Motorola. Yes, you'd have to get the license, but it's not that big a deal. Give them a try and you might be able to go the 3 miles on the lake. But through any obstructions, forget it. If it doesn't work on the lake, you can just take them back. Obstructions are always the limiting factor, but... I've done about 17 miles in very good LOS conditions with just the FRS. So in decent LOS conditions, you should be able to do better than a mile with the higher power consumer FRS/GMRS. I think the ones you have aren't so good.

Dave
http://www.dpdproductions.com
Makers of Custom: Scanner, Aviation, MURS, GMRS & Ham Antennas

 

[rescuecomm]

"IF" and this is a big IF, you are "only" going to use them while fishing in boats. You can buy a pair of marine VHF walkie talkies. These will go up to five watts and usually have a fairly good antenna. Using them on land is a FCC violation with a pretty stiff fine.

Bob

 

[kc8gpd]

Couple of low power (2 Watt) Saber I's on MURS cheap too. less than 100 bucks each on ebay. $600.00 gets you a gang charger and 6 radios and their built to military spec's.

 

[k9rzz]

You could do it easily with a pair of CB's. 4 watts and a little mag mount antenna on the boat. No problem.

 

[lowboy654]

You could do it easily with a pair of CB's. 4 watts and a little mag mount antenna on the boat. No problem.

I believe you just hit the nail on the head

 

[Patrick_]

You could do it easily with a pair of CB's. 4 watts and a little mag mount antenna on the boat. No problem.

You beat me to the punch.

One thing... can you have privacy (legally?) on CB?

 

[N467RX]

Well, if he's in the middle of nowhere, unless squirrels have CB's, I'm sure he will have.

No radio service has privacy unless encrypted.

 

[N4JNW]

On water, range of the little GMRS talkies will be greatly extended. Last summer, me and a buddy of mine went out on his aunt and uncle's jet skis. They had a pair of waterproof Motorola's and we took them and could talk several miles wth them...

 

[cookiend15]

Thank You

Fellow scanners. Thank you all for your help. I do like the idea of using a CB for communications, however I was just wondering how should I get power to the CB. When we go to the lake we always rent there motor boats for the day we do not bring our own boats. I do have a CB stored away that I used years ago, I would just have to purchase another one for the second boat. Any ideas on how to power the CB while on the lake.

 

[N467RX]

Is it a mobile CB?

 

[cookiend15]

Cb

Is it a mobile CB?

Fellow scanner it is a CB that has the red and black wires that come out of it and a spot to hook in the co-ax cable from the antenna. I used to hook it up in my car, hooking the red wire to a fuse in the fuse box and hooking the black wire to the cigarette lighter. I was just wondering how I would get power to the CB while out in the boat. As I said before we rent the boats and they have no battery to hook onto for power. Any suggestions because I'am really liking the idea of using CB's.

 

[bwhite]

CBs are available as walkie talkies up to 4-5 watts. They have their own power.

 

[mcema699]

Power to the CB

Buy one of those 12volt emergency jump start boxes and make sure its charged up before you start out.

Or Walmart (at least) have had a cb wt that had a place for batteries or slip on adapter with cig plug. Since you have to buy a second radio.

RS cb wt probably has a place for 12v adapter also.

Are the fishing sites so good you don't want anyone to know?