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Frs car to car range

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wallmanjim

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Good morning,

I looked around the Forum and did not see this covered.

What would be a range guess for 2 FRS radios car to car in a carivan?

Thank You for your help.

Jim
 

Kermee

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Good morning,

I looked around the Forum and did not see this covered.

What would be a range guess for 2 FRS radios car to car in a carivan?

Thank You for your help.

Jim

If you're using the "bubble-pack" radios, FRS (500mW), my experiences has been it's extremely LOS because you're radiating antenna is inside a metal vehicle which attenuates quite a bit. -- Same with receiving a signal.

1/4 mile it's still pretty good. 1/2 mile, barely copyable. 1 mile... Can't even break squelch.

However, pun intended, your mileage will vary but that has been my experience using Motorola bubble-packs.

Cheers,
Kermee
 

Citywide173

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MURS would probably be a better option. No antenna limitations would allow you to put a mag mount on it.
 

wtp

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personal best

here in flatland (florida) i used to use frs with a friend. we left work and would travel the same highway. we would call out mile markers. the best was when we were on two overpasses and made 3 miles. we could barely talk for a couple of seconds. the normal was about 1 mile with no obstructions.
 

ke6gcv

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MURS is good. Not as common as FRS, but slowly coming up. Not saying they don't exist, I haven't seen any Over-the-counter bubble-packs for MURS. (Haven't dug around, honestly.)

Still, I would recommend an external antenna. Using a handheld in a vehicle there will be signal blockage. You won't be able to reach out as far, but definitely would have greater range than FRS for sure.
 

KD8DVR

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MURS is good. Not as common as FRS, but slowly coming up. Not saying they don't exist, I haven't seen any Over-the-counter bubble-packs for MURS. (Haven't dug around, honestly.)

Still, I would recommend an external antenna. Using a handheld in a vehicle there will be signal blockage. You won't be able to reach out as far, but definitely would have greater range than FRS for sure.

VHF inside a car would be worse than FRS, since the VHF signal wouldn't bounce around for a clear path. Of course an external antenna, legal for MURS would solve the problem.
 

Citywide173

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Just another handy tip. There's nothing preventing you from legally monitoring FRS with a radio with better receiver and external antenna. You can TX with the FRS and monitor on something else.

Given the power output of FRS, you could almost go into a quasi full duplex with this.
 

rapidcharger

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VHF inside a car would be worse than FRS, since the VHF signal wouldn't bounce around for a clear path. Of course an external antenna, legal for MURS would solve the problem.


In my experience I've done better in a car with vhf duckie style one watt commercial portable than with frs radios in a car or even uhf one wstt portables. Not that either would be great. Four wstt uhf would probably come out on top but I'd take two watts on vhf with decent murs radios than with frs but that's me.

It's not just about how well they talk, it's also important how well they receive.

Sent from my iPad Air using The Uncarrier.
 
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KB7MIB

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Given the power output of FRS, you could almost go into a quasi full duplex with this.

If there was only two vehicles, and both used two radios (1 FRS handheld & 1 scanner with an external antenna) you probably could. Vehicle A could be transmitting on ch 8 and listening on ch 14. Vehicle B could be transmitting on ch 14, and listening on ch 8.
I don't believe this would violate any rule sections.

If you can find them, the old mobile FRS radios from Radio Shack should give you some decent range. They put the transceiver in the magmount, and attached the 1/4 wave antenna on top of that, and the cable led down to the controls in the speaker-mic. The cable also split off to plug into your 12 volt outlet. (The thickness of the cable requires you to route it through a slightly open window, and that can introduce objectional wind noise
at highway speeds, not to mention rain/snow/heat/cold depending on the time of the year, and current weather conditions. I've used one in a pickup for a couple of AZ-to-MT and back roadtrips in '02 and '04, routing the cable through the split sliding rear window. If any rain water traveled down the cable, it either got wicked off onto the top of the bench seat, or continued down the cable behind the seat and dripped onto the floor under the seat. I wasn't worried about either. I was running 3 cables: the mobile FRS, a CB magmount for a handheld CB, and a 2m/70cm magmount for a TM-D700A. There wasn't much activity on any of them.)

John
Peoria, AZ
 

mrweather

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I always thought that Radio Shack FRS was a clever way around the rules. The antenna isn't detachable from the radio. You're just using really long mic and power cables! :)
 

tj20

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If there was only two vehicles, and both used two radios (1 FRS handheld & 1 scanner with an external antenna) you probably could. Vehicle A could be transmitting on ch 8 and listening on ch 14. Vehicle B could be transmitting on ch 14, and listening on ch 8.
I don't believe this would violate any rule sections.

If you can find them, the old mobile FRS radios from Radio Shack should give you some decent range. They put the transceiver in the magmount, and attached the 1/4 wave antenna on top of that, and the cable led down to the controls in the speaker-mic. The cable also split off to plug into your 12 volt outlet. (The thickness of the cable requires you to route it through a slightly open window, and that can introduce objectional wind noise
at highway speeds, not to mention rain/snow/heat/cold depending on the time of the year, and current weather conditions. I've used one in a pickup for a couple of AZ-to-MT and back roadtrips in '02 and '04, routing the cable through the split sliding rear window. If any rain water traveled down the cable, it either got wicked off onto the top of the bench seat, or continued down the cable behind the seat and dripped onto the floor under the seat. I wasn't worried about either. I was running 3 cables: the mobile FRS, a CB magmount for a handheld CB, and a 2m/70cm magmount for a TM-D700A. There wasn't much activity on any of them.)

John
Peoria, AZ


I bought several of those rat shack radios (21-1850) with the antenna on the roof from eBay. Some of them still in the box. The only thing you have to worry about, some of the wires as they get old the outer covering peals away and leaves the wires exposed. Also the radio only goes to ch 14 and only analog pl so every radio will have to adjust to that.

Radio Shack 21 1850 14 Channel Mobile Marine FRS Radio in Box | eBay
 

johnls7424

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Considering FRS bubble packs are 1/2 a watt and your transmitting from inside a car to another person inside a car. A 1/4 mile range is probably about the max. Your better going for a 2 watt MURS radio on the VHF.
 

Project25_MASTR

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I'm just throwing in my opinons/views (not that one option is better than another).

The limits for FRS>>>FRS have already been discussed so no need to go into that further.

No matter what band, most mag mount antenna (CB/VHF/UHF) setups run around $35.

My fist suggestion for mobile>>mobile would be CB as there are some compact Midland and Cobra radios that can be had for around $30 new. Basic mobile setup would provide 3+ miles or so.

If a portable option is needed. I would suggest one party acquiring a GMRS license, that little mobile from Midland and a 5/8 over 5/8 wave UHF antenna to use with it. The other party gets a bubble pack radio and you stay on the shared channels (which that Midland mobile does feature).

MURS is a great option. However, the radios run between $100 and $200 a piece so it may or may not be an option.
 
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