Using 2-ways On Cruise Ships

[Ray_Air]

The first cruise I went on we used some 2-watt Midland FRS/GMRS radios and they were OK. The second cruise I went on I brought along a couple of 4 watt UHF Motorola Visar's and they only got a few decks of penetration. Maybe it's because the ships were different? This year I am going to bring those new Motorola DTR digital 900mhz radios and see how those work. See, they only transmit at 1 watt, but they use spread spectrum which may help. I am real curious about how they will perform on a large cruise ship. Anyone else have experience with using radios on cruise ships that they would like to share?

[RayK]

You have to under stand your in a steel maze ,so any radio would be a problem. It would be interesting how these radios work out, let us know and good luck,Ray

[bwhite]

We had no complaint with basic FMRS 1/2 watt radios using a privacy code 2 summers back. The ship was nearly 1000 feet long, I can't recall a situation where there was no contact. As I've mentioned before, the basic 1/2 watt radios have always offered more than I expected. The big disappointment is when I upgraded to higher power FMRS/GMRS units, no matter how much power the additional mileage under side-by-side conditions (including 4th floor ocean condo to "down the beach") generated extremely little additional mileage. I'd just love to know where the mileage claims come from.

[N_Jay]

Originally Posted by bwhite

We had no complaint with basic FMRS 1/2 watt radios using a privacy code 2 summers back. The ship was nearly 1000 feet long, I can't recall a situation where there was no contact. As I've mentioned before, the basic 1/2 watt radios have always offered more than I expected. The big disappointment is when I upgraded to higher power FMRS/GMRS units, no matter how much power the additional mileage under side-by-side conditions (including 4th floor ocean condo to "down the beach") generated extremely little additional mileage. I'd just love to know where the mileage claims come from.

What channel were you on?

If it is a FRS channel then you are back to 1/2 watt.

Edit: Ooops forgot to answer your question.

The mileage claims come from a meeting between Marketing and Engineering, where Marketing asks how far the radios will go, engineering provides an answer marketing does not understand, and the discussion continues until Marketing is confused enough to use the ridiculous number they wanted to in the first place, or the engineers give up and say "write what you want, we have real work to do!"

[bwhite]

Ch 7 Privacy 8. They were FMRS, the first radios I bought & before they added the GMRs to that series. On the first day I got 3 miles from a relatively high location to another and the 2nd radio was in a moving car, first time I wasn't disappointed with a walkie talkie CB or otherwise.
Several of the newer ones that I had high hopes for are GMRS.

[JESSERABBIT]

Originally Posted by Ray_Air

The first cruise I went on we used some 2-watt Midland FRS/GMRS radios and they were OK. The second cruise I went on I brought along a couple of 4 watt UHF Motorola Visar's and they only got a few decks of penetration. Maybe it's because the ships were different? This year I am going to bring those new Motorola DTR digital 900mhz radios and see how those work. See, they only transmit at 1 watt, but they use spread spectrum which may help. I am real curious about how they will perform on a large cruise ship. Anyone else have experience with using radios on cruise ships that they would like to share?

In order to possibly stay out of trouble, you may wish to speak with someone with the cruise ship company. There are instances where individuals must get permission of the captain of the ship in order to use radio transmitters on board a ship. (this wording is included in certain FCC regulations). As a practical matter, and with the low wattage of these devices, I doubt that your use would be of any concern to them.

[bwhite]

Much of the time you'll be in international waters where the FCC has no say.

[RayK]

FCC has no say,but International Laws do apply. And the captain of the ship is responsable,
better to ask permission from the Captain even on these cruse they still have a brig!

[b52hbuff]

Which cruise and when? I have some updates for the Disney Cruise Lines, if you intend to take a scanner.

[rpowley]

Small 2-ways are not a problem on the cruise ships, in fact some of the cruise lines rent them. Taking a scanner on a cruise is something I always do - a lot of interesting on board marine stuff, when not in port . The FRS freq's are fun to listen to even in the middle of nowhere.

[ecps92]

What do you have for disney update??

Originally Posted by b52hbuff

Which cruise and when? I have some updates for the Disney Cruise Lines, if you intend to take a scanner.

[gcgrotz]

Originally Posted by rpowley

Small 2-ways are not a problem on the cruise ships, in fact some of the cruise lines rent them. Taking a scanner on a cruise is something I always do - a lot of interesting on board marine stuff, when not in port . The FRS freq's are fun to listen to even in the middle of nowhere.

Me too. Its the only time my wife will listen to a scanner. We like to listen to gangway ops when departing, hearing about the pass. and crew still asore. Have also heard some good stuff from crew and show crew on the low power unlicensed business freqs - 154.570 and .600 especially.

This has been all on Holland America. Their official policy has been no scanners but I've never had any trouble and I've seen a few other scanners and marine radios, and they even sell some FRS radios on board. Once in Sweeden people were complaining of interference on their FRS radios which turns out to be cell phones on UHF. Oops!

I always take my sony 7600 too for LW/AM/FM/Shortwave listening. Its great sitting on deck on those sea days and scanning the broadcast bands.

[N_Jay]

International waters are no problem (unless the Captain say "No"), but when you get into other nations water, ports on on land, your equipment is very likely to be illegal (depending on the equipment and the nation).

E.G. FRS freqs here are law enforcement or cellular freqs in other parts of the world.

900 MHz ISM (Motorola DTR) are licensed freqs in other nations.

[rescuecomm]

My experiance on cruise ships is about the same as the poster. I have used Gmrs and FRS radios and on board there is little difference due to the metal construction. On the deck to a beach in St Thomas, the GMRS radios were better as expected.

Bob

[Observer11]

what ever you do, get permission from the Cap't. Next, you are under the laws of the country of the flag that is flying on the fantail.

Since 9/11, there are far too many paranoid types out there and get nervous around people playing with radios.

[Ray_Air]

Well I just got back from our 7 day Caribbean cruise aboard the Carnival Triumph and I brought along a pair of the new Motorola DTR550 digital 2-way radios and a pair of Kenwood FRS radios as a back up. A note on radio use aboard cruise ships:When I cruised on Norwegian Cruise Lines they discourage the use of 2-way radios. On Carnival they actually sell FRS/GMRS radios in the gift shop. They had about 4-5 different models all claiming ridiculous range of up to 18 miles (I dont know whose wet dream 18 mile range is). Anyway the Motorola DTR's performed better than expected averaging 4-6 decks of coverage. I noticed that in the stairways the signal died out, but overall I give them a 3.5 out of 5. I have a pair of the Gen 1 models with the small antenna. The newest ones have a 900mhz whip on them which looks to be about 3" long. I was happy using the DTR's. One added bonus was nobody else was using them so you have a good amount of privacy. I scanned the FRS radio freqs and they were fairly busy especially channels 1-3 and in Puerto Rico some port operations where heard (not Carnival, but local workers). Here is a report of radios I have tested on some cruise ships:

Midland 2watt GMRS - Carnival Paradise- 2 out of 5 (not very good, channels crowded, range seemed limited)

Motorola Visar 4 watt UHF - Norwegian Sun - 3 out of 5 ( average, business band 469.550mhz offered the advantage of no other users, range was maybe slightly better than the 2 watt Midlands)

Kenwood FRS 500mw - Carnival Triumph- 2.5 out of 5 (average range, crowded channels, voice inversion use further drops range,seemed to operate better than Midland 2 watts, although radios were tested on different cruise liners)

Motorola DTR 550 Gen 1 radios - Carnival Triumph - 3.5 out of 5 (better than expected range, I was able to talk to my wife from our cabin on deck 8 to the Paris Lounge on Deck 4 opposite end of ship, coverage seemed to drop out in stairways between decks, radios offer privacy and can be mistaken for older Nextel's)

I was afraid that the steel in the ship would knock down the 900mhz signal real quick. Maybe because they use digital freq.-hopping spread spectrum that helped?I realize that using radios on cruise ships is a difficult operating environment and can be regulated by the ships command. Carnival Cruise lines had no problems with the use of 2-way radios by guests. The DTR performed better than I expected.

[scanfan03]

Actually, 900MHz should do better than 400MHz in a steel maze like a ship. The higher the radio frequency, the more energy it has (so it can penetrate better), but the shorter the wavelength (won't carry as far).

[traumacop]

What kind of price did you pay for the DTR radios?

[Ray_Air]

I bought them last January for about $240 per radio from http://www.marylandradio.com .
I know the generation 2 dtr's are out now. Check the link above or just google motorola DTR.

[oregontreehugger]

Here is a link to the Gen.2 units:

http://www.wiscomm.com/dtr.htm

Hmm... these look pretty neat.