CB w/ Walkie Talkie Ability

[GrayJeep]

I believe you, I just question the relevance of the results to be interpreted in any usable way. (Other than, on that day with that equipment, at that location, under those conditions)

The question we set out to answer that day was - "How far can these things work?" (The FRS radios)
We learned the answer. The other CB stuff was just for fun since we were already doing a test setup.

To address "propagation"- it was line of sight for both sets of radios. Unfortunately, propagation on 27 Mhz raised the noise floor to swamp the signals. Not unexpected but the loss of comms was much sooner than expected.

If we'd done the test at midnight 27 Mhz might have done better.
And my Dad would have been arrested for loitering on the dam looking like a terrorist.... and the results wouldn't have been applicable to our (daytime) use of FRS radios in the mountains within the next week.

My experiment. My results. And I'm quite sure it wasn't the other way around.

 

[N_Jay]

Yep, my point exactly!

 

[lsocoee]

so, which is better?

so let's just say that i'm hoping to pick up on casual chit chat and traffic news, CB is still the good old standard.

If I were to be caravaning, it seems like the handheld frs/gmrs is a better choice because it is not likely to be as crowded and should have a lot less cursing.

 

[tekshogun]

It is a toss up. Neither is better. In the best case scenario, I would want both FRS/GMRS and CB radio.

In the worse case scenario, I would want a CB radio. I could at least rig up an antenna with gain to a CB HT/mobile/base and get far better DX performance than an FRS radio. GMRS is nice if you have something better than what they sell at Wal-Mart or Costco AND someone has a repeater (that you are able to get into) that is powered up and running. Even without a repeater, a radio programmed for GMRS that gets you flexibility (power, antenna setup, radio choices, etc) is the way to go.

I have more of an emergency use outlook, which is partly why I am a ham radio operator and why I have my GMRS license. You never know when you'll be without landlines and cell phones so it is best to soak up as much as possible to learn.

 

[GrayJeep]

so, which is better?

so let's just say that i'm hoping to pick up on casual chit chat and traffic news, CB is still the good old standard.

If I were to be caravaning, it seems like the handheld frs/gmrs is a better choice because it is not likely to be as crowded and should have a lot less cursing.

Better? Pick yer poison.

Family Radio = less cursing (at least it's only receivable from fewer places) and a lot more baby talk on the channels (because the radios are literally in the hands of children) when in town.

One disadvantage to FRS is that it appears that external power isn't typically possible with these radios so you can't run off the car's power when caravaning. (I could be mistaken on this) And the Type Acceptance design defeats using an additional antenna.

 

[tekshogun]

Well, depending on the company and/or design of your radio you may or may not have car chargers/power adapters available. Even if you don't, it is extremely easy to MacGyver-rig a power cable (even one that can be easily disconnected) for your radio and still leave the batteries in. Speaking of MacGyver, if it really came down to it, if you had to for emergency reasons, you could rig up a nice antenna to the FRS radio and even find a way to amplify the signal output. Illegal, I konw, but the FCC states that in a time of emergency, the airwaves are at your disposal.