Curious to hear from anyone who has tried various types of radios for group communication in a downhill skiing environment.
My family (6 of us) is pretty radio savvy. We started with FRS radios years ago but quickly upgraded to DLR1060 radios for use around the neighborhood and especially on our annual cruise vacation. The DLR radios perform flawlessly throughout a 17-deck cruise ship, which gives us the confidence to let our little kids have more freedom on a cruise than we might otherwise. In a cruise ship environment, the DLR radios perform far better than VHF or UHF analog, UHF DMR, and 800 MHz P25, all of which we've tried, but that isn't a huge surprise given 900 MHz FHSS is great for building penetration.
Last year we had a great time on a family ski trip, but missed the ability to communicate easily. My wife and I agreed we really need to bring radios of some kind on our ski trips. In a group, it would be great to be able to easily communicate about a change of plans on which trail we want to take or the status of someone who took a spill. And when we separate intentionally (or unintentionally), it would be great to more easily communicate about where and when to meet up again, etc. Phones don't work well throughout the mountain even for that latter piece.
Mesh systems like Cardo's Packtalk Outdoor look awesome for when actively skiing in a group, but that wouldn't be good for communicating across the mountain when skiing separately or when someone is in the lodge. Plus it would be an investment in yet another set of communication devices. My wife and I have DMR radios we occasionally use to communicate with eachother (we're both licensed amateurs), but that excludes the kids. My wife and I have DTR700 radios and the kids have DLR1060s, so that's an easy option if it will work well enough in that environment.
All that to say, I'm curious to hear from anyone who has tried the DLR/DTR FHSS radios in a relatively long range outdoor environment like a ski resort. I know it's not what they're designed for, but I've also read about people having surprising success in usual situations with such radios. Do we have a good shot at those radios serving our needs, or are we better off considering an expansion of our analog/DMR radio cache? Or even the Packtalk intercom for short range and bluetooth smartphone connectivity for long range (where the LTE network can be found on the mountain)?
My family (6 of us) is pretty radio savvy. We started with FRS radios years ago but quickly upgraded to DLR1060 radios for use around the neighborhood and especially on our annual cruise vacation. The DLR radios perform flawlessly throughout a 17-deck cruise ship, which gives us the confidence to let our little kids have more freedom on a cruise than we might otherwise. In a cruise ship environment, the DLR radios perform far better than VHF or UHF analog, UHF DMR, and 800 MHz P25, all of which we've tried, but that isn't a huge surprise given 900 MHz FHSS is great for building penetration.
Last year we had a great time on a family ski trip, but missed the ability to communicate easily. My wife and I agreed we really need to bring radios of some kind on our ski trips. In a group, it would be great to be able to easily communicate about a change of plans on which trail we want to take or the status of someone who took a spill. And when we separate intentionally (or unintentionally), it would be great to more easily communicate about where and when to meet up again, etc. Phones don't work well throughout the mountain even for that latter piece.
Mesh systems like Cardo's Packtalk Outdoor look awesome for when actively skiing in a group, but that wouldn't be good for communicating across the mountain when skiing separately or when someone is in the lodge. Plus it would be an investment in yet another set of communication devices. My wife and I have DMR radios we occasionally use to communicate with eachother (we're both licensed amateurs), but that excludes the kids. My wife and I have DTR700 radios and the kids have DLR1060s, so that's an easy option if it will work well enough in that environment.
All that to say, I'm curious to hear from anyone who has tried the DLR/DTR FHSS radios in a relatively long range outdoor environment like a ski resort. I know it's not what they're designed for, but I've also read about people having surprising success in usual situations with such radios. Do we have a good shot at those radios serving our needs, or are we better off considering an expansion of our analog/DMR radio cache? Or even the Packtalk intercom for short range and bluetooth smartphone connectivity for long range (where the LTE network can be found on the mountain)?
