FRS vs GMRS vs 900 mhz radios ( performance)

[JASII]

FRS Vs GMRS Vs 900 mhz Radios

I am still trying to decide what I want to do. My family and I typically travel to places where there is at least some cell phone coverage. However, have went on a cruise and might do that again. The last time we did that, which was about a year and half ago, I resurrected the old Nextels and used Direct Talk on the ship. It did not work everywhere, but it did help quite a bit. I suspect that if I bought some Motorola R765s they would work with the Nextels.

On the other hand, some Motorola DTR550s are 1 watt, so should work a bit better on a cruise ship.

Finally, some 4 watt GMRS radios should work better still. Or, since both my wife and I have amateur licenses, we could have some 70 cm frequencies. I am not sure if 1 watt on 900 mHz would work better or 4 watts on 440/460 mHz would work better on a ship.

Finally, there are some Alinco ham rigs that have a bit more power on 900 mHz. Maybe they would work the best of all. It would be a fun experiment to try ALL of them on a ship and find out!

 

[Darth_vader]

"As far as ham bands go, 900 is a little more difficult because you really have two options, Motorola or Kenwood LMR's and you generally have to do some hex editing in some way, shape, or form just to get into the bands (talking surplus, sub-$200 equipment here)."

You could try reprogramming/freebanding a UV3R. Don't know how well it'd work as a transmitter on 900, but I know from experience that at least some examples of the UV3R can receive on that band.

(<sarcasm>There, 4CS, I'm actually talking about using a Baofeng on the HAM bands, not that you'll actually read it or anything [god forbid.] Satisfied?</sarcasm>)

 

[RodStrong]

Finally, some 4 watt GMRS radios should work better still. Or, since both my wife and I have amateur licenses, we could have some 70 cm frequencies. I am not sure if 1 watt on 900 mHz would work better or 4 watts on 440/460 mHz would work better on a ship.

I'm not any smarter than anyone else around here, but based on the options you mentioned, I would go for 4 watt UHF over anything else. Good luck.

 

[WB4CS]

(<sarcasm>There, 4CS, I'm actually talking about using a Baofeng on the HAM bands, not that you'll actually read it or anything [god forbid.] Satisfied?</sarcasm>)

I see what you did there.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but don't the UV3R's only go to 512 MHz? I would imagine if you could modify one to get up to 900 MHz it would probably only put out a few mW of power. I would hardly believe it's finals are designed for that high of frequency, and I would be very surprised if it can suppress harmonics that high.

You can put a Mercedes logo on a Ford, but it's still just a Ford. Technically you can't take a radio that's not designed to operate at 900 MHz and say it's a 900 MHz radio.

Now for a ham radio operator that wants a REAL 900 MHz amateur transceiver, take a look at the Alinco DJ-G29T. It's a 222/902 handheld with 2.5 Watts of power. And it's designed to be used in the 900 MHz band without hacking, chopping, and modifying the radio
Alinco DJ-G29T - RADIOS>RADIO TRANSCEIVERS>HANDHELD RADIOS>1.25M/33CM RADIOS

 

[Darth_vader]

Following it up here: http://forums.radioreference.com/off-topic-wireless/272551-freebanding-uv3r.html#post2022827

 

[mformby]

3 Miles? No way.

I sold commercial two-way radios for 25 years and there is nothing on the market that will do what you want to do. 3 miles on a reliable basis is not possible with portable radios. If you got a business license and installed a 50 foot tower with a repeater you could do it. I sure wouldn't sell you portable radios with a 3 mile promise. You would be back and on my case.

I was wondering what you all thought about the Motorola CP185? Is the performance there? Can you talk 3 miles outdoors on this particular radio?

 

[johnls7424]

I now own (2) Blackbox Bantam VHF radios. They are 5 watts of power. Work excellent in most conditions. I still want to get the Motorola DTR Radios. They seem pretty cool and being digital and all seem the best.

 

[dksac2]

If the two of you who want to talk to each other are someplace that has wireless internet, get some of the small pad type devices that you can type on and send things over the net. Then get your Technician license and Echolink. When using computer to computer, you are not bound by the rules of no business talk, only if you were using a radio to connect to a Echolink repeater. You will have to open some ports on the wireless units for the Echolink.
You have to have an amateur license to get a node number on Echolink. The FCC does not control what goes on when it's just computer to computer.

I guess I have a hard time understanding why you are not just using cell phones.
I have Trisquare radios that I have transmitted a measured 3.5 miles with (very clear, they would have gone further, that was just the distance between my home and a friends home), but that's over open country with just a couple single story homes between us. I've never tried them in the city and doubt you would even get a mile, besides, you would have to find some used one's.

I don't think what you are doing is going to be possible to do legally and have reliable comms. It may work sometimes, but you could spend a lot of money for not much use. City buildings and RF are not the best mix for simple solutions.

To the person who said no way 3 miles, the Trisquare really did do over 3 miles, but it was in the open with 2 single story homes between us, the first one at about 125 yards from me. I live off 5500 south off of a highway, he lives on 5200 south off the same highway. I'm south of 5500 by about a 1/4 mile, he is south of 5200 south by about 1/3 of a mile and is about 100 ft higher in elevation. There is exactly one mile between every cross road, so 5200 and 5500 have exactly 3 miles between them and we each live on the far side of our roads. Great radios in open country, in the city's, they would be much like FRS or GMRS. The Trisquare radios have 1 watt of power. I do not have a view of his home, even going to the side of the house that is between us.

This is reason # 254 why I live in a rural area.







73's John

 

[Project25_MASTR]

For the most part, 900 MHz is line of sight. Out of curiosity, what part do the trisquare radios fall under?

 

[dksac2]

ISM experimental I would think.

John

 

[jhooten]

part 15.

 

[VE7WV]

To the person who said no way 3 miles, the Trisquare really did do over 3 miles

I believe it.

3 miles? For a portable unit this'll either be easy, depending on local terrain and structures, or difficult.

If the request is for always-solid communications over 3 miles in all but the most extreme cases, then a portable with a rubber antenna is not going to make the grade.

That said, 3 miles over gentle rolling terrain and urban structures is *usually* doable here UHF (~ 400-500MHz) digital (Mototrbo portables); analog still often doable but *much* less pleasant copy at the extremes.

 

[Project25_MASTR]

I believe it.

3 miles? For a portable unit this'll either be easy, depending on local terrain and structures, or difficult.

If the request is for always-solid communications over 3 miles in all but the most extreme cases, then a portable with a rubber antenna is not going to make the grade.

That said, 3 miles over gentle rolling terrain and urban structures is *usually* doable here UHF (~ 400-500MHz) digital (Mototrbo portables); analog still often doable but *much* less pleasant copy at the extremes.

900 MHz from my minimal experience in the Texas panhandle is primarily los. However, it's mostly flat in that area...

 

[mformby]

I concur with the Motorola DTR radios. I used to sell them and kept a pair of the DTR550's in my car at all times for demos. They never disappointed me or the prospect, and on many occasions they out performed my expectations (like a 300,000 sq. ft. warehouse and a 15 floor building). Unless they have changed it (I have been retired for 5 years) the DTR410 has a fixed antenna, and not a very good one at that. They changed that when they came out with the DTR550 & DTR650 and put a much better, removable antenna on them. I sold them for $495 which I thought was a bargain. I believe you can get the 550 for around $270 which is a steal. Remember these are commercial grade radios and will give you many years of service. They are still in production and when they go out Motorola still guarantees support for 7 years after that. I don't think you will regret buying them.

 

[RayAir]

Gen 2 Motorola DTR's have the improved gain antenna, or you can use the stubby one. I used the stubby ones and had no problem.

 

[RayAir]

For tough RF environments the digital 900 freq hopping radios are far superior.

Years back I brought a pair of 4W UHF Motorola Visar's on a NCL cruise ship and I only had about 2 deck coverage.

A couple years ago we brought Motorola DTR's aboard a Carnival ship and had full ship coverage.

Motorola DTR all the way!


I'd stay away from the 900 MHz TriSquare eXRS radios though. They feel cheap and use analog NFM.
DTR is digital ( VSELP).

 

[johnls7424]

Yeah from what I under stand 900mhz for penetration through Concrete and Metal is the best.

 

[johnls7424]

Anybody else use Motorola DTR series radios and wish to share? I like my blackbox VHF 5 watt radios, but having something digital seems pretty cool too. Anybody want to share success or failures with the motorola DTR series?

 

[Project25_MASTR]

Yeah from what I under stand 900mhz for penetration through Concrete and Metal is the best.

From what I'm beginning to understand from fox hunts at higher and higher frequencies, it isn't necessarily penetration as it is reflection. Smaller wave lengths make it through doors, passageways, windows air ducts, etc. When dealing with brick, steel and concrete I've noticed less penetration and more long path reflections. I think it really just depends on location though.

Sent from my ME173X using Tapatalk

 

[johnls7424]

Yes that is true. I want to know the distance on these types of radios?? Will they perform as far in a general suburban area from vehicle to vehicle about 1 mile?? Meaning, will they compare distance wise to a 5 watt VHF business banded radio???