Mod FRS Radio fr. 0.5 watts to higher.

[VECTOR-77]

I have 2 Motorola Talkabout 250. We use them on bike rides and such, but they really just aren't cutting it anymore. We really always need to line of sight to talk, which isn't always the case. They say they should get around 2 miles, But I honestly cant even get a half out of them on fresh batteries.

I know that a standard frs radio is 0.5 watts and gmrs radios get 5 watts. So is there a way to mod this radio to allow greater than 0.5 watts on the shared frs/gmrs channels.

I will obide by the law, I just don't want to0 waste money on new radios that will probably be even worse quality.

any ideas.

 

[jon_k]

Quote# 1

a way to mod this radio to allow greater than 0.5 watts on the shared frs/gmrs channels.

Quote# 2

I will obide by the law

If you do what is said in Quote #1, you will break your word, honor, and credibility and legality status on Quote #2. FCC Part 95 is pretty well defined.

(a) You may only use an FCC certified FRS unit. (You can identify an FCC certified
FRS unit by the label placed on it by the manufacturer.)

(b) You must not make, or have made, any internal modification to an FRS unit.
Any internal modification cancels the FCC certification and voids your authority to operate
the unit in the FRS.

(c) You may not attach any antenna, power amplifier, or other apparatus to an FRS
unit that has not been FCC certified as part of that FRS unit. There are no exceptions to this
rule and attaching any such apparatus to a FRS unit cancels the FCC certification and voids
everyone's authority to operate the unit in the FRS.

Fines are upwards of $10,000 for violations, and I have seen people around here get caught by the FCC for breaking the rules. For you, this means no power mods, no yagi, no amplifiers, etc. You touch that pot in the radio and you're now illegal. Best of luck if you pursue the endeavor. I wouldn't do it.

 

[VECTOR-77]

delete

 

[VECTOR-77]

ok sorry. anyway, I still plan to do it.

 

[W4KRR]

ok sorry. anyway, I still plan to do it.

I don't believe you will be able to successfully modify a 0.5 watt FRS radio to put out more power. They're only designed to put out a half watt. IOW, it's not possible.

 

[jon_k]

I don't believe you will be able to successfully modify a 0.5 watt FRS radio to put out more power. They're only designed to put out a half watt. IOW, it's not possible.

Agreed. Won't be easy.

 

[VECTOR-77]

are there any other alternatives. I just want a product that works.

 

[KB8KOJ]

have you looked at MURS radios?

 

[W4KRR]

are there any other alternatives. I just want a product that works.

FRS works, I think you mean you want more "range".

1. hand held CB
2. GMRS
3. cell phones
4. Nextel/push to talk
5. MURS
6. ham radio, but each user must be licensed

 

[jb872033]

you have to be liscensed as GMRS user as well...as far as "ok sorry. anyway, I still plan to do it.", i dont know why anyone would give this person more information...obviously has no respect for the rules, most of the people on this board are upstanding radio users, monitors...comments like the above are the ones that give people like us a bad name....dont want to start a fight or arguement here or anything, but the thought just crossed my mind...with no harm intended...

JB

 

[greenthumb]

Don't forget that if you do manage to boost the power, you will take a significant hit on the battery life.

 

[af5rn]

ok sorry. anyway, I still plan to do it.

Oh, good plan.

I mean, getting a Ham licence is just SO hard these days that it is definitely better to just say "screw you" to the feds. :roll:

Listen, you make it obvious that you lack the technical sophistication to even understand the basics of radio theory, much less modify a radio yourself. So do this; take your cheap radios to a CB shop. Those guys will modify anything, regardless of legality. They might even be able to double your output power by one hundred percent, to a full 1 watt with just a couple turns of the screwdriver. ONE HUNDRED PERCENT GAIN!!! Great, right? No. You won't even notice the range difference. Not one bit. In other words, your plan is worse than illegal. It's just plain stupid. It won't work.

If you want better performance, you need better radios. Period.

 

[RodStrong]

http://mursradio.googlepages.com/home1

 

[n8emr]

Ignoring the breaking federal law part of modding the radio, WHY? You end up with a 5watt radio that will last 3 minutes because your now drawing more power from the battery, You still have a crappy receiver, a negative gain antenna and in most cases with the radio strapped to your belt you will no see a signifcant differance betwen 5watts and 1/2 watt.


If you need a better radio get one, If your current FRS is older, get a new unit, receivers are better, power levels are still the same, but designs are better If you really want the 5watts then you need to invest in a GMRS license and some quality radio's no the cheap throw away frs or combo radios.

 

[Don_Burke]

Upping the power on an FRS radio is much like turbocharging a moped.

Yes, there will be a miniscule improvement in performance.

The time and money would be better spent on a superior radio service.

 

[N1SQB]

Ham It Up!

The answer is simple!
Get a No-code Tech Ham license which is not hard to pass, and you have access to a whole new world of frequencies that will allow you the full LEGAL 5 watts of power on a portable that you so desire. Plus you will have learned something in the process. You cant beat that!

Manny

 

[KF4ZTO]

Murs.

 

[iMONITOR]

Nextel

 

[DaveNF2G]

The answer is simple!
Get a No-code Tech Ham license which is not hard to pass, and you have access to a whole new world of frequencies that will allow you the full LEGAL 5 watts of power on a portable that you so desire. Plus you will have learned something in the process. You cant beat that!

Manny

I don't think we really need Mister "I'm going to it in spite of the rules" in ham radio, do we?

:roll:

 

[jon_k]

I don't think we really need Mister "I'm going to it in spite of the rules" in ham radio, do we?

:roll:

Agreed. I'd have suggested the same, but then I got to thinking.

Someone who is willing to break 2 out of 3 rules in the family radio service seems likely to break rules out of the 100 or so under amateur radio.

They would probably be the next person to start kerchunking the skywarn/NWS repeater for 3 hours straight during Skywarn nets, modulating over people trying to report. And we've already got a regular kerchunker doing this on ours. (Going for about half a month strong now. Never seems to miss a beat on keying up shortly after the net opens.)

I hope the kerchunker has his radio equipment and other things he owns insured.... someone will find him eventually and may not bother with the bureaucracy of the FCC.