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Motorola MS350R

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crewcabrob

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Hi all,

I have read a couple of reviews on these new bubble pack radios. I currently have two Motorola MR350 radios and two Motorola T9500XLR radios which my family use for various things. I'm wondering if the new radios with thier waterproof design and newer technology would be a good addition or replacement for some of the older radios I have.

There seems to be a bit of an issue between the current radios I have. Quite a few times my kids have mentioned that I will send out a message to them, and one of the older radios will not pick up the signal/message. They only know this because they will hear a response back from one of the other radios and figure out that there must have been some other message that proceeded it. We normaly use the GMRS frequencies and transmit at the higher power. We are almost never more than 3 miles apart in the wilderness, so it isn't a matter of the signal not being powerful enough for one radio to pick up or things blocking the signals. It always seems like it is one of the older radios that has the issue. Any thoughts?

Thanks,

Rob
 

SCPD

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Location
Virginia
Hi all,

I have read a couple of reviews on these new bubble pack radios. I currently have two Motorola MR350 radios and two Motorola T9500XLR radios which my family use for various things. I'm wondering if the new radios with thier waterproof design and newer technology would be a good addition or replacement for some of the older radios I have.

There seems to be a bit of an issue between the current radios I have. Quite a few times my kids have mentioned that I will send out a message to them, and one of the older radios will not pick up the signal/message. They only know this because they will hear a response back from one of the other radios and figure out that there must have been some other message that proceeded it. We normaly use the GMRS frequencies and transmit at the higher power. We are almost never more than 3 miles apart in the wilderness, so it isn't a matter of the signal not being powerful enough for one radio to pick up or things blocking the signals. It always seems like it is one of the older radios that has the issue. Any thoughts?

Thanks,

Rob
Do you have a license to use GMRS? If not you know a license is required...just asking.
Never mind you didn't specify but saw it in a different post
 
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crewcabrob

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Hi,

Yeah, I have a license. Not totally sure it has been worth the money I spent on it. I bet we have only used the radios a handful of times over the years. The most we ever used them is on cruise ships so we can keep track of our teenagers. The crazy thing is, outside of the US I'm not sure we can legally use the GMRS radios even with the FCC GMRS license.

I have printed off little stickers and put them on the back of our radios with my FRN number as well as my call sign. That way we always have the information if we need it. My kids know how to work the radios for teh most part. But I may print off another sticker with the channel and code we use for our radios incase they every change them by accident.

That brings up a good point. When we are on cruise ships the radios do very poor with communication even on the GMRS channels with 2watts. Are there any good radios out there that would be better than are portable and won't cost an arm and leg?

Rob
 

62Truck

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Take a look at some of the older Moto commercial radios like the sabers and HT1000's or even the visars they wont cost an arm and a leg and I'm sure there will be people out there that will have no problem helping you program them. Those said radios can be found cheap these days on ebay and some of the sellers have the ability to program them
 

pickles37

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Messages
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I have a couple of the MS350R's and really like them - particularly they are very robust, waterproof, repeater capable and have the best audio quality of any FRS/GMRS bubble pack radio I've owned. The only downside for me is that they are quite bulky. Regarding the problems you were having, it could be due to different sensitivities or squelch levels of the radios at the extremeties of the range. I know the T9500's have lower power output than the MJ*/MS*/MR* radios too.
 

motorola_otaku

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Probably the best radios to use on a cruise ship would be the Motorola DTR series. They operate in the 902-928 ISM band using spread-spectrum and digital voice and don't require a license. I have seen several good reviews of their use in high-rise concrete and steel structures and I believe at least once instance of use in a ship. In both cases they outperformed VHF and UHF analog radios operating in the GMRS and MURS bands.
 

SlyFerret

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Messages
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Very cool! I wasn't familiar with these DTR series radios.

I have made a mental note to myself in case I am ever in a situation where I might need something like that.

-SF
 

mformby

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Messages
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Older radios

If buying used radios, make sure they are narrow band capable because the older one (HT1000, Visar, etc will not work on narrow band. It is sad, the HT1000 is probably the best radio they ever made.

Part of your range problem is the transmit power and receiver sensitivity. Commercial radios are 4 watts which transmit farther than 2 watts, and they have far superior receivers which increase the range that you hear. Just consider the fact that it does not matter how loud you yell if the other person is deaf.
I have a GMRS license and a pair of Motorola BPR40 portables which I use on simplex channels on cruise ships. The work pretty good unless you get too many decks apart (vertically). That is a lot of metal to talk through and RF does not like metal.

Take a look at some of the older Moto commercial radios like the sabers and HT1000's or even the visars they wont cost an arm and a leg and I'm sure there will be people out there that will have no problem helping you program them. Those said radios can be found cheap these days on ebay and some of the sellers have the ability to program them
 

mformby

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Messages
167
Location
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Motorola DTR Radios

Ditto on the DTR radios. They are amazing with both the range and the audio quality. Although the DTR's are a little large they are very light with a rather large capacity Li-ion battery. You can send SMS messages, have private channels where you can talk to one person or group channels where you can talk to multiple people all at once. You will not be disappointed if you buy them.

Very cool! I wasn't familiar with these DTR series radios.

I have made a mental note to myself in case I am ever in a situation where I might need something like that.

-SF
 

62Truck

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If buying used radios, make sure they are narrow band capable because the older one (HT1000, Visar, etc will not work on narrow band. It is sad, the HT1000 is probably the best radio they ever made.

Part of your range problem is the transmit power and receiver sensitivity. Commercial radios are 4 watts which transmit farther than 2 watts, and they have far superior receivers which increase the range that you hear. Just consider the fact that it does not matter how loud you yell if the other person is deaf.
I have a GMRS license and a pair of Motorola BPR40 portables which I use on simplex channels on cruise ships. The work pretty good unless you get too many decks apart (vertically). That is a lot of metal to talk through and RF does not like metal.

Ummmmmmmmm???????????????????????????????????

GMRS is not effected by narrow band. and ALL the JEDI radios Visar, HT1000, JT1000, MT2000 and MTS2000 are ALL narrow band capable!

There are some few differences between the revisions in regards to the Visar and HT1000, The DN revision radios will do the splinter freqs. but all revisions A,B,C, or D all do 12.5.

The MTS2000 will do the splinter freqs as well depending on what firmware the radio has.
 
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n1das

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Nashua, NH
Ummmmmmmmm???????????????????????????????????

GMRS is not effected by narrow band. and ALL the JEDI radios Visar, HT1000, JT1000, MT2000 and MTS2000 are ALL narrow band capable!

While GMRS isn't affected by the narrobanding mandate, it might required to narrowband in the future if the FCC enacts the rule changes they proposed in 2010. I'm all for narrowbanding GMRS since it will make a lot of adjacent channel splatter problems go away. Inteference on repeaters from FRS adjacent to the repeater inputs would go away. The bubble packs already operate narrowband (2.5kHz deviation) compared to older GMRS equipment (5kHz max deviation). All of my adjacent channel inteference problems on GMRS went away as soon as I switched my Part 90 commercial gear (w/Part 95 dual certification) to narrowband.

The MS350R is a great bubble pack radio, one of the best I've seen in a long time. I posted about the MS350R bubble packs in another thread:
http://forums.radioreference.com/gmrs-frs/216881-moto-talkabout-ms350r-waterproof-bubble-packs.html
 

crewcabrob

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Dec 30, 2011
Messages
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Location
Lincoln NE
Thanks guys for all of the great replies on this thread.

OK, so the DTR radios seem like a winner. And with the SMS availablility, it has me really interested. Do you need another FCC license to operate these radios?

I'm going to go look at the Motorola DTR radios. Is there any particular model that anyone would recomend? I think the SMS stuff is really something I would like to have.

Thanks again,

Rob
 

crewcabrob

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roepkcs

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Oct 21, 2007
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Location
Pleasant Prairie, WI
MS350 & distance GPS

Have the newer mot ms350 and older talk about distance gps. Cannot get them to talk. I'm sure I am missing some details any thoughts?
 
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