Family Radio Service (FRS)

[Toy Man]

There was a third alternative that never went anywhere. I don't recall seeing any radios for it recently. Can't even remember the acronym for it anymore.

The GMRS license is a joke. I think the only people that get one are commercial firms in cities.

I highly recommend Motorola units. Others work but some tend to be a little of in frequency meaning they don't talk well with other brands. At least that has been my experience.

Toy Man

[RidgeRunner]

I've had a set of Midland GXT 500 which are GMRS/FRS radios. They have worked well and I haven't had a problem. They are very clear and I've used them a couple times with other brands with no difficulty. I really don't use them much. I usually keep them in the truck as a back up. They work fairly well car to car. They have the rechargeable battery pack also.

As mentioned before, I think the Motorola brand is probably worth any extra expense because of the extra value.

Sportsman's Guide usually has several brands (including Motorola) at good prices. I've had good products and service from them over the years.

Mick

[Binford]

Originally Posted by soggymountain

...[T]here are many places where cell phone service is not available and the little FRS radios are excellent replacements. Sometimes on our backroad events we find ourselves out of our vehicles exploring old towns, historic sites, large displays, and other places where hand-held radios would come in handy....

It would be interesting to hear how other folks use their FRS and GMRS hand-held radios.

We used them at our recent M715 gathering in Buena Vista, Colorado. Oddly enough, we M715 guys tend to be a pretty homogeneous group: males, mid-40s, with wives who (barely) tolerate our Jeep affliction, gun-toting, personal-responsibility-minded, family guys. Perhaps not too unlike those who congregate here?

Anyway, we had a bunch of boys in our group, as you could see from my trip report on that 3-day trail-ride, and while around camp (or, since it was a KOA, I guess that's "kamp"), we gave the boys an FRS radio to keep in touch with the parents at the campsite, all set to the same frequency.

As pointed out earlier, they weren't loud enough to really be suitable while on the trail, particularly in open-top military trucks. So we used CBs (those of us who had them) as our primary communication tool with FRS radios to pass on the more important messages to those without CBs.

It got me wondering if the range would be enough to let our boys use the FRS radios when they ride their bikes or take the go-cart up the dirt road to the frog pond to play. Currently we give them my wife's cell phone. This FRS radio thread got me wondering if those radios would do....