| Author |
Message |
    
RCI 2990
| | Posted on Sunday, July 13, 2003 - 1:28 pm: | 
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Went to Wal Mart last night and a saw they sell a large selection of the FRS/GMRS mobile handheld radio. Cobra, Motorola, Audiovox and Uniden all good brands some have up to 7 miles range!!!! I would like to get some for a camping trip id like to go on but all the ones that i saw at Wal Mart said on the package they need a FCC lisense to operate. Are there any that you dont have to have the FCC lisense? What is the cost of a lisense and how long does it take to get one I always though that the radios didnt need one but all the ones that ive seen require one.. ARGH! :-( Maybe ill just buy a set of CB walkies and use them and not hassle the lisense. |
Highlander
| | Posted on Sunday, July 13, 2003 - 3:47 pm: |
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Real world range is less than a mile in most cases. |
Buck
| | Posted on Sunday, July 13, 2003 - 4:25 pm: |
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Frs is license free but you will be lucky to get a mile out of them. GMRS will get you more range. I believe the license is $75 for a 5 yr license. Something line that...Not too expensive. You should check in to Murs....Its reliable and free
Buck |
ryan
| | Posted on Sunday, July 13, 2003 - 4:55 pm: |
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just get the 7 mile one and only use channel 1-14. no one will really do anything |
Af579
| | Posted on Sunday, July 13, 2003 - 5:51 pm: |
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you do not need a license to operate the "FRS" chan. only the "GMRS" freq will you need to get licensed. Also I would not believe the boast of the 7 mile range. I have seen 3 miles out of several different types of these units and that is typical. For camping I think that would meet you needs fairly well.
73's
AF579
aka Knight Ranger |
Dan
| | Posted on Sunday, July 13, 2003 - 8:19 pm: |
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GMRS hand held radios commonly are available in 500mW, 1, 2 and 3 watt. I would not consider one that advertises a 7 mile range but only puts out 2 watts. The radios performance vary quite a bit. I have an old pair of Uniden FRS (500mW) that performed much better than a new set of Cobra PR-1100 WX (2 watt). We use them camping and between the motorhome and chase vehicle. FRS and GMRS freqs are becoming very crowded limiting usefulness so shop around and don't spend much (FRS new <$20 pair) 73, Dan |
bruce
| | Posted on Sunday, July 13, 2003 - 9:29 pm: |
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MURS is many time as good with murs 2 watt HT's unit to unit we get 3 miles in town and hooked up to 5/8 wave antennas we get 5 car to car. Best range so far my house to the jail more than 8 miles and to harrys place in st. pete from my car 10 miles ..... go that on frs! |
Climber
| | Posted on Monday, July 14, 2003 - 1:04 am: |
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Bruce,
Where to get a "Murs" HT at a reasonable price?
Thanks,
Climber |
Tinman
| | Posted on Monday, July 14, 2003 - 8:07 am: |
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Does my ham tech license cover me on gmrs or is it another license altogether? |
Tech833
| | Posted on Monday, July 14, 2003 - 10:06 am: |
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Tinman,
Your ham license only covers you on ham frequencies. GMRS is not ham. The GMRS license is seperate.
Operating on GMRS without a license is not good. That is the same as operating on any other FCC part 90 band without a license. They DO police the band, unlike the 'freeband'. |
bruce
| | Posted on Monday, July 14, 2003 - 7:25 pm: |
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I got 2 of them on e-bay about 80 bucks each and they are NICE! Radio shack mobles are good starter sets we found them to be well worth the 30 bucks
im on 151.82 ch 1 |
bruce
| | Posted on Tuesday, July 15, 2003 - 10:41 pm: |
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Hey FRS fans .............
Audiovox GMRS 2000/FRS Base Station
check this $25 base out |
Highlander
| | Posted on Wednesday, July 16, 2003 - 8:29 am: |
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bruce, your link did not post as a link... |
bruce
| | Posted on Wednesday, July 16, 2003 - 9:51 am: |
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here is one link
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=3035547634&category=3308
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Highlander
| | Posted on Wednesday, July 16, 2003 - 12:26 pm: |
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Cool. I have one of those connected to a discone - the only issues I had with it were the supllied wall-wart produced a hum in the transmitter on high power, so it needs a regulated supply or gel-cell to work on high power, no big deal, and I couldn't use VOX with my external mic, again, no big deal, don't really need VOX. Other than that, it is great! I use a midland G11 2 watt HT in the auto with a little magmount antenna, and can cover most of city limits here -- pretty neat. |
bruce
| | Posted on Wednesday, July 16, 2003 - 2:46 pm: |
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mine should be here in one day the dealer is here in clearwater question ???? now its illeagal to use it as a frs with external antenna SO ( quietly ) how much range are you getting ? ( HE HE HE) with the little wip ??? ..... |
Highlander
| | Posted on Wednesday, July 16, 2003 - 3:06 pm: |
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We can get just about 5 miles if I drive south out of town from home base. Within the city limits we can usually get about 4-5 miles, but there are some dead spots here and there when the vehicle is driving through town. I just have the discone 12 feet up! And there are buildings all around this locale, so I am impressed!
Radio Shack had a couple of 2 meter 5/8 magmounts for 10 bucks each, so I grabbed them going to cut one for MURS for the car and get that project going, I already have the two radshack murs mobiles.
p.s. its also illegal for me to use the 2 watts output on the shared frs/gmrs freq without gmrs lic, but I promise not to do it anymore. Have you heard the term "blister-pack pirate" yet? |
Kd4amg
| | Posted on Wednesday, July 16, 2003 - 10:13 pm: |
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most folks around here are all on channel 1, and talking maybe 2 miles...in Decatur the kids are using FRS around the mall on friday nights, otherwise nuthin much around here |
bruce
| | Posted on Wednesday, July 16, 2003 - 10:46 pm: |
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I got it its realy neat even as a monitor receiver well worth the 20+ bucks! |
RCI 2990
| | Posted on Friday, July 18, 2003 - 1:50 pm: |
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I got the Cobras last night at Wal Mart.. They seem to work ok on the low power settings (the FRS channels) so ill be allset for what i want to do now!
BTW how much is it to get the GMRS lisense from the FCC? Anyone know? |
Tinman
| | Posted on Friday, July 18, 2003 - 6:02 pm: |
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Its 75 bucks for 5 years. |
Bullet
| | Posted on Saturday, July 19, 2003 - 1:53 am: |
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ok here i go but you guy's know how i am.
i wonder if a fella made a 8 element beam for this band what the range would be brought up to?
they use these freq's at work and id get a kick out of listening in, but im 8-9 miles from work.
if i was to buy a radio and build this beam i think i should be able to make that trip. what do you guy's think |
bruce
| | Posted on Saturday, July 19, 2003 - 10:21 pm: |
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bullet a good beam would do it also try a ringo ranger for 440 not a bad ant for the money you can build a gain j pole out of copper pipe or alumin tubeing here is a example there are many ways to do it
http://www.krell.com/amateur/antenna/jpole/
and here is a very nice yagi i dont know the cost
http://users.cis.net/kingpop/440spix.htm
and one more antenna
http://www.mfjenterprises.com/products.php?prodid=MFJ-1768
I use 440 and my antenna is a 17 foot tall 11 db gain fiberglass vert it cost $100 plus shiping ... it also does 2 meters 8 db of gain.
Bruce
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bruce
| | Posted on Saturday, July 19, 2003 - 10:27 pm: |
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Here is the one im using
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=3035606166&category=4672
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Sarge
| | Posted on Monday, July 28, 2003 - 6:53 pm: |
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By the way, GMRS was around first. Back around 1995 the FCC took 14 GMRS channels and said the newly created FRS units could use them as well.
GMRS used to be refered to as "Class A" CB radio. It was never very well known or popular during the peak of "Class D" CB radio operation back in the late 1970's.
FRS does not require a license. GMRS DOES require a license. If you have a GMRS, you must have a license - regardless of what channel you are using. It is only the FRS units that do not need a license when using the 14 channels they "share" with the original GMRS service.
Most GMRS radios sold today lack the ability for repeater operation. This is one of the great features of GMRS! If your interest is just simplex operation, MURS might provide more bang for your buck. |
bruce
| | Posted on Monday, July 28, 2003 - 9:34 pm: |
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Class A cb goes back into the 40's i had a pair on volines on 465 mhz modulater osc with regen receiver ..... the cost of building radios was far too high and the range was measured in FEET! Now TRUE GMRS did come out of class A cb but under a whole set of diffrent rules ...gone were the unstable radios and things like repeaters made 50 mile contacts common. MURS is FAR better than frs at least 4 times the range i have a pair of MURS HT's and 3 miles in normal! I have a MURS base and moble we get 7-10 miles with leagal radios ( base antenna is a ringo ranger and car ant is a 5 db gain colinear ) now a receive preamp is a good idea since the radio shack frount end is a bit lacking and im working on a mod to install a reciver preamp inside the radio with the preamps ( 16 db gain at 1 db NF ) as i said our range is 7-10 miles without them about 5-7 miles MUCH better than FRS!
Bruce |
