Great thread, Para! I just purchased these for emergency situations:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BZ...V9kZXRhaWwp13NParams

I read through most of this thread but couldn't find this question answered: in non-emergency situations, is there a legal walkie talkie function or channel for, say, hiking in areas with no cell service or for short distance communication from car to car on road trips? I don't intend on getting any form of license.

Yes, its called FRS (Family Radio Service).
https://www.fcc.gov/wireless/b...ly-radio-service-frs

The legality of using that particular model of radio on those frequencies will have to be researched further by you. Lots of good videos on the subject in this and the GMRS radio thread.

quote:

Originally posted by G-Man:
Great thread, Para! I just purchased these for emergency situations:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BZ...V9kZXRhaWwp13NParams

I read through most of this thread but couldn't find this question answered: in non-emergency situations, is there a legal walkie talkie function or channel for, say, hiking in areas with no cell service or for short distance communication from car to car on road trips? I don't intend on getting any form of license.

Those particular radios cannot be used legally without a license.

quote:

Originally posted by G-Man:
I read through most of this thread but couldn't find this question answered: in non-emergency situations, is there a legal walkie talkie function or channel for, say, hiking in areas with no cell service or for short distance communication from car to car on road trips? I don't intend on getting any form of license.

You purchased dual band ham radios, requiring a ham license for each user of both radios to transmit. For simple easy comms on road trips FRS (family radio service) handhelds could do it, no license needed.

MURS also doesn’t require a license, but FRS HTs are way more common.

On a slight thread drift but very interesting here is an explanation of Starlink’s development in satellite to cell phone communication. Watch the entire video as it’s very interesting…

https://youtu.be/tdAt8uZ3NNc?si=v7ZOYLnwWXdnxetW

quote:

Originally posted by cheeze:
Sometimes if two radios are close by each other they can negatively influence each other’s abilities to TX and RX

Okay, just for the heck of it I'm running the same test again with the radios separated by about 4 feet. Will report if I see any difference in performance.

quote:

Originally posted by bronicabill:

quote:

Originally posted by cheeze:
Sometimes if two radios are close by each other they can negatively influence each other’s abilities to TX and RX

Okay, just for the heck of it I'm running the same test again with the radios separated by about 4 feet. Will report if I see any difference in performance.

I’m not sure 4’ is enough but I don’t know exactly how far apart they’d need to be. My baofengs won’t even transmit to each other when they’re in the same room.

quote:

Originally posted by cheeze:
I’m not sure 4’ is enough but I don’t know exactly how far apart they’d need to be. My baofengs won’t even transmit to each other when they’re in the same room.

quote:

Originally posted by cheeze:
<<snip>>
I’m not sure 4’ is enough but I don’t know exactly how far apart they’d need to be. My baofengs won’t even transmit to each other when they’re in the same room.

Well, first of all, I'm only receiving, not transmitting. Secondly, the Nagoya 771 is currently kicking butt over the UT72, so I may add more separation later and see if the difference increases.

Edit to add: I screwed up when quoting the model numbers. The UT72 is a G model for GMRS, not HAM as I originally posted, so I'm not comparing apples to apples after all! However, some of the more active channels I'm hearing are up in the GMRS range, so the UT72 should have favor there, but the 771 is still winning the antenna war...

quote:

Originally posted by oddball:

quote:

Originally posted by G-Man:
I read through most of this thread but couldn't find this question answered: in non-emergency situations, is there a legal walkie talkie function or channel for, say, hiking in areas with no cell service or for short distance communication from car to car on road trips? I don't intend on getting any form of license.

You purchased dual band ham radios, requiring a ham license for each user of both radios to transmit. For simple easy comms on road trips FRS (family radio service) handhelds could do it, no license needed.

Well that sucks! I don't mind keeping those in a box for real shtf situations, but can you recommend a pair of FRS handhelds with decent range (1-5 miles)?

quote:

Originally posted by Perception:

quote:

Originally posted by G-Man:
Great thread, Para! I just purchased these for emergency situations:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BZ...V9kZXRhaWwp13NParams

I read through most of this thread but couldn't find this question answered: in non-emergency situations, is there a legal walkie talkie function or channel for, say, hiking in areas with no cell service or for short distance communication from car to car on road trips? I don't intend on getting any form of license.

Those particular radios cannot be used legally without a license.

Well, thank goodness I didn't spend more than $65 for a pair of cool looking paperweights! Can you recommend a pair of radios that would work for my stated needs?

G-Man, return the radios you bought and pick up:

Baofeng FRS but just realize that FRS is REALLY REALLY short range. You MAY be able to pick up your local NOAA for weather alerts but you won't be able to transmit for help as the range on FRS is extremely short....and there probably won't be anyone listening.

Get the GMRS license and pick up these:

Baofeng GMRS Radios

or

TiDRadio H8 GMRS

quote:

Originally posted by G-Man:
Well that sucks! I don't mind keeping those in a box for real shtf situations, but can you recommend a pair of FRS handhelds with decent range (1-5 miles)?

The problem with "keeping them in a box" for SHTF is that you and others do not know how to use them, know the intricacies of amateur radio, and SHTF is the worst time to figure it out. They aren't easy-peasy FRS radios, which has the least amount of range out of all of the two-way comms because of their low power and crappy antennas that cannot be upgraded. You might get a mile in a campsite setting, or on the road between cars. I used to have a set of Motorolas and they only worked less than 2 blocks in my neighborhood before I gave up on them.

quote:

Originally posted by ltz400:
Yes, its called FRS (Family Radio Service).
https://www.fcc.gov/wireless/b...ly-radio-service-frs

The legality of using that particular model of radio on those frequencies will have to be researched further by you. Lots of good videos on the subject in this and the GMRS radio thread.

Thanks LTZ

You have one other option: Get a GMRS license! It isn't free, but there is no exam involved. Others here have already done it within a day or three, and if I remember correctly, the cost is only $35.00 and covers the whole family. That is what I'm doing with mine... the same exact set you got!

quote:

Originally posted by G-Man:

quote:

Originally posted by Perception:

quote:

Originally posted by G-Man:
Great thread, Para! I just purchased these for emergency situations:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BZ...V9kZXRhaWwp13NParams

I read through most of this thread but couldn't find this question answered: in non-emergency situations, is there a legal walkie talkie function or channel for, say, hiking in areas with no cell service or for short distance communication from car to car on road trips? I don't intend on getting any form of license.

Those particular radios cannot be used legally without a license.

Well, thank goodness I didn't spend more than $65 for a pair of cool looking paperweights! Can you recommend a pair of radios that would work for my stated needs?

Something like this would probably be your best bet, and it seems to be the cheapest I could find with a fast search:
https://www.radioddity.com/pro...dioddity-fs-t3-pr-t3

Be aware though, real world range will be fairly short in most conditions, although that's also true for Ham and GMRS handhelds as they use similar frequencies. These should be great for car to car in a caravan. Performance while hiking will vary wildly depending on terrain, but once again this is also true of Ham and GMRS radios as line of sight is the limiting factor at these frequencies, more than power.

The benefits of moving from those to a licensed service would be the ability to use a different antenna (better antenna, detached antenna with more height), more power (more range in OPEN AIR and a slight advantage to barrier penetration), and repeater use.

Here's a good primer for propagation basics that I just found, it seems to be a good summary of the issues that affect range using VHF/UHF radios.
https://quality2wayradios.com/...radio-range-distance

Here's a good primer for propagation basics that I just found, it seems to be a good summary of the issues that affect range using VHF/UHF radios.
https://quality2wayradios.com/...radio-range-distance[/QUOTE]

That's an excellent primer for a person new to the game. I have bookmarked it for future use with family.

We should start saving some of these good tidbits for the educational thread.

Maybe we can get Para to start a thread titled "if you think you need an emergency radio READ THIS FIRST".

Thanks for posting that.

I appreciate the info, Perception!

Finally broke down and applied for my GMRS license yesterday, and it was waiting in my inbox this morning. The FCC website was HORRENDOUS to navigate (as expected of the goobermint), but I got it done with the help of a YouTube video...



IF you follow this guy's tutorial and not try to work ahead like I did, you will get the process completed in under 10 minutes. If you work ahead like I tried, you'll still get it done but will require some additional steps!

IMPORTANT NOTE: Some of the website links on the goobermint pages have changed slightly, but if you slow down and follow carefully, you'll find them and be good to go.