help with gmrs/frs

[saltysenior]

the group i hunt and fish with are no spring chickens...for safety sake we have all bought those hand held radios. they all are very limited w/ distance no mater what the manufacturers claim....we have tried them all that are less than $90 a pair, and can not feel sure that they will provide communication if needed....i know with a m marine, f m marine, s s b marine,and c b radio,there are people who have them ''worked on''...that provides a much stronger signal...is this possible to do on a these hand held gmrs/frs....

 

[Moleculo]

There isn't really anything you can do with those FRS/GMRS radios to crank up the power or increase the range. They're built sort-of "tamper proof" on purpose to prevent that.

A better option would be to find some MURS radios. They will cost more, but they put out more power and can use better antennas. MURS is a license free service, so anyone can just purchase a radio and start talking.

Here is an example of a MURS radio that should work a lot better than FRS/GMRS radios:

Dakota Alert M538-HT MURS Hand Held Radio Transceiver - eBay (item 280430424598 end time Dec-27-09 22:57:38 PST)

 

[GLR]

MURS is a great answer. Not very crowded from what I can tell and far better range.

 

[saltysenior]

how far of a range ??? some of our group have draw fulls of so called'' 28'' mile hand helds that don't work more than a 1/2 mile.....we hunt on land that is flat and is moderately forested.....cell phones work 65% of the time....but what we are looking for is something 100% reliable and small......and would work for about 5 miles........looking into marine vhf hand helds....

 

[GLR]

I don't think you would get 5 miles in a wooded area with a MURS radio. 2-3 would be more likely in my opinion.

 

[doctor]

COMMUNICATION

I agree with the other reply 2 or 3 miles and that is it.
Although I have a friend who uses a motorola on MURS. handheld and he gets 4 or 5 miles but it runs 6 or 7 watts and is pricey.
If you want 2 or 3 miles try red dog radios on the web he is having a sale I noticed, or look for a few used jobcom handhelds, I have one it runs 2 watts and 2 miles is about it on gmrs....

DOCTOR/795

VERTEX 160 HANDHELDS FOR $148 5 WATTS , USE THOSE ON MURS http://reddogradios.com/


MURS 151.94...795 IN SOUTHERN INDIANA

 

[towerdog]

I would use a CB before I would use FRS/GMRS department store handhelds. 28 mile range, its possible I suppose, possible if you are standing on top of a mountain out in the desert on a very clear day, but in the woods on flatland, from a "28 mile" or typically a ONE WATT radio, expect about 1.5 to 2 miles, and if its pineywoods, expect less, something about pine trees and higher frequencies that is not good.
If you are up in the mountains, in certain terrain the signal will reflect and cancel itself out, with a "28 MILE" radio there is one spot less than 1/4 mile from the house where the signal will not get out at all.

I would listen to the doctor and go with MURS, and look on ebay for a "lot", typically (4 to 8 radios typically) of VHF handhelds for the 150-174 "landmobile' band such as motorola visar or HT-1000 and have a shop reprogram them for murs channels. Some years ago, alot of boys would hunt (illegally) with VHF marine radios, before MURS and before FRS/GMRS, most everyone used VHF marine band to hunt on. I recall getting 5 miles over flatland in the woods, from a 5 watt handheld to handheld before, but I was just a child back then, I dont remember much other than actually shooting something.
MURS is in the same band, I would expect it behave the same as VHF marine.

CB handhelds work surpisingly good, if you obtain a longer antenna, with the old radio shack handhelds that come with an almost 4 foot long telescopic antenna, expect about 3 miles even in rugged terrain, even better on flatland or when terrain is to your advantage. Also expect that antenna to catch, snag and eventually break in the woods.

 

[saltysenior]

towerdog......funny you should mention the problem w/ pine trees....it was found to be a problem years ago when we were using marine v h f.......talked with some of our group,and we decided to give the marine vhf another try ,as most of us own 1 or 2.....verizon,the best cellphone system provider in the area,says that it has no plans to improve the coverage in our area..they suggested satellite phones,but at that rate we could all bring along our own emt for safety.....

 

[towerdog]

oh, the pine trees make it worse on the higher bands, and really made the old satellite TV systems a pain. my theory, pine tree=capacitor, think about it, its acidic, its tall, lots of branches(airels), and deep roots (ground). mother nature's capacitor.

 

[Beetle]

Just be aware of the requirements of Part 80 of the FCC rules and the penalties if you're caught.

 

[saltysenior]

Just be aware of the requirements of Part 80 of the FCC rules and the penalties if you're caught.

i believe there are 5,000 dog hunters using marine vhf in the state of fl.alone....the problem we had before was that you could not keep the radio on while still hunting because of all the chatter on ALL channels from people runnin dogs..we just need for safety sake a tool to communicate ............yeah ,i know all about fcc rules .....they say i can be fined $$$$ and shot at dawn for using the word ''sh-t'' on the vhf that would be heard by maybe 40 people, but they let the stuff on t v, radio [h. stern],and the internet that are heard or viewed by millions...

 

[towerdog]

your odds of the FCC getting for using a couple of extra watts or non-type accepted radios on MURS are slim to none, or I would say, about the same as winning the state lottery, but you are actually more likely to get killed in a car accident than win the lottery.

you mess with VHF marine radios for inland use, this increases the odds a bit, as I did read about an FCC sting operation in Arkansas back in the late 90s, even went as far as to set up surveillance on the hunters that were using VHF marine on foot. I have not heard of anything since, so I would say the odds are about the same as catching tuberculosis, catch FCC or TB and your pretty much f***ed. Talk on channel 16 or any other channel reserved for a special purpose or useage, this too increase your odds, as it may piss off the US Coast Guard. These guys could care less what is said or done on the channels set aside for general use, they dont have time, dont care, and I was once good friends with someone who served in the coast guard. But mess around on Ch.16, and a few others, and their wrath be upon you.

Personally, I would not use VHF marine for inland purposes.
I would go with MURS and not think twice about its FCC acceptance. And if I could, I would encourage everyone in my hunting club to get their ham license, and have a more useful radio service than all of CB, MURS, VHF MARINE and GMRS combined.

 

[towerdog]

oh, and do not think it has not happend. people have been caught using non-type accepted radios in the landmobile bands. those people are typically police, firefighters, and EMS that use ham rigs with landmobile frequencies unlocked. the reason they are caught is typically someone turns them in, typically a former coworker with a grudge or a self-reichous asshole that thinks he has been granted an entitlement from king george himself because he got his ham licence.

hey, people do win the lottery, right

 

[unit_399]

SaltySenior -

This is the personal experience I have had trying to use FRS/GMRS radios over a long distance. In another thread in this forum, I asked how to increase the range of our FRS/GMRS radios to communicate around our farm and to town...about 10km or so distance. As a result, I built a 1/4 wave vertical antenna, and wired into my Cobra GMRS transceiver. This antenna is installed on top of our farmhouse. Our farm sits on high ground, and we can easily reach our mobile units over 10 km away.

Mobile to mobile is a different situation. Depending on terrain, battery charge, etc., distance is very limited. In my opinion, there is nothing out there FRS/GMRS-wise that will give you the performance that you want for what you want to spend. So... if you want good communications when you're hunting, bite the bullet and buy some equipment that is designed for that type of situation. I can't tell what you need, but a good ham radio dealer can probably hook you up.

BTW... there are a lot of people on this forum that will offer advice as if they're an expert even though they have never had any experience in the area that they're talking about. Be advised.

Good luck. 73s.

- 399

 

[towerdog]

unit399, I think I remember coming across that thread surfing the web. You are in Chile or somewhere down there?
You could also program land-mobile equipment to use the GMRS and FRS frequencies, but if you poor like me you make do with what you got. I played around too with FRS/GMRS by replacing the duck with a bnc connector. You be suprised how much more power it put out with a higher gain antenna than the 1/8th wave piece of crap from which it came with. I still do not think it is worth the trouble, all the cutting, fitting, soldering and afro-engineering to have a bnc connector that works and looks half decent. You buy a radio that puts out 1 watt ERP, and end up with a radio that puts out 1.5 watts (or a radio thats ruined). I saw some 16channel UHF radios go on ebay for $50 a pair, 4 watts and PC programmable. You might as well bite the bullet as unit says, and get a real radio.