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12 Mile FRS/GMRS Radios...HELP!!!

C

chrismoll

Member
Apr 5, 2005
40
0
16
Upstate New York

my buddy oscar has the midland 3watt version shipped from the states, he says they work great but they do eat batteries on the high power setting, they will work way further than 12 miles if your up a hill in the open and way less than 12 miles in built up areas, make sure you get rechargeables and the charger.
 
I remember reading that the power level of the dual FRS/GMRS radios is reduced to the FRS-legal level when an FRS channel is selected.

Don't know what it's supposed to do on the shared GMRS/FRS channels, I never considered. Don't suppose it lets you select high or low on the shared channels? Or is that what they refer to as "battery saver"? A switch that puts it down to the 3/10-Watt FRS power level all the time? The specs don't mention anything that specific.

You sure won't get the full range of the radio at the lower power level. Seems to me the GMRS power level is either 4 or 5 Watts? Gotta look that stuff up, somewhere. Even at 5 Watts, the "12-mile" spec will be over water, or from hilltop to hilltop. And only with the antenna held vertical at both ends.

73
 
nomad you may well be surprised what these little things can do, we have similar radios for our pmr 446mhz band, most of them can be opened up to cover your frs and gmrs plus other bands that other countrys use, our radios are supposed to be 500mw on drycell batts and 350mw on nimh batteries, me and some other hams have done plenty of experimenting with them to see just how far above the claimed 3 miles they will work, our best results are 25 miles line of site hill to hill on 350mw, its hard work and the radios have to be precisely positioned as you move them the signal dissapears every 6 inch but hold em just right and 25 miles is not a problem i know if we had two hills further appart we could beat this, theres even guys dxing on these things with no modifications , even working into europe when tropo is good, they use channel 8-446.09375
on saturday and sunday mornings, i have tested a half dozen different brands and they all easily beat the makers claims without modification on any day you choose to test them providing you can see the high spot you are talking to, my first impression after a brief test around the houses was these guys are so full of it their eyes are brown but now i believe em no doubt they are amazing and side by side blow radioshack 27mhz handies with 4watts into the weeds, i even made a 5/8 shuntfed antenna for the car, take a look here see what you think, http://www.delboyenterprises.dsl.pipex.com/pmr446/pmr446_main.htm
 
Chrismoll, just remember that you need a GMRS license to use the GMRS channels. It's just a form you can fill out on the web and send in the $$$ for. I think it's $65. If you don't have the license, you should only be using the FRS channels. On the up side, there may be some GMRS repeaters in your area, which will extend your range quite a bit.
 
hey there..

do not let others fool you into thinking any of these over the counter blister packed frs / gmrs radios will get the supposed 12 miles between radios..

it is only posible with extreme height (maybe 40 stories hight) for both radios..

dont get me wrong these radios are "ok" but never expect the claims made are real..
i have a pair of 2 watt motorola and with both at a hight of 60 feet high and still can not even get more then 7 blocks distance..

now when i use my Icom T-90A with high gain HT Diamond antenna
i have spoken 7 to 8 miles to a base radio with a base vertical antenna at 40 ft hight..

those typical frs/grms radios just do not cut it..

hope you now can make a informed choice..

Later
 

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