License-free radios for camping
by David Harvey VK2DMH on Monday, July 27th, 2009 | 2 Comments
I am trying to find a good pair of two-way radios to use when I and my family go camping. And preferably, I don’t want to mess with paying for or having to get a license.
When I browse the stores and supermarkets, I see all UHF walkie talkies with a 10, 20, or 30 mile range. Are those ranges accurate, and does this mean the radios with the greatest range are much better?
What are the best brand 2 way radios that I should be looking at to get some decent range outdoors, and is Midland one of the better brands?
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Midland is a good manufacturer. They have a good line of two-way radio transceivers, long history. It’s much the same with Cobra and Motorola.
The 30-mile range figure quoted on the box is a load of utter BULL. That is a theoretical 30 miles – that is just possible under a perfect, laboratory environment. All of those blister pack radios are the same basic design, whatever the brand. A few have slightly better receivers, but they are all basically the same.
Then you need to watch which channel you use on FRS/GMRS dual-use radios. Some of the channels fall withing the GMRS service, and to use these channels require an $80.00 license from the FCC.The GMRS band is very busy and the possibility of being caught without a legal callsign is high, and so is the FCC fine.
I have a couple pairs of the FRS 2-way radios that I use while camping. They are OK enough to give the kids when they go to the playground, but I would not trust them more than 500 yards.
Just a thought now… CB radio is license-free nowadays as well. You could probably pick up a pair of used 27 MHz walkie talkies for a song. Just test them out before you part with your cash and make sure they work right. Midland, Radio Shack and any number of other manufacturers used to make handheld CBs. Their biggest weakness is the telescopic metal antennas which can snap all too easily. If you can, select a handheld radio that uses AA cells… Then you should be able to buy NiMH (nickel metal hydride) rechargeable batteries and a charger to suit. That will save on buying alkaline cells. And remember, the cheap zinc-carbon cells are pretty useless. They die too fast.