Radios

(Two-Way Radios)

 


Two-way radios have come a long way.  The FCC has allocated space for FRS (Family Radio Service) at 0.5 watts maximum and GMRS (General Mobile Radio Service) at 2 watts maximum.  These radios are great for hiking, camping, golf, shopping, etc.  If there's any chance of getting seperated from friends and family then there's nothing like a tiny pair of radios to keep in touch.  FRS radios do not require an FCC license but GMRS radios require a $75 FCC family license.  GMRS radios cannot be used by/for a business.  The FCC license can be obtained online

 

Flower Divider

 

Motorola 6250 This is my favorite two-way radio, the Motorola 6250.  This tiny little radio takes 3 AAA batteries.  It supports all of the GMRS channels at 1 watt and the remaining FRS channels at 0.5 watts (22 channels total).  It has 38 subaudible tones that provide tone coded squelch capability.  Motorola calls these interference eliminator codes.  It has a key beep that can be turned off, a key lock capability, a vibrate mode for silent alerts, 9 additional ring styles and a roger beep to tell when a transmission has ended.  The radio also receives the 7 NOAA weather channels and it can be set up to automatically break in with any weather alerts.  As if this wasn't enough, the radio has three scramble codes that will help reduce eavesdroppers by scrambeling the audio of your transmission.  The display has a backlight and shows battery level, receive signal level, radio channel, tone code and additional radio status information.  It has individual buttons for listening to weather channels, scanning the FRS/GMRS radio channels, adjusting the volume, activating the transmit ringer, overriding the tone coded squelch, accessing the menus and powering the unit on/off.  I use rechargeable batteries which last an entire 10-hour hike on a single charge (with moderate use).  Check the owner's manual for more details.  This radio can be found online for $47 but there is also a $25 rebate for each radio (limit 6) which brings the total cost down to $22.