Tactical comms radios for family

[Craig_AR]

PS, I'm shocked this hasn't been shut down for not being firearm related, yet.

Uses of simple radios for hunters to stay in touch in the field, or families to stay in touch in a home defense situation, are right in line with other supplemental equipment to our firearms. Very glad this thread has opened up the topic.

I would add to the Baofeng discussion that they are indeed not up there in quality with Icom, etc., but they work. There are a number of YouTube tech reviews on their quality and on how to program them. I'd advise checking some of those videos, and in particularly NOT opening them up to transmit outside of their licensed frequencies. Again, there is no legal or regulatory prohibition of listening to any frequency on any radio. Having channels on the Baofeng set to the weather radio channels is very handy.

 

[rabid wombat]

The test can be studied, practiced, and taken completely online now. And is easier than ever last I heard.

However, in my experience, it has been impossible to get anyone else in my family interested in radio at all, let alone take an exam. And whoever said the test was stupid easy is correct. 35 out of 50 questions, covering polite operation and very basic electricity. NO morse code at all. (There is no longer a morse code (CW) requirement for any amateur radio license.) IMHO, there is no excuse for anyone who is serious about family/group communications to not have a Tech license.

As everyone else has said, licensing is dirt simple. GMRS is fill out the form and submit with remittence - it covers the entire family. Ham is only marginally more difficult. I trained with three apps, and passed all three licenses the first time. I use what is below (he has all three licenses):

PS, I'm shocked this hasn't been shut down for not being firearm related, yet.

Why can’t we have a “radio” subforum? Obviously, we have to play nice. As others have said above, it is related to firearms / hunting. As much as “knives”.

 

[D.B. Cooper]

deleted. Let's not go there lol

 

[lionking]

T

 

[lionking]

Thanks for the replies there is a lot of info to think over. To answer some questions on what applications I.m looking for would be a mile or less range.

1 hunting applications
2 emergency applications for example I went through hurricane Andrew and can tell you while cell phones weren't as popular then any cell towers were blown away and a area you knew before might be unrecognizable after, so cell phone use after a natural disaster is spotty, land lines these days are almost extinct, being able to contact family friends in a short distance may be needed to know their security be it from looters or general welfare. My cousin lives on a dairy farm upstate NY and he a mile down the road from my Aunt, same thing applies for snow storms or if a family member is out on a ATV and gets hurt or stranded
3 hiking or ATV applications again were cell phone service may be spotty.

 

[rabid wombat]

cell phones weren't as popular then any cell towers were blown away

One thing to remember, the cell service may be spotty…text take a lot less bandwidth. You may be able to get text through when you cannot get a phone call through.

I started down the radio mode just to make sure I could contact “local” people (my brother is 3 miles as the crow flys…). I have proven I can “hit” his house with a variety of radio, but I have to do my part….

 

[D.B. Cooper]

Thanks for the replies there is a lot of info to think over. To answer some questions on what applications I.m looking for would be a mile or less range.

1 hunting applications
2 emergency applications for example I went through hurricane Andrew and can tell you while cell phones weren't as popular then any cell towers were blown away and a area you knew before might be unrecognizable after, so cell phone use after a natural disaster is spotty, land lines these days are almost extinct, being able to contact family friends in a short distance may be needed to know their security be it from looters or general welfare. My cousin lives on a dairy farm upstate NY and he a mile down the road from my Aunt, same thing applies for snow storms or if a family member is out on a ATV and gets hurt or stranded
3 hiking or ATV applications again were cell phone service may be spotty.

Just get yourself an FRS radio. If you only need a mile, they'll do. They're UHF, so they work decent inside buildings. I suggest you look for one that runs on AA batteries. In hurricane, you may not have the ability to recharge an internal battery. (I keep 7 amp hour SLA batteries for just that purpose with my ham radio.) The ability to just stuff in some more AA batteries is a big plus. (Go to Costco and buy a LOT of batteries.)

Things to add with those FRS/GMRS radios:

Privacy Mode is not private! All privacy mode does is block your reception of any transmission that is not preceded by your group's code. Turn privacy mode off and you can hear everyone, regardless of their privacy mode settings.

FRS shares the first 4-5 or so channels with GMRS. GMRS transmits at a higher power. If you're on GMRS mode on your FRS radio and thinking "this thing works better on channels 1-5," it's because you're transmit power is too high for the FRS band; you're actually using GMRS at that point (which requires a license).

 

[Mauser lover]

I’m late to the party, but want to add my proverbial two cents. I’ve got an Icom in the airplane, and while I’ve had no issues with it (as long as it stays dry-irrelevant story) the aviation crowd in general looks down its collective nose at Icom (mostly, I’m fine with it. But I shop at Harbor Freight too). I know it is probably a different radio type than you are looking for, but it has given me good performance. I don’t need all the bells and whistles.

I don’t need a license for the radio in the airplane, so perhaps if you don’t want to do any radio tests you can switch to doing pilot tests...

 

[Craig_AR]

Privacy Mode is not private! All privacy mode does is block your reception of any transmission that is not preceded by your group's code. Turn privacy mode off and you can hear everyone, regardless of their privacy mode settings.

One time... at band camp.... (really)
I was the first aid parent chaperone. All of the chaperones on staff were using cheap FRS radios with no privacy filter possible. Some of the HS kids had higher cost FRS with "privacy" feature. We heard all of their "private" conversations plotting for boys to come meet girls after hours
in the girls-only bunkhouse Ten minutes before launch a mom-chaperone went and pulled the girls and a dad-chaperone went and grabbed the boys involved, and brought them to the first aid room for a discussion. Violation averted, and we did not have to send anyone home. Yeah, they thought no one could hear them.

 

[Sistema1927]

I’m late to the party, but want to add my proverbial two cents. I’ve got an Icom in the airplane, and while I’ve had no issues with it (as long as it stays dry-irrelevant story) the aviation crowd in general looks down its collective nose at Icom (mostly, I’m fine with it. But I shop at Harbor Freight too). I know it is probably a different radio type than you are looking for, but it has given me good performance. I don’t need all the bells and whistles.

I don’t need a license for the radio in the airplane, so perhaps if you don’t want to do any radio tests you can switch to doing pilot tests...

I like Icom gear, and have several Icom Amateur radios.

I have taken both Amateur Radio and Aircraft pilot tests, and guarantee that an Amateur radio license is far easier to obtain than a Pilot license.

 

[jdh]

I like Icom gear, and have several Icom Amateur radios.

I have taken both Amateur Radio and Aircraft pilot tests, and guarantee that an Amateur radio license is far easier to obtain than a Pilot license.

Cheaper also.

 

[Craig_AR]

Here's a nice primer video on GMRS, released in January 2021:
5 Things to Know About GMRS Radio