two way radios

[Pyrofish]

Slowcowboy, I know a gal I could send your way.
After which, you would find that being alone ain't all that bad after all.

, What he said!

[OuttaHand]

We have used FRS radios at some geocaching campout events we've been to. It's a lot of fun.

In fact, if you want a great unit that combines FRS radio WITH a GPS all in one, check out the Garmin Rino line. I have the Garmin Rino 120 and love it. I believe they've replaced that one now with the Garmin Rino 130:
https://buy.garmin.com/shop/shop.do?pID=182

One cool thing about the Rinos is their peer-to-peer positioning. This means you can use the GPS BY itslf, use the radio to talk, AND when you look on the screen you will see exactly where other Rino users are on the map. If you are out with kids, etc. who are carrying one you can see on the map screen exactly where they are. It's pretty slick.

One note, though: Don't buy it for the radio alone. Because they are waterproof, the microphone is not that great. You come through on the other end a bit muffled. Over all, though, nice units!

[cuyeda]

...snip....

One note, though: Don't buy it for the radio alone. Because they are waterproof, the microphone is not that great. You come through on the other end a bit muffled. Over all, though, nice units!

Isn't this comment true for most all FRS radios... audio is muffled. The FRS radios (Garmin Rino with GPS excluded), all sell for under $100 for the pair. That is the competitive market these days. Why use cheap radios when you can barely understand the other person. IMHO I use a bit more quality radios for clearer audio.

[Pyrofish]

We have used FRS radios at some geocaching campout events we've been to. It's a lot of fun.

In fact, if you want a great unit that combines FRS radio WITH a GPS all in one, check out the Garmin Rino line. I have the Garmin Rino 120 and love it. I believe they've replaced that one now with the Garmin Rino 130:
https://buy.garmin.com/shop/shop.do?pID=182

One cool thing about the Rinos is their peer-to-peer positioning. This means you can use the GPS BY itslf, use the radio to talk, AND when you look on the screen you will see exactly where other Rino users are on the map. If you are out with kids, etc. who are carrying one you can see on the map screen exactly where they are. It's pretty slick.

One note, though: Don't buy it for the radio alone. Because they are waterproof, the microphone is not that great. You come through on the
other end a bit muffled. Over all, though, nice units!

I forgot about that one. When my buddy took me up in his hot air balloon, he used the Rhino radios. That way, when we landed, the chase vehicle got a map and coordinates of where we were. It was pretty sweet!

[BillZ]

My wife and I use them when we are in the woods. She likes to wander away and ends up getting lost.

Most places we hike has bad or no cell reception so the radios are a better option.

[OuttaHand]

Other FRS radios CAN have some muffled sound, but the Rino seems worse than most. At least, the 120 was. I cannot speak about the 130. Maybe they've improved that.

Now I'm not saying it's impossible for people to understand you. You just need to try to s-p-e-a-k a b-i-t m-o-r-e c-l-e-a-r-l-y than you might in normal conversation.

Sound quality aside, the peer-to-peer positioning is pretty slick!

[pete42]

first of all ERIC-The-Matchmaker?
slow the old saying is "can't live with'em can't live without'em"
without'em is cheaper but lonelier. but Eric must know from which he speaks.

I'm a ham radio operator and as most started with CB radio,
I found that a lot of people hold the radio to close to their mouth and start speaking before pushing the push-to-talk button.
another way to make speaking more clear is to NOT hold the mike directly in front of your mouth but to one side or the other
and speak past the mike.

I'm also a pilot and on some of the planes microphones there is a ridge that you hold against your upper lip and speak
it's there because most airplanes I flew were noisy and this helped hold down the noise being transmitted.

I find the new radios to work well around the camp and rest stops.
one thing we do is have a second and third channel to switch to if our first choice is busy.
Ex. channel 2 busy switch to channel 4, channel 4 busy switch to channel 8.

[cracker39]

I guess I'm just old-school (or maybe that is

I'm just old

). Should I ever need to communicate with someone in the area, I could use my two hand-held walkie-talkie type 40 channel CB radios. I do sometimes use one if I'm on a rare trip. I connect it to a mag moung antenna on the roof of my truck and plug it into a 12 VDC power outlet so I never keep batteries in them. I do have a cell phone, but it's only turned on when I go out so that my wife can get in touch with me if she needs something brought home from a store. No, my cell phone is not smart, and the only app it has is the one that dials another phone when I push the buttons. And that is as smart as my cell phone needs to be.

[Senior Ninja]

I guess I would be remiss if I didn't mention amateur radio.
Yes, you need an FCC License. No, you no longer need to
demonstrate Morse Code ability. Buy the book, read the
questions, and the correct answer. You'll pass easily.
Now there is a wide selection of radios to choose from. The
Chinese have gotten into the market with some very inexpensive radios.
Some of the features include: clear FM tx and rx, led lights for night
operation, keypads that are lit from behind, emergency features that
alert others in your group w/ a beeper to help with location, a portable repeater to extend every radio's range.
My current favorite has a thousand memory channels so I can use it as a scanner, adding an external antenna allows one to use the Ham Sats circling in orbit, it has a five watt output as well. There are also hundreds of repeaters a la cell phone repeaters all over the country that can extend your range exponentially over direct communication.
Steve