Walkie talkies do they work?


WyomingEMT
 Share

Recommended Posts

There are a few different bands with different power restrictions. There is one band where you are required to get a certificate from the FCC (which just involves sending in a small amount of money, there is no test), but you are allowed to transmit at a higher power.

But, even with that... 15 miles.... maybe if you were both standing on top of radio towers.:lol:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 weeks later...

Cell phones are infrastructure dependent. So, even though the cell phone is wireless, 90 percent of the rest of the system is physical and can go down during a emergency. Region wide emergencies always cause cell systems to jam with to many users using there phones at the same time. Cell site towers were never built to have one channel per use. The subscription rate is usually 10 users per channel.

Stay away from CB. I nick name it the criminal band because the type of people I have heard of there activities "1990s" and soon passed my ham-radio license. It was a HUGE improvement over CB.

Try and use your cell phone in a huge football game. You will be lucky you can during intermission as there are more cells that are in use, then cell tower frequencies.

Hamradio can transmit internationally on very low power if you are Licensed as a General.

Ask your bishop if he can organize a event in which members can prepare for the hamradio licence.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Do these Family handheld walkie talkies really work? I see them on the store shelf saying they can reach out 15 miles. Can they be used for ward or stake communications? What's the skivey on these radios that everyones buying?

I bought a cheap set of Woot years ago for $5. My wife and I tested them out one night when she went to grab some food- the range was shockingly good- about two miles. Now, the advertised range was something like 15 miles, but i'm sure they mean "15 miles line-of-sight in the vacuum of space away from any soft of RF interference."

Still- two miles is pretty good for a $5 set off Woot.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 months later...

"FRS" walkie talkies do not require any licensing and are good for short range (1-3 miles, tops) line of sight communications.

"GMRS" units have more frequencies and many offer a "privacy" feature which can scramble your transmission so only those who know what channel and which scramble setting you are using can communicate with you. IIRC the license is 80 bucks for five years.

CB isn't woth much as previously stated.

The issue I have with ham (in particular 2-meter) is the nerds who run the net. If you have a slip of the tongue and transpose the letters of you call sign a previously quiet frequency will explode with cries of "UNLICENSED OPERATOR !" and "GET OFF THE AIR!"

Remember, some of these guys literally nothing better to do than sit around waiting for a mistake like this, their computer is sitting right next to their base station and they'll be looking up your call sign to see if you're legal or not.

For those who don't know: your amature radio license is published in an on-line and in-print directory listing your name and address. The above incident really did happen to me on my first try and it took me a couple of tries to get it right as I was pretty well flustered at that point.

I also found one guy in my yard as I got home from work one day :eek: who told me he was there just to check out my antennas and would I mind showing him my "shack". :huh:

Let some stranger into my home to check out some expensive radio equipment, uh, no thanks. Told him he wasn't welcome and to leave now. Followed him to his truck got the plate and gave the cops a detailed description.

There is a way to "jailbteak" some older PTT cell phones and that'll give you short range digital, secure comms. I'll do somoe research and see if I can remember where I saw that and post it here.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Ask your bishop if he can organize a event in which members can prepare for the hamradio licence.

Before I converted, our radio club helped out with a "ham cram" and test session for the ward in the next town over. It was a waste of time; IIRC, about 20 passed, and one has actually been heard on the air since then.

If you're going to do anything like this, you need a ward communications specialist who will actually get people to do something every now and then. Just passing the test doesn't help if you never touch a radio until a disaster strikes. It's like storing 500lbs of flour and assuming you'll be able to figure out how to make bread when you need to.

Participate in Field Day to get some practice and some free publicity. Offer to help out with communications at bike races and other community events. Hold a Simulated Emergency Test with realistic emergencies for your area at least twice a year. Active hams are a benefit to the ward and to the community. Inactive hams are just names on the list that you have to call even though you know they won't be useful.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Back to the original OP ... I've never found a FRS/GMRS walkie that lasted for more then a couple years or really worked much beyond a couple of miles unless it was "line-of-sight" (no obstructions). We have used GMRS a fair bit on the ranch where cell coverage is spotty & we can normally get a couple of miles, though 1/2 to 1 mile os more regular with the mtns, canyons, & ridges, etc.

Ham licensing is easily obtained & there are some used &/or lower-end radios on the market that would suffice for most users.

Ham has a great advantage for my ward .... we can't get the Bishop's Storehouse or the Stake on the regular VHF & UHF bands & can't even reach 1 end of the ward from the other except via user relays. But we can get the Storehouse & even Salt Lake directly using the HF bands.

We finally got approval to put a Ham antenea in the steeple at the church & set up a "closed" VHF repeater & a ham radio at the church (all fund raised thur an eagle scout project). The closed repeater allows a good 2/3rds of our ward & parts of a neighboring ward to communicate with each other even when using 5-watt handheld hams kind of on our own private system. It also gives us the capability to use the standard VHF frequency to communicate with the regional storehouse.

One thing to keep in mind with ham radios .... in the event of a bonifide emergency, a license is not required for emergency use.

The key thing that most wards forget is PRACTICE!

Weekly or monthly systems communications test, simulated emergency tests, & working with area communities during public events/celebrations, etc. A lot of people will get their licenses never to use them por even obtain equipment. Setting up or getting involved in a ham users group really helps get & keep people interested. Lots of areas have LDS Ham Groups already & if nptot, it's fairly easy to get one started.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Lots of areas have LDS Ham Groups already & if nptot, it's fairly easy to get one started.

Most areas already have a ham club, and working with them will benefit everybody more, since they tend to already have contacts within the emergency services community. That's not to say that a second club wouldn't provide some redundancy, but interoperability can be more important when everybody's in the same boat during a disaster.

Besides, you just might convert a few.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
 Share