FRS Radio's

[pappy24]

Howdy, Got a pile of great advice the Smokeless page ,now,I'd like to know some hunters opinions on the best brand of FRS radios to use for Hunting. Thanks ,Pappy24.... God Please bless our brave fighting folks...

[rossman40]

As far as FRS/GMSR radios I use Motorolas which do the job but with all do not believe the range claim. Maybe if you where on a mountain and had line of sight plus a good day you might get the claimed 35 miles. In 100ft rolling hills with foliage you would be lucky to get more then 2 miles sometimes.

Things I looked for.
Easy to use, simple controls.
Rechargeable batteries and charging stands.
Water resistant.
Weather channel

Now compatibility between brands is another weak point. What is channel 7 on one brand may not be channel 7 on another brand. You have channels and then you have privacy codes which may not be compatible even between models of the same brand. Different channels may also have different output wattage. The manual with your radio will have all the details. I have 4 Motorolas and another of my hunting buddies has 4 Cobras. We have the channels figured out but the privacy codes we are working on.

Now if you want better radios and want to spend about 3-5 times as much look at Marine band handhelds. These can have 5 times the power, totally waterproof (not just water resistant). Walmart was selling a Midland with a full accssory pack for like $60 each. Some of the newer ones have Bluetooth (use the same headsets as your phone) and GMSR channels. Now you are not supposed to use Marine Band radios inland but enforcement is by the Coast Guard so if your more the 50 miles from say Lake Michigan, Ohio river or any other navigable water way it would be tough for them to catch you. Channels have certain uses, like channel 16 is the emergency channel (much like channel 9 on the CBs) and channel 13 is "bridge to bridge" and there is a law that if you have a radio onboard (if your boat is over 60ft you have to have a radio) you have to monitor those channels. Others are Coastie or government use only.

Another thing is in most states you can not use radios or even mobile phones to "Aid in the hunt". Here in Ohio until recently it was actually illegal to have your phone on you while hunting. Check your regs and remember they are a safety item

[tdillinger]

I have Midland GXT i dont remembfer off hand which series but they were the best you could get last year. Dont forget the FCC license.

[tdillinger]

1050 series

[rossman40]

License! We don't need no stinking license!

Actually here in the US IIRC, with the FRS radios as long as you operate on channels 1-14 and at low power you do not need a FCC license. Some radios give you the GSMR channels 15-22 and may also pump up the power on channels 1-7 (channels 8-14 are limited to low power FRS). For that you need the FCC license. And everybody reads and follows the rules and applies for the FCC license right.

The GTX 1000 and 1050 are nice sets if you get the package.

[pposey]

I have some older motorolas and they work well but as said one high ridge and you can forget getting a signal

[whyohe]

I have motorola and a cobra. i have not had problems with the channels not matching. but one is rechargable pack and the other is batteries. the only thing i can say about the batteries is that the ones that take the reg batteries is that if they go dead you can go to a store and buy new ones to where you have rechargeable pack you have to wait till you go home and recharge.

rossman is right about the effective distance. but if you read in the manual it tells you that if in hilly or moutainous areas it is significantly decreased. I hunt in W. Pa. and it is veryy hilly and about 2-5 miles is limit depending on weather too. but I'm usually not that far from my hunting buddies.

I only have one cobra because the othe got caught in a heavy rain and after that it only worked intermittantly. it pays to buy a decent set! but if you look you can usually find them on sale.