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May 6th 04, 10:03 AM

On 04 May 2004 20:44:57 GMT, (AA) wrote:

The claimed range of these radios (FRS) is on the order of 2 miles. The
manufs mention terrain and weather as limitations.
How do they do in a wooded (flat) environment?

Heh....I LOVE those claims! Two miles...in a vacuum and direct LOS (line of
sight)....yup. Normal terrain? 1/2 mile to 1 mile for the typical FRS units.
The GMRS units will do better, as they're higher power out....but the licence
is $75 in the US...not sure what the deal is in Canada.

Yes. Saying the range is UP TO 2 miles is like saying a lottery ticket
will win UP TO $1 million dollars.

In extreme circumstances, you might get a much longer range, but this
is more a fluke than something to count on. Terrain and architecture
will reduce the range further. Line of sight is what you will get

GMRS is not legal in Canada, the frequencies are assigned to another
service. FRS is perfectly fine.

From the OP:

How do they do in a wooded (flat) environment?

reduced somewhat from above

How do they do in a suburban (moderately large houses, otherwise flat)
environment?

Architecture will reduce range, especially whatever contains metal.

How do they do in the city? Are they multipath prone?

Various issues with metal structures. Assume reduced range.

What weather conditions are worse? I assume heavy rain, but does fog
affect them? Will lightning a few miles away interfere with them severely

Heavy rain may have some effect. As with any FM, lightning is far less
of an issue than with AM receivers.

MURS (if legal in Ca.) is another good choice....if you can find the units.
FRS units are ubiquitious....MURS less so. The difference is frequency...MURS
is in the 155 mhz range, FRS is in the 462 mhz range. MURS also has no licence
requirements here, IIRC. They do well LOS and better than FRS (in my opinion)
non-LOS. I picked up a set of cheapie RatShak MURS mobiles and have had as
much as 10 mi. between them with decent reception. (external antenni) Don't
know how MURS is handled in Canada, do check with the local authorities.

Harder to find gear, but an option.

Since this is an amateur radio group, I will suggest that getting each
person in your group through the first level Technician license, or
the Canadan equivalent, and then getting basic 2M handheld units,
would be far more relaible and with greater range.

Happy trails,
Gary (net.yogi.bear)
------------------------------------------------
at the 51st percentile of ursine intelligence

Gary D. Schwartz, Needham, MA, USA
Please reply to: garyDOTschwartzATpoboxDOTcom

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