I've been looking at those handy 2-way radios as a gift for my sister and brother-in-law. My problem is that I don't know which amongst the lower priced (2 mile range) ones are good- Motorola, Cobra, Uniden, Midland, etc? And what's the deal with requiring an FCC license to use them?

Any experts out there?

Not an expert by any stretch of the imagination.
I looked into them for backwoods canoeing a year ago now.

The FRS is the lower power of the radios. They do not require a licence. The next step up are the GMRS radios. These use some differing channels ( some overlap with the FRS which makes them great for the family - GMRS for Mom and Dad and FRS for the Kids. ) and have more power and range. These require a licence. From what I have been told the process is a form that is filled out and sent in. It is supposed to be included with the radios. Note that this is all second hand as I am a Canadian....so have no first hand knowledge as the GMRS frequencies are still reserved in Canada.

I was interested until I found out that the FRS would not be any good in the Canadian Shield. Too much hill and rock between lakes, even if you are only 1/2 mile away on the other side of a portage.The GMRS may have enough range to be usable but....

BTW I was told to go Motorola, but like I said this was a year ago, things may be radically different now.

Don't know if your interested or not but Garmin makes a neat little unit called the Rino. It is a combination of GMRS radio and GPS. Sweet little unit. http://www.garmin.com/products/rino120/
When funds allow....

Sorry not to be of much help, but it may give you a start.

Good luck

regards,

michael

Thanks Michael.

The reviews I read on Amazon and ePinions (?) last night lead me to believe that almost all customers are underwhelmed by the performance of these radios. That seems odd to me.

Ludwig,
I have used the Cherokee FR460 2 way radios. Little things. Nice and light. But you can only get 2 miles if you are pretty much in line of sight without obstructions. If you are in the hills or trees etc, you only get about 1/2 mile to 3/4. I hear they are great on the ski slopes for coordinating mocha breaks though.

(I don't ski)

That is 100% consistent with the comments I've been reading.

Do you ride? One of my girlfriends is trying to get me into it. I'd rather snowshoe.

Ludwig,
I don't ride either. I grew up in the south. I do snowshoe however, and I work for MSR (mountain safety research) which is actually owned by Cascade Designs and we make great snowshoes. You should have a go at Granite Mountain this winter. 3800' gain. Right off of I-90.

Maxwellspeed

An MSR related question if I may?

Was there ever a field maintenace procedure developed for the membrane filter on the Waterworks filter? I remember being told that a procedure to clean and break the vaporlock that could occur with them was being worked on. Never heard anything further.

I now have a miniworks EX as well as my old original waterworks ( updated with a marathon ceramic - also removed the wire-screen pre-filter. )

Thank-you

regards,

michael

Mykel,

Umm...I'm just the janitor here...

Ok, here goes. As far as I know, there is no way to clean that membrane. The membrane is overkill anyways in most uses. It is great as a backup in case you drop the ceramic and break it.

It seems the majority of the lock up problems, which had nothing to do with clogging, were solved with slight modifications to the membrane in the late '90s and when they switched from carbon to ceramic. It still happens, but not as bad. The new head/pump unit on the EX helps a bit also.

If you are still having problems, hit me with a PT. I don't wish to derail Ludwig's fine thread.

Ludwig,
I used some of the Motorola Talkabout radios back in ~1997. I can’t remember the model, but I believe these were some of the first of their kind to come out on the market. If memory serves correctly, they had a 5-mile range but did not require an FCC license. Perhaps the license bit is something they developed after the radios became popular?

Anyway, I used the radios while rock climbing and they proved their value when we assisted another party with a rock climbing accident at Devil’s Lake, WI. The range seemed great, and the amount of rock in the area didn’t affect reception too terribly. I also used them while backpacking in Wyoming’s Wind River Range. We were able to communicate with members of our party who were on the other side of the pass and out of the 5-mile range.

My experiences then were good, but unfortunately I know nothing of the models being made today. If range is an issue, then you might want to check out the 5-mile range radios out there – they don’t seem to be that much more expensive. You could always cruise the FCC page if you get bored.

-Elaine