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Here's another product recommendation from Walmart.
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Member Posts: 24 admin
This discussion was created from comments split from: Product review Wednesday.
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Here's another product recommendation from Walmart. I have a couple sets of the Ozark Trail Walkie Talkie Radios:
These are inexpensive FRS radios that will communicate with GMRS radios. I have these as loaners for the almost weekly trail rides (Jeeps, Toyotas, etc) I lead / participate w/ in the National Forest. I like how the push to talk button is on the face of the radio instead of the side. You can usually find these in a blister pack in the camping aisle of Walmart.
Lots of our members use Midland hand held GMRS radios. Midland hand held radios have the talk button on the side of the radio. The problem with that location is many will put the radio in their cup holder causing the button to get bumped - transmitting / blocking everyone else in the group from communicating.
I had a set of Midland hand held Walkie Talkies, where shaking the radio would cause it transmit. It was really annoying. I find those cheap Baofeng Ham / GMRS radios also suffer from this problem of transmitting when shaken.
The problem I have found with any of these handhelds, is the distance they will transmit in the mountains. We have tried several, and the longest distance we can reach out to, at out cabin, is 1 mile. After that, you can't hear anything with them. I usually walk in about three miles from my place, and the mountain obscure's the transmitting on these units. We just use our cell phones now.
I find them good for handouts for folks that don't have radios in their vehicles. Range is limited to basically line of sight - the number of vehicles in a trail ride. Cell coverage can be spotty depending on which carrier and radios work better for group communication.
I had a Midland Base Station GMRS radio in my Jeep but the microphone died on it. This is the 2nd Midland product I've had fail on me.
I know a few folks that are using Rugged Radios - which are GMRS. They are considerably more expensive.
https://www.ruggedradios.com/
for us out of touch folks
General Mobile Radio Service (GMRS) is a licensed radio service that uses channels around 462 MHz and 467 MHz. The most common use of GMRS channels is for short-distance, two-way voice communications using hand-held radios, mobile radios and repeater systems.
And it "requires" a license. The test for the license is navigating multiple FCC websites in order to obtain the license. I doubt the FCC has swat teams hiding in the national forest looking for unlicensed GMRS radios. However, "Give unto Caesar..."
It's deja vu of the days when you were "required" to get a license and official call letters for a CB radio. And maybe one in 10 did.
I have had similar results. Terrain and obstacles severely limit them. What I have found them invaluable for, though, is long drives where you have multiple vehicles with you. We have to do long moves every couple of years, and these type of radios are great for communicating between the 3-4 vehicles in our convoy.
Thanks for the idea. Just placed my order.
Just a note on all these Hand Held walkie talkies, replace the included batteries with some Energizers.