the motorola series of handheld FRS radios are some of the best on the
market.
There are of course better ones, that is, heavier duty, probably higher
quality components and all that, but for $85 a pair, any motorola FRS pair
is going to be a pretty good bang for your buck.
They are 14 channels if they are true FRS radios, and if they are GMRS/FRS
hybrid radios they are 22 channels....the first 14 are FRS and the rest are
the GMRS channels.
This also means that they are a full 2 watt output on FRS/GMRS channels 1 to
7 and 15-22 (these last channels 15-22 are GMRS only, the FRS and GMRS share
the channels 1 through 7 and you can run 2 watts under a GMRS license on
those)
Many of the features are useless generally speaking on FRS radios...things
like multiple call tones, which are irritating at the best of times, and
auto-power off, some have the NOAA weather frequencies in them....one thing
you might look for is the handhelds with the longest antennas on
them...these generally are much more efficient then the handhelds with the 2
inch stub since these are 1 quarter wave coil design...a longer antenna on
the radio will give better radiation patterns then a shorter coil will.
From personal experience, i have found that the motorola handhelds can be
heard and can talk a longer distance and maintain good signals compared to
other brands like midland or cobra or audiovox or who ever else makes them
now.
For the listing of frequencies check out
www.frs.org
and there are also links to GMRS pages from there.
73's
Colin, VA6BKX
----- Original Message -----
From: "Jim Stevenson" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Monday, April 18, 2005 11:45 AM
Subject: family band questionns


> What are the family band frequencies,
> and how many chanels?
>
> What are the most full featured family band radios?
>
> Which are most accessable?
>
> Radio Shack has Motorola talkeys on sale for $85 for two
> and base stations for $39 which are being discontinued.
>
> How do these radios compare?
>
> Thanks much again as always.
>
> 73
> wb6 yoy
>
> (650) 604-5720
>