Handheld CB or handheld 2-way

[Scottsdale]

We are planning a trip to Alaska next year with 3 other rigs and I think it would be great to be able to stay in communication with each other.

My question is which would work better for our small caravan. A Hand Held CB or a Hand Held 2-way like either of these.

Not familiar with either and how far they will carry across average terrain.

[Scottsdale]

We are planning a trip to Alaska next year with 3 other rigs and I think it would be great to be able to stay in communication with each other.

My question is which would work better for our small caravan. A Hand Held CB or a Hand Held 2-way like either of these.

Not familiar with either and how far they will carry across average terrain.

[Rick 2005 Dolphin 5376]

GMRS is the only way to go. Being a Ham radio guy, it's the next best thing. You can set P.L. (Private Line) tones between your traveling companions so your conversations can be private if needed. You will not get a lot of truckers chatter either. Those radios are very inexpensive to own. We even use them at our manufacturing facility to keep track of each other.
I vote: NO for CB, Yes for GMRS

[Vette Racer]

The two choices shown are about equal as far as I am concerned. You can't believe the claims of the GMRS/FRS radio's, at best you will get about a mile range, mobile to mobile. That's what I found while using them on the GMRS freq's where you can run full power (3 watts). A hand held CB is not going to do much better. If you want some decent range you will need a Mobile CB with a mounted outside antenna, even that will only get you about 3-5 miles on a good day but is a lot better than a mile or less. I usually use a channel off the usual truckers channel when running with friends but when there's traffic problems I can go back to 19 and see what's happening. That's my view point anyway for what it's worth and I have used all of these for years.

On edit: By the way, I created a shortcut to the CB and Ham Radio Forum for your topic in case someone there might have some input for you. Good luck on your trip and radio's.

[TXiceman]

What Tom said.

One more thing. The GMRS frequencies require an FCC license.

The 27 mile range might be possible if you were on mountain tops 27 miles apart and a perfect day.

The FRS will be pretty much, if you can see them, you can probably talk to them.

Ken

[Rick 2005 Dolphin 5376]

Try FRS radios instead. No license and pretty good range. About a mile on a good day.

[Scottsdale]

I had no idea the GMRS required a license that cost as much as it does. We had some very cheap ones when we went fulltiming 3 years ago, but one of them broke.

Thanks for the info guys.

[FreshAir]

What is a GMRS?

[Rick 2005 Dolphin 5376]

Question asked. Question answered

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GMRS

[Bill Adams]

For folks traveling I would always recommend the CB option. FRS and the like is great is you want to have private conversations but the CB is still the very best way to find out what's going on where and when you are driving. You can move to any of the 40 available channels if you want to get away from the trucker garbage talk, but when you need help, local information, info about the traffic jam you are in, or if you are just bored and want to get a good laugh (despite the language), the CB still is the best form of communications on the road.

[TXiceman]

The CB is a full 5 watts and will have a better range, with an outside antenna. There are good no-ground plane antennas that will work on a motorhome. A through the glass mount is limited and is a compromise antenna. If you have thin, non-metalized tint glass, they can work.

Personally, for better communication on the road, I'd go with a permamate mounted CB and an exterior antenna. A cheap antenna on a good rario is worthless and will not work as well as a cheap radio and a good antenna. So, I'd buy the less expensive CB and spend more on the antenna, have it installed correctly and tuned.

Move off to channel 13 for travel (or any one of the 40 channels except for channel 9) and move to 19 for traffic reports and foul language.

Even with the shortwave equipment in the truck, I still carry a CB with a 12 v plug adapter and a magnetic mount antenna for occassional use.

Ken

[Techie]

As long as soneone in your group has a CB then whatever the group decides...won't really matter.

It is always useful to have at least one CB in a group for calling out for info and ideally with a weather radio option.

Last rig we had a perm mount CB with weather and while it was convenient and had good range we rarely used it. Current rig we have a handheld with weather. Range isn't great but 99.999% of the time we use it to check on weather conditions. Only twice in 3 years have we ever used the CB part -- that was to call to truckers regarding upcoming traffic problems/re-routing suggesstions.

Range in the handheld CB (unless you also install a good external ant.) is pretty poor.

[JoeT]

I have both a CB and a GMRS/FRS. I think the CB would be better suited for you purpose. My CB is a Cobra SoundTracker. All of the controls are in the mike. Campingworld has them on sale for $90.