CB Radio

[wa8yxm]

I do not often hear much on my CB's either.. You may wish to test it There are several ways, Either find another RV with a cb nearby or.. Get a hand held and take a quarter mile drive and "phone home" to your travel partner.

[jimmyq]

Just sold my last CB, it had been in a box in the closet for about 8 years. I have used the motorola FRS radios with the guys when we went on road trips, I have now switched to an FRS/GMRS set of radios, much better range and about the same cost per pair as I paid for the FRS radios when I got them. To give truckers the go ahead with lanes etc I use the headlight blip method
I bought mine on eBay from this seller: Midland GXT1050VP4 pair of 2-way Radios GXT1050 VP4 | eBay

[alvinc]

NOTE: this is a Soapbox entry, don't read if this offends you.

I find the advertising claims of the FRS sellers totally amazing. Using the Midland GXT1050VP4 as an example.

Claim: 22 channels plus 28 extra channels
Analysis: The 22 channels are the FRS/GMRS frequencies. Only 14 of these can be used by an unlicensed user legally. I don't know what the other 28 channels are. The User Guide has a chart but only covers 22 channels the frequency of the other 28 is unlisted. Highly suspicious!!!

It could be that these other channels are for FRS frequencies in other countries, but that would make them illegal to use in the US.

Claim: 284 Privacy Codes - Gives you up to 5560 channel options to help block other conversations
Analysis: There are only 22 channels, the "5560 channel" statement is a hoax. A privacy code is not the same as a channel. All privacy codes share the same 22 FRS frequencies. So if a bunch of people are within transmit range a maximum of 22 conversations can be occurring at a time. On a single channel only one conversation can occur, regardless of the privacy code.

For example if 10 different groups of people set their radios to channel 1 and then each group chose a different privacy code. This might be a very possible situation at Disneyland. They will not be able to have 10 conversations at the same time. This would only be possible if the groups were far enough from each other that their radios would not interfere with each other.

Why is this? The privacy code is a tone that is transmitted as a user talks. The other radios will only turn their speaker on if the transmitted tone is the one programmed into the radio. So if two people try to talk at the same time, they both are transmitting on the same frequency but with a different tone. The problem is that they will interfere with each other and it is likely that no-one will hear them.

Claim: 36 Mile Range*
Analysis: This is pure bunk. They did put an asterisk there that refers to a note.

Quote:

*Maximum range can only be achieved over water or open rural areas under optimum conditions.

How often do these optimum conditions occur.....rarely.

Claim: X-TRA Talk Power - Maximum allowed by law
Analysis: The FRS channels 8-14 are limited to 0.5 watts. This is maybe good for a mile in an urban environment. The GMRS channels with a license allow up to 50 watts. The Users Guide and spec sheets do not define the the maximum wattage. The only thing we know for sure is that LO power is 0.5 watts. With only 4 AA batteries it is likely the higher powers are only 1-5 watts, with seriously reduced battery life.

Four AA batteries cannot do 50 watts and this would be dangerous close to your head.

[jimmyq]

No offense taken, I didnt write the ad. I do find that they are more clear at more distance than the FRS radios I have, I havent found a max range yet but on paper they have more raw power output so I figure the range should be longer than the FRS also. I did read about the perfect conditions needed for their 'max distance' claim but I also took that with a grain of salt. For my uses so far which has been convoy style chatting at maybe 3 or 4 miles at speed they have worked great with and without the earpiece and boom mic unit. I dont care too much about the privacy channels etc, thats what I would use my cell for.
I found when I used my CB I got very little interaction from anyone other than my friends, maybe I have a funny accent or something.

Anyhoo, onward and upward!

[Tugboat]

I have both a CB and FRS. I find that the FRS is nice in the campground or when walking around even use them on a cruse ship.
But the CB is the way to go on the road. In my Off Road Jeep i have a CB and a moble FRS some people use a FRS when that travle off road but most clubs require a CB.
At the campground were we keep our rig when not traveling I have in my Tiki Bar a base CB, base FRS and a marine radio it is at the DE beach.