[SHOOTER Z]

Emergency communications Ham radio, MURS, FRS/GMRS, CB and weather[all hazards] monitors all are good all work differently

Ham radio [amatuer radio] You DO need a licence easy to get no major cost just for the test. Long range by repeaters 2 meter [144 148 mhz] 70 centimeter[438-448 mhz] 6 meter [52-55 mhz] and then there is HF or shortwave frequencies these you can talk all around the world.

MURS is only 5 frequencies from the business band not to much for long distance

FRS[Family Radio Service] GMRS [General Mobile Radio Service] are low powered[esp FRS units] GMRS can be heard on repeaters if someone has one set up most of the FRS/GMRS sold today have no repeater capability good for short distance comms

CB Well most of you are familiar with CB though it is called a junk radio by a lot of folks it still can serve a usefull purpose in emergency comms I always have 2 such toys with me in my closet

Also always have and know how to use scanners, sw recievers they might help out in a pinch Even a good weather monitor [now called all hazards alert monitor] is better then no info at all

All Hazards Monitors cover everything from weather related problems to dams and levees breaching or in danger to missing or kidnapped people. In the future they will be used for things like alerts for terrorist attacks and such

 

[Dreamthief]

you know I've never put much thought into what I would do for coms. good post man

 

[Guest]

I keep 2 CB radios set up with clip on antena and cigarette lighter power inputs so they can be moved from vehicle to vehicle. I also keep Walkies that work on the CB chanels.

They are actually better than the military radios of my day.

Think about battery chargers too. You'll need them.

 

[joatmon]

I have 2 frs/gmrs radios, cb with weather, lighter plug and magnetic ant. am/fm/sw receiver and 12v-1.5,3,6,9v converter. Still on list to get; 2 frs/gmrs, handheld cb, solar charger and/or small crank generator, and small 12v-ac converter.

 

[Guest]

Good post Shooter.I have gmrs.Can you recommend a decent c b and a radio I could listen to shortwave on?

 

[Guest]

I have more radios then I do guns.... :shock:

 

[Z28Driver]

Good reminder Shooter - people often forget communications when planning for emergencies. In this department, I am in pretty good shape. I have three SW receivers (an old hobby of mine) - a Kenwood R-2000 tabletop, a Radio Shack DX-375 portable and a little Grundig portable; two CB's - a Cobra mobile and a General Electric handheld and a pair of Motorola FRS handhelds. I want to go ahead and finally get my ham license, that is the best solution. Also, I always carry an older Bell Telephone touch-tone phone in my emergency kit so anywhere I end up having to "bug out" to, I can always plug a reliable corded phone in - unlike a cordless phone that I would have to worry about powering off of a local power grid that may be down or intermittent.

 

[Guest]

Great thread!
Someone needs to restart the Review of some of those radios...

 

[rimfirehunter]

I have a pair of GMRS's and pair of FRS's, these work good for around the neighborhood, road trips, and when we have camped/hiked as a family. Range is rather limited, about 1/2 mile for the FRS's and 3/4 to 1.5 miles for the GMRS's depending on terrain.

rimfirehunter

 

[SHOOTER Z]

Good post Shooter.I have gmrs.Can you recommend a decent c b and a radio I could listen to shortwave on?

Actually any CB is good for what you'll need it for My advise forget the handhelds as they are very short range get a mobile rig with a battery or a jumpbox and a mobile antenna is good I use a Wilson 5000 I have had for about 10 yrs and an old radio shack cb also on SW reciever spend the money go to CCrane,com and get the BayGen windup radio. I have 2 of the first generation ones and they are super. In fact I keep mine [the other is my sisters I got for her in 2000 still in the box in the plastic wrap and only dig it out when we need it I also have a Grundig little pocket radio that runs on batteries I have had since 1998 and a cheap windup am/fm weather radio from Walgreens for $5.00

My All Hazard monitor is fron Radio Shack it costs around $50.00 but it is portable and has the SAME technology uses only 3 AA batteries but can be hooked to a power converter it's catalog # is 12-259

 

[69burbon]

I have a couple of short range personal radios that I usually use for hunting. I also have a couple of old CB's. Almost no one uses them anymore so they can be gotten for cheap. I used to have a base station that had side band on it. It finally quit and I swapped it for something, that was 20 some years ago.

 

[Guest]

cool Shooter,thanks.

 

[Guest]

If you want to take a look at shortwave radio get a publication called "passport to world band radio" They have reviews of radios and other great reading.. ! The other one to get is WRTH World Radio TV hand Book. For a good monthly publication try popular communications (PopCom) Though I have sort of let my radios lay fallow for about a year I always have my trusty MT1000 (Motorola) with me. It has most the local 2 meter ham stuff in it along with most of the main police and fire in it... It scans very fast and it keeps me up to date on what is going on around my area....

 

[SHOOTER Z]

Right now I have a Rad shack HTX 202 and 212 also have a kenwood 733 in a box somewhere I need a mike for it but don't have the money My 202 is a 2 mter HT older style I use AA batteries in it and gets out where I need to my 212 is on a jump pack with my magmount antenna on the window ledge inside the apartment. I can get out to several county repeaters her in SC and some in southern NC as well in my back pack when I work I carry my 2mter, scanner, windup radio ,and frs/gmrs radio and all hazards moniter along with extra batteries and everything else I need

 

[SHOOTER Z]

BTT

 

[Slimshady]

Anybody ever tried these, looks like they are a bit more "secure" than anythning else out there on a consumer grade radio.

http://www.trisquare.us/tsx300.htm

Basically, they automatically hop through 50 frequencies, transmitting for a fraction of a second before hopping to the next one in the sequence. There are 10 Billion different sequences programmed into the radios, without a radio set on the exact same sequence you cannot hear anything useful. A normal scanner couldn't keep up. So far, this particular system is propritary to this manufacturer so it's not very common yet.

Besides voice, you can also send text messages. You can set up a network of radios with both "public" channels everyone can monitor and "private" ones only those you want to include can talk on. "Caller ID" as well, you can tell which radios are talking.

Two big drawbacks I see are the 1 watt power output and the possibly flimsy construction. OTOH, they say the range is comparable to the other conventional radios out there and lets face it, none of these consumer grade radios compares to a mil=spec Motorola.

 

[Mr.40Cal]

those are very nice slim . im gonna have to check in to them.

 

[kd8ecc]

I agree this is a great topic. I always have at least 2 portable radios with me everywhere I go. I have my Ham ticket so I have a few radios the average consumer does not. I have my Yaesu VX-7R Ht with me and usually a CB. No matter what anyone says a CB radio is very valuable on the road, alongside my GPS. In my truck I have my Yaesu FT-7800 dual bander, and my RCI Ranger 2950 10 meter, and a radio shack TRC-465 CB. I have more antennas than I need on there but you never know. Anyway you can never be to prepared and getting your Ham license is always a good plan.