Batboard

Total newbie, here, looking to buy the UHF 16 channel version of the above, solely for use at a Florida resort when we escape the Canadian winter -

Reason for the purchase is that I have wasted waaaaaaaaay too much money over the years on 2 way radios [walkie talkies?] for < $100 which turned out to be useless, in that rather than being able to reach my son, all I can hear is static, and other peoples' conversations.

Would thus really appreciate some thougths on whether I am buying the right product.

My online research regularly referes to the CP110 as being for retail / industrial use, whereas, as mentioned, I need something to use at a crowded resort.

Also, I have been unable to find any info re: the range of this product.

Thanks in advance!

To get any helpful answers you'll have to post more information, such as:

1. Why UHF?
2. What kind of power do you intend to run?
3. Are you a ham, or do you have any license of any type to operate in the USA?

About the range of any radio, it's a combined function of power, antenna height, any
surrounding structures, receiver snesitivity, blah, blah blah, ad infinitum, which means that there are no hard and fast answers to the question.

Tell us more and someone will be able to furnish some guidance.

And last of all, welcome to the Board.

Regards,

Thanks for your reply, Tom, and for yuor kind welcome -


1. I have no idea -
The place from which I'm looking to buy it here in Canada says that this would mean that I would not need a licence.
Here in Canada...
Am I correct in inferring from your reply that I may need a licence in Fla?


2. I have no idea.
I was thinking - perhaps naively - juice the radios in the villa, and then use them to keep track of my fam.


3. Not a ham, no licence


Hope this helps better explain my situation.

Thank you, once again, in advance...

I believe you have been given some bad, or at least very incorrect, advice. In the US there are a very few frequencies, VHF and UHF, that may be used without a license of any kind. However, there are also definite restrictions on the radios, power levels, etc. that apply. The UHF channels that you can use license-free are very low power, and these are probably what you've been trying to use in the past. Unfortunately every other kid in the country has one, or more, of these radios so for any kind of reliability or serious work they are nearly worthless. The band is UHF and its called the Family Radio Service, or FRS for short. On VHF there are five channels available, and here your radio can run up to 2 watts, so the results can be somewhat better. There are probably fewer odd people cluttering up these channels than there are on UHF. The VHF service is called MURS, and the radios are type-accepted for this band by our FCC, so you need to buy a specifically-designated radio to do what you want to do. In summary, either band radio will work, but odds are that you'll get better results with the VHF setup.

As far as range is concerned, with radios of such low power it's nothing but a crap shoot all the time. Use the radio in a high location, like the second floor of the house, and your son will hear you, probably, if he's a half mile to a couple of miles away, maybe more and maybe less. That's with the VHF 2-watt radio. Odds are in a city environment you'll get much less coverage with the UHF radios, which for FRS (I forgot to mention this above) are allowed to run only one-half watt of power.

One other thing, just so you don't get confused if and when searching the UHF side for FRS units, the FRS channels are interstitial with our GMRS UHF service which is a licensed service. Some GMRS radios also have the FRS channels programmed in them but since the radio also does GMRS you need a license to run them here.

If I've missed any fine points I'm sure one of our members will jump in to straighten me out and tell you what else you need to know. Now you can start searching the various radio sites for possible FRS or MURS units. You can also find the regulations for the services via a Google search; there's tons of stuff posted on the subjects, bands, radios, reviews, etc.

Regards,

Many, many thanks for your most helpful reply, Tom -

And my apologies for being slow in acknowledging / responding.

Thanks to you, I got back in touch w the place where I was going to buy the CP110, and after I raised some of the concerns set forth in your post, they are now steering me toward the DTR550 - VHF.

I'll have to research this model, but if you / anyone on the board has any thoughts - given my intended use to stay in touch my family at the resort etc - I would, once again, be most appreciative!