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View Full Version : frs/cb/ham cswee 02-09-2000, 02:40 PM What are the differences between frs (talkabouts), ham and cb radio? Can some one point me to a site where I can learn a bit more about this subject, and the jargon/lingo, etc i.e. when do you say 10-4? Do you say roger? Thanks Chris Rick 02-09-2000, 03:04 PM Good question! FRS (Family Radio Service) is limited by law to 1/2watt transmitted power and operates on the UHF band. FRS uses small hand held radios. What this means to you is that you have about 2-3 mile range LINE OF SIGHT. That means if you are standing on top of a hill you can reach a person on the valley floor 2-3 miles away. If you are hiking and have thick trees, or hills between you and the other party your signal will be blocked and the effective range will be MUCH shorter. Ham Radio is a VERY diverse hobby with an enourmous range of communication modes available to a LICENSED operator. For example: you can transmit with up to 1500 watts of power. You can own and operate a repeater which is like a radio relay station. You can interface your radio with the telephone system so you can make and recieve phone calls. You can transmit and recieve full color full motion video. You can use orbiting satllites for communicating etc. etc. For an off-roader or a hiker ham radio offers reliable communications with hand held radios which operate with up to 7 watts output and mobile radios which mount in your vehicle which typically have 50 watts output power. Ham radio licenses no longer require morse code. To get started you can get a no code lciense by just learning basic electronic theory and the rules of operating your station. I know 8 year olds who have licenses. CB radio is limited to 4 watts AM and 16 watts SSB. AM is the msot common mode on CB. Range is normally limited to line of sight, except when the atmospheric conditions carry your signals for hundreds if not thousands of miles. This is not always what you WANT. When the conditions "open up" to "skip" you can barely hear the people who are near you because people from other states overwhelm their signals. CB is has also been overrun by foul language and terrible behavior. As you can tell I'm partial to ham radio. You can learn more about the hobby by checking out www.arrl.org (http://www.arrl.org) there you can find a club in your area that will help you get started an get your license. If I can be of further assitance don't hesitate to ask. Good luck, Rick, AB7FH ------------------ Rick Horwitz Editor explorer@4x4central.com www.4x4central.com (http://www.4x4central.com) Gofast 02-15-2000, 05:34 PM Rick, Great information. Do any of the freqs on FRS overlap with CB channels? I noticed that most of the FWD club guys use CB's and my car club uses the FRS. Also will the Ham set-up cover the CB or FRS freqs? ------------------ Rob Robertson 94 XLT 4X4 4 door "It's an Explorer Thing, you wouldn't understand" Rick 02-15-2000, 06:08 PM It's unfortunate that most fourwheelers are still using CB's and now are gathereing towards FRS. Getting a license is really easy and the benefits compared to CB, FRS or Cellular phone are huge. An HF ham radio can monitor CB and a UHF ham radio can monitor FRS. FRS does not overlap with CB at all. FRS is at 460MHZ and CB is at 27MHZ. I don't know about the rest of the country, but the places I like to go wheelin' are so remote there is no cell coverage or it's sporadic at best. Ham radio is the ulimate emergency communication system for fourwheeling. ------------------ Rick Horwitz Editor explorer@4x4central.com www.4x4central.com (http://www.4x4central.com) |