Outdoor Adventure USA

Ive been thinking about swapping the cb from my Pathfinder to the Expedition for next weekends trip. The thing is, i dont want to deal with mounting, and wiring, etc. I have noticed that there is a significant amount of people who are new to the lifestyle coming, and not everyone has CB radio, let alone ham. This is my proposal, as much as a huge step backward in technology it is, to make FRS radio our main source of communication. I know the CB and hams will come in handy if we have an emergency (knock on wood), but FRS is so easy and everyone has one. I have 2, one for me and one for another user.

Id like honest feedback on this as soon as possible, because some of us need a bit of time to get the whole CB stuff squared away before the trip if we arent using FRS.

I don't know John's thoughts, but I wouldn't be too worried about having a CB if I were you. I ran for a year or so before deciding to bore a hole in my roof. Now that I have one however, I couldn't imagine not having one. Just make sure you're somewhere in the middle of the pack. As far as "everyone" having FRS radios, are those the Motorola walkie talkie things? If so, I dont have one of those

While I won't be on this trip, I'd like add my two cents:

A CB radio can be converted to a portable unit by putting a 12 volt outlet plug on the power end, and getting an inexpensive magnetic mount antenna. While FRS radios have better transmission quality, they are limited in distance (at 1/2 watt) and don't transmit well with their antenna inside the vehicle. If your FRS also has GMRS, you have more power to work with (up to 5 watts depending on the radio) and will transmit further. Another consideration is that most rangers monitor CB radio but not necessarily FRS / GMRS.

For communicating within a group aver a short distance FRS will be OK. And CB has the ability to be monitored over a longer range by a larger audience. The more forms of communication you have on board, the better your changes of being heard on the trail or in an emergency. Neither CB nor FRS / GMRS are very expensive any more, so why not have both available. And given the posible distance from help while on the Mojave Road Trail, I think it's advisable to have at least one ham radio in the group. While I do not condone unlicensed use of ham or GMRS radios, having them on board for emergencies is, to me, a good idea.

Have fun on the trail....

My vote is for Ham. I dont have a CB or motorola walkie talkie.

If anyone has ham I'll be on 146.460 simplex or whatever you recommend.

I'm only running a CB in my Jeep right now. I figured on letting those with Hams deciding on what simplex to use while we're out there.

THATSALEXUS? wrote:As far as "everyone" having FRS radios, are those the Motorola walkie talkie things? If so, I dont have one of those

Me too. However, I might be able to get my hands on three or so hand held radios for those who might not have any communications in their rig. As Steve said, we can keep any who don't in the middle of the pack.

I'll have all three comm methods with me this weekend. So with that and my recovery gear, I can take a spot at the rear, as long as everyone agrees to keep a sight line to the vehicle behind them.

As for which to use, we'll likely have to take a poll at the trail-head to see which is most prevalent and use that one.

bruisedFJ wrote:I'll have all three comm methods with me this weekend. So with that and my recovery gear, I can take a spot at the rear, as long as everyone agrees to keep a sight line to the vehicle behind them.

As for which to use, we'll likely have to take a poll at the trail-head to see which is most prevalent and use that one.

Sounds good! I'll put ya down as tailgunner. And thanks for the reminder; we will all need to keep an eye on the vehicle behind us, as it should be on every trail run.

bruisedFJ wrote:I'll have all three comm methods with me this weekend. So with that and my recovery gear, I can take a spot at the rear, as long as everyone agrees to keep a sight line to the vehicle behind them.

Whenever running a group on the trail, the general safety etiquette is to always make sure you can see the headlights of the vehicle behind you. If you cannot, stop. If folks all follow this rule, everyone up the line will stop until the situation can be contemplated, and no one is out of range of immediate assistance in case of emergency or communication failure...

I have the CB radio thing handled. Ill also have 2 Motorola T9500XLR Talkabouts. Someone can borrow one if we all use FRS/GMRS as a secondary source.

I think whoever has a set of FRS/GMRS should bring them.

TheFRS/GMRS radios get much better reception then the CB handhelds. Especially when trying to talk through glass.