Do you use CB's while riding? Couple questions.
 

I was thinking about purchasing a couple little hand held CB's. When it says good up to 2, 5, or 7 miles, Does it really work up to that distance? Does it matter if you're in the woods or an open area? Any good or bad brands to buy? Is more channels always better? What are the privacy codes for?

Do you use CB's while riding? Couple questions.
 

i have used them before, my buddy owns a pair of motorola "talk about". they have a range of 2 mi. they will work up to that distance on flat terrain & not as good in the hills. we usually stay fairly close to each other so we started leaving them at home.

Do you use CB's while riding? Couple questions.
 

Coyotechaser,
The answer to almost all of your questions is YES. Mostly, these things depend on either line of sight of antenna height. If you get up on a high hill, you will have much greater range. Trees (foliage) are hard to transmit through so your operating ranges will be shortened. Open desert is great area for these little hand helds.

I won't go into an explanation of privacy codes which are only avaiable on the FRS radios, but they work and are handy to use when you are in areas of high radio traffic.

It wouldn't hurt to carry them, just don't expect TOO much out of them. You never know when they'll come in handy. These 2-way radios can easily become more trouble than they're worth and simply another thing to mess with.

All that said, I carry Motorola GMRS, a Radio Shack hand held CB and a cell-phone when I'm out in the desert - because my ranch in Nevada is set up for GMRS (everybody carries one), the "neighbors" (4 miles away) use CB and you never know when you'll need a cell phone.

Once when crawling up an arroyo to sneak up on and photograph a herd of wild mustangs I was MILES away from civilization. Here I'm fantasizing how this wilderness desert scene could be taking place 150 or more years ago - a man sneaking up on a herd, perhaps with the intent of catcing one - and my cell phone rings! Uncle Mike?? This is your nephew in Phoenix......... (LOL)

Do you use CB's while riding? Couple questions.
 

Thankyou for your responses. I was thinking about leaving one at home and taking one with me because I ride alone 90% of the time. I usuallly ride within the 5 mile range but in the woods. Cell phones don't work well in the area that I live. The radios would be more for emergency reasons.
Ol, I would love to be able to sneak up on some wild mustangs. I grew up with horses but the only wild horses I've seen are on Assateague Island. I'm not sure how wild they are. We did have a couple stallions that would act really wild.

Do you use CB's while riding? Couple questions.
 

The 1/2 watt FRS radios reach 2 miles in OPEN terrain. Maybe 1 mile reliably through trees/hills. If you can't get through, go up on a hill, it will increase signal strength notably.

The 2 watt GMRS radios say 5 miles, in open terrain, we have had good luck reliably getting about 3.

We also use mobile units in pickups, they reach 4-5 miles reliably in 5 watts, maybe 8-10 set to 20watts. In the open, maybe 7 miles at 5 wattes, 15 or more at 20.

Farmr

Do you use CB's while riding? Couple questions.
 

Farmr,
First off, I'm no expert in this by ANY means. That said, your experiences mirror mine. FWIW, my buddy had access to a secure location atop a high hill overlooking Silicon Valley. He experimented with setting up a repeater and we had a useable GMRS signal 18 miles away... from a 2 watt radio!! Line of sight (or open area) transmission is excellent. Of course he had to take the repater down to comply with current GMRS regulations.

To everyone: hand held FRS radios work pretty well in clear terrain. They do NOT transmit well through tree leaves or other foliage. Antenna height is very important, so if one of you transmits from a hill top, the 2-way communication will reach farther.

Do you use CB's while riding? Couple questions.
 

OL, I believe you on the clear line-of-sight thing. We were talking to the Park Service guy once a year or so back, and they located a hiker who had gotten lost. All they had was a 1/2 watt Talkabout radio, and they called for help. They walked to a clearing on the top of a hill, and was heard by someone in a hot air balloon over 15 miles away.
Go into wooded terrain, and in a canyon/valley, and the same radio might reach only 1/2 mile.
They do have an advantage over CBs in that you don't get all that clutter.

Farmr

Do you use CB's while riding? Couple questions.
 

I have some experience with them so maybe I can be of some help.

FRS – Those little cheap FM transmitters you see in Wal-Mart. They operate in the 462-467 MHz Range and are limited to a transmit power of 500 milliwatts. They claim a mile of more range but in actual use it tends to be less than half that. I have also noticed that the FRS radio band has been getting quite crowded and in some places it is a real madhouse. This is especially pronounced at busy areas like malls, suburban areas and parks. Make sure you get a set with “privacy” tones so you don’t have to listen to traffic that isn’t meant for you. Cheap and effective for short distances but not my first choice.

GMRS – General Mobile Radio Service operates close to the same frequency range as FRS but it is allowed greater transmit power. If I remember correctly the limit is 50 watts with the better handhelds having around 5 watts. The ones I have used worked great and had a range of a couple of miles. There are even some GMRS repeaters around but most require a membership of some sort. A very good choice if you want a clear UHF FM radio with decent range. These radios do require a license from the FCC. Many units being sold at mass retailers aren’t letting people know this and unlicensed people are starting to cause problems on this band but so far it is not the madhouse that FRS has become in some areas. The license is around 70 bucks I think.

MURS – A new service that operates on some old business band channels in the 150 MHz range. Power is limited to 2 watts and there is a rather large existing base of business users (schools and factories mostly) in my area so it really does limit its usage for me anyway.

CB – The wild west of radio. The mobile and base units can really get some distance but the handheld models I haven’t had very good luck with. The pair I had were lucky to get out a mile in the best of conditions. They operate in the 27 MHz area and it is a “unstable” band and does vary quite a bit with weather and solar conditions.

Out of all of them I prefer GMRS. FRS is too crowded, MURS is too limited and CB is good for the vehicle but isn’t good as a handheld.

Just my experience and as they say, your mileage may vary.

Do you use CB's while riding? Couple questions.
 

I ended up trying a GMRS that was supposed to get up to 5 miles. I left one at home and brought one with me to see if I could hear as I drove. It seemed that I could hardly hear within a 2 mile range in a wooded area. When I got to the top of the mountain I could hear a little better. (3 to 5 miles away)
Would the reception increase by trying different channels? It just didn't seem clear enough to hear in a emergency situation.

Do you use CB's while riding? Couple questions.
 

Coyotechaser:
Pard, I don't think changing channels will get you anything. Leaves on trees severely inhibit transmission in the FRS, GMRS and MURS frequencies. As stated earlier, antenna height is important. If you get on a hill top, you can tranmsit further, presuming there are no intervening obstructions. In the woods, you're gonna have a problem with range.