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The General Mobile Radio Service, the Family Radio Service, and the relatively new 900 MHz handies being sold, are all very qualified radios that can be used for personal or business short to medium range communication. These make a perfect Christmas gift for friends and family that want to keep in touch when hiking, boating, hitting the shopping mall, and many other uses, without having to worry about air-time minutes and other inconveniences of cell-phone use. The cheapest of these three personal short-range radios are the Family Radio Service (FRS) handie-talkies. It's getting next to impossible to find FRS-only handies, and the one commercial manufacturer, Icom, retails their lone model for a price that is the same cost or more than GMRS radios. Most manufacturers don't seem to be interested in producing cheap FRS-only handies any longer, instead, focusing on the costlier GMRS and commerical UHF radios. The FRS radios are reduced to 500 mW output, or half a watt. Realistically they are competent for anywhere up to 1 mile or a little more, depending on terrain. These little handies boast 14 channels and many have CTCSS as an option to reduce interference so you can't hear transmissions from other radios. The FRS handies are license free, which is a big advantage. FRS was introduced by the FCC in 1996 as an inexpensive and license-free mode of communication for personal and business use. The General Mobile Radio Service (GMRS) walkie-talkies are costlier. They have a higher output, usually 1 to 4 watts, although most GMRS walkie-talkies are closer to 2 watts output. While the GMRS handie-talkies do have a farther range, don't believe the hype about 20, 28, even 30+ miles. In reality you'll get in the neighborhood of 10% of that. So you're doing well if your GMRS handie reaches 3 to 4 miles. Of course, if you're on a mountaintop or out on the lake on a boat, you'll get further range because there are no obstructions. GMRS handie-talkies require a license from the FCC, which isn't cheap at $85. However, you will be breaking federal laws if you operate a GMRS radio without a license. In Canada you can operate GMRS walkie-talkies license-free, but federal regulations limit output to 2 watts. GMRS has 22 channels, however channels 8 thru 14 will only permit 500 Mw output because they are shared with FRS. Channels 1 thru 7 are also shared with FRS, but you can use full power output here as these are not relegated to FRS output power. GMRS was introduced in the 1960s by the FCC. At that time they called it the Class A Citizen's Radio Service. This service does allow repeater use, which FRS does not. See my website for more information on repeaters. FRS and GMRS both use fixed channels in the 462 - 467 MHz range. The 900 MHz handies, which are rather new on the market, use one watt output and are license free. They operate with a technology called frequency hopping spread spectrum. This technology is very much alike cell phones but remember these handie-talkies do not use cell phone repeaters. The range of these handies would be comparable to a GMRS radio with 1 to 2 watt output. Their claim to fame is the purported lack of interference from other stations due to frequency hopping and encoding. However, these handie-talkies cost as much as an a top end GMRS handie. It all comes down to personal preference as these handies perform very equally, with the higher output models having a slight advantage in range. CTCSS encoding, channel hopping, even voice scrambling are available on some models. See the complete line up of radios including prices and specs at the website listed below.
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