Motorola Walkie-Talkie's

Anybody know anything about 2-way radios?

LOML just bought some little Motorola "2-way radios" for us to use here. I'm trying to program them (which is extremely difficult since I can barely read the instructions even with a magnifying glass. A pox on Motorola for printing the instructions like that ).

What's the difference between channels that are "GMRS" versus "FRS"? Is there an advantage to choosing one over the other?

Check this out It may answer some of your questions.Remember Google can help sometimes. This may only apply to the US you may need to seek out Canadian laws pertaining to the use of these radios . Note to self I know how to find most laws for US probably should stay in US .

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?guideID=1072288099473&type=page&id=cat12077#A02

Thanks Bart. Yeah, the FRS and GMRS radios under 2 watt are approved without a license in Canada since 2004.

What I don't understand is what the difference is for practical purposes. For example, do you get better reception with a 1.5 watt GMRS channel than a .5 watt FRS channel?

I have always heard that higher wattage is better. Maybe someone can weigh in on this.

I've got a couple of sets of those, the Gmrs will give you a longer distance between radios, the fsr shorter distance. I read somewhere that chosing chanel 5 or 7 (don't remember the numbers) tend to give a clearer signal. That was in an artical I read a number of years ago somewhere.

I just find if I've got lots of obstacles in the way or at a distance I chose the gmrs if just around the yard or a field, I chose the fsr so i'm not broadcasting to half the town.

FRS (family radio service/system) was developed for "around the neighborhood" communication when CB channels became way to crowded. FRS is good up to 2 miles if clear line of site. GMRS General mobile radio srvice) is higher wattage when manufactures realized that people were using them for everything under the sun and will operate to 5 miles with clear line of site. If you move up to HAM radio...give me a call KJ6KCS on 2m.