Does anyone have some input on radios for off roading?
I was ideally looking for something that covers all styles (CB/ FRS and GMRS) but am also interested in, what do most folks use?
Getting a GMRS radio IMO is your best bet. They can operate up to 50 watts, while FRS operates at 2 watts and CB at 4 watts. I think I have that correct but you can always take a look for yourself. A GMRS radio also requires a license that you buy from the federal government and itās good for 10 years and your entire family can use the same call sign.
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You wonāt find a combo CB/GMRS radio since they use such different frequencies and antenas. CB uses ~27 MHz AM while GMRS uses ~460 MHz FM. If you need both, you will need two radios and antennas.
I agree with Deezel that GMRS is the way to go in most cases. It varies depending on where you live, but in my area most people are using GMRS for off-road comms.
Midland makes a few starter GMRS radios that are easy to use. They can be permanently mounted and hardwired in your vehicle, or you can plug them into an accessory power jack and put a mag mount antenna on your roof for temporary use.
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GMRS is where everyone is going. handhelds are easy to get and affordable to get into, but you can upgrade to a 50 watt base station in the future. the handhelds are great to keep around for friends, kids, spotters ect.
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Agree with @supremereader, GMRS is the way to go. I personally use GMRS and HAM (still working on the license, but have the radio). Most people I go out with have GMRS, and Iāve only encountered CB with 2 other people.
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I bought mine here and at the time it was a great deal. I have a Wouxun KG-905G.
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Killer info. Thank you everyone.
I appreciate it.
I use VHF (Ham) purely for Offroad comms. Iām not licensed however I only operate on āraceā freqs. To me, GMRS is the new CB.
My Icom F5021 is 50w and I never had any complaints. I recommend PCI or if you want something less expensive, Rugged has their own brand radios.
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I definitely do not suggest getting some of the Baofeng UV5rās (or the like) and programming them with GMRS/FRS and MURS frequencies since they are cheap, functional and no-one is really ever going to check your radio in the middle of nowhere.
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If youāre going that route then Id suggest Yeasu vs baofeng. I use these for long range comms in the air as a Paraglider. We communicate with ground crew and other pilots in the air for various reasons. But when I started off, I used a Baofeng uvr5 and it would be useless in around .5 mi or so to other pilots. Once I switched to Yeasu, no more issues with transmissions at any distance.
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Never had that issue with mine. My yeasu and cheap radios seem to transmit and receive about the same.
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I ended up going the GMRS route. When I purchased my license, it was $70.00 for 10 years. Now it is $35.00. I have Midland radios. Two hand helds and one mobile mounted in my truck. Hand held radios came from Northern Tool on sale and used a coupon. I purchased the mobile from an eBay seller for right around $200.00. It had the mobile radio with the āstumpyā antenna which I made a mount to mount on my A pillar light mount. They perform pretty well. No complaints on my end for the money I paid. To me a good deal for decent comms.
A friend of mine who is into Ham radios recommended the YouTube channel Ham Radio 2.0. He did some good videos on different GMRS radios.
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When a cellular signal isnāt accessible, a General Mobile Radio Service (GMRS) offers an alternative method of communication. This is a useful tool that will help you stay connected whether youāre travelling or camping in the woods. Not to mention that it is essential for staying secure. I have a Midland MXT275, it work great. My maximum range with this strong 15-watt radio is 50 miles. It is able to communicate over great distances because of its 2.1dB gain antenna.
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For primary radio comms, I use a dual-band mobile radio I have programmed for HAM/GMRS/MURS (Iām licensed for HAM/GMRS). I mounted a NMO type antenna on the front left hood channel (works great and looks clean). Very recently I got the bug for longer range communications (when out of repeater range) and added a Anytone 6666, which can operate on 10m HAM or 11m CB. With the Quad 6 I can talk and receive from around the world (10m) and when switched to 11m (CB) can also monitor trucker traffic on the highways. NOTE: If you use NMO antenna mounts, you can swap between antennas (10/11m/2M/70c) quickly and easily.
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We started out with the standard Motorola T100 Talkabout walkie-talkie style radios, they worked for a while whenever we were traveling with folks that didnāt have their own radios, we would give them one of ours, and it worked great until there was a 3rd radio involved that usually wouldnāt work with those, especially if youāre traveling with international friends, distance was a really limiting factor, and we eventually ditched these.
We then upgraded to a set of BAOFENG UV-5X (UV-5G) GMRS Radios and we have been really happy with these, but they do require a $35 GMRS radio license that you can get without a test. The downside of these is that they are not programmable on the go, since they are an fcc legal GMRS radio they will only transmit on the preprogrammed frequencies, unless you use CHIRP to program in any other radio channels, for example, you could program it to talk to your friends walkie talkie, but not directly from the radio, you have to use a computer with CHIRP, less than ideal, tho we still carry these radios.
We have since added to our kit a single BaoFeng UV-5R 8-watt Radio technically this is a ham radio, and you do need to get a ham license, which you should do, itās $35 and requires a test that you can take online for $15ish bucks, itās easy to study for and within 7 days id bet you get the information covered, the benefit of these over the GMRS radios is that they can be programmed without the use of a computer, but you can also use a computer to make it a lot easier. They will talk with your friendās GRMS and walkie-talkies, and anyone with a radio in a vehicle, excluding CB, which the GMRS radio canāt do either. An added benefit, you can program them to listen to the international space station when it flies over, a very cool campfire trick!
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After researching the topic and watching hours of YouTube videos from radio reviewers about the various radio bands, I decided to go with the BTECH GMRS-V2 ( https://www.amazon.com/BTECH-GMRS-V2-Generation-Weatherproof-Professional/dp/B09Z1NJ1M3 )
They get the job doneā¦ Itās the most affordable entry for someone that wants radios that actually work over some distance. With clear line of sight, these things can go about 20 miles.
If you are not familiar with BTECH, they are U.S. company that distributes Baofeng radios with better instructions and support for the customers here in North America.
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When I started off-roading, I noticed most people are using GMRS radios. Theyāre pretty reliable and have a good range for what we need out there. I havenāt come across a single radio that covers CB, FRS, and GMRS all in one, but honestly, GMRS seems to be the go-to for most off-roaders. If you want something compact, a digital pocket radio might be worth a look. Iāve seen a few guys use them, and theyāre small enough to carry without any trouble.
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Been using GMRS for a bit. Its a great tool.
Using VHF here
Have had a few baofeng 8ās for over a decade. Still work fine, and I suppose I donāt know any better. Itās mainly for on trail use when in a caravan, using a spotter for crawling or off camber stuff, etc. Not trying to talk to someone in Europe. It works. Iāve heard that everything is better.
FWIW, I went rabbit hunting in the desert, dropped my Baofeng. Went back after 2-3 weeks, backtracked my route, found it. Little surface rust on some of the hex screws. Removed battery, sprayed with compressed air everywhere the nozzle would reach. Works perfectly.
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