Since the dawn of time, Jeepers and other off-roaders have been using CB radios for communicating on the trail. CB radios have historically been very cheap and easy to use, and they don’t require a license. Occasionally amateur radio (ham) operators will show up on the trail and use their ham radios while off-roading, but unless everyone in the group has a ham license and a ham radio, using a ham radio is not very effective. Because of this, whenever The NotaRubicon leads a group, we have always used CB, channel #16 as our primary method of trail communications – Until now.
Radio Communications On The Trail – CB, FRS, MURS, GMRS
Over the last year or two, mostly while leading large off-road runs, and particularly ‘beginner’ 4X4 runs, we’ve noticed more and more new off-roaders showing up on the trail with inexpensive “race radios“, or walki-talki / handi-talki type radios. These are the type of radio that you find advertised as having an “10 mile range” and can find on Amazon or at Walmart for $20 – $60 dollars. When comparing these radios to more expensive hand-held CB radios, these “bubble-pack” radios seem like a great deal – and in reality these little FM/UHF radios work great, have better audio quality, often have a further range than CB radios, are usually less expensive, and are a great deal. They seem perfect! Except for one problem: Getting them all to talk to each other
Long Live CB Radio! or not….
Let’s clear up one thing first: A CB radio cannot communicate with any of these other types of radios – FRS, GMRS, MURS, ham, and visa-versa – and as of September 2020, we are no longer using CB radios for communications on our trail/off road events.
Switching From CB Radio To FRS / GMRS
In making the switch from CB radio to FRS/GMRS we faced one big challenge: What kind of radio should we get that can talk to all of these different types of hand-held race radios, ham, FRS, GMRS radios and we decided to get a full fledged FCC compliant programmable ham radio (2meter and 70cm). This will allow us to monitor and listen to those that come out with ham radios (until we get an amateur radio license) and will also allow us to talk to all of the FRS/GMRS & Race Radios – and because we are now FCC GMRS licensed, we can operate at a higher output power (up to 50 watts) and have a larger antenna than what is allowed on the smaller walk-talki radios – something that will come in useful when leading large groups of Jeeps.
What Radio Should You Get For A NotARubicon Off-Road Run and what channel/frequency should you use
If you have a ham/Baofeng radio, the official NotARubicon frequency is: 462.575 (simplex) – Note that 462.575 is in the GMRS band so many ham radios may not allow you to transmit on this frequency.
If you have a “bubble wrap”/inexpensive FRS walki-talki, the official NotARubicon channel is: FRS 16 – with no “tones” or “Privacy” settings
If you have a “GMRS” hand-held, the official NotARubicon channel is: GMRS CH16 (no tones, or privacy tones/settings)
If you have not yet purchased a radio, then a small programable handheld such as the BTech GMRS V1 is our recommended hand-held GMRS radio. If you want something more simple to use (less buttons/non-programmable) then the Motorola Talkabout or Midland FRS hand-helds are both great, simple to use inexpensive radios. One of our favorites is the inexpensive Radiooddity FS-T1, 22 Channel FRS walki-talki. All of these should work on our new channels.
FCC Licensing For Off-Road Radio Use
FRS radios (the small, inexpensive, non-programable hand-held radios with a fixed antenna) do not require any license to operate. Just grab one at Walmart or from Amazon, charge-up the battery and start talking.
Transmitting on a “GMRS” capable radio, which may have a removable antenna and usually costs more than FRS radios, does require a GMRS “ZA” license from the FCC. If you are only listening/monitoring, no license is required, and a license is not required to purchase a GMRS radio. There is no test required for a GMRS license, you just fill out a form and send money ($35) to Uncle Sam and you only need one GMRS license to cover your entire immediate family.
Programmable radios such as the BAOFENG UV-5R or BAOFENG BF-F8HP are capable of transmitting on FRS, GMRS and ham frequencies, as well as other frequencies such as police and fire. Although it is legal to purchase this type of radio and listen to any frequency, it is your responsibility to ensure that you transmit only on frequencies that you are licensed to use and within the power limits set for that frequency. To operate on any ham-radio frequencies you will need a ham license which requires passing a test. To learn more about how to get a ham radio license check out AARL.ORG.
If you have questions about using any of these new radios on a trail run with The NotARubicon or if you have any general FRS / GMRS radio questions please post them in a comment below and we will do our best to answer.
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Good choice randy. Have the rugged handheld with extended wip and the 5amp. But going to the 50amp it’s like 150 for a truck mount.
Christian- I think you must be referring to watts, not amps. There is no such thing as a 50 amp radio!
Good job, thank you for the info
How do you program the Baofeng, or should I just wait and have someone help me at the event.
YouTube’d it and done.
you need to have a colledge ed plus more to use biofang radios .i have collecting dust you cant even mail them anywhere to have programed.
Use chirp to program the Baofeng. CHIRP also programs other radios too. Of the radio programing software I have seen CHIRP is the easiest.
https://chirp.danplanet.com/projects/chirp/wiki/Download
use chirp
https://chirp.danplanet.com/projects/chirp/wiki/Download
Hi can you recommend some murs radios? I want to buy it for using for my enterprise but I don’t know about it weil. Hope you reply to me. Thank you
Seem like Radio Communications are still kind of new and not that popular as other radios.
What are the Different Types of MURS radios?
What are the most trusted MURS radio brands?
@Bill, the FCC doesn’t care about a dozen people on a jeep trip. They will not follow up on complaints, foxhunters etc
Why don’t you go to the FCC site, where by law they have to publish on a database every single enforcement action they take.
Not one single enforcement against people using handhelds on jeep adventures, overlanding, camping, hunting, hiking etc. Not one.
If you set up a 50 or 100 watt in your home, run a commercial station etc and step on everyone, or issue 150 handhelds to all your hospital university, warehouse or other static location staff, the FCC may come knocking. Otherwise they will not.
Just a heads up the cost for the license dropped to $35 now I believe as of Jan 2021
No, the price has not yet dropped – look it up. It has been announced that it will be dropping, but as of 2/22/21, the drop has not yet gone into effect.
FRS is totally license free. Short range with 22 channels limited to 1/2 watt and others 2 watts. Very , very rare to get more than about 2 miles unless wide open mountain to mountain. Cheapest and easy to use. Many, many choices and some are very cheap.
MURS is also fully license free and is VHF with only five channels and a max of 2 watts. Maybe 3-4 miles at best. Not very many radio choices. More expensive.
GMRS is very similar to some UHF ham bands. NO test license is required. Lots of channels ,power tops out at 50 watts and you can use repeaters to increase your range. Handheld radios typically max out around 5 watts , mobil rigs start at 5 watts and increase up to 50. Handheld range is usually 2-3 miles or so while the mobil radios can do 20-30-40 or more miles depending on power , antenna and terrain. Fair amount of choices but more expensive than FRS.Can be set up as a base station.
CB.Is found in the noisy AM ham band and gets a fair amount of interference. Handheld are bulky and you are lucky to get a mile. Mobil rigs with outside antennas may get 2-4 miles. All limited to 4 watts and 40 channels. If you can find an expensive SSB radio ,they can do 12 watts but can only talk to other SSB radios. License free. Basic radios can be found cheap used.
900 mhz UHF band. Very few radio choices , low power and license free. Radios are expensive.
Ham. Three levels of licensing ,the entry level is not hard to pass the test. Allows many different types of frequencies and initially the power is limited to 200 watts , with higher levels it reaches 1,500 watts. Much more civilized and structured than any of the FRS/ GMRS / MURS or CB. Lots of choices but the equipment gets more expensive.
FRS MURS GMRS handheld radios ads are VERY misleading. They claim outrageous distance claims which are EXTREMELY exaggerated. 20 30 40 50 miles is highly unlikely.
We are back to 10,000 foot mountain top to 10,000 foot mountain top with no obstructions. Ifyou dont expect much,you wont be disappointed. Maybe a mile at best on the FRS.
Andy N3QZF
What radios can do the 900 mhz UHF band? Too many people are on FRS, GMRS in my area. I don’t need long range just good sound.
Motorola DTR700 is one of the few.
Sadly since Trisquare went out of business, all that is left are fairly expensive Motorola radios
I found this one too Retevis RT10 900 Mhz
https://www.retevis.com/rt10-two-way-radio-for-business-128-channel-900-mhz
Thanks for telling me what radio to buy for receiving AND transmitting. As if anyone would know what radio you’re talking on! So many people are scared of their own thoughts. I’ll gladly transmit on any radio that’ll get the job done. The FCC thinks they need to make money off of anything and everything. We should put them out of business. Don’t need them. Never did.
Which is the Best baofeng Mobile radio for side by side vehicles, with decent mounting hardware.
Like other Jeep off-roaders, I am testing/adopting the emerging GMRS standard. My cousin and I (both Ham operators) recently field tested a pair of the new BTECH GMRS-PRO handhelds. Our testing was conducted in a State Park in SC and we observed that GMRS had very limited range (like a half-mile) in dense woods ; and well over five-miles across open water (line of sight). Makes us wonder why national Jeep events have moved off the proven CB radio/comms plan in favor of GMRS. Suspect they may find very limited range in areas of dense woods. More to follow but not ready to dump my CB gear yet; plan to test MURS/VHF next trip. Bill
LOL so I purchased a handheld BTECH GMRS -V2 today I am soo confused on how to operate I am new to the Jeep community and plan on joining some local events that y’all have. I am getting my license this week but the manual is soo confusing any help? Thank you in advance.
Excellent information.
I have a ham radio license and a GMRS license.
Radios in my collection are :
Icon ic705
Kenwood thd72 and thd74
President randy fcc cb radio
2 president randy fcc II cb radios
Cobra microtalk radios
I do plan on getting the kenwood thd72 when it is available.
Been working on my research for offroad jeep to jeep(or maybe repeater if we get separated) communication devices. It seems like the local club that I have been out with a couple times is making the switch to GMRS (channel 4, I think). There are also a large jumber of side x side groups, some of which run Rugged Radios and intercoms. K have watch quite a few of your videos, and was wondering if there was a reason that this brand of race radios, even their GMRS G1 versions, have not been mentioned on your YouTube channel. Maybe, I just haven’t gone far enough backnin your catalog of videos. If this is the case, can you point me to a relatively close date?
I reviewed and compared one of the Rugged Race radios to a Baofeng a few years ago – The Rugged Radio was just a vey expensive blue Baofeng with a Rugged sticker on it with pre-programmed frequencies, and there is nothing you can do with any of the Rugged radios that you can’t do with a much cheaper Baofeng or other brand radio of the same type.