So I took my 10 year old son shopping at Target today so he could spend the gift cards he got for his birthday. Along with a Nintendo game, he decided to buy these beauties (only $17.00 – what a deal!). We got home, cracked open the clamshell packaging, popped in some batteries, and he and his sister ran all over the yard playing secret agent on his fancy new two-way radios.
So after the kids went to bed, I was reading the instructions and it says that these are FRS/GMRS radios and that we might need to have a license from the FCC to use them.
I checked the FCC web site, and holy crap – it costs $80 to license a pair of walkie-talkies that cost less than 20 bucks.
The FCC site mentioned that if the radios are FRS, I may be in the clear: “FRS radios have a maximum power of ½ watt (500 milliwatt) effective radiated power and integral (non-detachable) antennas. If you operate a radio under the rules that apply to GMRS, you must have a GMRS license. GMRS radios generally transmit at higher power levels (1 to 5 watts is typical) and may have detachable antennas.”
The radios he bought are 500mW and have integrated antennas, so I seem to be OK, and Uniden’s web site lists them under “FRS radios”, but the instructions also say they use GMRS channels in addition to FRS channels.
So do I really need to do get a license? If I don’t, what will happen? Will black helicopters soon be hovering outside my kids’ windows?
I don’t think anything will happen. The FCC is not likely to get involved unless you’re interfering with someone else’s licensed broadcasts and they file a complaint.
If he’s using them in a residential neighborhood where there aren’t any businesses which use them, you should be fine.
The museum in which I work uses walkie-talkies, for which we have a license on a public channel. Unfortunately, every now and again, young kids from around the area play with walkie-talkies and it really annoys the hell out of us, because we have to leave them at an audible volume while giving a tour of the facility. You can imagine what it’s like when there’s little boys saying naughty things for their own amusement, or intentionally messing with us while we’re trying to communicate with other staff, or trying to talk to a tour group.
Strictly speaking, GMRS radios require a license. FRS radios do not. Some radios (Like the OP’s) can do both. Here’s the goofy thing: about half the GMRS frequencies are shared by FRS. For these channels, the difference between FRS and GMRS is power levels. For handhelds, GMRS allows (I think) 5 watts to FRS’s 1/2 watt EPR.
Technically speaking, you need the license to transmit on the freqencies that are GMRS and not FRS. To the best of my knowledge, channels (as refered to the readout on your radio) 1 through 7 are shared and would thus be license free.
Realistically, there’s many, many GMRS bootleggers running 110 watt mobiles and repeaters without licenses. There’s little enforcement here and, really, little need for it anyway. You should, of course, always follow the rules but understand that some are more frequently broken than others.
Thanks for the replies! I’ll sleep easier knowing the government won’t be kicking in the door looking for my kid anytime soon. Well, at least not on account of anything he did this this time.
I bought the same pair from the same place. They advertise a range of up to 2.5 miles, but when I’ve used them I’ve been unable to get a practical range of more than a quarter of a mile. This makes them virtually useless. Add to that the fact that in a public place like a mall or a museum, employees and individuals are also using walkie talkies, so interference is an issue. And the battery life is ridiculous. Took them on vacation a few weeks ago and the batteries died within about two hours in passive mode.
Sorry for the hijack. Maybe the more expensive models are more useful. I’ve got three kids ages 9 and 11. When they travel the neighborhood (friends house, library, school) they’er always within a mile of home. Thought this would be a useful way to keep track of them, but was sorely disappointed. These weren’t any better than the dime store walkie talkies I had as a kid.
Realize that you’re dealing with FM transmissions here, i.e. line of sight. The 2.5 mile figure is for unobstructed line of sight transmission. Say if you’re out in the desert or something, you might get 2.5 miles out of them…
You’re right, in the city any handheld radio is pretty much useless for long-range transmissions, even the big Motorolas. It’s hard even getting one-half mile in the city with a 4 watt professional handheld. The reason the police and fire and taxi and towing companies go so far is that thy use repeaters. In it’s simplest form, a repeater is two radios on a hill, one receiving, and the other re-transmitting that signal at high power from a high location. This can get you 50-75 miles in some cases. But those are not legal for FRS use.
Sorry to continue the hijack. This is my business and I enjoy talking about it. Regarding the channel selection, keep to channels 1-14 and you should be just fine and legal.
As I’ve pointed out before in other radio threads, the fact that these (or other) radios are line-of-sight has NOTHING to do with them using Frequency Modulation, and everthing to do with the fact that use a (ultra) high frequency. (according to link above, ~400 MHz) If they used Amplitude Modulation you’d have the same (or at least simliar) line-of sight problems.