Tips and Tricks
Family Radio Service --Now You're Talking
Russ and Tina De Maris

A large trailer rolled into the park, and the passenger door on the tow vehicle opened. As the "co-pilot" strode purposefully toward the rear of the site, everyone in the campground dropped what they were doing to watch that long trailer back into place. If they expected a show with a lot of shouting and wild gesturing on the part of the rig's owners, they were destined for disappointment. While the co-pilot appeared to do some muttering, no shouts were issued, and the rig slid back into its designated spot with ease.

The secret? Good communications between the pilot and copilot--facilitated by the use of a fancy piece of technology known as FRS--which stands for Family Radio Service. While looking similar to a walkie-talkie, an FRS radio does away with a lot of the shortcomings of walkie talkies, and adds some handy features you can use for a lot more than just backing your rig into a camp site.

FRS is a two-way radio communicator for short distances. You've probably seen advertisements in RV catalogs for FRS units, perhaps suggesting communications between units of up to two miles over land. Many things can effect the useful distance of these units--buildings and natural land features, to name just a couple. In practice you can expect a useful range of at least a half-mile or more.

Some ask, if communications are limited to such short distances, why not use a CB radio? Well, if you need to communicate over longer distances, CB radio is one answer. But CBs have their disadvantages. In addition to size and weight, sharing the channels with many other folks can be a real strain. Many FRS units do away with the problem of "noisy" channels with the addition of a feature called a Continous Tone Coded Squelch System (CTCSS). Some manufacturers call this a "privacy code" and basically, CTCSS "turns off" the radio speaker until another unit using a specific code transmits. When that happens, the speaker is once again enabled, and you hear your party. If someone else uses the same channel but does not use your "code," you won’t be bothered by having to listen to their conversation.

Where might you find a use for an FRS unit? Well, aside from using ours to help back into parking sites, we've found our FRS radios great for shopping. Equipped with two shopping carts, we can zip through the store picking up our needs--and checking back with each other to handle questions. When traveling with other RV friends, FRS keeps us in touch with each other, without listening to the general chatter and noise of others. Where legal, 5th wheel passengers can contact the tow vehicle driver. And when the grandchild comes for a visit, calling him in with the radio is a lot simpler and quicker than looking--and shouting--high and low for him.

Knowing that you can use FRS units is one thing. Picking out the kind of radios you need is another matter. There are simple, no frills FRS units, and there are units that practically sing and dance, they have so many features. Let's talk about them.

Number of channels: FRS units can have up to 14 channels (frequencies) for use. While you only use one channel at a time, having more than one can be a benefit. While CTCSS or privacy codes do eliminate listening to other folks, a channel with a lot of users in your area can make communications difficult. Single channel units often use the frequency designated as Channel 1, and if everyone else is using that channel you'll want another channel to use. If you want to talk to friends on their FRS radios, you'll need to make sure that you share channels in common.

Power Output: FRS radios may legally have a transmitting power output of up to 500 milliwatts (500 mW). Is more "better"? It might seem that way, but again, in practice a unit with a lesser power output may work just as well.

Selective Calling: Here is where CTCSS or privacy codes come in. Set the same privacy code on each of your FRS radios, and quiet, non-interrupted conversations can take place. While CTCSS codes may "look" the same, but can be different between manufacturer's brands. You can use radios from different manufacturers, but you'll need to check your instruction sheets to find out which codes are the same between the different radios.

Some manufacturers use a different sort of privacy code, called Digital Signal Coding (DSC). DSC codes are not compatible with CTCSS codes. To use FRS radios that have different privacy code systems, you'll need to turn off the privacy codes altogether. Note too, at least one manufacturer allows the use of CTCSS and DSC codes at the same time--this to allow literally hundreds of privacy codes.

And a special note about privacy codes: Using a privacy code does not prevent anyone from listening to your conversation--it only prevents you from hearing others not using your programmed code. Don't talk about anything confidential on an FRS radio, and be sure to caution young ones to do the same. There are FRS units that promise "scrambling" of transmissions, in essence, rendering them into gibberish for idle listeners. But beware, "techno-freaks" can unscramble many supposedly secure conversations.

Call or Paging Tones: This feature allows you to send a loud tone to alert other users. We find our tone alert useful when using the radios in noisy environments, or if we set the radio down and walk away from it.

Scanning: For radios with more than one channel, the scanning feature allows a quick "listen" to each of the channels in succession. Scanning the channels will help you to find a "quiet" one, although you can manually flip through channels without a scan function.

Transponder: This features alerts you a beep if someone in your group has gone out of range.

Battery Charger: A handy feature--charge your radio batteries if you have shore power available.

Cost: Costs for FRS radios have dropped since their introduction. It's not uncommon to find FRS units with simple features for as little as $35 each. Of course, it's important to have two or more of these units.

So, for a few dollars, you can have a little communication system that can really help out on the road--and at home. And if you've never gotten the hang of hand signals, maybe an FRS radio is just what you need to back into that stubborn camp site!