The Twisted Leaf

Portable, 2-way radios definitely have a place in your pack or survival kit. While cell phones have become ubiquitous, you can’t always count on cellular service in remote locations, or during disasters, natural or otherwise.

There are three main types of radio service in North America, ‘Family Radio Service’ (FRS), ‘General Mobile Radio Service’ (GMRS), and ‘Multi-Use Radio Service’ (MURS). Each has its advantages and disadvantages. Below, I’ll go over each briefly, provide links to online resources, and explain why you might choose to use each.

One word of warning - don’t buy these radios based on the advertised range - it is almost always based on ideal conditions that you probably won’t encounter in real use. In general, you will get a longer range from the higher-power services (GMRS/MURS), and in situations where there are not many obstructions between communicating units. Antenna height will also impact range, so the services that let you use external antennas (GMRS/MURS) will allow you to boost your range. Finally, FRS and GMRS radios operate at a higher frequency than MURS, so signals from such units will operate better in urban environments, where the shorter wavelengths penetrate and pass through structures more easily.

FRS: The Family Radio Service is a low-power (1/2-watt), unlicensed service (meaning no license is needed to use FRS radios) that is useful over short distances. There are 14 available frequencies, seven of which are shared with GMRS. There are now many inexpensive FRS radios on the market (almost too many) - the popularity of these radios means you should buy radios with ‘CTCSS’ or ‘PL’ capability, allowing your radios to filter out other people’s transmissions on the same frequency.

You can expect up to two miles range under ideal conditions, and perhaps as low as 1/8 - 1/4 mile in dense urban or wooded environments.

Buy FRS radios if you need a cheaper, short-range communications solution for family camping or multi-car trips. Kids love them, and with the cheaper models you won’t worry as much about your children breaking them. Most radios are sold in pairs commercially for between $20 and $80, but there are exceptions. I have two ICOM 4088 radios that I used on our last two camping trips, they are on the high-end of the FRS price scale (about $100 each), but are well-worth it if you can afford them.


ICOM 4088 FRS Radios

GMRS: The General Mobile Radio Service is a licensed service (meaning you have to purchase a license from the FCC to operate on GMRS frequencies - it now costs $75 every five years) that allows higher transmit powers (up to 50 watts) and external antennas, and so is useful over a longer range. There are eight dedicated channels in this service, and an additional seven that are shared with FRS. Many GMRS radios include the FRS frequencies, and are advertised as dual ‘GMRS/FRS’ transceivers. My note about CTCSS/PL applies to GMRS radios, as well, this will be a must when you are sharing frequencies with other users.

For the more common one- or two-watt radios, range will be from 1/2 to 5 miles depending on the terrain. You can use repeaters and external antennas with GMRS transceivers, so the range can be greatly extended with the right equipment. You can apply for a GMRS license online with the FCC.

Buy GMRS radios if you need longer range and can afford the license fee and slightly higher radio cost (as compared to FRS), or if you want to have the option of upgrading to mobile units, mounted antennas, or use repeaters.

MURS: The Multi-Use Radio Service is an unlicensed service with five dedicated frequencies. It is limited in power to two watts, and so will have similar range to the common GMRS radios. You can use an external antenna with a MURS transceiver, allowing you to increase the range.

Buy MURS radios if you need more range than FRS, but don’t want to get an FCC license.

List of resources:

• FRS
• GMRS
• MURS
• FCC licensing page (start here for GMRS licenses)
• Personal Radio Steering Group, Inc. (detailed FAQs)
• PopularWireless.com Forums (search for your model here before you buy)

I just returned from a family camping trip with my wife and two kids, ages 3 and 6. This time of year in the Northeast there are lots of bees - this makes meals less than pleasant, and even scary for the kids. Here are some tips you can use to minimize the bee problem at meal times.

• If you have a trash bag, keep it some distance from your eating area. The bees will tend to congregate in the trash. At least 20 feet is a good distance.
• Similarly, don’t keep anything sweet near your picnic area for any length of time. A good example is maple syrup - use the bottle and quickly close it and put it out of sight. In our case, we used a plastic container with a lid to hold condiments.
• Avoid wearing perfumes or deodorants.
• The makeshift bee trap - If you bring along some wine coolers or other sweet, bottled drinks, leave a bottle with about an inch of liquid in it near your eating area (in our case, in the middle of our picnic table). The bees will fall in and be unable to get out. If you have an empty bottle, try filling it with a bit of water and smearing honey or anything sweet inside the bottle neck.

In case someone does get stung, here is general bee sting treatment info, also some outdoors-specific bee sting treatment.

If you’re planning an overnight (or longer) excursion, you’ll want to make sure you have dry socks to put on every morning. For those who have experienced it, nothing feels worse than putting on hiking boots over cold, wet socks.

Here’s a trick you can use to keep your socks dry when you are hiking. First, don’t ever wear cotton socks, cotton insulates very poorly when it is wet, and is hard to dry. On extended outings I’ll carry two pair of wool socks, as well as two pair of polypropylene sock liners (wear them under the wool socks, they wick the sweat away from your feet and really are a must in cold weather).

Now, when you are ready to bed-down for the night, take off your socks and liners and put them in your sleeping bag with you, next to your thighs. You can then put on the second (previously dry) pair and wear them in your sleeping bag. You body heat will dry the loose set by morning. You rotate socks and liners in this way every day. This technique works for other, small pieces of clothing as well, such as bandannas.