Two-Way Radios

Two-Way Radios from Motorola among others have become very popular at the parks, especially in the past year.

I don't know if this is considered off topic, but I am looking into buying a pair to use at the park this summer, and I was wondering if anybody has had experience using them at parks, and had any reviews of certain units.

Again, sorry if this may seem off-topic, but I think coaster enthusiasts may find the information useful.

I've used the Motorolas before, and decided to buy a pair. I haven't used them in a park yet, but I'm sure they'll be fine on flat terrain without tall buildings. The interesting thing is that those frequencies are going to get very busy. The coded squelch helps, but that doesn't mean someone else's transmission isn't going to step all over yours. I guess we'll see.

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Jeff
Webmaster/Admin - CoasterBuzz.com

Our travel group used 8 of the Motorola units during our annual SkiFest. They worked REAL well for coordinating all the splinter groups of skiers/boarders (19 of us in the group this year).

At an amusement park, where terrain is going to be a LOT less of an issue (shorter ranges, no mountains to get in the way ;) ) I would imagine they'll work even better.

The one problem we may run into is that with the popularity going up so much, we're probably going to run into more and more people on the same channels. We ran into that briefly on the ski trip this year until we scared them onto another channel :)


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Abandon all hope, all ye who...oops, too late. Bye!

That sounds like a pretty cool idea, using walkie talkies.

How much did they cost though?

You can get them for 40-180 dollars.

I've used them in a park, and they worked great. It's a good idea to have them.

Jeff - I used a set last season at the point and got great reception through the whole park.

Though finding an open channel that your not sharring is a challenge within itself.

Just bought two very small FRS radios from Radio Shack and I am very pleased with them. They fit comfortably in your shirt or pants pocket or can clip to your belt. I bought the rechargable NiMH batteries and the power supply which plugs right in to the radios to recharge the batteries.

I plan to use them at amusement parks, camping, car to car when a group travels in two vehicles and stays in range, and other vacation uses.

I'm all set.
*** This post was edited by Jim B. on 4/15/2000. ***

We use the radios at work on big jobs. We get are about a half mile between apart or so and they work fine. The only problem we have is the number of people on one channel. You can hear other people too. One good thing is if the park uses them you could tell them to add trains to the coasters! (just kidding) You could possibly interfere with the parks channels.

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I can't wait to ride Twister at Knoebles 4/29/00
My season has just begun!

No, actually you couldn't interfere with the parks' channels, as they're in a totally different part of the spectrum. Those are frequencies licensed by the FCC.

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Jeff
Webmaster/Admin - CoasterBuzz.com

I have 2 CB's with 20 channels. Could I pick you guys up on them?

Nope... different band (CB is I think in the 40 MHz range or lower while FRS is around 462 and 467 MHz).

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Jeff
Webmaster/Admin - CoasterBuzz.com

What about HAM radios because I have to of them also?

I hope you have a license for that gear. I can't tell you what it does because different radios have different capabilities.

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Jeff
Webmaster/Admin - CoasterBuzz.com

There are some multiband HAM radios (don't ask me offhand which ones, because I don't know :) ) that CAN work in the FRS bands, but as Jeff said you need a license to use them. Motorola also makes "extended range" FRS radios ("TalkAbout Distance Radios", with a 5 mile range), which again require a license.

Some more info can be gathered from Motorola's Consumer 2-Way Radio site at

http://commerce.motorola.com/consumer/QWhtml/2way_cat.html

My travel group is about to replace our TalkAbout 101's with TalkAbout 280SLK's (not the NiMH version, since we've already invested a fair amount in NiMH AA's for the 101's ;) )

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--Greg

http://www.pobox.com/~gregleg/ *** This post was edited by GregLeg on 4/16/2000. ***