Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
These guys are on the road all day, and they are constantly chatting with each other to keep tabs
on local weather, road conditions, accidents, delays, construction, etc.
CB radio is legally limited to 4 watts of power, but there are after-market power boosters
that can illegally boost your transmitter power to many times that figure, which could come in
quite handy in an emergency situation. They are normally “line-of-sight” devices, so in moun-
tainous areas such as the one that I live in, different truckers will come in and out of range
every few minutes as they pass by on the local freeway. You can pick up a decent CB transceiv-
er by Midland, Cobra, or Uniden for very reasonable prices. Back in the late 1970s or early
1980s, when the FCC started receiving over a million applications each month for licenses,
they dropped the licensing requirements, so anyone can buy a CB radio and start using it imme-
diately.
Walkie-Talkies
Small portable handheld two-way radios have come way down in price while offering ever
increasing value and function. Many offer privacy options for less interference when calling in
crowded areas, plus access to NOAA weather and disaster information services. Most of the
newer models operate on multiple channels as combination General Mobile Radio Service
(GMRS) and Family Radio Service (FRS) models. The FRS and GMRS bands overlap and
share some channels. The FRS models are supposed to have a half watt maximum power limit.
GMRS use requires an FCC license, and licensees are permitted to transmit at up to 50 watts on
GMRS frequencies (although 1 to 5 watts is more common), as well as have detachable or ex-
ternal antennas. The flooding of the market with combo FRS/GMRS walkie-talkies has resulted
in an explosion of people using the GMRS frequencies without an FCC license.
Warning:
Read the customer ratings on a model before you make your purchase! All mod-
els have range ratings based on perfectly flat totally unobstructed reception. Since there are no
universal standards for range ratings, and they are typically overstated, I suggest that you
choose a model with a much higher range rating than you might think is necessary.
Antennas
There is an old saying that if you want to receive a weaker signal, or send a stronger one, all
you need to do is add more wire, which is partially true. You may wish to purchase a reel type
antenna to boost the receive power of your portable radio. Simply attach the antenna and reel
out a length of wire that may be woven around your hotel room, campsite, or balcony to im-
prove reception. As a child, I remember buying a roll of 100 feet of antenna wire and stringing
