Two‐Way Radio Week 42
52 Weeks of Preparedness – Two‐way Radio Week 42 By Don Gardner Clearwater County Office of Emergency Management Can you imagine how you will communicate with your family during an emergency when no cell phones are working? Could this even happen? Yes, it can, and it has, even here in Clearwater County. When disasters occur, the public often loses several means of communicating all at once. If you remember during the fires of 2015 the cell phone system was overloaded and many landlines didn’t work. First responders rely on two‐way radios daily and when disasters strike, and so can we. The are many times you can use two‐way radios with your family and friend like during a disaster, or, more commonly, when camping, hunting, during ATV and snowmobile adventures, and between cars when traveling. It may seem like an old fashion technology, but it is so reliable. There are many types of radios you can use and each provides different capacities and expense. Today we will cover four varieties that could work for you. Family Radio Service (FRS) and the General Mobile Radio Service (GMRS) radios are low‐power, inexpensive handheld ‘walkie talkies,’ which can be used for short‐distance communications. Most of these radios are sold as a combo sets with both the FRS and GMRS channels in one radio. You will find them in the sporting goods section of stores. The packages often exaggerates and say they will work for 20‐50 miles or more. Generally, the actual range of FRS/GMRS radios will be significantly less than advertised.
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