My brother-in-law and I are avid ATV riders. We would like to communicate with each other while riding. At times we are with a group of 8 to 10 other riders. One of us leads and the brings up the rear to prevent members from getting lost or if breakdowns occur to help them out. We have tried a number of radios to do this but none so far have been succesful. The problems are 1. the range is not enough most of the time as we are spread out maybe as much as a mile. We ride mostly in wooded hilling terrain. 2. we would like to use ear phones and mikes that are in our helmets, but we haven’t found any that are durable enough to last a season. Can some one help us by making some suggestions? By scaning these threads it appears that the range of the FRMS/GRMS radios may not be enough with out an external attenna.
Range is line of sight. If you’re behind a hill, no communications.
Unless you can somehow get your antenna 50 feet up over your head, that isn’t going to change.
‘External’ doesn’t help. Height does. Height doesn’t help if it isn’t enough to get you line of sight over a hill.
You have to accept the old phrase, ‘Captain, I canna change the laws of physics!’
Range with handheld radios is 1/2 to 2 miles, depending on terrain. Line of sight. Buildings and foliage can absorb signals. In really heavily wooded terrain, MURS radios (VHF) may work better, as they’re less absorbed by trees.
Yes we have tried the in helmet gear but the PTT buttons don’t seem to hold up to the conditions that they are exposed to on an ATV. But thanks for the info. What about CB radios will they give better coverage, realizing the they won’t help much the hills but will they be better in the wooded terrain?
You might get better range with CB, though it probably will be about the same. Also CB radios are a bit more “clunky”. They are not as compact as most GMRS radios.