i just purchaced a set of motorola mr355 radios and want to choose a channel that will give me the maximin distance. should i be using FRS, GMRS or GMRS/FRS channel? and for the interference code doe’s it matter if i use an analog channel or digital channel?
Channels 1-7 are FRS
Channels 8-14 are FRS/GMRS shared
Channels 15-22 GMRS
Best bet is stick with GMRS or FRS/GMRS granted you have a GMRS license. FRS only channels are limited to 1/2 watt. FRS/GMRS shared are limited to 5 watts while GMRS are limited to around 50 watts?, yet on a consumer radio I’m pretty sure channels 8-22 are the same wattage (anywhere from 2-5 watts)
THANKS; so the signal strength is Probably the same whether i use a shared channel GMRS/FRS as it would be with GMRS? What about the selecting the interference eliminator code 1-38 are analog and 39-121 are digital will one or the other give me a stronger signal? thanks
anyone have any info?
Interference eliminator codes (privacy codes) do not affect range. Their purpose is to filter out unwanted transmissions from other radios on a given channel. For instance, if all the radio users in your group are using channel 8 and other groups within range are on the same channel, setting an interference eliminator code will filter out the other groups.
They do not prevent other groups from hearing your conversation; they only allow the members of your group to hear each other without interference from other groups.
They do not effect on the actual range of the radios.
We cover privacy codes in The Two Way Radio Show Episode-08 - Talking Publicly About Privacy Codes.
Thanks; How about using an analog or digital? If I’m using a shared channel FRS/GMRS should I be using a digital eliminator code?
The forum thread Digital Privacy Codes directly answers your question. In a nutshell, it really doesn’t matter whether you use analog or digital privacy codes as long as all of the radios in your group use the equivalent codes.
THANKS for the information; it was a real help!