I am new to the forum, and have a couple questions I’m looking for help with. A group of friends and I frequently attend NASCAR races. We have been using racing radios for years to listen to race scanners (driver communications and radio broadcast), as well as hook up with wires for Push to Talk communications between us (for casual conversation during the race which is very load). It works well, but the headsets are hot and uncomfortable, and the wires between headsets make getting up to go to the restroom a gymnastics exercise.
I am looking for a solution to make the PTT communications wireless. I’ve thought about bluetooth and walkie talkies. It seems that bluetooth solutions are not common and very expensive. I’m trying to figure out whether we can do this with FRS/GMRS radios.
Here is what I envision: each of has ouir own scanner that we listen to with an earbud earphone in one ear. Then we each have an FRS/GMRS radio that we use with a PTT earbud in the other ear to communicate with each other.
I do not have much experience with FRS/GMRS radios, and certainly not in large crowds of people. Here are my questions:
- It seems range will not be an issue, as we will all be sitting together. Correct?
- Is anybody else doing this at NASCAR races? If so, might there be a problem with interference on too small a number of available channels?
- Is there a legality problem? FRS=legal, GMRS=license required?
- How reliable/practical might these radios be for this type of an application?
- Are there better technologies that are relatively cheap for this PTT type application?
Thanks for any help and ideas.
pfearing