Radios?

Folks,

It's time to re-think our radio's. For years pilots have been using 2 meter FM radios to reach the 3 USHGA business band freqs. Using a modified ham radio is not legal and we would like to believe that no pilots are now breaking the law. The reason the standard became the 2 meter radio's is that pilots, after getting their ham rating, could join a repeater club. A repeater could have a link into the phone system, and calls could be made in the case of an emergency.

Two things have happen since the old days, one is that many pilots never got their ham rating, the other is that cell phones were invented. Cell phone coverage is better than the repeater network ever was. (In some cases neither work but life is not perfect.)

I am now making the shift to the FRS radio's because, they're legal, they work great, they are the 1/5 of the price of the old radio's, they work with your in helmet head sets, there is less traffic on them and they come in many colorful colors and I'm sick of losing $250 radio's, (Right Greg?)

Future clinics will demand the new FRS radio's. You can get two for $50 at Cost Co. or the your favorite Big Box retailer.

What I'm going to get is one of these, http://www.garmin.com/products/rino/ . What I really like about this radio is that the it has a GPS built into it. So you have a radio and GPS, but the way cool part is that it will send your position when you use your radio to other radio users. This means if you land out you can be found by anyone you can broadcast to. If you go cross country, by radioing in periodically we can keep track of where you are, And find you. Or you can wait around while we look for you. ANd if we can't you can always wrap yourself in your glider and wait till morning or for the coyotes to eat you.

Bill

More articles...