"chas" wrote in message
news:1120630486.f66d850b2a0ec03a641a688f5fcfd697@t eranews...
wrote:
Also -- any idea how the new cell phone / walkie talkies (and gps, all
in one), stack up against the dedicated walkie-talkie unites? Talking
about phones like the i860 with Nextel...


Cell phone "walkie-talkie" requires a cell tower as I understand it.

The "new" ones can actually work as regular old "walkie talkies" too, in
addition to direct connect via their digital wireless service. Their usable
distance as plain "walkie talkies" is still somewhat of a mystery though, as
they are so new still.


I've used several of the motorolla type walk-about machines with15 or 20
channels, and 30 some sub channels. They work well up to about 2 miles in
the
mountains. I think the canyon would need to be tight and nasty to mess
them up.


Agreed. Terrain and weather (cloud cover) do seem to affect them differently
at different times, but they do seem to have a pretty good range. Of course
I assume you're referring to the variuos FRS radios out there today. I have
a set of Motorolas and a set of Cobras, and they both seem to work about the
same, we have used them out to almost 3 miles in good/ideal (line of sight)
conditions.

Chas
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