FRS 2-Way Radios

FRS 2 way radios all come in a low wattage handheld version. They are very small, but they operate on a very low noise UHF band, so the range can be very surprising, and not a toy walkie talking by any means. 47Mhz walkie talkies are good to a range of 100 feet, whereas FRS 2 way radios have been able to reach 5 miles or more, with ideal terrain!

Family Radio Service is completey license free, however with FRS you are much more restricted in power output and antenna options. FRS radios are limited to only a half a watt of RF output, with no external antenna options. If you're lucky, you may get a full mile range on these channels. Keep in mind, output power is not the end all.. Alot of it also depends on receiver design such as low noise (or a high Signal-to-noise) ratio, receiver sensitivity, selectivity, adjacent channel rejection, and how well the antenna is matched to the transmitter. A high mismatch (also known as SWR - Standing Wave Ratio), within the units matching network, also hurts performance. Terrain, most of all, is most likely the biggest obstacle of all..

For an slight upgrade in range, although a FCC license is needed, GMRS is worth looking at, and most likely, your FRS radio already includes those channels as well.