8 Mile Two Way Radio

I'm looking to buy two way radios for my friend and I to use at a music festival. I would like ones with a good range (8-10 miles) so I can use them for other things. I'm on a limited budget. What set do you suggest?

8-10 miles on a budget, better be a big budget or you live on a hill.

Any of the FRS or GMRS radios that marketed at common retail outlets will have claims of 7, 10 or even 15 mile range. The only way this is possible is if both people are on mountains with a clear line of sight between them. Altitude is king.

Down on the ground, getting 1 mile reliably is pretty good. Half that if there are buildings in the way or you are in vehicles.

The only way to get a reliable range of 10 miles (without standing on a mountain) is to use radios that communicate through a repeater. This is a special type of radio that rebroadcasts your signals. they are normally placed on a mountain or tall tower (the whole altitude thing here). A repeater will cost lots of money. Lots. Forget it.

Get a cheap set of FRS radios for the festival. Since it is likely that there will be others using FRS radios at the festival, you may want to spend a few extra $$ to get the radios that have CTCSS, often called "privacy codes". Dont let the name fool you, it provides no privacy to your communications. What it Does do is block out other people so you dont have to hear them.

As for what radios I use:
MURS (vhf work radios)
FRS (handy on outings)
GMRS (uhf communications with my family. I have a repeater on a 50' tower at my house, good for 15-20 miles)
HAM (as a hobby, talked all over the world)

2009-06-27 19:39:25 by PianoOHiku

Review of Motorola#39;s 14 mile walkie talkie and talking a little about GRS and FRS frequencies.

ATM Instructions

(Contributed by J.P.)


Drive-through Teller Instructions:
Please note that this Bank is installing new "Drive-through" teller machines enabling customers to withdraw cash without leaving their vehicles.
Customers using this new facility are requested to use the below outlined procedures when accessing their accounts.
MALE & FEMALE procedures have been developed after months of careful research. Please follow the appropriate steps for your gender.
MALE PROCEDURE
1. Drive up to the cash machine.
2. Put down your car window.
3. Insert card into machine and enter PIN.
4. Enter amount of cash required and withdraw.
5. Retrieve card, cash and receipt.
6. Put window up.
7. Drive off.

FEMALE PROCEDURE
1. Drive up to cash machine.
2. Reverse and back up the required amount to align car window with the machine.
3. Set parking brake, put the window down.
4. Find handbag, remove all contents onto passenger seat to locate card.
5. Turn the radio down.
6. Attempt to insert card into machine.
7. Open car door to allow easier access to machine due to it excessive distance from the car.
8. Insert card.
9. Re-insert card the right way up.
10. Dig through handbag to find diary with your PIN written on the inside back page.
11. Enter PIN.
12. Press cancel and re-enter correct PIN.
13. Enter amount of cash required.
14. Check make-up in rear view mirror.
15. Retrieve cash and receipt.
16. Empty handbag again to locate wallet and place cash inside.
17. Place receipt in back of check book.
18. Re-check make-up again.
19. Drive forward 2 feet.
20. Reverse back to cash machine.
21. Retrieve card.
22. Re-empty hand bag, locate card holder, and place card into the slot provided.
23. Give appropriate one-fingered hand signal to irate male driver queuing behind.
24. Restart stalled engine and pull off.
25. Drive for 2 to 3 miles.
26. Release Parking Brake.



One Hundred Dollars

(Contributed by Anne Suggart)

A little boy wanted $100.00 very badly and prayed for weeks, but nothing happened. Then he decided to write God a letter requesting the $100.00.

When the postal authorities received the letter to God, USA, they decided to send it to the President. The President was so amused that he instructed his secretary to send the little boy a $5.00 bill. The President thought this would appear to be a lot of money to a little boy.

The little boy was delighted with the $5.00 bill and sat down to write a thank-you note to God, which read:

Dear God: Thank you very much for sending the money. However, I noticed that for some reason you sent it through Washington, DC, and those assholes deducted $95.00 in taxes.

A pretty young student walked in to her professor's office late one afternoon the day before midterm exams. She glanced down the hall, closed his door and knelt before him pleadingly.
"I would do anything to pass this exam," she said as she leaned closer to him, stroked her hair and gazed meaningfully into his eyes. "I mean..." she whispered, "I would do... anything."
The professor returned her gaze. "Anything?" he asked.
"Anything," she replied.
His voice softened. "Really? Anything?" he asked again.
"Absolutely anything," she once again replied.
He leaned close to the woman and lowered his voice to a whisper.
"Would you... study?"

....................................................

A man walks into a supermarket and notices a beautiful woman staring at him.
She stares for quite some time, so finally the man asks, "Do I know you?"
The woman answers "I think you're the father of one of my kids."
The man thinks for a minute, then realizes this kid she is talking about must be the result of the one and only time he ever cheated on his wife.
He says to the woman, "Are you that exotic dancer that was at my best friend's bachelor party about 5 years ago? You know, the one I did it with on the pool table while everyone was watching?"
The woman looks at him horrified and says, "No, I'm your son's teacher."
...............
Ol' Fred had been a religious man who was in the hospital, near death. The family called their preacher to stand with them. As the preacher stood next to the bed, Ol' Fred's condition appeared to deteriorate and he motioned frantically for something to write on.

The pastor lovingly handed him a pen and a piece of paper, and Ol' Fred used his last bit of energy to scribble a note, then he died. The preacher thought it best not to look at the note at that time, so he placed it in his jacket pocket.

At the funeral, as he was finishing the message, he realised that he was wearing the same jacket that he was wearing when Ol' Fred died.

He said, "You know, Ol' Fred handed me a note just before he died. I haven't looked at it, but knowing Fred, I'm sure there's a word of inspiration there for us all."

He opened the note, and read out loud, "Hey, you're standing on my oxygen tube?"
..........

2009-03-14 12:45:36 by summerchica

NOAA weather and emergency radio
2662 channel combinations when used with 142 privacy codes (38 CTCSS/104 DCS)
8 AAA NIMH rechargeable batteries (4 per radio)
UHF/FM: Ultra-clear long distance reception.
(8) Brand New Cobra CXT425 MicroTalk 2-Way Radios - 25 mile range

I have a feeling this problem is not being solved because some pretty powerful interests, for whatever reason, do not want it solved. Anyway, here's the plan.

1) Have all countries desiring "protection" contribute annually to the establishment of an Anti-Piracy Force [APF].

2) Estimate for each country (approximately) the number of ton-miles (1 ton shipped 1 mile) they ship through high-risk waters. [The cost the program outlined below will be quite modest, when figured as a percentage of shipping costs per ton-mile.]

3) Have the top three countries [in ton-miles shipped] spearhead the project.

4) Levy fees to each protected country based on their rank in the shipping-volume standings.

5) Require all qualified, legitimate, authorized ships over a certain tonnage (to be determined by the sponsporing countries), and that are passing through the high-risk waters, to register with the APF. All ships not registered are not protected, and to be regarded as suspect.

4) Require all registered ships to maintain a professional-quality GPS device, and a satellite-based 2-way radio. [Recommend that someone on the ship be able to speak a common international language.]

5) Establish an ABF "Base station" on a mililtary air base in an appropriate country as close to near the high-risk waters as possible. For the Somalian problem, this might be South Africa. [It's only going to take a handful of aircraft, actually maybe only two or three, to act as a deterrant.]

6) All registered ships report their position via satellite at regular intervals. Use the data to maintain a dynamic data base. How many big/heavy ships max are we talking, for Somali region? 1000? 10,000?

7) Use satellite photos, sea-surface photos sent electronically (from registered ships at sea), and/or aerial reconnaisance to determine the presence and location of unregistered ships.

8) Get a good tech consulting company to put together hardware, software, dynamic/real-time database management, communications-interfaces, and an IT-based monitoring solution.

9) Low-level alert: Notify each *registered ship* of all *unregistered vessels within 100 miles. Begin attempting radio communications with suspicicous vessel.

10) High-level alert: Human analysis confirms artificial-intelligence software: unregistered vessel "steadily closing" upon a registered vessel. Begin sending cease-and-desist radio/satellite messages and warnings, notifying other agencies, organizations, naval forces, etc

11) Action-level alert: Send out the jet. Implement ascending levels of deterrance.

First you have the leaflets, flags, ribbons, confetti.

Then you have VERY loud noises and VERY bad smells.

Tear gas shells. Smoke bombs.

Really small torpedos designed only to disable the ship with several tiny leaks, not to sink it.

A small prop-seeking torpedo.

I'll bet there is a long list of low-level options.

Once the pirates are either in the water or in lifeboats, and the mother vessel is completely disabled, you notify the nearest country and let them mop up.

Has anybody kept track of how much ransom money has been paid in the last several years?
(would probably have funded the APF for several years already)

Where the heck IS the international community on this?
Seeing the first three answers, I'd like to revise a bit:

1) If it would be better to spend the APF money on anti-poverty funding (still A.P.F., no?), how do you get the money to actually alleviate local poverty (and not into pirates hands?)

2) Should shippers simply tolerate piracy until local poverty is solved?

3) Should shippers allow pirates to force them into long expensive "detours" or different routes altogether?
4) What fraction of APF funding should go towards enforcing cleaner oceans?

5) What is the best way to enforce clean ocean standards for the ships that pass through Somali waters?

6) Should shippers who respect ocean water cleanliness (maybe none do, I do not know) be subject to piracy? Do pirates assume all vessels should be pirated, whether they are "dirty" ones or "clean" ones?

7) Since Somali pirates are apparently doing do this to protect the cleanliness of Somali ocean waters, do they: a) extract promises of cleanliness and/or b) spend a good fraction of the ransom money in ways to foster ocean awareness, ocean cleanliness, education, clean-up projects, etc?
8) If illegal fishing is the problem, just have the APF stop the illegal fishing as a side program of stopping the pirates.

9) Have the Somali pirates started buying lots of fresh fish and giving it away to those going hungry in Somalia?

Keep doing what you do best, and they will die from your chemical waste dumping.

2010-01-02 17:16:19 by DIYguy

Price: $44.99

Quiet Talk interruption feature
Up to a 16-mile range
Includes 2 radios, 2 belt clips, dual charger, charging adapter and 2 (3 x AA) NiMH rechargeable battery packs, and user's guide
22 channels, each with 38 privacy codes for 836 combinations
5 call tones

Tower: "Delta 351, you have traffic at 10 o'clock, 6 miles!" Delta 351:
"Give us another hint! We have digital watches!"

Tower: "TWA 2341, for noise abatement turn right 45 Degrees." TWA 2341:
"Centre, we are at 35,000 feet. How much noise can we make up here?"
Tower: "Sir, have you ever heard the noise a 747 makes when it hits a 727?"
From an unknown aircraft waiting in a very long takeoff queue: "I'm f...ing bored!" Ground Traffic Control: "Last aircraft transmitting, identify yourself immediately!" Unknown aircraft: "I said I was f...ing bored, not f...ing stupid!"
O'Hare Approach Control to a 747: "United 329 heavy, your traffic is a Fokker, one o'clock, three miles, Eastbound."
United 329: "Approach, I've always wanted to say this... I've got the little Fokker in sight."
A student became lost during a solo cross-country flight. While attempting to locate the aircraft on radar, ATC asked: "What was your last known position?"
Student: "When I was number one for takeoff."

A DC-10 had come in a little hot and thus had an exceedingly long roll out after touching down. San Jose Tower noted: "American 751, make a hard right turn at the end of the runway, if you are able. If you are not able, take the Guadeloupe exit off Highway 101, make a right at the lights and return to the airport."
There's a story about the military pilot calling for a priority landing because his single-engine jet fighter was running "a bit peaked". Air Traffic Control told the fighter jock that he was number two, behind a B-52 that had one engine shut down.
"Ah," the fighter pilot remarked, "The dreaded seven-engine approach."
A Pan Am 727 flight, waiting for start clearance in Munich, overheard the following: Lufthansa (in German): "Ground, what is our start clearance time?" Ground (in English): "If you want an answer you must speak in English." Lufthansa (in English): "I am a German, flying a German airplane, in Germany. Why must I speak English?" Unknown voice from another plane (in a beautiful British accent): "Because you lost the bloody war!"

Tower: "Eastern 702, cleared for takeoff, contact Departure on frequency 124.7" Eastern 702: "Tower, Eastern 702 switching to Departure. By the way, after we lifted off we saw some kind of dead animal on the far end of the runway."
Tower: "Continental 635, cleared for takeoff behind Eastern 702, contact Departure on frequency 124.7. Did you copy that report from Eastern 702?" BR Continental 635: "Continental 635, cleared for takeoff, roger; and yes, we copied Eastern... we've already notified our caterers."

One day the pilot of a Cherokee 180 was told by the tower to hold short of the active runway while a DC-8 landed. The DC-8 landed, rolled out, turned around, and taxied back past the Cherokee. Some quick-witted comedian in the
DC-8 crew got on the radio and said, "What a cute little plane. Did you make it all by yourself?" The Cherokee pilot, not about to let the insult go by, came back with a real zinger: "I made it out of DC-8 parts. Another landing like yours and I'll have enough parts for another one."

The German air controllers at Frankfurt Airport are renowned as a short-tempered lot. They not only expect one to know one's gate parking location, but how to get there without any assistance from them. So it was with some amusement that we (a Pan Am 747) listened to the following exchange between Frankfurt ground control and a British Airways 747, call sign Speedbird 206. Speedbird 206: "Frankfurt, Speedbird 206 clear of active runway."
Ground: "Speedbird 206. Taxi to gate Alpha One-Seven." The BA 747 pulled onto the main taxiway and slowed to a stop.
Ground: "Speedbird, do you not know where you are going?" Speedbird 206:
"Stand by, Ground, I'm looking up our gate location now." Ground (with quite arrogant impatience): "Speedbird 206, have you not been to Frankfurt before?" Speedbird 206 (coolly): "Yes, twice in 1944, but it was dark, and I didn't land."
While taxiing at London's Gatwick Airport, the crew of a US Air flight departing for Ft. Lauderdale made a wrong turn and came nose to nose with a United 727. An irate female ground controller lashed out at the US Air crew,
screaming: "US Air 2771, where the hell are you going?! I told you to turn right onto Charlie taxiway! You turned right on Delta! Stop right there. I know it's difficult for you to tell the difference between C and D, but get it right!" Continuing her rage to the embarrassed crew, she was now shouting
hysterically: "God! Now you've screwed everything up! It'll take forever to sort this out! You stay right there and don't move till I tell you to! You can expect progressive taxi instructions in about half an hour, and I want you to go exactly where I tell you, when I tell you, and how I tell you! You got that, US Air 2771?" "Yes, ma'am," the humbled crew responded. Naturally, the ground control communications frequency fell terribly silent after the verbal bashing of US Air 2771. Nobody wanted to chance engaging the irate ground controller in her current state of mind. Tension in every cockpit out around Gatwick was definitely running high. Just then an unknown pilot broke the silence and keyed his microphone, asking: "Wasn't I married to you once?"

Well if any of that made you laugh, give it a star, it was worth it?

That was great! Thank you for sharing... JoJo
oh, and it wasn't too long - no one is forced to read it through if they don't want to.... have a nice day.

2007-07-23 12:25:28 by Bio-Hazard

I have to write a 500 (minimum) word essay from the dads perspective in "Z for Zachariah" when he goes into Ogdentown and then to Dean town. I'm in year 9. the start of my story is a little bit rushed.


All the radio stations are dropping out, people have stopped driving through our little town and we don’t know what is going on. The telephones have gone dead. Myself, my son and my nephew, we’re going to drive to the next town, to see if anybody there knows what is going on. We will go tomorrow.

We’re half way there, everything is dead, the grass is all dead, no trees are alive there aren’t any animals. As we drive into town, we blast the horn, there are a couple of bodies lining the streets. The buildings are still standing. We went into a few of our friends houses, they were there… all dead. It is horrible, not knowing what happened to them, if they suffered a long, slow painful death, if they were poisoned we don’t know what happened to them.

Joseph suggests that we could go to the church and ring the bell there, it can be heard for five miles every direction of the church. We drive slowly towards the church, calling blasting the horn, nothing, absolutely nothing. As we approach the church we see more bodies, dead unmoving.


We ring the bells at the church, every five minutes, waiting for two hours, we sit, unmoving just thinking, taking in what he have seen and what we wished we hadn’t.

Nobody came, we are driving back. It has gotten dark, but as we come back over the ridge we can see the light in the windows in the house. As we pull up my wife comes out with my daughter, Ann. Concern written across their faces.

“What did you find?” my wife asks, watching as I climb out of the truck, “bodies. Just dead bodies. They’re all dead.” “all”
I walked back into the house, the lamps were lit, the two boys followed me, they looked more distressed than I felt. I begin to explain what he had experienced, but I couldn’t I was so scared, and worried, what had killed them, were we going to die? “terrible” I said it over and over. “Terrible, terrible. We drove around looking, we blew the horn. Then we went to the church and rang the bell. You can hear it five miles away. We waited for two hours, but nobody came. I went to a couple of houses - the Johnsons’, the Peter’s – they were all in there, all dead. There were dead birds all over the streets. At that point, the stress became too much for my son Joseph, he began to cry. He is 14, I can’t remember him crying since he was 8.

I have spoken to Mr. Klein, and we have decided to drive in the opposite direction tomorrow, we will be driving south. To go and see if the Amish communities are still alive, then we will circle west to dean town, passing through Baylor on the way. Dean town is a real city, it has a population of 20,000 people, it is a lot bigger that Ogdentown. We will leave early tomorrow morning, so we can get to dean town before dark. We will find out what has happened, then we will come back the next day. My wife is coming with me and so is my nephew David. We will take two cars, in case one breaks down.

It is 6:00 o’clock am, the sun is not up yet. We have just said goodbye to Ann and Joseph and are on our way. As we leave the green of our valley and enter the yellow brown outside, we make ourselves comfortable for the long drive ahead.

It isn't bad at all. My opinion is to keep going ahead with it. You can write, no joke.

2009-06-13 00:40:48 by birdie