Club
communication while cruising …
At
late as the mid 90’s most Wanderers classic cars that went on regular cruises
and trips with the club had CB radios in them. Eventually these were replaced
with portable CBs with magnetic antennas that could be used without mounting the
unit or the antenna permanently on the vehicle. With the widespread use of cell
phones the CB became as antiquated as drive in window speakers for classic car
cruises. The problem with cell phones was that communicating during actual
driving limited talking to only one phone at a time. If the group leader needed
to give directions to everyone then many calls had to be made and often timing
is crucial in giving directions.
Enter
the new class of radios known as FRS radios. FRS, or Family Radio Service, is a
special broadcast band set aside by the FCC for personal two way radios. At
first these units were one watt radios with limited range. But recent advances
have made these units up to three watts of power and have much better antenna
technology. Some units are advertised to have a maximum, best case range of up
to 5 miles. They are generally sold in pairs for about $50 to $90 for a pair and
the benefits of these new radios to classic car cruises are many.
FRS
radios have 14 main channels and each main channel has 38 sub-channels. This
allows for a total of 532 available communication channels. This is great when
they are used in an area where many people are using these radios such as car
shows or swap meets. Unlike the older CB radios where people were always
“stepping on” or “talking over “ someone else, the FRS radio’s
frequency bands make it possible to find a channel that virtually no one is
using.
Club
members who cruise together often carry at least one unit in the glove box. Most
groups who use them set aside a channel combination that everyone in the group
can use at any time. To make things easy for the Wanderers we use a channel
combination taken from the first two initials of our club. C is the third letter
of the alphabet so our main channel is 3. M is the thirteenth letter of the
alphabet so 13 is our sub-channel. Set your FRS radio to Channel 3 – sub 13
and we can all communicate during our road trips and at large shows like