On-The-Go Radio
by Alan Dixon N3HOE / WPUC72O/ KST8678
For Families Only?
Plus The CB Enforcement
Action That Wasn’t!
The Family Radio Service, or “FRS,” was created when the FCC rewrote the Subpart B Personal Radio Service rules (47 CFR Part 95) about five years ago. This relatively new radio service is available for all U.S. citizens to use just about anywhere. Since FRS is intended to be a short-range radio service, the FCC has limited the transmission power to just 500 mW—that’s one half of 1 watt. Such low power lends itself handily (pun intended) for use in the handheld or walkie-talkie mode.
For instance, FRS is excellent for communication at shopping malls and amusement parks. It allows family members to communicate and to locate each other easily. From its inception, however, folks in the working world, and even those in government at all levels, saw the value of FRS immediately. That’s right, FRS is used every day by construction and utility workers, stock clerks, waiters, maintenance personnel, security officers, and even soldiers.
The FCC could have named its new Class B Personal Radio Service anything that sounded good, I imagine, but settled on “Family Radio Service.” This would have been an excellent name choice if FRS use had been limited, by regulation, to personal use only. But the Commission had no intention of making this new service regulatory-intensive. Perhaps additionally, the FCC did not envision the business world, and especially government, embracing a radio service with such low power that many consider it to be of toy quality. Embrace it they did, nonetheless. These little handhelds are very inexpensive, small and lightweight, simple to use, have near high-fidelity audio, and are more rugged that you might presume. Oh yes, they really do work very well over the very short distances that befit their engineering design. This was truly a formula for success.
