GMRS WEB Magazine

November 22, 1999

The Inexpensive See-Through
Family Radio Service Radio.
A neat solution for children.

I saw this newest Radio Shack FRS radio at my local Radio Shack in Pleasant Hill, Ca. The radio comes in two see-through colors of green and blue. It immediately occurred to me what a neat radio this would would be for children. Priced at $29.99 you just couldn't go wrong. I scooped one up and sent it to Paul and Tina Shinn for testing. Here are the results. Doug Smith, Editor

Since the Family Radio Service has been taking off by leaps and bounds, there have been lots of new and feature packed models being released almost constantly. It seems that the trend is to more bells and whistles, more channels, more styling, more stuff to go with them, more sex appeal, more fluff. Why, back when FRS radios first hit the market, there were these simple single channel radios that even a kid could use.

Somebody at Radio Shack read my mind. Radio Shack, the company that tries to tell everyone they invented FRS, has released a new FRS radio that could pass for one of those radios from the beginning days of FRS.

The model 21-1803, 1806, and 1817 are single channel FRS radios operating on FRS channel 1 (462.5625 MHz). The difference in the model numbers is relating to the color of the case. The radio I received is the model 1817, a see through blue color they call ‘Ice Blue’.

The invention of the see through case for electronics was born out of the need to sell pagers to young bucks that like the hi-tech, magical electronic stuff inside and want to show it off. It made pagers look like toys at first, but as people got used to the see through case trend, it became OK. It is not at all uncommon to see stuffy business people that have the see though look too. This made see through cases appropriate for all kinds of everyday devices from cellular phones to computers. It was only a matter of time before an FRS radio took its clothes off too. I can accept that.

Aside from the looks and one-channel restrictions, this radio is all business. Using dip switches under the bottom of four ‘AAA’ batteries, you can select from one of 16 universal FRS tone squelch tones and also an extra tone of 69.3 Hz. Now, you can't change the tones on the fly, but maybe that ’s a good thing if it’s the kids carrying this radio.

You won't mind the clumsy kids carrying it around either, since the price is currently advertised at a mere $29.95. OK., since we're not going to be reluctant to hand this to the kids, let’s talk about why this is a perfect radio for them. Anything that makes radios less complicated is good. Lots of things make this a good radio, like a single rotary ‘ON/OFF ­ volume’ knob and the lack of other complicated controls. The only buttons you get are a ‘push to talk’, a ‘monitor’, and the all time favorite stress releaser, the ‘call’ button. That’s it! The learning curve for this radio is about a nanosecond. The case, although toy like and see through, is very tough and will withstand rough use. Besides, I found that you could hold the ‘call’ button and annoy for as long as you want. It won't quit until you let it go. The designers must know me.

Of course, you can't expect the world for 30 bucks. The speaker audio is a little thin, and does not get very loud at all. There are jacks on the side for an external speaker/mic, but this radio still does not have the raw audio driving power to be heard over a snowmobile motor, or even come close to making your ears ring. Getting back to the side of the radio, check this out: the ‘piece de resistance’…. A charging jack! They expect you to use NiCd rechargeable batteries in this, and you don't even have to remove them to pour some more juice in them. Use the radio a lot? They counted on that. Nice touch.

The receiver sensitivity is not amazingly good, but very average. I did notice that for an inexpensive radio, it is above average though. However, most of the high end FRS radios will un-squelch and copy a signal before this radio knows it’s there. The selectivity of the 21-1817 is poor, and can hear all kinds of paging and two-way traffic next to its channel. Using the tone squelch mode got rid of almost all of the noise. If you are using these radios away from other radio transmitters, this is not a problem. Using them in downtown Los Angeles will give you an earache.

In fact, the receiver is wide enough that from the service monitor, and with a normal signal level, the receiver will not drop out until the received signal deviation is almost 15 kc. wide, or about 6 times normal. This helps make the GMRS radio compatibility number look good though.

The transmitter power is advertised at 100 MW, or 1/10th of 1 watt. That’s just 20 percent of the maximum allowed power for FRS radios. Still, the smaller power is not going to be very noticeable to the average user. If you are trying to talk from the inside of a sealed bank vault, you will wish you spent more, shortly before you wonder why you are even there.

The microphone sensitivity is very good, so you won't lose your voice screaming into it. There is no overly hyper-audio compression on the mic which will keep background noise to a minimum, and likewise no ‘companding’ on the receiver. This also helps the GMRS compatibility number.

I don't hesitate to admit that there is certainly a place for this new Radio Shack edition in the marketplace, and I'm glad to see the release of this long missed type of radio. For the users wanting a simple ‘give grandpa a radio’ FRS rig that won't break the bank, presto! For the parent who wants to use FRS for daily family activities and not worry about losing a $100 radio, get one. Better yet, get two. You never know when you are going to want to show off the cool insides of your new hi-tech toy to your neighbor.

Disclaimer

Radio Shack did not furnish this radio to GMRS Web for review. We thought it was such an interesting product we wanted to review it for our readers.

Click here to see where this Radio Shack FRS radio stacks up against the others in the GMRS WEB FRS Radio Comparison Chart

Warning

It is illegal to use your FRS radio in other countries. You could be fined and/or arrested if caught using your radio anyplace other than the United States. (More accurately anywhere where the FCC has jurisdiction over radio regulatory matters. ) It is also illegal to use these devices on aircraft! Before using any radio transmitting device on board a ship you must have the permission of the Captain. When in doubt research the rules before you leave!

FCC

PRSG

Last updated November 22, 1999