The Best Emergency Two Way Radio Setup For Family Use

Would you still be able to get in touch with all of your family members after a major disaster has occurred? All of us now depend on our cell phones to keep in touch, yet the infrastructure that keeps these devices working is fragile, as hurricane Ian recently showed us in Florida. When major events such as hurricanes, earthquakes or tornadoes strike it can often take weeks, even months before cellular service is restored in a disaster zone. For under $200 you can set up your own family emergency two-way radio communications system that’s always on in the background, should it ever be needed.

After a Disaster You Need a Two-Way Radio System With Good Coverage

A system like the one we use can allow you to communicate with all your family members in an emergency, up to twenty or more miles away, depending on terrain. We’ll show you how to set up a similar family two-way radio setup for emergency use, but first let’s look at all the options for a “SHTF” two-way radio setup you can choose from.

Why Two-Way Radio For Emergency Use?

Two-way radios such as GMRS and FRS don’t need any satellites or cell phone towers to operate. Instead they’re able to communicate point-to-point, using no infrastructure and with no subscription plan. All of the radios that we describe in this article use analog technology and don’t offer any privacy, yet are still powerful tools, if you know how to set up and use them.

Options For a Family Emergency Two-Way Communications Setup

For setting up an effective, easy-to-use to use family two-way radio communications system for emergencies one of the most important rules is K.I.S.S. (keep it simple stupid!). You’ll want to purchase handheld and mobile radios that are easy and foolproof to use, so that any family member can operate them – even when under duress – and which can be carried in all your vehicles, along with one for a home base station.

There are several choices when it comes to two-way radios for preparedness, so let’s look at some of the best options for “SHTF” backup communications suitable for family use. There are two routes you can go, licensed or unlicensed radio services.

License-Free Radios Your Family Can Use in an Emergency

CB – License Free, But Not That Reliable

Citizens’ Band radios have been around since the 1960s and while they’re inexpensive they do suffer from some serious flaws that make them not that well suited for emergency family communications during a disaster scenario. CB radio uses longer HF radio waves and is periodically affected by the solar cycle, which peaks about every eleven years. During certain periods these radios receive interference from stations up to several hundred miles away.

CB handheld units or walkie-talkies and their antennas are typically much larger than other two-way radio handhelds and don’t have more high-tech features such as “privacy codes”, which we’ll explain later. For these reasons, we don’t recommend choosing CB for an emergency two-way radio setup for your home and family.

MURS – No License Required, Good Range, External Antennas Are Allowed

The Mutual Use Radio Service doesn’t require an FCC license and, unlike most CB’s uses FM technology for better audio quality. MURS radios use VHF radio waves, meaning a smaller antenna is required than for CB’s. The FCC allows two watts of power for MURS and handhelds are allowed to have an external antenna. Antenna height is limited to twenty feet above a structure or sixty feet above ground. We’ve used these radios before switching to GMRS and have achieved range of up to 12 miles from base to mobile in fairly flat terrain, using an outside antenna placed at 25′.

Why We Like MURS

Our own system uses licensed GMRS radios. We realize that many folks don’t want to go this route or have to use call signs when communicating. MURS radios are license-free, offer decent range when connected to external antennas and are very simple to operate. Antennas such as the Tram 1487-B work with MURS radios and can be installed outside the home as a base station antenna to provide coverage across a small town.

MURS radios such as the Btech MURS-V1 cost around $70 each and can operate on standby while placed in a charging base and connected to an outside antenna. These can make a great family two-way radio communications system to use in emergencies if you choose to go the unlicensed route.

FRS – No License, Easy to Use!

A second alternative that doesn’t require an FCC license is FRS. The Family Radio Service consists of 22 UHF channels that are shared with GMRS radios. These radios are limited to 2 watts of power on channels 1-7 and 15-22 and only 1/2 watt on channels 8-14. FRS radios use narrow band FM, which doesn’t offer the same audio quality as GMRS radios.

While no external antennas are allowed on FRS radios they can often reach farther in urban environments than MURS radios, since UHF radio waves are better at penetrating homes and buildings than VHF.

FRS radios, such as the Midland X-Talker series can be found for under $50 for a set of two and can provide up to a couple miles of range in an urban environment and up to ten miles or more in a rural setting under line of sight conditions. In terms of emergency, back-up communications for your family, FRS radios are good license-free way to go that won’t break the bank.

Most models support privacy codes and while these don’t offer actual privacy, they do keep your radio silent – except for calls from your group – when these codes are enabled.

While range and audio quality of FRS radios is less than stellar the great thing is that they can still communicate with more powerful GMRS radios, if you ever decide to get a license and set up a more powerful base station for greater coverage of your community. Our favorite FRS radio is the Motorola Talkabout T800, which when paired with a phone app can deliver off-grid text messaging and location tracking, along with emergency location information.

GMRS – Our Choice For a Family SHTF Communications Setup

Our home and vehicle setup uses GMRS (General Mobile Radio Service), which we believe is the best overall two-way radio for emergency use by a family. These radios require a license costing $35, which covers the whole family for ten years. They’re not complicated and almost anyone can learn to use them.

We like to use GMRS radios when exploring and camping off-road in areas where there’s no cell phone coverage. When we’re back at home they serve as our emergency two-way radio communications setup and they’re extremely powerful and versatile should we ever need them. One great feature is that GMRS radios use wide-band FM for much clearer audio than FRS radios.

Some models of GMRS radios are also much more powerful than FRS handhelds, transmitting between 25 to 100 times more RF output. Up to 50 watts of power is allowed on GMRS channels 15-22 and, unlike FRS radios, external antennas are allowed.

Range of Our Setup – From our inexpensive base station (see GMRS Base Station), we’ve been able to talk to our Midland Micromobile twenty-five watt and Btech GMRS-50×1 fifty watt mobile units up to as far as 40 miles away and also call our handheld units from up to 8 miles away from home in a suburban area. Radio range is a very subjective thing, so your mileage may vary!

GMRS Repeaters – During a widespread disaster scenario where cell towers are down you may need to communicate with your family and others over a larger area that what your base station, mobiles or handhelds are capable of. Most newer GMRS handhelds, such as our waterproof Baofeng UV-9G, are equipped with repeater channels. Repeaters are stations that often are placed on tall buildings or mountaintops and which re-broadcast GMRS signals over a much wider area. You can learn more about these, as well as see a map showing the location of GMRS repeater stations at myGMRS.com.

Always There When We Need Them

We do use so called “privacy codes” on our handheld and mobile units and while these don’t prevent anyone from hearing our conversations they keep our radios silent until a family member calls. When out exploring in remote areas we don’t use these, since we actually do want to hear what’s going on around us. In a crowded city these codes are sometimes necessary because of the large number of other radios using the FRS/GMRS shared channels.

If some kind of unforeseen disaster scenario were to occur, our two-way radios are always on and listening, so anyone in our family could reach in the glove compartment for a handheld radio and call home. Although we haven’t had to use them for an emergency yet, this setup has come in handy frequently, like when someone accidentally leaves home without their phone. Our Baofeng GM-15 (see our review of that radio here) features a USB-C charging port which allows us to keep it always plugged in and ready to go in a vehicle.

A Note About Leaving Baofeng Radios Permanently On a Charging Dock: Lithium batteries degrade when kept at full charge (from what we’ve heard from other users), so for long-term use, a battery eliminator for the UV-9R-UV-9G series radios (costs about $10) can be plugged into a small power supply with a cigarette lighter type plug.

How To Get Started Making Your Own Emergency Two-Way Radio Setup

If you decide to go with the more powerful option, GMRS, you’ll first need to get an FCC license to use your radio. This process is fairly easy and most licenses are granted within 24 hours. Next you’ll need a couple of GMRS radios. Depending on your budget you can start off with something like the inexpensive Baofeng radios, which often cost less than $35 each. If you want a high-power setup to use as a base station or as a mobile radio then something like the 50 watt Baofeng GMRS-50X1 is a great choice. To set up a mobile radio as a base station, you’ll just need a 12 volt power supply capable of 30 amps output, such as the TekPower TP30SWI.

Choosing The Best GMRS Base Station Antenna

A good outside antenna is key to a good GMRS base station setup. In our situation, we only needed coverage in one main direction, which is why we went with a high gain directional antenna on the roof.  Our Yagi beam GMRS base station antenna is rated at 11 dB gain and has the effect of boosting our 5 watt handheld’s power to over 35 watts of ERP of effective radiated power.

Omnidirectional GMRS base station antennas, which broadcast the signal equally in all directions, may be more practical for most people than the setup we used. GMRS base station antennas such as the Browning BR-6143 offer 3dB gain in a compact 44″ package that shouldn’t draw too much attention when mounted outside. When placed just above the roofline one of these may provide coverage over several miles away from your home. (Range depends on several factors, including antenna elevation, obstacles in the signal’s path and power output of the radio*.)

Below is an image taken from a radio range calculator called Radio Mobile. The coverage it shows for our location actually matches up very well with our real world results when communicating from base to mobiles.

Setting Up CTCSS or DCS Privacy Codes

If you’re looking for a GMRS system that you can leave on all the time, you’ll most likely have to have to end up using “privacy codes” to mute your squelch, especially if you live in a more populated area. We program our Baofeng mobiles and handheld radios using a program called Chirp, where we set up these codes. You basically have two options, using the older CTCSS (Continuous Tone Coded Squelch System) or newer DCS (Digital Coded Squelch) to keep your radios silent until someone in your group using the same code or tone calls you.

Most GMRS radios feature 38 CTCSS tones to choose from and over 100 DCS codes. We use DCS to lessen the chance someone in the area is using the same code. If you do use these tones or codes to keep your GMRS, FRS or MURS radio quiet except for calls from your group, just be sure to check to see if the channel is in use before talking. Some radios may feature a monitor button, labeled “MON” which you can depress to bypass these tones and see if anyone is talking before keying your mic. Other radios may feature an LED light which comes on to show that the channel is in use.

Just remember than other people can still hear you, even though you can’t hear them when using DCS or CTCSS. In a real emergency situation you’ll want to turn these off so you can year what’s going on around you. It’s always best not to reveal too much private information over the airwaves, since you never know who’s listening.

GMRS Radio Is Still Evolving

For a family emergency two-way radio communications system that’s affordable, powerful and uncomplicated, it’s hard to beat GMRS. While this radio service has been around for several years, the technology is still evolving. Short text messages are now allowed on GMRS, as is GPS tracking. Radios such as the Btech GMRS-Pro can even be paired with a smartphone, allowing users to send short text messages and location information.

The Bottom Line on Making Your Own Family Two-Way Radio Emergency System

For the best license-free emergency backup communication system for family use, we recommend MURS. Because you can add an external antenna to these VHF radios allows them to cover a modest sized town and keep in touch with other family members in an emergency. For those who don’t mind getting a $35 FCC license that’s valid for 10 years, GMRS is by far the best option for SHTF communications on the local level.

Be Sure to Show Everyone How to Operate The Radios

Even the best emergency home two-way radio setup could be worthless if not everyone knows how to use it. After setting up your emergency radio base station, handhelds and mobiles, make sure to have a “Radio-101” course where everyone in the family learns how to operate each set. Each person should know how to turn the radios on, where the PTT (push to talk) button is located, how to keep their radio charged up and proper radio protocol.

Pro Tips –

• Consider using your handheld’s “Lock” feature to prevent settings from being changed.
• Join a local GMRS repeater group and request access for local repeaters. Membership fees and donations keep local repeaters on the air.
• Check charge level on handhelds at least every month and recharge if necessary.
• Consider attaching a laminated card to handheld radios with basic instructions for use.
• Use lower power GMRS channels 1-7 and only switch to higher power channels 15-22 when necessary.
• Have a solar/battery charging bank such as those made by Goal Zero to recharge your portable radios and, flashlights and cell phones during power outages. (These are costly and you can make your own solar charging station using a $100 Renogy 100 watt solar panel and a deep-cycle battery.)

It’s Never Too Late To Prepare For Disasters With a Family Two-Way Radio Setup

We hope this information was helpful for those looking to set up their own family two-way radio system to use in emergencies. Be sure to follow all FCC rules for whichever kind of radio you ultimately choose and to be courteous and share channels with others who may also have important calls to make. Also know that during disaster scenarios the high-power GMRS channels may be used by local volunteer emergency response groups. Be sure to switch to an alternate channel in that case.

*Whenever communicating with other GMRS radios, try to use the lowest power setting you can, to avoid creating interference to other users over a larger area than is necessary.

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