If you need an affordable means of keeping in touch with friends and family in places lacking cell service, your best choice is probably going to be a handheld or mobile UHF or VHF radio. A license-free FRS or MURS radio – with up to two watts of power – can provide reliable communications for up to a few miles. If you need even more range, GMRS radios – requiring an easy to obtain license – offer up to 50 watts of power and can transmit for 30 miles or more – under perfect conditions.
GMRS-FRS Radio Privacy Features
Along with some unrealistic claims of range, manufacturers of FRS, GMRS and MURS radios may tout the benefits of their radio’s “privacy codes”, yet these tones and codes don’t really offer any privacy at all. Some FRS and GMRS radios for sale online even go so far as to make claims of “encryption” when referring to these privacy tones, which is very misleading.
What Are Two-Way Radio Privacy Tones and Codes?
Continuous Tone-Coded Squelch System, “tone squelch” or CTCSS is a system of 50 audio tones that are used to “open up” or un-mute the squelch of another radio that’s been set up to recognize them. A similar system – CDCSS or Digital Coded Squelch (DCS) – uses digital codes to do basically the same thing, with more than 100 codes to prevent you from hearing unwanted radio traffic. Neither of these systems keeps other people from hearing your conversations, despite what some radio manufacturers may say.
CTCSS and DCS – The Ostrich Theory of Radio Privacy
The use of CTCSS or DCS to keep the squelch muted for all your group’s conversations, but only offers the illusion of privacy. You may end up talking over another group of people, not even realizing it, except for interference that may be garbling your transmission.
Having your squelch muted by privacy tones can prevent you from talking to someone on the same channel – whom you may really need to hear from, which is why we seldom use these tones on our GMRS radio, or at least not when we’re out in the boondocks. In the great outdoors you could end up missing out on vital information – or even someone else’s call for help – if you have these so-called “privacy tones” set up to keep your radio quiet.
But what about those situations where you need total privacy in a walkie-talkie or mobile unit? If you don’t want your conversations heard by anyone else – and there are plenty of reasons for this – there are license-free, “encrypted” walkie-talkies with complete privacy. You will pay more for them, and probably have less usable range, but if you need to have private voice conversations for up to a distance of a couple miles, there really aren’t any low cost alternatives available yet.
Is Voice Scrambling Legal On GMRS, FRS or MURS?
A few years ago you could purchase an FRS walkie talkie that used “voice inversion” scrambling. This technology isn’t allowed on CB, FRS, GMRS or MURS, and even if you do still see radios with this feature available for sale online, they are not legal for use in the US. Using voice scrambling” on any GMRS or FRS radio can result in a fine if you’re ever caught. The FCC Part 95 guidance for GMRS/FRS equipment – which prohibits voice scrambling – can be found here.
Few Choices For Walkie-Talkies With Encryption
While you may see DMR (Digital Mobile Radio) handheld units for sale online, these are almost all designed to be used with FCC licensed digital mobile radio systems or through a cellular network. As of yet, there aren’t any digital or encrypted two way radios available without getting an expensive FCC business radio license, except for a handful of 900 MHz FHSS (Frequency Hopping Spread Spectrum) devices. Encryption is achieved by spreading your transmission out in digital form – over many channels – ensuring near total privacy from eavesdroppers.
LoRa Mesh Networking Devices
LoRa stands for “long range radio”, yet these devices are low power and don’t really live up to the name. GoTenna is one example of a LoRa device, which also use the license-free 900 MHZ band. Range of up to 5 miles is possible, and each device “meshes” with another to extend range outward – but only if there are multiple users. So far only text messaging is supported and with cost for a couple of GoTenna devices at around $180, outdoor enthusiasts might be better off with a pair of GMRS radios for half the price, which offer much better range.
GMRS Text Messaging
For those wishing to communicate in a way that won’t be decipherable by most FRS/GMRS radio users, the Garmin Rhino 755t allows for the sending of short text messages. The FCC limits message size on GMRS to 13 characters, which severely limits the usefulness of this feature. So far the use of text messaging on GMRS devices is not widely used, and you won’t find this feature on many radios. GMRS text messages can still be read by other users of the same device.
The License-Free ISM Band
FHSS two-way radios utilize the license-free 902-928 MHZ ISM (Industrial, Scientific and Medical) band, which is regulated under Part 15 of FCC rules. One watt of power is allowed and external antennas are permitted, however the maximum Effective Isotropic Radiated Power (EIRP) is limited to 36 dBm (4 watts).
Farewell to eXRS
A few years ago a company called TriSquare came out with a proprietary transmission method it called eXRS or “Extreme Radio Service” – operating in the 900 MHz band with 1 watt of power. We’ve used these before, and range of eXRS radios is up to about two miles in the outdoors. There are still a few of these radios for sale on the used market, however the company has been out of business since 2012. It’s been speculated that cheap FRS radios, which have more power and range – with less complexity, were too much competition for eXRS.
Motorola FHSS Radios
To our knowledge, Motorola is the only company currently offering encrypted walkie-talkies using FHSS, similar to TriSquare radios. These one watt radios, which include the Motorola DTR600 and the DTR700, are advertised to cover up to 350,000 sq. ft indoors. and are built to military specs with IP54 water resistance. No claim of outdoor range is made by Motorola, but having also used these we can attest that it’s up to about two miles in open country.
Costing more than $300 for each handset, privacy comes at a high cost. A slightly more affordable FHSS walkie-talkie, the Motorola DLR 1060 – features similar MilSpec construction, but has a shorter antenna and is only claimed to cover up to 300,000 sq. ft indoors.. The Motorola DLR 1060 isn’t really cheap either, costing over $200 for one handset. FHSS handheld radios are capable of privately calling any one radio, or paging an entire group.
Other 900 MHz FHSS Radios
So far these are the only FHSS radios on the market that we know of. A company called Retrevis Solutions is reportedly coming out with a FHSS walkie talkie soon. Also, while not technically walkie-talkies, EnGenius offers the DuraFon series of 900 MHz FHSS cordless phones, which are able to talk handset to handset with similar range as the Motorola FHSS radios, as well as to base stations using an outside antenna. Range of up to 6 miles is possible from EnGenius DuraFon mobile to base units. EnGenius phones aren’t cheap, starting at $350 for one base and one mobile, with additional handsets costing around $160 each. With 120 volt charging docks, these devices aren’t really that practical for the outdoors.
Are Encrypted FHSS Walkie-Talkies Right For You?
You should probably only consider purchasing a pair of FHSS walkie-talkies if you really have a need for privacy. Hospitals and businesses with HIPPA concerns, racing teams and others who may want to keep strategies private, are examples of those who may need such privacy. At a minimum, you’ll spend more than $400 for a set of private, encrypted walkie-talkies. For the rest of us, that amount of money can buy a whole lot more range and flexibility when spent on quality GMRS, MURS or FRS radio gear.
Besides cost, another downside is the fact that FHSS radios aren’t compatible with any other two-way’s commonly used in the outdoors. GMRS and FRS radios can still “talk to each other”, yet 900 MHz digital FHSS radios can only call another of same model that’s been paired with it. With such limited range, they’re just not that practical for most people to use – except of course in cases where privacy was absolutely necessary.
(It would be nice if someone made a 900 MHz FHSS radio – like the ones mentioned above – with the FRS band included for the sake of interoperability.)
See our article “Best Radio For Overlanding – FRS or GMRS?” for more info on these more affordable two way radio alternatives to FHSS walkie-talkies.
The author, Troy H., has been involved in radio technology since the 1980’s and holds both amateur advanced class and GMRS radio licenses.
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