Kevin wrote:
I have a CB, and use it on some four wheeling trips. CBs suck for caravans, though - they tend to overload each other if you are too close.
The easy fix for that is reducing transmit power, if your radio allows it. If not, use a crappier antenna. Most CB 'rubber duck' antennas put out more heat than RF power anyway. ;)
Unfortunately, CBs are marketed to people who don't understand radios at all, so most of them are just plain junk. Receiver overloading in the presence of strong signals is one sign of a poor design. A lot of people also have their CBs "peaked and tuned" to (illegally) get more output power, with unknown consequences for the quality of the signal. There's more to getting a good signal out than tuning for "maximum smoke."
Stick to GMRS or FRS.
I've used FRS in caravans and found it kind of frustrating. They have the same problem CB does -- they're marketed to people who don't know radios, so they tend to be poor quality designs. The audio output is usually insufficient to be heard over road noise without holding the radio to your ear. The range is so short that if one person in the caravan breaks down, they have less than a minute to make themselves heard before everyone gets out of range. Finally, everyone's started giving FRS radios to their kids as walkie talkies, so right when you need to use it there's usually some five-year-old on the channel singing the alphabet song.
