RADIO COMMUNICATIONS
By Charles Washington

The ability of Roadrunner trip participants to communicate Miata-to-Miata is very important, and makes the trip safer and more informative.  This lets the trip leader and all other Miatas know what is happening at all times.  Is someone having trouble?  Does someone need to stop?  Does someone have historical, geological, or botanical information to share?  This is hard to do without radios of some sort.  Barbara and I have years of experience using UHF (FM) radios for car-to-car communications, and recommend them above CB or SW radios.  UHF radios are small, hand-held, lightweight, portable and battery-powered.  They offer foolproof, clear communication from 2 to 5 miles, and cost between $60 and $175 each.

The radios we have are Motorola TalkAbout Distance DPS UHF, and I recommend them highly (we know good internet sites for least expensive purchases - $175).  Operating frequencies are between 462.5625 to 462.7125 MHz, and can operate on 12.5 or 25.0 kHz bandwidth.  Ira Schwartz was able to modify his SW radio to both broadcast and receive on the 462.7125 frequency (this is our target frequency for the club), so those of you who have SW, please see Ira for additional details.  Motorola Family Radio Service (FRS) radios also can operate within the above parameters, but have a shorter  range; the TalkAbout series is a better choice.  I am in no way an expert on radios, but if you have any questions, I will try to help; Ira might be a better source.