From: johnc@yuma.ACNS.ColoState.EDU (John Cooley)
Newsgroups: rec.skiing
Subject: Re: Two-way radios on the slopes
Summary: They work, sort of
Keywords: radio
Date: 12 Oct 92 20:32:51 GMT
Followup-To: rec.skiing
Organization: Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO  80523

In article <1992Oct9.041843.9794@panix.com> oppedahl@panix.com (Carl Oppedahl) 
writes:

>I wonder whether any readers would like to share comments about the use
>of two-way radios on the ski slopes.  I find them to be very handy.
>Examples:  
        
>        Two couples are at the resort, and they stop for lunch.  After
>lunch, one couple would like to go back on the slopes while the other 
>would like to rest a few more minutes.  Without radios, you are faced
>with two choices -- (1) all four skiers wait until everybody is ready
>to go, or (2) you give up on ever rejoining until the end of the day
>during "apres ski" activity.  But if you use radios, you can rejoin
>conveniently with ski runs coordinated to meet somewhere with no idle 
>time.
 
Not all radios will allow this.  The most convenient type of radio is
designed for people without any kind of license, and has a very limited
range.

>        What kind of radio to use?
> 
>        One very convenient radio is the 49-MHz radio that uses
>cordless phone and baby monitor frequencies.  Brand names include Radio 
>Shack and Maxon.  One model has five channels and a really handy 
>combination earphone and microphone in one unit.  It hears what you 
>are saying by bone conduction.  This kind of microphone is immune to 
>wind noise.  The drawbacks are that the channels are heavily used by
>other skiers and by baby monitors and cordless phones, and that the 
>RF output is quite low so the range is very limited -- a few hundred feet.
>One cannot be heard from one lift line over to the next one, let alone
>from one side of the resort to the other.

Except for the situation described above, this actually works reasonably well.

I am an instructor of blind and visually impaired skiers with the 
National Sports Center for the Disabled at Winter Park, Colorado.
One of my regular students, a maniac with about 5% vision (he'll ski almost
anything - rapidly), supplies a pair of these radios for us to use.  They
are Radio Shack brand, 5 channels, with a mike tube extending in front of
the mouth.  The end of the tube is covered with foam, and is wind resistant.
He tells me that he has experimented with newer Radio Shack models and found
the earphone/microphone very prone to wind noise, so he keeps the older ones
going, despite malfunctions caused by head plants (he's an electronics
technician).

We do suffer some interference on occasion, but we just look for a clear
channel.  We have not had any problem with baby monitors on the slope! ;-)
They are low enough power so that we rarely interfere with ski area operations.
Range is limited, but we can communicate easily while in motion, and that's
what we need.  I can talk to him clearly in a normal tone of voice, instead
of having to yell at the top of my lungs.  We can exchange (semi) private
comments about the individuals who seem to use the orange "Blind Skier" bibs
as targets ;-).

The radios are not duplex, so a transmitting radio does not receive anything.

       John Cooley