I made a dumb assumption. A friend of a friend agreed to show me a new trail I’d never traveled before, and we kept the group small: Me in my Jeep, Russ in his Rubicon, and our fearless leader in his Sport.
[Not a valid template]The trail wasn’t supposed to be incredibly tough, but it did cross through a rocky streambed loaded with some sizeable boulders. 3.0 out of 5, the guide book rated it.
Somewhere along the trail, we had to squeeze between two truck-sized boulders and make a sharp right turn. My narrow 10.5” tires left me with about 2” on both sides of the Jeep as I passed through. So I picked up my CB mic and called the chief. “Hey Dave, uh, will you give me a quick spot on my passenger side?”
“Hey, Mark” I heard Russ pipe in. “Dave doesn’t have a CB.”
“You’re kidding me right? He’s got that decked out Jeep and didn’t bother to spend another $70 for a CB?”
“Seriously, he doesn’t have one.”
“He’s your buddy. You get up here and give me a spot then.”
So, what did I learn? That’s right, not everyone has a radio. This got the JPFreek team thinking: Maybe others need a guide through the world of radios. I called the best guy that I know for the job: Andy Keels, an Electrical Engineer and a serious Jeep ‘Freek.”
Our conversation went like this:
JPF: Andy, radios for communication in Jeeps. Why should anyone bother with them?
AK: Well, would you like to get high-centered while you watch your buddies drive away? No way!
JPF: Good point. So, what are the options?
AK: Well, the most popular radio is a standard CB. An economical radio is FRS. And I like HAM radios.