walkie talkies

[MickeyG]

I wonder if anyone can give me any feedback on some walkie talkies that my wife purchased this weekend. Radio Shack had a sale on a 4 pack of Maxus battery operated walkie talkies which she bought. They have a 2 mile range and offer 22 channels. Our family tried them out and they seem to work up to the 2 mile radius. My only concern is the structure and layout of the ship. Is 2 miles an appropriate distance for a ship? Our children, ages 11 and 13 and my wife and I will each have a walkie talkie. We just want to make sure that we are in somewhat close verbal contact with our kids. If anyone who has used walkie talkies on a ship could respond, I would greatly appreciate it. There is a 30 day return on the walkie talkies, so we have the option of exchanging these.

Thanks

Mick

[CA Cruiser]

We used them when the boys were young and they were great. Sometimes you have to switch channels to find a clear one. Just remember to use code names and never have the kids give out their cabin number over the air.

[MJ]

We used them with our 10 yr old and it was the 2 mile range ones. We only had 1 other family that was on the same chanel and we just switched to another and it was fine. I agree with CA cruiser, just use a code name and before you start your conversation just make sure it is your kids you are talking too! Some of them have a tone that will sound if you just hold the button down. We had to use this at times because depending what we were doing sometimes we could hear if he was just talking. That way it got our attention and we knew it was him.
Have a great trip!

[David W]

Good points there CA and MJ,
The wife and I used ours all over the ship. It worked great ! She could be in the Casino, and I could be on deck, or in the room. No problem at all.
No worries there mate.
happy cruising;
david

[hockeyluver]

Do they have sub channels? ours only had 14 channels and it seemed everybody and thier brother also only had 14 channels my sister and brother brought some with sub channels which worked out much better since the likely hood of other families using the same combination of channels was highly unlikely. We were on the legend and had no problems using them all over the ship.

[MickeyG]

Thanks for the information and advice regarding walkie talkies on ships. We will keep our 4 pack and use code names as you suggested. Thanks again!

Mick