Beware: You should never explore wild caves alone or without proper gear. Consider getting in touch with a Grotto of the National Speleological Society at www.caves.org or a qualified cave club. These groups are skilled and will train you. Without sufficient knowledge, preparation, and equipment, cave exploring can lead to serious injury or death.
A FRS Radio is a handheld radio that was first created in the US in 1996. They are known as ‘Family Radio Service’, an improved version of the walkie-talkie. Mainly designed for short-distance, two-way communication, FRS Radios help in facilitating families and group activities.
Even in the age of smart phones and laptops, you don’t want to risk losing connection to your group due to a bad phone signal, which will inevitably happen underground.
Individuals in close range often use them for giving and receiving instructions to another member or the entire group. A typical FRS Radio authorizes 22 channels between 462 MHz and 467 MHz, but this varies. What matters is that different models can easily communicate with each other, provided they are legal to operate in one country, they can cause interference in another.
There are some rules to follow, however. You can use your FRS unit anywhere in the USA, but unfortunately, it is not legal to use it in the UK without a license, issued by Ofcom. UK customers have to count on license-free radios, which we are going to expand upon in our review section. If you opt for a GMRS radio instead, you will need a license from the FCC.
A FRS radio works rather well inside a caving system and work even 1 mile apart, but if there is a lot of obstruction between you and the recipient, you may have difficulty. This isn’t the fault of the product; it’s just how radio signals work. To circumvent this, try to minimize the need for one member to be far ahead or behind the rest of the group, unless you can maintain a line of sight between all of you. If there is a direct line of sight, a good FRS radio might provide clear communication over 30 miles.
So which one should you pick? We’ve reviewed four high quality FRS (and one GMRS) radios below.
| Image | Product | Rating | Where to Buy |
|---|---|---|---|
Award-Winning Product  | Rocky Talkie Mountain Radio | 9.8 | Buy from Rocky Talkie |
Comes with Case  | Midland T77VP5 X-TALKER FRS Two-Way Radio (2 Pack) | 9.2 | Buy from Amazon |
People's Favorite  | Midland 50 Channel GMRS Two-Way Radio (2 Pack) | 9.3 | Buy from Amazon |
Best Budget  | MOICO Walkie Talkie for Adults (4 Pack) | 8.7 | Buy from Amazon |
Rocky Talkie Mountain Radio
The Rocky Talkie Mountain Radio is an award winning radio made with climbers and skiers in mind, but perfect for cavers as well. When communication is important, you'll need a reliable radio to stay in touch with your party, and this is the best choice in our opinion.
This radio was designed and tested in the Colorado Rockies. With over 4 days of battery life and a resistance to harsh environments (-20°F), it's perfect for most environments you experience in the wild caves.
A special shatterproof LED screen and thermoplastic protective covering provide a peace of mind unlike what most radios can offer. Other radios tend to use weak plastic clips for hooking the radio to your belt, harness, or backpack. The Rocky Mountain Radio uses an ultra-light carabiner and back-up leash.
- Ready to use out of the box with zero configuration
- Over 4 days of battery life
- Can be secured to backpack/harness with an included carabiner
- Much cheaper than their main competition: BCA Link Radios
- Charges via USB-C
- No NOAA Weather Channels
- A bit expensive for a single radio
Midland T77VP5 X-TALKER FRS Two-Way Radio (2 Pack)
Max signal distance: 38 miles (61.2 km)
The Midland T77VP5 is packed with features that set it apart from most FRS radios. You will be able to communicate clearly in some of the most challenging terrains, with no channel congestion or missed messages. There's nothing quite like trying to understand what someone is saying with low reception while someone is lost or injured.
There are 36 scannable channels, and signals travel as far as 38 miles.
Included are 121 CTCSS Privacy Codes with for extra encryption, a NOAA Weather Scan, and Voice and Sound-Activated Transmission (eVOX) for complete hands-free use.
Included are Belt clips (x2), carrying case, mic headsets, 1000mAh rechargeable battery packs (x2), desktop charger, AC wall adapter, USB car adapter, and micro USB charging cable.
- Privacy codes allow you to keep conversations a secret
- NOAA Weather Scan and Weather Alerts
- Voice-activation (eVOX)
- Rechargeable batteries and wall charger included
- Belt clip and lanyard allow easy attachment
- Hit or miss sound quality in dense woods
- Easily scratched when you're outdoors
- A bit tricky to use
Midland 50 Channel GMRS Two-Way Radio (2 Pack)
Max signal distance: 36 miles (57.9 km)
This GMRS Two-Way Radio is another high-quality product made by Midland. It features 50 GMRS channels, along with a channel scan to quickly locate activity across them.
If you're not familiar with GMRS, the main difference is that GMRS radios have designated channels within those frequencies that aren't available to FRS radios. GMRS radios also require a license from the FCC to operate.
With a 36-mile range, a GMRS radio like this will easily cover any caving situation, and this one also comes with multiple sensitivity levels for hands-free operation on the move. There is also a NOAA Weather Scan and Alert feature, similar to the FRS radio above.
This radio comes with JIS4 waterproof protection, making them splash-resistant and perfect for those wetter environments in your caving adventures.
This pack of 2 comes with belt clips, desktop charger, rechargeable battery packs, AC adapter, DC adapter, pair of boom mic headsets, and an owner’s manual.
- Water-resistant (not waterproof)
- Rechargeable batteries included
- Voice-activated (eVOX)
- NOAA Weather Scan and Automatic Alarm during severe weather alerts
- You can't expect a clear signal across the advertised distance
- Cannot increase power to improve range
- Requires a license since it is GMRS
- Cannot charge batteries directly in the unit.
MOICO FRS Radio with Built-In LED Light (4 Pack)
Max signal distance: 3 miles (1.86 km)
For cavers and groups of cavers on a budget, this MOICO pack comes with 4 FRS Radios for you and your companions. With 6 adjustable volumes, 10 call tone settings, a built-in LED torch, and more, you get quite a lot for a product that's designed to not break the bank.
Note that the range is quite limited - only 3 miles (1.86 km), but in almost all caving environments, this will cover just about every situation. At the same time, you may have trouble in some wild caves, when there is a lot of rock above and between you and the intended recipient.
MOICO isn't as great as some other brands, but their radio is lightweight, but durable enough to be drop-proof.
- 4 in a pack, at a very affordable price
- Voice-activation
- Sturdy and well-constructed
- Uses 4 AAA batteries per device, which are not included
- Requires 6 volt charger, which are not as common
- Limited range (even with line of sight)
Conclusion
All these products use narrow-band frequency modulation (NBFM). In case you need something for much greater communication distances (more than a mile), look for the GMRS feature, if you have it. It utilizes external antennas and gives a range of up to 5 miles. The only drawback is this technology (and any GMRS radio) can only be used by licensed operators.
For the most part, a decent FRS radio that is durable, water-resistant (if you plan on going to wetter environments), and doesn’t need to be charged more than twice a week should be sufficient for you. The Rocky Talkie Mountain Radio is one of the most popular and highest rated products we’ve seen when it comes to radios, so we recommend it if you’re able to pay a little extra. If not, any of the other budget radios will suffice.
If you happen to have a different FRS or GMRS radio that you swear by, we’d love to hear about it. Let us know what you like about it, and we’ll consider adding it to our recommendations as well.