Customer Reviews

Cobra microTALK PR 1000 5-Mile 15-CHANNEL FRS/GMRS Two-Way Radios

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The range of FRS radios was never long enough for tripping on portages or rapids meandering through mixed forests of several kilometers with moderate elevation changes over granite outcrops. The PR1000 gives the extra range and works great even when it's raining or at the bottom of rapids where splashes often occur. Its compatibility with standard FRS radios lets me talk to friends who bought FRS-only radios. It fits nicely inside a PFD pocket (kept inside a ziplock bag and on a mini-biner). For its price range it is a great buy. I use Lithium AAs when the temperature drops below 0C/32F.

I recently purchased 2 of these radios, first thing I did was get rechargeable batteries, a recharger and DC car adaptor. I then went to my local professional radio shop and purchased 2,6 inch, 1/4wave rubber antennas cut for 460 mhz. I also purchased 2 mobile magnet mount antennas cut for the right frequency. All antennas and accessories improved radios peformance dramatically, especially the two mobile antennas. It was no problem for my brother and I to talk 15-20 kilometers (roughly 9 1/2 to 12 1/2 miles) with our two vehicles through our hilly, vegetation terrain here in Atlantic Canada. My next step is to purchase a base antenna for the house and the Audiovox 2000 GMRS Base Station.

The Cobra 1000 is a basic and reliable 2-way radio. It could be better with the addition of some other useful functions like a scan mode or privacy mode. As a receiver, it lacks sensitivity at times to catch the faint signals but in the trasmit mode, it really sounds very good. My only major problem with the radio is the design of the battery compartment. It is a "snap" cover which doesnt really snap that well and which will be a problem as the radio is used more frequently. I already have to use a rubber band around one of the radios to keep the battery in place.

This is a nice handheld two-way GMRS/FRS radio. But unlike most radios of this type, the antenna can be detached, allowing you to hook up an external (e.g., vehicle-mounted) antenna. Just unscrew the antenna and screw in the SMA connector on the 50-ohm cable leading to your external antenna.

Keep in mind you need a GMRS license from the FCC in order to legally operate this radio with an external antenna. And because you can't use the FRS service with an external antenna, the FCC wouldn't let Cobra design this radio to operate on the FRS-only channels. That's why it has only 15 channels vs. the more common 22-channel radios.

But a GMRS license is easy to obtain from the FCC. It's not an amateur radio license, so there's no exam - just an $85 fee, and it's good for five years.

If you only use it on the shared GMRS/FRS channels with its own antenna, you don't need a license.

The radio requires six AA batteries. I use rechargeable batteries in mine.

I bout a pair of cobra PR1000 at officemax store. They put out 2.0 watts on high power and 1/2 watts on low power.They have a high/low RF power output.They are a good gmrs and frs radio. Channels 1-7 are frs channels 8-15 are gmrs frequencis not frs.Up to a 5 mile range. I haven't test them out yet to see how far they go for a range on these radios. Can someone give me a range how far a 2 watt radio goes.