Can You Hear Me Now? Breaker Breaker 1..9.....

For this post, I would like to discuss keeping in touch with the family while camping.  Many people in the good old days, used string and two soup cans or a CB walkie-talkie to keep in touch with family members during camping.  Most of the campers in the olden time and even RVers today, nothing was or is used to stay in touch.  While some may believe that a cell phone is good enough, and it may be traveling down the interstate, in a campground in the wilderness or at the nearby lake you may find that the good old cell phone does not work, even a little.   You may find that the carrier you have is the wrong carrier for good service in the area that you are in and that the other guy would have been a better choice.  Whatever the case, today we have very small radios called FRS/GMRS that will last a long time on batteries, give you several miles of range, be quiet and can even be set up for "selective call" so only your family members will hear you when you call them in for lunch or are backing up the rig.  RVers who are backpackers take note, these little radios can have weather radios and GPS built-in as well.








Let's take a look at a few [shown below] and discuss their features and benefits in more detail.

Motorola Model MD200R

Shown above are some Basic FRS radios.  They come as a pair when you buy them and have the following feature set.  The units come with rechargeable batteries, two belt clips, charging cable, AC adapter and have a range of 20 miles over flat and open terrain.  They offer a 12hr battery life.  As you can see the unit does not offer a lot of features but it works and could be used when backing the RV into that tight site, right next to the lake.



Motorola MH230

Above is shown a step-up model of an FRS/GMRS radio.  It can run on alkaline batteries for up to 10hrs or 8hrs on rechargeable batteries.  This model from Motorola includes 11 weather channels, 22 talk channels, and each channel has 121 privacy codes, (selective call)  for privacy.  The range is 23 miles over flat and open terrain.  It comes with belt clips and 1 dual drop-in charger to charge the pair of radios at the same time to save you time.  Use one as a base station at the RV and give the other one to whoever you want to keep track of.  Additional units can be purchased so everyone who needs one has one.  This unit would be great for a fisherman to keep in touch while out in the boat on the lake.

Garmin Rino 650 with GPS & FRS



 Calling all Backpacking RVers out there.  Here is an FRS/GMRS radio that has a built-in GPS or a GPS that has a built-in FRS/GMRS radio.  This unit is not low cost, but it does show that just about any need for communications while RVing can be met with an FRS/GMRS radio.  For the fun of it here are some of the features of this radio.  The radio has a 2.6-inch color touchscreen that is glove friendly.  A high sensitivity GPS receiver, a rugged waterproof case. Runs 18hrs on a set of batteries, and has a list of accessories as long as your arm. 

While most of us will want a lower cost unit you need not suffer from little to no features.  Range, the number of channels, the privacy feature (selective call), and battery life are the important ones to watch out for.

Safety and peace of mind make the weekend RV getaway fun and exciting for the whole family and the ability to stay in touch with all members of the camping party does that for me and my family.









Until next time.  Over and Out?

12 Volt Emergency Power & Emergency Tire Pump

When you dash off for a weekend camping vacation, most of us just don't sweat the details.  I know, I don't and that is what gets us all into trouble.  Last camping season,  the wife, grandkids, and I headed out for just such a weekend.  It was early in the season and when we got to the campsite we were the only ones around.





So far so good.  We had a great time exploring the Spring outdoors and when we were ready to go the truck would not start.  Normally that would not be a problem because we would have lots of fellow campers around us to help out.  Not this time.  There also was the time we were on our way to Branson MO to meet relatives, when one of the trailer tires decided to blow and the spare was nearly flat.  Forgot to air up the spare tire at the beginning of camping season.  Hey, it happens.  Short term memory fading as I get older.
All of this drove home the point that Murphy is always with us and bad thing happen to good people as well.  So what is the solution?  One of these, 12Volt Emergency Power & Tire Pump

12Volt Emergency Power & Tire Pump



What this thing does is provide emergency power to start your truck not all of the units that look like this one will start a V8 or larger engine, as well as an air station to pump-up just about anything that needs air.  You can use a standard AC extension cord as the power cord to charge the unit up.  You can even leave it plugged in for a continuous charge and not damage the unit.  Oh, it does have a DC output jack that may be used for 12volt stuff.  Also, it has a built-in tire pump that will pump up most TT and 5th wheel tires.  Again many of these combo units can't pump up RVs tires before the cows come home.  As always be sure you check your rigs tire pressure when the tire is cold not when it has been run on the road for several hours.

Due to the fact that newer 5th wheels are using tires that require more pressure than the above unit can provide.  I am suggesting that you might want to take a look at the following RV Tire Pump.  While this unit will not start your car or truck in will pump up RV tires up to 150 lbs.

High-Pressure RV Tire Pump

But I hear you say that you needed something that had AC power like the 110volts that comes out of the power pedestal that your RV is plugged into.  Fear not, because you can use one of these, 110volt and USB Dual Power Inverter

110volt and USB Dual Power Inverter

The 300W DC-AC Power Inverter with USB charging ports is designed for most major brand notebook computers, digital portables devices like, video camcorder, digital camera, iPhone, Galaxy phones and computers, iPod, cell phone, PSP handheld Game, DVD player & etc.
You may want to pick-up the battery hook-up cable just in case.  It looks like this, 12volt Battery Clip-on Accessory Socket

12volt Battery Clip-on Accessory Socket

This device allows you to hook-up to any 12volt battery or any device that has 12volt battery clamps, such as the 12Volt Emergency Power & Tire Pump.
Some of us will like a bit more AC power than the little power converter above can provide if that is the case you might want to consider this, 1000watt Power Converter

1000watt Power Converter

This more powerful converter can power notebook computers, TVs, fans, refrigerators, game machines, DVDs, lights, musical instruments.  And can be powered by the 12Volt Emergency Power & Tire Pump above.  So if you need 110volt power at the picnic table or anywhere while camping, there are ways to get it that will help keep your family safe and make camping fun.

Don't forget that you can use Emergency Power at home when the lights go out to recharge your cell phones and provide power for lights.







Until Next Time


Please remember that this blog is an Amazon affiliate. When you order something through any of the Amazon links, it doesn’t add anything to your cost, but I do earn a small commission on everything you buy. Just click on an Amazon link, then shop as usual.

Martha!!! The String On The Blind Broke Again!!!

It happens to most of us,  we grab the shade bar at the bottom of the window blind and pull down to get ready for bed and the darn string running through the blind breaks and while it will go down all the way, there is no possible way that it will go up and stay where you want it in the morning. RATS now what?

RV Window Shade

Above is your typical RV window shade and if you look close you can see the string running through the blind material.  I suppose you could buy a RV Blind String Repair Kit, shown below

RV Pleated Shade First Aid Kit

While the hours spent restringing the blind with your spouse may be enjoyable, you might want to consider the frustration of not getting it right even after the 5th attempt. 
My suggestion is to replace that blind with something that is a whole lot prettier and will class up the inside of your rig as simple as ABC.

There are two basic RV Blinds.  First the roller blind.  As the name implies it is on a roller and you pull it down to the level you want and the blind will stay there.  The roller blind comes with two blinds on the roller. One is the daytime shade and the other is the night time or black out shade.  The roller can be installed on the outside of the window frame or on the inside of the window frame and is offered in colors for the daytime and night time shade.

Roller Bind Shade

Measuring Instructions:
Determine if the shade will mount outside the window frame onto the wall (Outside mount) or if the shade will be mounted inside the window frame (Inside mount) 

NOTE: Most RV applications are Outside mount.

Outside mount: Measure the width (across) of the area to be covered.Example - Edge of the window to the edge of window plus 2" added for additional coverage.

Example: Top of the  frame to  the bottom of  the frame with an additional 2" added for mounting above and below  the window.(outside mount)

Inside Mount: Measure the exact opening size and subtract a half inch. Measure the length (Drop) of the area to be covered.

If draperies or valances are already installed be sure your measurement for width allows the shade to fit under the current window treatment.
You can see that you end up with two shades one for daytime and one for night time.  You may find that this is not really what you are looking for and would rather have a true Vinyl 1 Inch Mini Blind.

Vinyl ! inch mini Blind

Measuring Instructions:
Determine if the blind will mount outside the window frame onto the wall (outside mount) or if the blind will be mounted inside the window frame (inside mount)  

NOTE: Most RV applications are outside mount.

Outside mount: Measure the width (across) of the area to be covered.  
Example - Edge of  the window to the edge of window plus 2" added for additional coverage.

Example: Top of the frame to the bottom of  the frame with an additional 2" added for mounting above and below  the window.(outside mount)

Inside Mount: Measure the exact opening size and subtract a half inch. 
Measure the length (drop) of  the area to be covered.

If draperies or valances are already installed be sure your measurement for width allows the blind to fit under the current window treatment.

You can get wooden blinds or different color Vinyl blinds to match or enhance the inside appearance of your rig.  Metal blinds are not recommended because of moisture in the rig.  The edge of the blind tends to rust and the blinds are a bit sharp around kids and fur-babies.
Caution: if you remove blinds from your windows keep all screws that were used to be sure that you do not use a screw that is too long for your RV side walls.

Until next time.

The Open Range RV Owners is a Facebook Group on RVing with Hints & Tips. A group for the Full-timer as well as the Newbie. In case U can't find us "Facebook.com/groups/Open Range RV Owners" we are here hoping you will join us!

And finally, please remember that this blog is an Amazon affiliate. When you order something through any of the Amazon links, it doesn’t add anything to your cost, but I do earn a small commission on everything you buy. Just click on an Amazon link, then shop as usual.