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Garmin To Marry GPS with FRS/GMRS

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the roll-it-together-aand-sign-it-with-a-b dept.

zornorph writes "Garmin is set to come out with the Garmin RINO in June, which integrates FRS and GMRS radio with a GPS unit, which will give it up to a 5 mile range of communication. Garmin has a unique twist though, to quote their site: "What really separates the Rino from the rest of the FRS herd is the ability to "beam" your exact location to another Rino user within a two-mile range using the FRS spectrum." However, there are concerns about the implementation of this "beaming", as it causes interference with GMRS users."

3 of 81 comments (clear)

  1. gimminky location beaming by cliche · · Score: 2, Insightful

    the location beaming seams slightly gimmiky. you could just as soon tell the person where you are(it is a radio after all.)

    1. Re:gimminky location beaming by zeth · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Well, I have to disagree with you there. Sure, for a "normal" person this is probably not very useful, but for me as a military guard this could be most helpful if I act as the onsite chief.

      It would be extrmely valuable to know where everyone of your task-team are located.

  2. "patent pending" and spectrum abuse by markj02 · · Score: 3, Insightful
    They claim a patent on this, yet another one of those bogus patents. Radio amateurs have been "beaming" around GPS positions and even tracking them on portable computers (on channels where data transmissions are permitted) for many years.

    As for "interference", well, it's not radio interference people are talking about, it's the use of channels for data that were designated for voice services. I mean, why stop at transmitting 100bytes or so? If this use is permitted, why not run a wireless modem over it?

    Altogether, both the patent and the abuse of voice spectrum for data services reflect poorly on Garmin.