Product Review: MURS Radio/MAT Sensor

Rob over at Murs-Radio.com sent me The M538HT Radio and the MAT (MURS Alert Transmitter) Sensor to review and give away in this months Prepper Contest!

I have had a decent amount of experience with radios over the years while i was in the Marine Corps and Contracting, from PRC 119′s to Motorola XT 5000′s.  Back home I have a few different radios, mainly just the GMRS/FRS Motorola handhelds they sell as Sporting good shops.

The main thing that separates the MURS handhelds here and the Motorola’s I have at the house, and you probably do also, is the frequency that they run on a different Frequencies.

Most radios you buy run on the GMRS/FRS hybrid system.

Channels 1-7 are strictly GMRS but you dont need a license IF you are transmitting over 1/2 watt of power, 8-14 are strictly license free FRS (Family Radio Service)

With MURS radios, you get an altogether different frequency, So you have an added layer of security with your communications.

That is, if you have a Talkabout on Channel 1 and a MURS radio on Channel 1, You CANT hear each other, because its like trying to put your toyota key in the ford’s ignition, It just DUNT work!

MURS radios allow the use of external antennas for farther reach, and the antennas on the radios come off and you can plug a larger antenna into it.

MURS operates on VHF, which works better for outdoors and hilly terrain, while standard GMRS/FRS radios run on UHF which works better at penetrating building so you can talk inside to outside.

HERES MY VIDEO REVIEW, SHOWING YOU A FEW THINGS YOU CAN DO WITH THEM. FOR FULL SCREEN CLICK HERE

The MAT sensor is an AWESOME piece of gear for a homestead or property to have to keep 24/7 eyes on different places/avenues of approach on your property.

When the sensor is tripped it will send out a signal to your radios with a warning for 4 different sectors, you can program each sensor to send what Zone # you want.

The sensor’s can detect roughly up to 80 feet and with the standard antenna depending on vegetation and conditions get the alert from about 600 feet away. After the sensor is tripped, it resets after 30 seconds, so the same “thing” that tripped it the first time will only continue to if it stays in the area, which is nice, so your radio doesn’t continuously go off!

Basically you set up the transmitters in areas you want to have covered, and this can vary depending of course on your circumstances.

SCENARIO….

You have a transmitter to cover your driveway (ZONE 1), the path across the creek (ZONE 2), three covering the field behind the barn (ZONE 3) and another on the rear of the house (ZONE 4).

So if you have a group of hoodlums that drive up your driveway your MAT will send an alert to your radio “ALERT ZONE 1, ALERT ZONE 1″

So you shoot a warning shot, they dump out the truck and scatter.  A couple of them wind through the woods and come in through the field, now on those three sensors start going off “ALERT ZONE 3, ALERT ZONE 3″

You get the idea.

You can also just set them up in your garage, cabin, wherever.

As far as in a homesteading “wanting to know” environment, set them up in areas where most people would enter your property from, well worn trails, roads, etc.

In a SHTF things have gotten slightly mad max and desperate, you will want to CREATE avenues of approach to your property and employ this system and others to get the full use out of them.  By that i mean, you arent’ going to go all medieval and wall yourself off in an impregnable fortress. SO the best thing to do is to create obstacles and “Pain in the asses” so that people that are going to approach your homestead, home, property will naturally be funneled into certain areas, these areas can be monitored with the MAT sensor, and wallah, you know if something is on a well used trail southside of your property at 1 am, and not when its busting down your door!

MURS systems have decent range, but these ARE NOT going to be used in some Patriots the coming collapse Long range Reconnaissance Patrol (which is highly unlikely anyways). These radios can be upgraded with larger antennas and such, and the base station can be hooked to very large and powerful antennas for longer range, but for the base models, and small budget preppers out there, this is a GREAT radio for the homestead or retreat property.

Like i mentioned at the beginning, the MURS radio cannot be heard by anyone who is walking around with the Cabelas Motorola Talkabouts, so you have that added layer of security.  Dont get me wrong the Talkabouts are great radios i still kept mine, and they would be useful if anyone you know or wanted to contact had those as well. More is better folks, and redundant forms of comms are a must.

For the homesteader i already laid out a scenario for you, but for the suburban prepper, who is reading this going, great you can detect a deer or person crossing the creek near your house, i have a 1/2 acre fenced yard and a garage, what good is this for me?

Well you can set this puppy up in the the garden beds at the front and rear of your home as well as in the garage, so you can know if any a-holes are trying to break in, or if ANYTHING is in the area, being a fenced property, nothing GOOD should be in there at 2am right?  Its a nice system because you can just set it up, turn it on at night and have a base station next to your bed.  For the money a ADT system will cost you you can set this up and this MURS/MAT system can be used to communicate with each other and moved to a retreat property or bug out location whenever you need it to be, can your ADT do that?

I also think it would make a great “security” item if you have been having issues with pests or rabbits in your gardens out back as well!

I have a YOUTUBE REVIEW of the system, which shows some of the uses and how it can be employed.

MURS-RADIO.COM has a multitude of gear, its good and a good company to boot.

Head over there and help support those who support us!