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Asking for advice on walkie talkies

Rathwulven BC

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Hi all,

I wasn't sure whether to put this into the prepping category or into communications, but I am kind of looking for advice on walkie talkies for both for a crisis scenario as well as everyday life. To give you some more info:

I used to communicate with a fixed CB radio I got when I was a kid but never really got into amateur radio communication and such. Now I am looking for a mobile radio communication device which does cover long distant communication for as much as it is possible, and it should be easy for beginners. I do not really know where to start, but one thing is for sure: I am not looking for walkie talkies like the once we use for the medic team in our company - those are Motorola TLKR T41. Using them indoors, they barely cover a distance of a single kilometre; outdoors they manage a max distance of some 2,5km instead of the advertised 4km.

I am wondering if there are devices that do cover a range of some 10km or more or whether this is just unrealistic. I did see portable radios advertised to be able to cover some 25km in ideal conditions, so on flat land or from mountain peak to mountain peak.

I hope you can help me get a better understanding here despite that vague posting - still starting out with that topic... Maybe you can shed some light on experiences, on dos and don'ts, and so on? :)

Thanks in advance!
 
VHF/UHF walkie talkies work fine 'line of sight' peak to peak. Put the same radios indoors or woodlands and range drops through the floor. Another let down on a typical walkie talkie is the antenna and power output. 'Rubber duck' antennas are as much use as a chocolate tea pot and often the output power is very low, so....

Baofeng UV-5R III Tri-band Walkie Talkie long range UHF VHF Ham FM Two Way Radio 604348981795 | eBay

I'm a radio ham, I've got an icom hand held which cost me over £250 and I've got a £20 Baofeng and guess what the difference is? SFA in reality. The Baofeng has great power output for its size and there are plenty of antennas cheap enough that help things along
UK fits Baofeng Nagoya NA771 Antenna Female SMA Dual Band UV5R UV-82 10W 656209165615 | eBay makes a big difference and its flexible, i.e. you can fold it in half and keep it folded with a rubber band.

So, two radios, two better antennas for £40 so whats the problem?
Well they do come pre-programmed with a lot of channels you can use for walkie talkie, you can manually programme them, or you can buy a data lead and plug the radio into laptop/PC and programme it with free software

Home - CHIRP don't be put off by that, as I said you can use straight from the box (you can also listen to BBC radio on them).

You can charge them from a USB power bank when away from home or run them off AA batteries 3800mAh 6AA Battery Case Pack For BaoFeng Radio UV-5R PLus UV-5RB TYT TH-F8 A103 | eBay

Overall, cracking little radios which will do you proud, lots of youtube vids on these too. Also, don't be put off getting a ham license which is super easy these days. There are three tiers of license, the basic Foundation license is a multiple choice test and your local ham radio club will get you through that in no time. When I was in England we'd get candidates through with only about 10 hours tuition and that included pub time after the club closed.

Have fun.
 
Thanks Harry, that is already helping a lot.

Just to clarify: What exactly do you mean by SFA? It has been a long time since I did CB communication and then I was mostly familiar with the German terminology, so I honestly do not know the meaning of this abbreviation at the moment haha.

I also have to dig into the ham license issue - also there I can only relate to the situation in the mid 90s: Back in the days it was virtually impossible to wrap my head around that, being still a kid.

About the Baofeng in particular: I heard from some folks that Chinese products like these generally do disappoint. No further reason given, so I am a little confused on whether it would make sense to invest more money into a Western product to be honest. Again, I know very little about devices and simply want to avoid one single thing: Buying cheap stuff as in my experience, buying cheap means buying twice."Cheap" and "affordable" are two different things though, of course.
 
Thanks Harry, that is already helping a lot.

Just to clarify: What exactly do you mean by SFA? It has been a long time since I did CB communication and then I was mostly familiar with the German terminology, so I honestly do not know the meaning of this abbreviation at the moment haha.

I also have to dig into the ham license issue - also there I can only relate to the situation in the mid 90s: Back in the days it was virtually impossible to wrap my head around that, being still a kid.

About the Baofeng in particular: I heard from some folks that Chinese products like these generally do disappoint. No further reason given, so I am a little confused on whether it would make sense to invest more money into a Western product to be honest. Again, I know very little about devices and simply want to avoid one single thing: Buying cheap stuff as in my experience, buying cheap means buying twice."Cheap" and "affordable" are two different things though, of course.

Yes Harry, what does it mean, I'm looking forward to the explanation. :lol:
 
18745


Got it. :rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl:
 
Oh, just a question now that I am looking through the links in detail: If a walkie talkie does feauture both UHF/VHF etc as well as ham funktions, is it possible to buy and operate these without any license for as long as one does not actively go ham?

I am not really sure if a device which has the respective feature automatically requires the license even if one does not intend to use the particular function.

Tried to find a radio communication club in my area too, but unfortunately there is none - so if someone could shed some light on that I would highly appreciate it. Thanks!
 
The HAM foundation test is pretty easy, 26 multiple choice questions, mainly about good etiquette, some really easy technical questions and a couple about the laws regarding transmitting. You could probably pass just by common sense. There are sample questions online if you'd like to try a few. I think you need to score about 80%
 
Doubt you'd pass on just common sense but my last club were putting people through with about 8 hours tuition, IIRC you need to get 21 questions right and I don't know of any clubs that will just let you turn up and take the test (more a quiz really), nor should you. Attending a radio club lets you pick up extra information and meet other hams who more often than not will go out of their way to help you before and after the test plus of course you get the chance to go on air under supervision using club equipment.

Mock tests here : HamTests
 
If anything the quiz/test is too simple, people go on air with poor etiquette etc, they need club time to gain these skills. That said there are one or two 'old timers' who can tend to hog a repeater and leave the new M6/M7 hams out in the cold but thankfully this is rare.

Last month saw changes in the syllabus, not sure if it makes the test harder, I had a quick look and there seems to be more on the digital side of ham radio which is gaining more and more popularity so makes sense.

I've been using a Yaesu 817nd for QRP CW for a while but a couple of weeks back got a Xiegu G90. Its a cracking radio and scores over the 817 on two counts, first its 20w out plus it has a built in ATU. I'm basing my outdoor/camping rig on the Xiegu G90, I'm well pleased. If your after a small rig Ystranc take a look at them, sub £400 if you shop around.
 
I have my heart set on a new pre charged air rifle first. I'm in the unfortunate position of having to justify each and every purchase at the moment because we're paying down the mortgage as fast as we can. It will pay me back in future but for now I've really got to think about my outgoings.
 
Something to think about Ystranc for the future. The G90 is refreshingly easy to use. Some equipment these days is incredibly complecated; I've got an ICOM base station and you need a bloody degree to use it !
 
Hi Rathwulven

I use hand held radios quite a lot around my place and its very very hilly. Fortunately our base ( home) is at the highest elevation which assists comms.

What I can tell you is a good UHF WT will communicate over 5km in most meteorological conditions, but beyond that you may need a vehicle mounted antenna. I honestly havent found much difference between 5W and 7W transceivers. I've never had 10W units , so cant speak for them but reckon atmospheric and topographical variables will have greater impact on range than power once you have a 5W unit with a proper aerial. Obviously anything under 5W is just a kiddies toy.

I only use VHF for ground-air and air-air comms and obviously a good VHF pushes a signal a really long way. But there is a reason why they are mainly used on boats and aircraft where everything is pretty much line of sight.
 
Just resurrecting this thread....

We are considering buying handheld radios for emergency comms.
From Harry's post above it would seem that going for the standard Boefeng product plus a better antenna is the recommendation. Would those in the know agree?
I understand the licencing requirement and I'm sure we could easily pass the foundation test.
However, I'd just like to get some realistic expectations before proceeding.

e.g. Given this terrain profile and the fact that the left third of the profile includes a lot of buildings in the path, I'm thinking that it's unlikely that communication between the two end points will be possible. Is that accurate?

Terrain Profile to home.png


As far as I can tell these are the local repeaters.
Distance to Glasgow repeater.png
 
vhf radios work "line of sight" so in effect if you could see the person (ten miles away without buildings/or mountains in the way) the radio would work ... you need to look for one with 5watts out put as this will give you the range needed .... dont need to buy a named brand there are plenty of chines specials on ebay ... i use a "marine band radio" as this generally has more out put and does the same frequencies .. my advise is stay away from repeaters till licenced


edit i can talk to my brother inlaw whos 8 miles away across the city .. (not line of sight )
 
Another point to consider, you cannot use a mobile unit unless you are at your home address while you only have a foundation licence. You would need to upgrade to an intermediate level licence if you want to transmit from anywhere other than your registered address.
 
Thanks Matt and Mike,

Well, as I we were only considering this for communications between us family members it hardly seems worthwhile for us both to get 2 different licences just so that we can use the radios away from our home address. I'm not particularly interested in taking it up as a hobby as I doubt I'd get into talking to others across the airwaves (but that's just me, no offence to those that do).

So what's the point of getting a radio for emergency use if you can only use it from home?

I'd also imagine in a SHTF situation there wouldn't be many people checking your licences.
 
Thanks Matt and Mike,

Well, as I we were only considering this for communications between us family members it hardly seems worthwhile for us both to get 2 different licences just so that we can use the radios away from our home address. I'm not particularly interested in taking it up as a hobby as I doubt I'd get into talking to others across the airwaves (but that's just me, no offence to those that do).

So what's the point of getting a radio for emergency use if you can only use it from home?

I'd also imagine in a SHTF situation there wouldn't be many people checking your licences.
you could look at pmr radios (freeband and licence free)


 
Sometimes the range of those walkie-talkies can be surprisingly good, even in woodland. We used to use them with a throat mic on a VOX setting so they were hands free…you just had to remember not to mutter anything bad about anyone under your breath.
 
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