Radio options

I've found the Talkabout (FRS) radios tremendously useful ... provided you're in their rather short, line-of-sight range. When we take two cars somewhere, or are camping and there's a slow and fast hiking group, we always use the Talkabouts, they're very convenient.

Joe
 
Joe, do you think a small handheld CB band radio, with its higher power output, might be a better choice?
 
I just noticed yesterday at TARGET that Motorola and Audiovox both have released dual mode FRS (14) and GMRS (8?) band radios. Two miles for FRS, 5 miles for GMRS.
 
Rockspyder, thanks for the reply. My problem with GMRS is that it requires a license, and that's just too much hassle. I'm really after something simple that will enable me to communicate with police and/or rescue personnel in a case of an emergency, and to keep in touch with family, or others, afterward. That's why I was thinking a handheld CB might do the trick, since there are no licenses required anymore.
 
Joe, do you think a small handheld CB band radio, with its
higher power output, might be a better choice?
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Rovert,

I'm not Joe, but if you don't mind I'll take a stab at your question. With a CB handheld transceiver, you will find they are all relatively heavy and generally use 8-10 AA batteries. The ones with the rubber duckie antenna don't have near the range of the ones with telescopic antennas 3 or 4 feet long. Using the handheld CB's with an antenna this long extended makes for an awkward situation sometimes. The nice thing about CB radios is that you can hook up different antennas to increase your range, such as when you are using a handheld within a vehicle. By hooking up your handheld to a good mobile antenna, you are likely to increase your range from arond the neighborhood to clear across town, or maybe even farther if you use a well mounted base antenna. The CB handhelds could be useful in certain situations, such as when camping out, and you are using these from a relatively stationary position. I would not recommend using them for communication on a ski trip or mountain biking, however.

JK
 
Good Evening Everyone-

Wow, this topic can get really complicated! :confused:

From what I understand from Bill's 2-Way Radio, you don't need to take a test for a GMRS license, you just need to send the government a few dollars and promise that you won't use the radios for commercial use...or something like that.

This topic has been raised over at The Firing Line in the past, so I know there are newbies out there who are very interested. Certainly count me among them!

Any other links that the more-educated BladeForums members could suggest to us? Suggestions for Sony, Kenwood, Pryme, Midland, Motorola, etc., etc.? How about trusted radio retailers?

Typical use would be mountainous terrain, various weather conditions, distance of five miles or less. Communications would be adult-to-adult, typically non-emergency in nature. Licenses with a "test-taking" requirement are not desired at this time.

What do y'all think and suggest...especially with new models that may have been released to the marketplace?

Regards,

~ Blue Jays ~
 
You guys like the VX-5? Just wait for the new Kenwood... Drops 6m for 220, better SW receive coverage, AM loop antenna(internal ferrite bar I'm guessing, although one can never tell), AND it does SSB/CW receive too!
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Hey everyone. I have a Yaesu VX-5 and Icom IC-Q7A and Kenwood mobile 2 meter. I agree with all the other posts about the VX-5. It is my EDC radio. Does lots of things well. Listen to just about everything. Small enough to stuff in the bag I take to work.

Jrollins...do you know if the new Kenwood is going to have an alpha-numeric display? That is one of the features I really like with the VX-5. I have lots of frequencies programmed in my VX-5, and it's nice just to look and see what I am listening to without having to refer to a "cheat sheet".

Another reason for Ham radio...a lot of repeaters have an emergency power supply or batteries. In the event of an earthquake, it may be the only reliable source of communication or information. Power may be down, phones may be down, but some repeaters should be on-line.

With radios like the VX-5 and others in the same class, it is possible to communicate and also listen to news, local police, fire and just about everything else. Handheld information center.

All the features of FRS, but with a lot more range, especially with repeater use. Test is not very difficult (studied for a week for tech class license) and it is good for around 10 years.

I do use FRS to talk to non-licensed friends on hiking trips and road trips. As long as the distance between radios is short, they work fine. We use the Motorola's. Distance is not very good in mountainous terrain. FRS rating is "line of sight".
 
I love my VX-5 too, but it's out for a while. I have it in pieces, waiting to be cleaned. Don't leave it in the bottom of a leaky VW!! Was sitting in an inch or two of water for a few days, although the radio looked better than the now rusty floor does... Still works, but the battery terminals corroded a bit on the back.

The Kenwood TH-F6A does indeed have alpha tags, up to 8 characters. Also has an improved memory setup, with 8 banks of 50 channels each. Info at Kenwood's web site, http://www.kenwood.net/products/ind...d=open&radio=TH-F6A&selection=Amateur&ID=193. Wish I had the money to get one, but for now I'll settle for dragging two or three radios along. After all, spending that much money just to get an HT with full AM/SSB shortwave coverage that has an inferior receiver seems silly when I have a nice portable SW radio. But being the gadget freak I am, I still want one.

And a quick comment on FRS... Most of the time I think line of sight means you have to be able to actually SEE the other person, and binoculars are cheating. I have a couple of cheap ones that have a range of about 4-5 blocks, not much better than those cute little 49MHz "Space Ranger" radios they used to sell.
 
Hi JRollins & Oni-

Would you guys consider the Kenwood TH-F6A as the "latest & greatest" for handheld communications? For a newbie like me, that list of features was like trying to read Japanese for the first time. :)

Would it be reasonable to expect 4-5 miles from a radio like this? I have to imagine (with that kind of pricetag) that many people elect to purchase only ONE TH-F6A and then get another, less expensive, handset for "walkie-talkie" type communication.

I have to admit....working in a large, metropolitan area it would be nice to know what is going on right NOW by listening to the police/fire frequencies. Once you're on the train, you could radio the "Significant Other" to tell him/her you're on the way home and will arrive in ten minutes. Especially cool since it's now "free" by not using a cellular telephone.

Not too much security, but who hasn't had a telephone "cloned" in the past couple of years? Just keep the personal stuff to a minimum, I guess.

The FRS radios strike me as a bit too "toy-like" for serious use. A radio that could stand-up to hiking, skiing, hunting, camping, and getting jostled-around in a briefcase on a day-to-day basis would probably be the ticket. What do you guys think?

Muchas gracias,

~ Blue Jays ~
 
Blue Jays

Considering it's newness, it's probably safe to say it's one of the latest and greatest. As for the price...yeah, your buddies should buy their own.

I have to admit....working in a large, metropolitan area it would be nice to know what is going on right NOW by listening to the police/fire frequencies. Once you're on the train, you could radio the "Significant Other" to tell him/her you're on the way home and will arrive in ten minutes. Especially cool since it's now "free" by not using a cellular telephone.
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That is one of the reasons I love my VX-5. Hear a police car screaming by, and you can turn on the radio to listen in to what's going on.

Some repeaters offer auto-patch, which allows you to access a telephone line...just can't use it for business, and of course everyone can hear you that's listening to the frequency. If your wife doesn't want to get a radio, you can use that to talk to her from the train.

Distance varies, and antennaes are important. I talked simplex for about that range before. If you're talking to a base station with a good antennae, the distance can be quite far. I bought another antennae for my VX-5...but it stays at home. It does help though.

For me, it's a handheld entertainment center. When out shopping with the GF, I can tune in the FM or AM radio stations, listen to sports, news, TV audio, police/fire stuff as well as use it to communicate.

I suggest you do a little research before buying anything. Go to a bookstore and grab a few magazines. Everything is a compromise. You might sacrifice some features for size. Some have better intermod, but are larger...or have less frequency range.

They are great for emergencies. They can get out a lot of times where you can't get cellular reception. You can get a repeater guide that lists repeaters all over the U.S.

FRS's are great for goofing around, short range stuff. We use them too. Ham radio can do the same stuff, and a lot more. It's definitely worth the hassle of getting a license.

I sat in my living room with my handheld, talking to a friend 4-wheeling about 1 1/2 hours drive away through a repeater. Sounded like he was a block away. Kinda cool. Plus, if your buddy's get some, it can be like a party line.

Beware...they are like knives and guns. After you get bitten, you have to get more. :p
 
Hi Oni,

Thanks for all your help. This has been an area of interest, but sorting-out the technical specifications has always been a handful.

There are always opportunities when having simple "Push-To-Talk" functionality beats the pants off of a cellular telephone. The examples like multiple cars going somewhere, hiking, skiing, and hunting immediately come to mind. Can you get a cellular signal? Probably, but if the communications aren't "secret" a radio would be much easier.

You mentioned you occasionally use FRS radios. Why would you use them when you have something as sophisticated at the VX-5? Couldn't you just communicate to your unfortunate :p friends on their sissypants FRS radios using your vastly superior hardware?

Your description has me thinking that one of these high-end radios would be enough with perhaps a much simpler handset for the Significant Other.

Let me know what you think...

~ Blue Jays ~
 
Blue Jays

HAM radios are both fun and functional. They provide communications in emergencies, and can provide entertainment as well as information.

I do still use FRS radios though. They are good for short range communication, and language that would be frowned upon on HAM frequencies. The VX-5 can transmit on FRS frequencies, but it would require modification. Some of my friends have no interest in obtaining a HAM license, or are procrastinators so we use the FRS's for goofing around. They kind of remind me of improved walkie talkies a lot of us had as kids. Range is usually within YELLING range,or just beyond. For longer range communication, or listening to fire/police/news stuff HAM is the way to go, or a good scanner.

I think once you got into HAM radio, you would find it enjoyable, and another tool to use for emergency communications. I carry both a cell phone, and my little VX-5. Once you get used to having one around, you feel a little lost without one. Kinda like your favorite knife.

Grab a few magazines and read up, or go to Radio Shack and find the books for Technician class license (really easy...no morse code to learn). There are probably good deals at E-bay for radios too. Everytime a new one comes out, last years models are for sale all over the place. The magazines help sort out the technical mumbo jumbo.

Good luck, and tell us if you get a radio! :)
 
Hi Oni-

OK, now I've got it figured out! At first, I didn't recognize that the Yaesu VX-5 or the Kenwood TH-F6A were classified as HAM radios. For some reason, I thought they were GMRS. This is starting to make more and more sense...

I'll take you up on the advice to read some of the specialized magazines. Looks like I would need to go for the whole $800 enchilada for two radios if I want truly effective and robust person-to-person communications.

Watch for a post on this thread if I get some radios.

Thanks,

~ Blue Jays ~
 
Originally posted by Blue Jays
Would you guys consider the Kenwood TH-F6A as the "latest & greatest" for handheld communications? For a newbie like me, that list of features was like trying to read Japanese for the first time. :)
Click to expand...

If you think the list of features is like reading Japanese, you should try actually going through the Japanese pages before the info gets to the US... ( http://www.vxstd.com/jp/ , http://www.kenwood.co.jp )

Actually, the Kenwood F6 may have been out done by the new Yaesu VX-7R, which looks like a silver VX-5 on steroids! Waterproof, presumably wider RX coverage, same 6/2/440 with an additional "low-power" 222 MHz transmit capability in the US version, and tons of memories. It never stops... But it looks like Kenwood is still the only one with built-in TNC's(TH-D7 and TM-D700). I can't wait until we have true all-band, all-mode radios the size of a VX-1 with a holograhic projector for visual modes and automatic decoding of digital signals with speech recognition and synth. And you thought the no-code arguments were bad now, what happens when you can talk to your radio and it turns into CW?

Me thinks my imagination is getting ahead of myself right now. I should have patented the idea before sending it into the world...
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