Best walkie talkies?

[Jimmy2531]

Hi all, I've had a quick search round the forums and couldn't find a topic covering what I want. I was wondering if anyone knew of any good walkie talkies to use while on a road trip across europe? There is only two cars going but I've heard a lot about the cars ruining the range of that kind of thing. Does anyone have any experience or advice on this matter?

Thanks in advance.

Jim

[MarJay]

I used a set of PMR446 walkie talkies on a motorcycle trip up to Scotland a few years back. They were good, although they really needed throat mikes for use with motorcycles - the headsets they came with were poor. The range was good, but it wasn't much beyond line of sight. It was good enough, put it that way. They cost about £40 for a set of four from Maplin IIRC.

I'm not sure of their legality for use in Europe though.

[JONSCZ]

James.
Have a trawl through this forum
http://www.transmission1.co.uk/forum/viewforum.php...
I had a look through a year or so back when I bought my walkie talkies.
Cheers,
Jon

[ChiChoAndy]

Well, I have no experience of the little walkies you get from regular shops, but at sea we use motorola handhelds, and they work inside the vessel, and have a bloody good range, (good enough to use on an FRC run a good 15 kilometers away).

http://www.motorola.com/Business/XP-EN/Business+Pr...

[rxtx]

ChiChoAndy said:

Well, I have no experience of the little walkies you get from regular shops, but at sea we use motorola handhelds, and they work inside the vessel, and have a bloody good range, (good enough to use on an FRC run a good 15 kilometers away).

http://www.motorola.com/Business/XP-EN/Business+Pr...

These aren't technically legal to use on 446 because they're too powerful, 500mW is the max Ofcom let you use for that. You'd also need to set the PMR frequencies in manually. Don't just blindly use any old frequency thinking it'll be fine because you never know whose feet you'll be stepping on

If you just want to buy something off the shelf then the Binatone Action 950s aren't bad for the money, especially if you can get a pair for £25 from Aldi.

If you're not bothered about using >500mW and potentially getting told off then the Linton LT-3260s are quite good with the voice companders and (simple) scrambling.

[ChiChoAndy]

rxtx said:

These aren't technically legal to use on 446 because they're too powerful, 500mW is the max Ofcom let you use for that. You'd also need to set the PMR frequencies in manually. Don't just blindly use any old frequency thinking it'll be fine because you never know whose feet you'll be stepping on

If you just want to buy something off the shelf then the Binatone Action 950s aren't bad for the money, especially if you can get a pair for £25 from Aldi.

If you're not bothered about using >500mW and potentially getting told off then the Linton LT-3260s are quite good with the voice companders and (simple) scrambling.

Oh no, I haven;t dreamt of using them whilst going offroad in the boonies at all...

[rxtx]

ChiChoAndy said:

Oh no, I haven;t dreamt of using them whilst going offroad in the boonies at all...

Well realistically the chances are slim - as long as you use the unlicensed PMR frequencies/steps and don't stray

[ChiChoAndy]

rxtx said:

Well realistically the chances are slim - as long as you use the unlicensed PMR frequencies/steps and don't stray

Well, I actually haven't. As I said, we use them onboard the boat. Never used any other radios on land, so no experience of them. I do know the radios we use are friggin splendifourous, though.

[rxtx]

ChiChoAndy said:

I do know the radios we use are friggin splendifourous, though.

There's a lot of top stuff available (those included), the only problem is they can be bought and used by anyone without them even being aware what problems they might be causing for others. Shame Ofcom limit PMR446 to 0.5W really.

Even the Binatone 950s can be set to what it calls "Channel 9" which is in fact a JFMG frequency and will not be smiled upon

[B16JUS]

i use motorola xtni