Scottish Elises

Does anyone have any experience or recommendations for radio communication between say a group of cars (that maybe quite loud)?

Range doesn't need to be massive
good quality transmission would be nice
do throat mics work? is there another way to "hands free"?

Thoughts?

Have experimented with PMR446 unlicensed radios a few times, and they're mostly guff. License-free PMR is limited to 0.5W transmit power, which limits range. They have their uses, but car to car... mixed results.

What you absolutely do NOT want to do, because it's not legal, is buy some cheap chinese Baofengs for £25, turn them from high power (4W) to low power (1W), which is double the power of PMR, and then tune them to the PMR446 frequencies, because at 1W you'd need a license. But say if you DID do that, which you won't of course, you'd end up with quite a usable and super-cheap 2-way radio. Techncally you could drown out other people with proper PMR radios who can only transmit at 0.5W, but that's only detectable if there are other people trying to use your channel, and who would really be inconvenienced by it out on the open road? But it's the principal of the thing, and it's illegal, so obviously you won't do that. Obviously.

So, in summary, don't buy these:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/BaoFeng-UV-5R-1 ... B007HH6RR4

And if you accidentally do purchase those, don't ever press transmit on any frequency that isn't a PMR frequency, which are:

PMR Channel Frequency (MHz)
1 446.00625
2 446.01875
3 446.03125
4 446.04375
5 446.05625
6 446.06875
7 446.08125
8 446.09375

Steve.

We use these on our Rev Limits runs: http://www.motorolasolutions.com/en_xu/ ... /t80e.html

You can get headsets for them which also allows for handsfree use in the car.

@ Graeme

I use my kids set when in convoy on camping trips, has a suprisingly good range but can upset the odd taxi driver.

point n squirt wrote:I use my kids set when in convoy on camping trips, has a suprisingly good range but can upset the odd taxi driver.

No harm in that

The issue with most of the cheap PMR license free sets is that the speaker output and microphone is poor. The Baofeng sets are actually a decent copy of Motorola kit and work quite well.
Have a look at http://www.hamgoodies.co.uk/index.php?r ... ry&path=63 for sets a good prices
de MM0KOZ


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Renny

Just about to order the Motorola 10km TLKR T80 Extreme Pack at £77 when I found this post. Not bothered about legality living where I do, but want the range of unlicensed ones for safety use when out with the dogs.

Love the tongue in cheek post Graeme, so looking to buy the BaoFeng UV-5R x 2 at £50. Is this still the best model as you posted 18 months ago?

tut

I definitely did NOT just buy a pair of the Baofengs from Amazon for £45 that includes earpieces. Nope [GRINNING FACE WITH SMILING EYES]

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I also definitely DID NOT just buy a pair of the Baofengs from Amazon for £54 that includes earpieces.

I definitely DID NOT just discover that the latest model is the Baofeng GT-3TP Mark III which blasts out 1/4/8W.

I certainly will only use it for FM radio and as a torch Officer.

tut

ps:- if you get bored in traffic or in town, DO NOT pick it up and start listening to it (if you have not registered it you are not allowed to transmit) when you see a cop car and waste the Officers time when they find out that you are legally using a two way radio. DO NOT print out and have a copy of Para 2(4) & 6(d) of The Road Vehicles (Construction and Use) (Amendment) (No. 4) Regulations 2003 to show them when they demand to see your phone.

Glad to see everyone is following my advice and NOT buying these.

The GT-3TP Mark III looks like a nice update.

Do you have a pair of the Baofeng"s yourself Graeme?

If so what is the routine about being able to program them using a USB cable attachment and PC?

tut

I've only got one working one 5R I think. Dropped the other, but hey, a spare battery!

I've got a programming cable, not sure if it'll fit the GT-3TP. Google might know. I think I used the windows software just to try it out, but you don't need it. You can set and store the frequencies in memory using the keypad. It'll be a pain in the ass to do, but you only need to do it once.

This is how I did it. Not sure if your menus will be slightly different on your model, but the idea is the same. http://phillipcooper.co.uk/2014/06/prog ... -channels/

Hi Graeme. I've managed to program in the 8 PMR frequencies to both handsets and tested that they're picking each other up. Only thing I've found is, on one handset it lets me save the power (TXP) to low and bandwidth to narrow, and seems to keep these settings if I turn the handset on/off or change channel. The other handset however seems like it's saved ('L' and 'N' appear on display) but then as soon as I turn off/on or even change channel the settings revert to high power and wide bandwidth.

Any suggestions?

*EDIT* Did a reset all and then made sure power and bandwidth were set before inputing and saving frequencies and that seems to have done the trick

Cheers, Paul.