# What radio/walk talkies do you use?



## Dirtbag08 (Apr 30, 2013)

So, after this years hunting season, both me and my father both realized it is time to get new radios. Ours currently are just too hit and miss in being able to understand each other. It's either I can hear him but he can't understand me, or the other way around. I am wondering what radios everyone is using as we look for new ones that good range. We want to talk from different canyons and such... Thanks guys


----------



## DallanC (Jan 13, 2009)

My boy lost one of our pair... so i'm in the market for some as well. I look forward to any recommendations. If they werent so expensive I'd get some Rino 650's.


-DallanC


----------



## Dirtbag08 (Apr 30, 2013)

I agree that they are expensive, but it has gotten to the point that we are almost willing to pay more to ensure good communications.


----------



## highcountryfever (Aug 24, 2009)

I was in Cabelas last week and they had the ad that runs from Oct 8-18 and the Rino 650 will be on sale for $329. I think they run this sale every October. I can remember this going on for the last couple years at least.


----------



## mjensen1313 (Jul 29, 2015)

We use Midland; don't have the range of the Rino, but they've worked well for years. I think I paid 130 at Cabela's for mine.


----------



## bowgy (Oct 10, 2007)

Motorola CP200's on a licensed frequency.

Also see this thread: http://utahwildlife.net/forum/10-equipment/122905-walkie-talkies.html


----------



## DallanC (Jan 13, 2009)

I'm leaning towards these, Motorola MS350R:

http://www.target.com/p/motorola-35...wo-way-radio-yellow-black-ms350r/-/A-14484510

I like that they are water resistant, float... are yellow (we just lost a camo radio Grrrr). 35mile range is a pipe dream... but should be fine for our use.

-DallanC


----------



## Azar (Oct 21, 2014)

Sportsmans had the Rino 650 on sale from $499 down to $349 from September 20-27th. I came *this* close to jumping on that.

I purchased a Cobra branded set about 9 years ago. While it's rated at 11 miles (I think), it's good for about 1/2 to 3/4ths a mile in steep canyon country. I wouldn't purchase the Cobra brand again. I had one handset (and it's rechargeable battery) completely crap out for no reason after a couple of years. The radios have been well cared for, never abused and only used every 2 or 3 years. So it was probably only the third time that radio had ever seen use. Perhaps it's an unfortunate fluke, but Cobra won't get my money again.

Midland or Motorola have pretty good reps.


----------



## DallanC (Jan 13, 2009)

Azar said:


> I had one handset (and it's rechargeable battery) completely crap out for no reason after a couple of years. The radios have been well cared for, never abused and only used every 2 or 3 years. So it was probably only the third time that radio had ever seen use.


To save money on manufacturing costs, alot of electonics are "glued" together now... or taped. Over time this glue can separate causing failures. Some modern game consoles are like this and people literally put them in ovens or use heat-guns to soften the glue and "restick" components.

But good to know about avoiding cobra.

-DallanC


----------



## DallanC (Jan 13, 2009)

Stumbled across these... they get VERY good reviews almost everywhere. People recommend replacing the default antenna with a better dual band one. For the money, the performance seems pretty crazy and you can program it to pick up a wide range of frequencies from FM radio, police / EMS frequences, to GMR / FRS.

Radio: $29
http://www.banggood.com/Wholesale-B...c&utm_content=all&utm_campaign=electronics-US

Antenna, $4: 
http://www.banggood.com/NA-519-SMA-...adio-Antenna-for-Walkie-Talkies-p-912894.html

Really tempted to buy and try a pair.

-DallanC


----------



## Rspeters (Apr 4, 2013)

I actually used some of those boafengs this season and they did great...about 100 times better than my crappy (but expensive) Motorala Talkabouts.


----------



## DallanC (Jan 13, 2009)

Do you know what frequency they were programmed to?

The more I read up on these the more I see they are very powerful and mostly illegal without a license. But people seem to program them for MURS / GMRS channels and get away without the license. Then they use them out in BFE for hunting and the like where the FCC doubtfully will be monitoring.

They seem to be 5watt output vs .5 watt for cheapie Motorolas, so for hunting you can get signals down into canyons or heavily wooded areas.

-DallanC


----------



## nickpan (May 6, 2008)

The Rhinos are one of the best things you can purchase IMO. Battery lasts for days and they have incredible range, as well as you can see where your buddies are at on the map as far as the radio goes. I've picked up guys over by AF canyon while up on Strawberry Ridge. And having the weather and GPS if you need it its just a bonus.


----------



## DallanC (Jan 13, 2009)

Oh yea, Rino's are the bomb... but they are close to $500. Just not an option for our family to get one per person.

These Baofeng's are $29, programmable for an amazing range of frequences. Think I'm going to bite the bullet and order some...

-DallanC


----------



## bigdaddyx4 (Jan 11, 2008)

I bought a Rino 650 this year and have used it a ton. I wouldn't trade it for anything. I picked it up on sale for $349 and it is worth every penny. I plan on getting another one next year for my daughter. Being able to look at the map and see exactly where the other person is, is awesome! The radio has worked very well and I have been impressed with the range on it. You can download all sorts of maps to it, and when combined with the Basecamp program (free), there are all sorts of things you can do with it! I totally recommend the Rino!


----------



## cklspencer (Jun 25, 2009)

I started using the Beofangs this year and all I can say for 30 bucks for a ]air you can't go wrong. I've used them while camping and pilling wire at work. They are clearer than most two way radios and I like the idea of being able to program the frequencies if I want.


----------



## Rspeters (Apr 4, 2013)

DallanC said:


> Do you know what frequency they were programmed to?
> 
> The more I read up on these the more I see they are very powerful and mostly illegal without a license. But people seem to program them for MURS / GMRS channels and get away without the license. Then they use them out in BFE for hunting and the like where the FCC doubtfully will be monitoring.
> 
> ...


I'm not positive what the frequency was. 
I do know that a lot of the frequencies you can program with these are illegal, but there are some legal ones, and the person setting these up is pretty knowledgeable when it comes to legal vs illegal frequencies and the ones we were using were legal.

As for the quality of these, the person that owns these has been using these about 40 hours a month for just under a year and hasn't had any issues with them.

I'll be getting a couple of these for myself. I'll probably get a couple extra batteries too just to have on hand.


----------



## DallanC (Jan 13, 2009)

Oh there are frequencys (FRS, GMRS, MURS etc) that are completely legal, its just the Beofangs put out 10x the max power for those channels (max on FRS is half a watt for example, but the Beofang puts out 5watts). I need to see if you can turn down the wattage for normal, non emergency use.

Of course if its SHTF scenario, being able to broadcast on HAM channels is pretty cool too.

-DallanC


----------



## DallanC (Jan 13, 2009)

Bit the bullet, ordered 3x radios and misc accessories. Will let people know how they are when we get them all setup. All the reviews are pretty impressive so I'm confident they will be nice radios.


-DallanC


----------



## Rspeters (Apr 4, 2013)

Did you find out if the wattage can be reduced? I don't know if ours were reduced or not.


----------



## Dunkem (May 8, 2012)

This is the one my wife uses. :director:


----------



## DallanC (Jan 13, 2009)

Rspeters said:


> Did you find out if the wattage can be reduced? I don't know if ours were reduced or not.


Seems like it, I'll know more when i get them in hand and program them. I love the thought of being able to run them at legal power, but if there is a true emergency you can blast out a signal everywhere. Honestly, if you were using them on legal channels but at fullpower out on the NorthSlope or Bookcliffs... west desert etc etc, no-one is going to care. If a family were running them in a high populated area full power, say Disneyland, I'll bet you get a visit from the FCC and the $25,000 minimum fine.

Apparently my Credit card company flagged my order as suspicious so I'm getting all that crap reapproved. /sigh

Plenty of time to get it all straightened out and get them here for Christmas.

-DallanC


----------



## DallanC (Jan 13, 2009)

Rspeters said:


> Did you find out if the wattage can be reduced? I don't know if ours were reduced or not.


Confirmed. You can program it to be high/low power with a hotkey option to boost it to High for a short time (assuming you programmed that channel to be low).

I pretty much just used the free CHIRP program and found a default file with settings for GMRS/MURS/FRS channels (GMRS-MURS-FRS1-7-and-1-COP.img).

I wouldn't say this was foolproof to get programmed. I had issues getting the proper USB->COMx driver to work in windows (gotta use a older one for some odd reason). Once that was solved I learned every radio is different (even among the same models) so you first have to "clone" a specific radio's data (dumps it to the PC), where you can then import in the settings from the above file. At that point you can push all of it back up to the radio. Repeat for the other radios.

Seems to work great. Lots and lots of settings on the radio... I really recommend setting A band to a channel, B band to another channel for every radio then hit the "CHANNEL LOCK" key so other users don't accidentally bump something and switch channels.

Still, so far... love the radios. They are hefty for as small as they are, seem really powerful. Still learning all of the other gizmo's and settings (flashlight, FM Radio, Weather service alerts etc etc). I bought cases with straps that can snap onto a belt, go over the shoulder etc etc to reduce the chance of loosing one. I also bought some earpiece / mic units for quiet "sitting in a blind" type use. Those seem to work great too, put the radio in a pocket under layers of clothing with just the wiring coming up to your head like a SWAT officer. LOL

I might get a new whip antenna for them, apparently you stick a good dual band Nagoya antenna on them and it will boost the power output even more.

-DallanC


----------



## Rspeters (Apr 4, 2013)

Very cool, thank for the update. I'll most likely be ordering a couple sometime this year.


----------



## Dirtbag08 (Apr 30, 2013)

Bringing this back from the grave today... DallanC, How have those Boateng radios work out for you?


----------



## DallanC (Jan 13, 2009)

The baofengs work GREAT! No complaints with them so far. I bought some extended batteries, and they seriously last a week of use out camping or hunting. The only issue with the extended batteries is they no longer fit the shoulder case things we bought. I bought some ear bud / mic things that work ok, also bought some microphones that you clip to your lapel or shoulder... those work better but are louder. They were fine out in the bookcliffs on running ATVs to talk.

I've programmed in some more channels via the CHIRP software. I've added police and sheriff dept channels to transmit on... ***ONLY FOR SERIOUS EMERGENCYS***. I found out its legal to transmit on those channels if its indeed a emergency. The unit has alot of memory for various channels. Also add the Weather service frequency for safety.

Updating is a little strange, it works best to use the software to pull the programmed codes out of each radio, make changes, then push it back to the unit one at a time. Even though they are identical units, it doesn't always work to try and push one set of programmed codes to each unit. Just do them all one at a time and its GTG.

Transmission range is really good, get on even a bit of a hill and you can TTX for miles and miles. Mountain peak to mountain peak some people have hit 30 miles of TTX range.

As is, its a FANTASTIC unit for the paultry amount of money they cost (under $30!). No functional problems so far, extremely pleased with them. Add a solar panel to your kit, and these would be awesome SHTF type survival systems.

My only advice with them is to keep using them. They have so many features if I stick them on a shelf for a couple months I get them back out and have to reacquaint myself with some of the obscure features (now how did that flashlight turn on again...? lol).

Extended batteries:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/2-x-BAOFENG...129865?hash=item3aa0845389:g:xgcAAOSwWKtUvtWq

-DallanC


----------



## muddydogs (Oct 7, 2007)

It doesn't really matter how much a radio cost to a point what matters is the watts it will pushing. If the radio is on the FRS channels there only rated for .5 watts, the GMRS radios can only legally push 5 watts but unless it's an expensive radio it probably only has 1 or so watts. Baofeng radios are 5 watt and the newer model is 7 watts so they will work over longer distances but the radio itself is not a type specific radio that can be used with FRS or GMRS frequencies. It doesn't matter if you can turn the power down or not it's illegal to use the Baofeng to transmit over FRS or GMRS frequencies. Yes the radio can be programed to use FRS, GMRS and Ham frequencies. Lots of guys are using the Baofeng and I'm not to sure how the FCC would ever figure out your not using a type specific radio but just be aware. 
Now I wouldn't mess around on the Ham frequencies unless you have a license as there's a bunch of old gray hairs setting around listening to there radio's who would like nothing else then to break out there tracking equipment and go on a field trip to track the offender down.
Even with a 5 to 7 watt radio you're still only transmitting over line of sight, if you and your buddy are on opposite sides of a ridge chances are you won't be able to talk to each other.


----------



## Dirtbag08 (Apr 30, 2013)

Muddydogs addressed my next question for DallanC. I have done little (though some) as to the legality of the Baofeng without a licence. So you are saying that not matter what frequency you turn it down to, the Baofeng isn't legal without a license? Did i understand that correctly?


----------



## Dirtbag08 (Apr 30, 2013)

Sorry, little (though some) research


----------



## muddydogs (Oct 7, 2007)

Baofeng is typed (which is an FFC classification) as a ham radio, it's not typed by the FCC for FRS or GMRS frequencies. So the only frequencies the Baofeng is legal for are the Ham bands and what Ham frequencies one can use depends on the type of Ham license the user holds. It doesn't matter if you could set the watt the radio would put out to .5 for FRS if it's not typed it's not legal. 

I looked into the MURS frequencies a while ago but I just don't remember what's what with them. I don't think the Baofeng is typed for them as well.

It costs some money but if you want true non cell phone communication check into the Garmin InReach. The Inreach has two way satellite texting, location tracking and emergency rescue. An Inreach unit cost around $300 they have different subscription plans but about the best plan for me is $300 a year as well.


----------



## muddydogs (Oct 7, 2007)

Like I said there are a lot of people using the Baofeng on the FRS and GMRS frequencies and the FCC has no real way to figure it out and probably doesn't have the resources to waste on policing it but I sure wouldn't post on an open forum that I was using a Baofeng when you shouldn't be.

I do have 2 Baofeng radios which work great, my main hunting buddy and I went through the tech Ham class a few years ago to get our tech license so we could communicate with Ham radio's when hunting. We have since moved to the Inreach as trying to be quiet with a radio is kind of a pain but texting each other isn't.


----------

