help with finding a decent two way radio

[jcheeseright]

As long as you're on PMR446 frequencies (and there's no point being on any other because you wont have anyone to talk to) you're pretty much safe, measuring the power output of a handheld radio requires some fairly specialised equipment and would require someone to make a complaint initially... so how can you get caught?

 

[geoffreym]

Ofcon does monitor channels frequently, and my neighbour (who is a ham radio enthusiast) had his confiscated because they thought he hadn't paid.

I'm collecting a couple of Motorola XTNI's and an XTNID, which are very good and I know are totally legal.

 

[chris555]

i would double check them we use those things at the hospital we work at they are big and reliability can be questionable that said us porter's did give them some very serious abuse

 

[Ian_Gere]

I'm pretty sure the limit says <1W but yeah, unless you use it around town, I can't see how you would get busted for 3W. Something to bear in mind though is that some of the limitations of these radios are not simply power related. For eg, the whole uneven terrain / built up area thing is more a problem of that frequency bandwidth and is only marginally improved by more power. That said, more power ought to help where trees are concerned.

Oops, I meant to add - that's a great price for a pair of XTR446's - if only that was available last summer! Definitely get those rather than the T6's - those throat mics will be sh!t - get the Elite III headset and the throat mic attachment - it'll be much better.

 

[jcheeseright]

Ofcon does monitor channels frequently, and my neighbour (who is a ham radio enthusiast) had his confiscated because they thought he hadn't paid.

I'm collecting a couple of Motorola XTNI's and an XTNID, which are very good and I know are totally legal.

True, but it's REALLY easy to DF and triangulate the location of someone's house over the course of a couple of days, much much more difficult to find a person who's moving and using a handheld only transmitting infrequently in woodland. I'd be EXTREMELY surprised if OFCOM had the requisite equipment let alone the motivation to try!

 

[chris555]

http://www.midlandradio.eu/midland_g7_xtr/product_en_216250.aspx going by that website it seems they get 4 km in the Forrest stock and i keep coming up with reviews from airsofters who play in Europe,also i agree with jcheeseright used for a few hours on and off in the forest with such a small range shouldn't cause a problem more to the point i move from field to field and end up playing no where near my house so i cant imagine being arrested if i did upgrade the power its a no brainier

 

[Ian_Gere]

Yeah, I wouldn't be surprised if they can do 4Km through forest. Add a small hill or a large building with few/no windows however and anyone on the other side of it may as well be on the moon - not just for Midland G7 XTR's but any PMR446 handsets. Which really does call spending fortunes on them into question, since you're not going to get any use out of 90% of the bells and whistles anyway (unless they get co-opted as a baby monitor system!), so in practice you'll get pretty much exactly the same functionality out of a cheaper make/model. The main issues that additional costs address, IMO, is robustness and reliability. A pair of XTR446's for about the same money as a single G7 XTR seems like the better option to me.

 

[chris555]

its been bought now i can upgrade the power very easily as well so its a good thing will see how i get on with them.

 

[Ian_Gere]

Yeah let us know. Would you also share the url for the power instructions? Maybe by PM if you think it might contravene forum rules...

 

[chris555]

I am having trouble finding the instructions in English but once you take the screws out you will see on the right hand side three little bridges cut the bottom bridge (furthest one away from the ariel) and your done have a check on Google for English instructions also if you cut the other bridges you can access other frequencies and channels this i do not recommend