Non PMR446 Radios

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Philby21

AF-UK patch owner
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Hi guys,

Been thinking of clubbing together with a few other regulars at the site we use and investing in a radio licence so we can use half decent kit that actually works from one end of the site to the other.

I'be looked at radios and found a good deal on fleabay for a set of 4 Kenwood TK-3307s for £134 but I keep hearing mention of Baofeng and there's some good deals about for them.

So, does anyone use Baofeng? Are they any good? Are they easy to program? Good range? Compatible with Kenwood (or other known brand) type accessories?

Thanks folks,

Phil

 
I've got one and use it regularly, they are great value for what they are. Easy to programme, takes a few secounds to set up and prorgamme individual channels.

Like any radio range is affected but the enviroment, on the low setting using the standard arial in woodland you should get about 1KM+ but again all depends on eviroment.

They use the Kenwood 2 Pin connectors so lots of accessories. They are surprisingly well built, I've dropped my a many of times and have got it wet and it still look almost new.

Other things to note, using the low power mode you can get around 18 hours of good continuous use which is what I use it on.

If you get one and find that you are struggling with range (I personally doubt this will ever be the chase) you can buy high gain antennas such as the Nagoya NA-701 or Nagoya NA-771, which greatly improve the range.

 
I have to admit I wasn't expecting a response as good as that!

Thanks Cyrexx! :D

Anyone else want to share their experience?

 
Has ansered a few questions for me too there. Dont want to high jack but what do people use with thier radio headset wise? Any recomendations?

 
I use Z-tactical headset & push to talk (PTT) with Kenwood 2 pin connector

The PTT has a little switch rather than a button & is all permanently mounted on my plate carrier. All the cabling is routed through the molle straps & PTT box is cable tied down as the croc clip was pants

 
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Thanks mate ill have a look at them. Iv read mixed opinions on the ztac stuff.

 
I've been looking at picking up a Baofeng UV-5R. What should I know regarding the law and relevant licensing for it?

 
Sadly PMR446 is restricted to no more than half a watt power (although I doubt there's much in the way of checking), the licenced frequencies are allowed up to 5 watts, much better range, especially with buildings or woodland in the way.

 
proffrink said:
Don't transmit outside of PMR446. Buying it is fine without a licence.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PMR446#Technical_information
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Cannot use them on PMR legally, even in Low power mode UV5R's transmit at 1.1W.

To use them legally you need to have a Business Light Radio License (Simple UK Light version is the most useful option for airsofters) which costs £75 for 5 years.

That allows you to operate up to 5W within these frequencies at a stepping of 12.5KHz -

Low Band -

77.6875MHz

86.3375MHz

86.3500MHz

86.3625MHz

86.3750MHz

Mid Band -

164.0500MHz

164.0625MHz

High Band -

169.0875MHz

169.3125MHz

173.0500MHz

173.0625MHz

173.0875MHz

UHF -

449.3125MHz

449.4000MHz

449.4750MHz

 
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Its not just power, PMR radios are required to have a fixed antenna and only be capable of PMR frequencies. The Baofengs can't meet any of the requirements (power, fixed antenna or limited frequency). It is just plain illegal to use a Baofeng radio on PMR.

The UV-5R is very popular because its super cheap and it works really well. I have a FP9HP and its got better electronics and in the last okto game I did hear better than most of my team, but I wouldn't say its worth importing it from the USA like I did to get it, the UV5R is just fine. I use a Code red bone conduction headset and its both awesome and awful. I always get exceptional reception, it is the most incredible sounding headset especially since you can hear the environment around you so well. However transmit is hit and miss because sometimes it comes out garbled depending on where the headset is exactly placed, I don't know if that is an issue with my goggles interfering or something else but its a pain. I like the button of the code red headsets and the quality is decent just not 100% convinced by the transmit on them.

In terms of licencing what you will want to do is get the UK simple business licence from ofcom. It costs £75 for 5 years and it'll give you about 9 usable frequencies in the VHF and UHF range. You will be sharing with other people but you will find only a few airsofters use it so you will always be able to find a channel. Your local marshalls might also use it as well. Its cheap and it will get the job done across the entire UK. Application is little more than name and address and it took them exactly 2 weeks from application to licence for me so its not all that slow either.

 
No shit. Reading the thread they came to the same conclusion.

 
Going from what you've said and a solid 30 minutes of Googling, I think it's best another thread is made about this because a lot of people are going to be breaking the law with these new Baofeng UV 5Rs as their minimum power is 1W on the lowest setting (obviously more than the 500mw that's to be used legally on PMR446) - like you both say.

Also the detachable antenna is a problem.

I'll sort out a licence if possible before mine comes, but these posts should probably be a sticky somewhere because I was clearly more ignorant than I thought on this and don't suspect I'll be the only one. I don't think there's really any risk to using 1W in the forest somewhere, but certainly people should know.

 
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Sounds like we need a radio guide, at this point I'd suggest either someone with more knowledge puts something together or everyone who has something to add (brand recommendations, experience with headsets etc) posts on this thread, I'll tidy all the information into a single post and add it to the guides myself? (once I've checked out all the appropriate legalities of course)

 
i know this is reviviing an old topic but with resent posts about radios, myself included, and many more looking at them, did the guide(s) ever get done for quick and easy advice?

ok back to ebay, got some research to do......

 
Nope. Add it to the list of guides I'm meant to be doing because no one else can be bothered; I'm busy with HPA.

I don't even know much at all about radios except the legal basics, so it'd be nice if one of the others did.

 
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Hopefully someone in the know will ?

Or post up so if can be copied / pasted into a 'guide'

 
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