Good radio set?

[hawkite]

Hoping to have one that is like an earphone as I don't want high profile headphones on but I don't mind how big the actual radio is I just don't want clunky headphones. Preferably under £30 but that might be unrealistic I don't know! Thanks for any help.

[Spectre77]

The main go-to for radio's tends to be the Baofeng UV-5R and similar models in my experience. I'm not sure what their legal status is in the UK, as they are freely programmable outside of legal civilian usage bands, but regardless they tend to be the radio that everyone uses. The main draw of them is that since they are programmable they are easy to find a frequency for at events. Baofeng radio's are also really cheap, price varies since they are mostly sold via ebay but you'll get one for under 30 no problem, and they come with a security earpiece.

 

Example:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1x-Baofeng-UV-5R-Handheld-radio-2M-70cm-FM-amateur-radio-desktop-charger-/111809082586?hash=item1a085734da:g:bv0AAOSwMNxXX2Gu

 

Of course, your going to probably want to upgrade the earpiece at some point, and probabably get a more convenient PTT for it as well since the microphone isn't great and the button is small and hard to find. Personally, I don't like having things in my ears that mess with my pheripheral hearing, so I use a headet that goes over my ears that uses bone vibration to send and receive. It's odd tech, but it works really well.

 

http://www.coderedheadsets.com/product-p/battlezero-k.htm

[Baz JJ]

The Baofeng is illegal to use in the UK without an OFCOM licence which costs £75 for 5 years and for specific named frequencies. You cant operate on any frequency you like here.

[Spectre77]

Nor here. Strictly speaking programmable radio's are banned, but the UV-5R is still the go to just becasue you avoid that painful screwing around of trying to find frequencies that work between different manufacturers. As long as your aware of which bands are open use and which are restricted your Ok though. When I was living in the UK I had a Motorola XTNID and it was such a faff about trying to get it synched with my squad at milsim games, so if the OP is planning on playing a lot of event games I would encourage them to get the license, just makes life easy.

[proffrink]

Nope - it's about their output power. In the UK the license free channels (PMR446) require a max of 0.5W. The Baeofeng has a minimum output of 1W on the lowest power. PMR44 uses 8 distinct channels so generally for smaller sites there are no issues, but larger sites and teams carry an OFCOM business/organisation license like Baz says so that they may transmit at a higher power and on separate frequencies to PMR446. Regardless, even with a license you can't use the PMR446 frequencies, so it leaves a lot of people (like me) having to own two separate handsets - one for larger events where operating on PMR446 is a hassle because of the number of other people using those channels, and one for smaller events where the ease of being on one of those channels means you can communicate better with a smaller team.

 

Anyway, we're kinda spoon-feeding OP here because there a million excellent threads on this already. Check this one out: http://www.airsoft-forums.co.uk/index.php/topic/31144-radios-guide/