2 Way Radios

[adacats]

I am looking to buy a pair of 2 way radios and wanted recommendations on some to buy, and in what band. I want radios with a several mile range, fairly rugged, and are around $60 for a pair. I was looking at these: Amazon.com : High Quality!!!Baofeng BF-888S UHF 400-470MHz 16CH CTCSS/DCS With Earpiece Handheld Amateur Radio Walkie Talkie Two Way Radio Long Range Black 2 Pack and High Quality Retevis Speaker Microphone 2 Pack : Frs Two Way Radios : Car Electroni

I would have posted this in a different section, but I didn't know what band radio to consider.

 

[scottymcneill8657]

They look good. I have gone through a few Baofeng radios and they are fairly sturdy.

 

[WB4CS]

I am looking to buy a pair of 2 way radios and wanted recommendations on some to buy, and in what band. [/url]

I would have posted this in a different section, but I didn't know what band radio to consider.

Well, what band depends on what you're trying to accomplish. Are these for amateur radio (licensed) use? Or FRS? Or MURS? Or GMRS? If you're not sure, then the next question would be, are you wanting to use a radio service that requires a license, or license-free?

What distance are you trying to accomplish with the radios?
Will the other people using the radios be licensed? Or no?

There's a lot more to it than just picking up a radio and transmitting

The radios you linked to are only legal for licensed Amateur Radio and licensed Commercial Radio use. If you're looking for something that's license free, you'll need to look for a different set of radios.

*Those radios CAN be programmed to be used on FRS (license free) but they are not FCC Part 95 approved for FRS and therefore not legal for FRS use. I'm throwing this out here so you're aware of the rules, but it's up to you on how you proceed with that info.

 

[adacats]

I run a twitter news and information service in my area, and we cover a lot of police and fire traffic. I would like to have a set of radios to use at events in our area, so a person could be in the field at event reporting on police and fire activity and stay in contact with us so we can tweet it out. It is a small 3 man operation. If I could get a license that would be great, but that takes time and I have less than a month before one of the events starts that I want to cover. I would like the radios to have a few mile range. (What kind of license would i need anyway?)

 

[FKimble]

Sounds like you want them for a business venture, hence a FCC business license would be appropriate. I would suggest you check with local radio shops. You might be able to rent radios with access to a business repeater to increase your range significantly. Also probably have better radios.

 

[WB4CS]

I run a twitter news and information service in my area, and we cover a lot of police and fire traffic. I would like to have a set of radios to use at events in our area, so a person could be in the field at event reporting on police and fire activity and stay in contact with us so we can tweet it out. It is a small 3 man operation. If I could get a license that would be great, but that takes time and I have less than a month before one of the events starts that I want to cover. I would like the radios to have a few mile range. (What kind of license would i need anyway?)

Well, based on what you want to do, amateur radio licenses is not going to work, so we can take that one off the list.

If you go license free, you'd be looking at FRS, MURS, or CB. If you need a few mile range then FRS probably won't do the job. CB would possibly work, or MURS. CB has been around for decades and you can buy a CB radio for pretty cheap. At only 4 Watts on 27 MHz, you may get a few mile range, but you'll need to set up a pretty good base antenna. MURS is on VHF and would have slightly better coverage, but at 2 Watts of power you'd still need a good base antenna. And MURS radios are a little more hard to find.

As for licensed services, you could go commercial or possibly GMRS. I can't remember if GMRS allows for business communications (I'd have to read over Part 95 rules again or someone can chime in and clarify). With GMRS each person would need a license, costs around $90. That would give you UHF coverage with up to 50 Watts of power, but again, you'd need a good base antenna to reach the person in the field.

Commercial radio might be your best best. I'm not sure what the cost of a commercial license is, but there are people on this forum that could help answer that info. If you were to lease some radios from a "radio shop" in your area, you could probably lease a spot on a repeater or trunked system that would give you the range you need. However, this will also be the most expensive route.

Would cellular telephones not work for your situation? Making a phone call, text, or email from a smart phone would probably be the least expensive route and you wouldn't have to worry about licensing. If you want to go the two-way-radio route, be prepared to spend some money on a license and radio equipment, and the cost will be a LOT more than the two radios you linked to.

 

[adacats]

A key detail I should add is that we are a not for profit service, so we dont make any money. I am thinking total cost below $100. And we operate out of apartments so large antennas are not an option, we just wanted 2 handhelds able to communicate at a few mile distance, that would be on a band not likely to get interference from other users.

 

[teufler]

cell phone, voice , text, and picture capabilities. With almost any portable or HT radio, range will be maybe 3 miles.VHF has the better range , but without as license, you ARE LIMITED TO murs. If you look at uhf, with out a license, you have FRS, range maybe 2 miles. Technically GMRS has a higher power level but you have to be licensed. All the "news" will have to be 3 miles or less otherwise you have a heavy object. A cell phone will allow a greater range and more funtionality. Also Athens is a trunking system so a $100 radio will not be able to monitor. Cell phone would be the most flexible and useful tool,

 

[adacats]

I have a $400 scanner to cover the police/fire activity. Would it be worth getting the $90 license for GMRS? Most things I would be covering are within the city limits, and Athens being a small town, its not to far accross, and most "events" would be occurring towards the center of the city. So a 3 mile range would be fine.

 

[WB4CS]

A key detail I should add is that we are a not for profit service, so we dont make any money. I am thinking total cost below $100. And we operate out of apartments so large antennas are not an option, we just wanted 2 handhelds able to communicate at a few mile distance, that would be on a band not likely to get interference from other users.

Sorry to say, but I don't think you're going to find a radio solution that will do what you want, and be legal, for under $100. Cell phones are going to be your best bet here.

I have a $400 scanner to cover the police/fire activity. Would it be worth getting the $90 license for GMRS? Most things I would be covering are within the city limits, and Athens being a small town, its not to far accross, and most "events" would be occurring towards the center of the city. So a 3 mile range would be fine.

Well, you'd still go over your $100 budget. It would be $90 for your GMRS license, and every other person that would use the radios would need their own GMRS license, unless you are all family members. (GMRS license covers the licensee and their immediate family.) Plus, you have the cost of the radios. The ones you linked to are not legal for GMRS. They can be used for GMRS, but not legally.

As for the distance you'd need to cover, with some good outdoor antennas up at least 25 feet, you *might* be able to get 3 miles on UHF, depending on the terrain. UHF is VERY line of sight.. Without some good antennas, you'd need to use a GMRS repeater for better coverage. First you'd have to find out if there is a GMRS repeater in your area and then get permission from the repeater owner to use their repeater. Even still, you'd need a good outside antenna to access the repeater, unless you happen to be within a few miles, line of sight, of the repeater. If there is a repeater in your area.

Again, for what you want to do and the amount of money you want to spend, cell phones are going to be your best bet. In order to have the type of two-way radio communications you're looking for, you're going to have to spend some money and put up some outdoor antennas.

 

[cabletech]

Along with every thing else that has been said,

THERE IS NO WAY YOU ARE GOING TO DO WHAT YOU WISH FOR $100.00 OR LESS.

PERIOD, NADA, NO WAY.

You are going to have to put some money into this. Also, you said you were a non profit, if you have all the legal paper work for that, then maybe a local raio shop will work with you for a repeater system, other wise, as has been said, your smart phone is the best.

 

[Cowthief]

Hello.

And, GMRS is not for business use.
There are several grandfathered exceptions but even they went trunking a while back.
Yes, rental radios or cellphones.

 

[Project25_MASTR]

Hello.

And, GMRS is not for business use.
There are several grandfathered exceptions but even they went trunking a while back.
Yes, rental radios or cellphones.

GMRS can be used for business use. Group licenses are no longer issued (the existing licenses being grandfathered). In order to use GMRS for business, everyone must be licenses (handy for family operated businesses).

Real world application, free space path loss would say your average MURS radio has a range of roughly 9.2 miles over open terrain. In an urban environment, hand held to hand held that's going to be about a mile or so depending on the number of building in the way.

 

[K5MPH]

I'm with every one else it won't work you wasting your money ..............

 

[adacats]

The area I ideally would like to at least cover is just under a mile from my house, and it is also uphill from where I am. Would a standard GMRS radio be able to operate decently at this distance? I was looking at these, as an example: Amazon.com : Midland GXT1000VP4 36-Mile 50-Channel FRS/GMRS Two-Way Radio (Pair) (Black/Silver) : Walkie Talkies : Car Electronics

 

[WB4CS]

At just under a mile, those *MAY* work. While the product description says "50 Mile" that is a huge marketing scheme. In the most perfect conditions of line of sight, with nothing in the way, and using a repeater, those radios might just barely get 50 miles. In the real world, you're still using low power, on UHF, with the built in antennas that loose most of the transmit power as heat (signal loss.)

Again, for under a mile, it will possibly work, but there's no way to be certain without testing them. You also mentioned the one place is uphill from your location. You could end up in a situation where you can hear the person on the hilltop, but they can't hear you. There are so many variables involved it's hard to say unless you test it out first.

These radios you linked to in your last post are approved for both FRS and GMRS, so you'd be legal. The FRS channels use 0.5 Watts of power. The FRS channels don't need a license, but at 0.5 Watts of power, you may not make even that 1 mile coverage you want. The description doesn't say how much power they put out on the GMRS channels, but if I had to guess, it's probably 4 Watts(?). At 4 Watts you stand a decent chance of getting your 1 mile coverage, maybe.

At $50 for the radio, and then $90 per person that needs a GMRS license (unless the other person(s) are your immediate family members), you'd still be over your budget of $100.

I'd say, if you're willing to gamble the $50 investment (or save the receipt and box for a return) you could test the radios first on the FRS channels to see if you could get the range you need. If you do, you won't need the license. If the FRS channels don't get the range you need, then it's up to you if you'd like to invest in the GMRS license and test further.

I just checked Verizon and T-Mobile's websites, Athens Ohio has 4G cellular coverage on both networks. While I applaud your effort to want to learn about radios, it seems like an awful lot of trouble, money, and testing to try and use two-way radios for something that a simple cell phone can accomplish. I mean, you're trying to reinvent the wheel here. You need a means of two way communication for under $100 that will cover a 1-3 mile range. That can be done with a prepaid cell phone and still leave enough money in your pocket to buy a cheeseburger and fries. Is there a specific reason that cellular phones (texting, calls, emails, etc.) wouldn't suffice for what you need?

 

[adacats]

Well during the upcoming event, so many people are in a relatively small area that it overwhelms the cell towers and calls can become unreliable.

 

[WB4CS]

Well during the upcoming event, so many people are in a relatively small area that it overwhelms the cell towers and calls can become unreliable.

Maybe so, but probably more reliable than the radio option, unless you want to spend a few hundred bucks on radios

I hope you find a solution that works out for you!

 

[adacats]

I appreciate the help. I will give them a try and if they dont work out either consider the license or just return them. My interest in radios is expanding. I started with a police scanner and now im considering getting a ham license, radios is a very interesting and fun field.

 

[teufler]

gmrs that advertises 35 mile range is , or the marketing dept, is smoking funny stuff. gmrs is 5 watts, man radio , on an ht is 5 watts, and ham on simplex uhf, maybe 3-4 miles reliable communications so gmrs will not do any better. They operate in the 460-470 range while hams are in the 420-450 range. now they would work, if you are covering a parade, you are along the parade and someone is near by. Still say try phones, maybe the phone companies have upgraded theirt systems.