Replacement walkie-talkies

[MurrayPeterson]

Please suggest any good units for the club to buy.  We need about 20 radios, so let's leave out the $200+ units if at all possible.

[MurrayPeterson]

The Chinese radios look pretty good.

[snip]Interesting -- the radios disappeared from the Amazon web site sometime today.[/snip]

BTW, I don't plan on buying 20 radios all at once.  We can buy 2 or so for testing, and if they work out well, then we can go ahead and buy a bunch more.

[YAnderson]

The radios we have are Beofeng UV-5r. They are unlocked programable UHF/VHF radios. They are technically illegal but can be programmed and locked to FRS/GMRS frequencies as the Motorola’s are. There are some backcountry ski lodges using them for guests and they seem to hold up fairly well.

They can typically be found well priced in bundles like below 5 for $109.00 US

https://www.amazon.com/BaoFeng-LYSB00E4FO2TW-SPRTSEQIP-Dual-Band-Programming-Support/dp/B00E4FO2TW/ref=sr_1_8?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1511835446&sr=1-8&keywords=baofeng+uv-5r

There is lots of information available on the web but not much support from the manufacturer.

[MurrayPeterson]

Or we can just replace our worn out Midland radios with new ones ($65 US a pair):
https://www.amazon.com/Midland-GXT1000VP4-36-Mile-50-Channel-Two-Way/dp/B001WMFYH4/ref=sr_1_5?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1511836916&sr=1-5&keywords=gmrs+radio

Do NOT buy them from Amazon.ca, as the price is ridiculous (over $260 each with shipping charges added).

[YAnderson]

Definitely a simpler option with replacement battery options. Too bad the rechargeable aren’t lithiums.

[94boosted]

Or we can just replace our worn out Midland radios with new ones ($65 US a pair):
https://www.amazon.com/Midland-GXT1000VP4-36-Mile-50-Channel-Two-Way/dp/B001WMFYH4/ref=sr_1_5?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1511836916&sr=1-5&keywords=gmrs+radio

Do NOT buy them from Amazon.ca, as the price is ridiculous (over $260 each with shipping charges added).

If we do this we can have them shipped to the border (Sweetgrass) and I could pick them up in the new year, save some money for the club.

[zero10]

The radios we have are Beofeng UV-5r. They are unlocked programable UHF/VHF radios. They are technically illegal but can be programmed and locked to FRS/GMRS frequencies as the Motorola’s are. There are some backcountry ski lodges using them for guests and they seem to hold up fairly well.

They can typically be found well priced in bundles like below 5 for $109.00 US

https://www.amazon.com/BaoFeng-LYSB00E4FO2TW-SPRTSEQIP-Dual-Band-Programming-Support/dp/B00E4FO2TW/ref=sr_1_8?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1511835446&sr=1-8&keywords=baofeng+uv-5r

There is lots of information available on the web but not much support from the manufacturer.

Wow those are VERY reasonably priced.  Now I'm thinking about buying a set for my own reasons.  Thanks!

[SKI-R]

I'll offer a Baofeng endorsement too - 3 years of regular winter use without any issues. 

They're unquestionably capable of significantly more than what the club needs them for (specifically VHF programmable channel selection capability), but the preset FRS channels function better than any retailed 'name brand' walker talkies (or VHF radios!) I've used previously - their range is greater and clarity is dramatically better. 

I used mine at the events I was able to attend this year - turned it on at the start of the day and usually forgot to turn it off until I got home - and only needed to recharge once over the course of the season.

My couple cents worth and purely anecdotal, but I've been using portable handheld radios in either work or recreational environments for over 30 years and the Baofengs have far surpassed any expectation I had for them irrespective of their pricepoint.

[YAnderson]

If you do get the Bofengs, this is the open source programmer to use;

http://chirp.danplanet.com/projects/chirp/wiki/Home

I can help.

Brian

[YAnderson]

can't beat this on price with lithium battery;

https://www.amazon.com/BAOFENG-BF-888S-Transceiver-Illumination-Flashlight/dp/B007F7MZ04

[MurrayPeterson]

I feel rather uncomfortable with the club using radios that aren't completely legal.  We are right next to an active airport, and I know that DOT has people actively checking the airwaves for anything funky.  Radios that transmit at more than FRS legal power levels should probably be avoided.

[Reijo]

How powerful are these radios?

As a note in the US they are allowed FM broadcast to be 0.5 W whereas in Canada we are allowed 1.0 W ... so we may be ok.

Reijo

[SKI-R]

https://www.amazon.com/BAOFENG-BF-888S-Transceiver-Illumination-Flashlight/dp/B007F7MZ04

Max. 3- 5 watts for these.  Again, still not technically legal, so that alone may deter interest (as Murray has suggested), but they do work amazingly well for the price. 

I expect whatever is chosen will prove to be an improvement - when you have line of sight and less than 500m separation and can't transmit back and forth, the product is a fail.  If they were purchased at Costco, which I believe they were, the product return policy is fantastic.....

[majormojo]

Another data point for the Baofeng radios. We use them for our chumpcar and team radios, lots of options available for in-car harnesses, helmet mikes, etc. ASA went to using them a couple seasons ago - the distances at Castrol necessitated better radios than they were using previously. I programmed them for the FRS/GMRS frequencies only. My recollection is that I bought a pack of 10 for ~$240 from a vendor on Amazon. They can be locked down to the legally required transmission power limits using CHIRP or the low/high power mode can be toggled using the keypad.

Oh, and having a couple headsets available for them is nice too. Especially useful if timing/scoring is near the start line and the noise interferes with the ability to hear calls on the radios. Wearing headphones also serves as a useful "don't bug me now" indicator for someone running timing.

[PedalFaster]

Yep - at American national-level events, the starter and course control / timing people get radios with headsets. I find they help a lot.