Radio Choice?

[k2x5]

So, for those who actually carry a radio on the field, what radio do you carry? Pros/Cons?

[Greylocks]

Any FRS/GMRS that is built decently; either Motorola or Cobra. With the subchannels of course. I avoid VOX, it tends to be totally useless.

[Ibby]

Originally Posted by Greylocks

I avoid VOX, it tends to be totally useless.

Not totally useless. I'm sure there's some folks in the community that enjoy listening to a guy's heavy breathing. Not that there's anything wrong with that...

Any decent FRS/GMRS radio should work fine for you. You can go a little more extravagant if you have a few extra bucks lying around. I picked up a couple of Abel TH-378's from a group order run by ODP off the BCAC forums. They're great quality Kenwood clones. If you open them up inside they're all Kenwood parts. These particular radios are programmable in the FRS/GMRS range and are much nicer/clearer sounding/better transmitting than a typical FRS. There's many other similar types out there as well, Icom, Motorola etc. It all depends what you're after.

[Gryphon]

Motorola GP68. Field programmable, 4 watts output power, GMRS compatible, and inexpensive. I was the first in my area to get one and about a half dozen more have followed suit after checking it out. It's a great radio that can be had on eBay for usually around the $100-$150 mark, but you'll need to modify the charger because it's a European radio which is meant to charge on 220VAC. I had an electronics buddy gut the base charger and put a pigtail on it, and I charge the 7.2V NiCd with my Intellipeak ICE.

[LUTNIT]

If you get a 4 watt unit you wont be able to communicate sometimes with people using the simpler 1 watt GMRS radios or 0.5 watt FRS radios. I ran into this problem this past year at quickpass 2 and sniper hunt near Montreal and op:holyman in Ottawa, when within 500-800m the 4 watt radio is so powerful it blows away my 1 watt radio so all I get is static. The DOW guys at holyman could hear what I was saying but all I got in return was really loud static. In short get what the people you will be playing most often with have, 2 packs of 1 watt GMRS radios which had no problem transmitting over the entire length of the dogs pit even over the huge sand dunes and through the trees cost $20-30 in boxing day sales, the higher end programable radios will give you better range but I don't know about any worse conditions for radio transmitting than the dogs pit.

[k2x5]

So, what about something like this:

http://radioworld.ca/product_info.ph...oducts_id=1868

[Gryphon]

Originally Posted by LUTNIT

If you get a 4 watt unit you wont be able to communicate sometimes with people using the simpler 1 watt GMRS radios or 0.5 watt FRS radios. I ran into this problem this past year at quickpass 2 and sniper hunt near Montreal and op:holyman in Ottawa, when within 500-800m the 4 watt radio is so powerful it blows away my 1 watt radio so all I get is static. The DOW guys at holyman could hear what I was saying but all I got in return was really loud static. In short get what the people you will be playing most often with have, 2 packs of 1 watt GMRS radios which had no problem transmitting over the entire length of the dogs pit even over the huge sand dunes and through the trees cost $20-30 in boxing day sales, the higher end programable radios will give you better range but I don't know about any worse conditions for radio transmitting than the dogs pit.

That's strange. I can think of two possible scenarios to cause this - the channel step wasn't set to 12.5 KHz which is what GMRS increments are in and they were transmitting slightly off-frequency, or they didn't have their CTCSS set properly. I've always been able to communicate much more clearly with my GP68 than anyone could with a cheap GMRS unit - the difference in transmission quality and clarity is like going from Russian gen 1 night vision to a PVS-14.

I should add the GP68 has a low-power button to switch between 1W and 4W, and is fully programmable for CTCSS too.

[Kokanee]

Originally Posted by LUTNIT

If you get a 4 watt unit you wont be able to communicate sometimes with people using the simpler 1 watt GMRS radios or 0.5 watt FRS radios. .... when within 500-800m the 4 watt radio is so powerful it blows away my 1 watt radio so all I get is static. The DOW guys at holyman could hear what I was saying but all I got in return was really loud static.

Unless you were constantly transmitting, there is no way your radio was interfering w/ theirs.
You were receiving a carrier w/ no modulation sounds like, in which case I would agree w/ Gryphon that the CTCSS was improperly set or you were slightly off freq.

[Greylocks]

Did any of you buy that GP68 in Canada? If yes, where?

[Gryphon]

I've never seen any, just on eBay from the States and Asia. When searching eBay use the Advanced Search and set the Location to "Items located in: Any Country/Region". It'll turn up several accessories, batteries, and radios. If buying from Asia make sure to check the seller's feedback so you don't get screwed, and always make sure you're getting the 430-470 MHz band split if you want to talk to GMRS frequencies.

[Greylocks]

Thank you.

[Gryphon]

Sabers are fantastic radios, basically bulletproof. The only problem with commercial Motorola stuff is you usually need to have them programmed by a dealer at $50/hour, and a lot won't program GMRS frequencies onto your radio. You could do it yourself if you had the proper cables and RSS (software), but the latter is very hard to come by illegitimately because Big M stomps out RSS pirates sans merci. There's also the issue of GMRS compatibility in that you have to get others to tune to YOUR frequencies since the Saber isn't field programmable.

If you're buying a large lot and focusing on specific frequencies for your team only, they're a great choice though.

[Ibby]

I agree, Sabers are great. The replacements for them the CT200 are even better, but lots of $. The crypto on both is VERY good also.
It's not terribly hard to get the program and cables. I guess being a Motorola certified tech helps though.

[Down-side]

I love the motorolas... just make sure they dont have a stupid flashing light... skrews you in night games!!