PMR radios

[Guest]

Any body got or used These PMR radios,

 

Any good?? yeah/nay (they seem to review well on Amazon)

 

asking here rather than hijacking another thread that's running on 2 way communications.

 

Thanks all.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edit to add - meant to post this in equipment - if one of the mods could drag themselves away from their expense account Sunday lunch and move it I'd be ever so grateful....

Edited March 21, 2010 by MJG

[Grace and Favour]

A trifle cheaper at Maplins at the moment

[Guest]

A trifle cheaper at Maplins at the moment

Cheers -

[Speedwell]

We have a pair of Midland G5s, which work quite well but the volume is too low to be heard easily over our (none too quiet) engine - a typical BMC 1.8. OK if you have it to your ear but not easy to hear that you are being called whilst trying to manoevre the boat. SWMBO could never be bothered with any procedure, even as basic as making sure I was listening before passing the message, so we have reverted to our previous hand signals.

Arthur

[nb Innisfree]

Any body got or used These PMR radios,

 

Any good?? yeah/nay (they seem to review well on Amazon)

 

asking here rather than hijacking another thread that's running on 2 way communications.

 

Thanks all.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edit to add - meant to post this in equipment - if one of the mods could drag themselves away from their expense account Sunday lunch and move it I'd be ever so grateful....

 

Got ours at Aldis, or was it Lidls?, Stalybridge, £15 a pair! Seem ok tho battery life could be better but no prob with the charging cradle especially as we have one pair within easy reach of the steerer (me) so can keep on charge while cruising + swap them round when my darling little locker needs hers recharging

[Nickhlx]

Got ours at Aldis, or was it Lidls?, Stalybridge, £15 a pair! Seem ok tho battery life could be better but no prob with the charging cradle especially as we have one pair within easy reach of the steerer (me) so can keep on charge while cruising + swap them round when my darling little locker needs hers recharging

 

Binatone used to consistently make absolute rubbish equipment - occasionally they would make / badge something that was OK, but by far the majority of stuff with their label on was very low quality... However that was some while ago now, and anything could have happened (or not) - it may be they make nothing now and buy in / badge stuff from China etc that is somewhat better than their own stuff, so I can only offer a caveat ...

 

I can say though that the Twintalker (two sets from Lidl for £20) are some of the best I have ever seen, especially at the price - and the Intek MT-5050 is an absolutely superb set ( and which can have a link clipped to have 4 watts output ) although somewhat more expensive, but does have superb specs even in its standard out of the box form - The differences between sets with the apparently "same" spec has to be experienced to be believed, so I would urge people to not dismiss "PMR446" as a viable comms band if they have only tried a cheapo set. With a good set you will get a very good range ( miles) but with UHF, you do also have to have a reasonable environment - i.e. no use expecting "miles" if you are inside the boat - stand out in the open - and don't expect the signal to go "through" a hill - same as a even hyper powerful powerful torch will not !

 

Nick

[Swallowman]

Any body got or used These PMR radios,

 

Any good?? yeah/nay (they seem to review well on Amazon)

 

asking here rather than hijacking another thread that's running on 2 way communications.

 

Thanks all.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edit to add - meant to post this in equipment - if one of the mods could drag themselves away from their expense account Sunday lunch and move it I'd be ever so grateful....

 

I use Binatone 550's to talk from one end of the boat to another and from the boat to the lock side. There seems to be a range of 3-400 metres for very clear speech. Bought mine S/H on ebay for £6 odd.

[Ray]

I think they're what we have - ours are on the boat. If they are, then we've managed to talk from our house to our daughter's, in Milton Keynes - so there's plenty of houses in between. The distance has to be at least half a mile.

[Biggles]

I think they're what we have - ours are on the boat. If they are, then we've managed to talk from our house to our daughter's, in Milton Keynes - so there's plenty of houses in between. The distance has to be at least half a mile.

 

 

People have set these up linked to the net as a sort of relay device and you can use them world wide. A bit like repeater stations.

 

We have them on our Lister powered NB and they are OK, accept SWIMBO seldom hears the code call for a cuppa. 'Least she says she does!

 

Biggles

[Nickhlx]

People have set these up linked to the net as a sort of relay device and you can use them world wide. A bit like repeater stations.

 

We have them on our Lister powered NB and they are OK, accept SWIMBO seldom hears the code call for a cuppa. 'Least she says she does!

 

Biggles

 

 

That's the eQSO, Echolink or IRLP services - Radio Hams have been developing those for years, and have produced kit so the 446 users can also have their equipment linking to PC and the internet -

 

The way it works is you need to be in range of a local e.g. Echolink station, you key in the code of the repeater you want to pop out of ( any country in the world) and your radio transmission is also being broadcast, not just the mile or two around you, but also the mile or two around that repeater station, maybe in Germany or France, or any country using the same PMR446 band as the UK

 

The disadvantage with legal 446, is you have to be within a mile or two of the station - with Amateur Radio, that is tens of miles, and the Amateur standards are pretty much the same worldwide so you can talk reliably worldwide, from a hand portable set - all free of course, now that the license fees have been dropped.... and the first Foundation license gives you 10 watts, which is what most stations use, so with that license you would be up there with the best

 

Good, this " weird" radio stuff, isn't it ? It might even catch on one day

 

Nick

 

 

 

you dial up the set

[Gunna Do]

Any body got or used These PMR radios,

 

Any good?? yeah/nay (they seem to review well on Amazon)

 

asking here rather than hijacking another thread that's running on 2 way communications.

 

We got some 'el-cheapo's' from Argos. They're brilliant for locking and SWMBO used them from the boat to Sainsbury's ( about 1/2 mile) to tell me to get something that she had not put on the list. These take dry batts but they seem to last quite a time.

[bigcol]

These look good

 

http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/part...LKIE+TALKIE.htm

 

 

easily reconised using these in the locks

 

Col

[Guest]

Thanks for the input everybody - order placed.

[Mitch - Soma]

Excellent Martin - just remember to use Ch.8, ctcss 0.

[Guest]

Excellent Martin - just remember to use Ch.8, ctcss 0.

 

What for??

 

I just wanted to alert Jan it was time for a cup of tea, or time to move forward out of a lock if we are not in line of sight,

 

WTF is Ch.8, ctcss 0??

[GRPCruiserman]

What for??

 

I just wanted to alert Jan it was time for a cup of tea, or time to move forward out of a lock if we are not in line of sight,

 

WTF is Ch.8, ctcss 0??

 

They have 8 channels to use, and dearer models have CTCSS tones which when set, only open the squelch on the other radio when both sets are set to the same ctcss. It gives some element of selective calling. When set to '0' then all will be heard.

[Nickhlx]

They have 8 channels to use, and dearer models have CTCSS tones which when set, only open the squelch on the other radio when both sets are set to the same ctcss. It gives some element of selective calling. When set to '0' then all will be heard.

 

 

I don't think those Argos ones will have any channels, as they look like they are the 100 foot range models that work on 48 Mhz - i.e. the 4 year olds' sets....

 

for a start they use a PP3 battery, which is a bit of a give-away, as are the "too-long" aerials....

 

Nick

Edited March 22, 2010 by Nickhlx

[Guest]

They have 8 channels to use, and dearer models have CTCSS tones which when set, only open the squelch on the other radio when both sets are set to the same ctcss. It gives some element of selective calling. When set to '0' then all will be heard.

 

I'm afraid I have no idea what the heck you are on about,

 

CTSS, squelch, selective calling, what the effin hell is all that?

 

 

 

 

If I'm steering and Jans down below can I summon a cup of tea?

 

yeah/nah?

 

If I'm lock wheeling and Jan's steering can I give her an instruction to enter/leave a lock?

 

yeah/nah?,

 

 

 

But hang on at £30 I'll take a risk.....

[Nickhlx]

I'm afraid I have no idea what the heck you are on about,

 

CTSS, squelch, selective calling, what the effin hell is all that?

 

 

 

 

If I'm steering and Jans down below can I summon a cup of tea?

 

yeah/nah?

 

If I'm lock wheeling and Jan's steering can I give her an instruction to enter/leave a lock?

 

yeah/nah?,

 

 

 

But hang on at £30 I'll take a risk.....

 

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I think we may be talking cross purposes here, someone re the Binatone sets at £33 /pair, and someone about the Argos sets at £9-97 a pair .

 

Binatone - fine - worth a punt, but you could do better for the money if you can be troubled - if not, buy them - they will work...

 

Argos - complete rubbish and a definite waste of money....

 

Nick

[Guest]

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

I think we may be talking cross purposes here, someone re the Binatone sets at £33 /pair, and someone about the Argos sets at £9-97 a pair .

 

Binatone - fine - worth a punt, but you could do better for the money if you can be troubled - if not, buy them - they will work...

 

Argos - complete rubbish and a definite waste of money....

 

Nick

 

Well as the original post was from me and it was about the Binatone sets at £33, anything else (including Argos) is superfluous. Thanks for the clarity.

[GRPCruiserman]

Well as the original post was from me and it was about the Binatone sets at £33, anything else (including Argos) is superfluous. Thanks for the clarity.

 

I have some Binatone sets and some dearer, cant remember the name but cost £50 sets which are nicer to hold and splachproof, but at the end of the day they all talk to each other and the Binatones work pretty much as well as te others, so I'd buy Binatones again.

 

Sorry to baffle you with the tech speak, just set them on channel 8, ctcss (code) 0, leave them there, and you'll hear everyone on here and still be able to ask for you cup of tea!!

[Keeping Up]

Hoping this doesn't complicate the issue too much Martin - but here goes anyway:

 

I always deliberately use a sub-channel (or code, or CTSS) other than zero because my wife does NOT want to be disturbed by someone else on their boat asking their wife for a cup of tea, or chatting or whatever. Her radio sits permanently in its charger in the lounge, and she ONLY wants it to burst into life when it is myself calling her. Therefore both our radios are set to the sub-channel as each other, but one which is not zero. (I also use a channel other than 8, for similar but not identical reasons)

[Nickhlx]

Hoping this doesn't complicate the issue too much Martin - but here goes anyway:

 

I always deliberately use a sub-channel (or code, or CTSS) other than zero because my wife does NOT want to be disturbed by someone else on their boat asking their wife for a cup of tea, or chatting or whatever. Her radio sits permanently in its charger in the lounge, and she ONLY wants it to burst into life when it is myself calling her. Therefore both our radios are set to the sub-channel as each other, but one which is not zero. (I also use a channel other than 8, for similar but not identical reasons)

 

 

Which is fine for personal comms, and every right to do so (obviously) but the suggestion of CH8,0 is for those who don't mind , and do want to be contactable, which were selected after some thought, so both are correct, both in concept and in use.

 

Nick

[alan_fincher]

The problem we found with using CTSS on the sets we have, is that it introduces a distinct delay between when you push the PTT, and when anyone at the other end actually gets to hear what you are saying.

 

We found that our first word or two was being cut off, often leading to confusion.

 

It may just be a feature of the sets we have, but in the end I turned CTSS off.

 

On the rare occasions we use them, I can't once recall ever hearing anybosy else on the same channel.

[Nickhlx]

The problem we found with using CTSS on the sets we have, is that it introduces a distinct delay between when you push the PTT, and when anyone at the other end actually gets to hear what you are saying.

 

We found that our first word or two was being cut off, often leading to confusion.

 

It may just be a feature of the sets we have, but in the end I turned CTSS off.

 

On the rare occasions we use them, I can't once recall ever hearing anybosy else on the same channel.

 

 

I agree Alan - some delay and the band is not so busy as to find it necessary to be needed. - You could always move to another channel for a conversation in the unlikely event of the channel being in use..

 

Nick