Two Way Radio's

I started using Motorola Mike phones. They have a feature/setting, Talk Around, that allows you to use the two-way radio even if there is no cell reception, therefore the phones don't have to be activated on a network at all. They work far better than FRS/GMRS radios you get in CT or Walmart. Where we hunt I tested the radios by leaving one at the camp (pretty much middle ground) and going to all the watches and checking to see if the signal would reach, and it did. Our terrain is very hilly and even between two low points the signal was getting through.
 
medtech1 said:
Directly from a Senior Engineer at Industry Canada:

"The Baofeng UV-5R is not legally to be used in Canada as it is not certified under Industry Canada RSS-119. Although the equipment is authorized to be used under a license from Industry Canada, it has to be certified first and to be labeled with a certification ID."


Therefore I'd assume that any radio imported into Canada has to be certified first and be labelled. However, again, i am not sure if Amateur Radio licence holders are exempt from this.
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And the source of that is?

Shawn
 
LawrenceN said:
As a radio tech - may I offer some advice - First - re marine radios - don't - they are to be used only by those licensed for the waterways - There are some people in Alaska for example who carried aircraft crash ELTs (Emergency Locating Transmitters) - the older style on 121.5 MHz and 243 MHz - while technically illegal - no one was ever charged if it was used in a genuine emergency situation. - Today these frequencies have been replaced by new EPIRBS and require registration before use.

There are other radios that I can suggest that will work quite well.

Second - a quick primer in RF - The lower the frequency - the better the use in the bush. The reason the the radio waves tend to travel "along the ground" - or bounce between the atmosphere and the ground - UHF (400 MHz radios) - are LOS -Line of Sight. They work in an urban environment when there are buildings to allow the signals to bounce off of and scatter - but in the bush there are no such structures and foliage and terrain absorbs the signals readily. Now - the legalities - radios must be type approved (accepted for use in Canada) and used on frequencies that are available without a licence and must be operated with the appropriate power level allowed........OK - that is the technical and legal bit done for the most part.

I have dealt with Frank Corsi at North Trail (a member online here I believe). Frank carries the both the Puxing VHF and UHF series radios as well as the Wouxun KG-UV1DP - a dual band radio with UHF and VHF capability. The unit has a lot of good accessories / speaker mics / earpieces (surveillance) and headsets and longer antennas with higher gain - all useful in the bush if you wish. The programming cable and software is available through him as well and is easy to program. From experience the 1700 mah batteries under fairly heavy use - lasted me 11 hours. A typical portable radio's battery endurance is rated usually on a 5/5/90 rule - 5 min transmit / 5 min receive and 90 min standby. Most commercial portables are good for 6-8 hours - the nice thing with these radios is the batteries are inexpensive - easy to carry and for $10 or $12 dollars you can get the breakaway pack that allows you to use 5 AA batteries in a pinch to run the radio - at FULL power with no degradation in performance.(damn handy)

The radio as I said has UHF and VHF capability and with that you can program the GMRS frequencies for those who with to communicate with people who have them AND VHF frequencies which will allow for somewhat better performance in the bush. There are literally hundreds of VHF frequencies that are referred to as LPI (low power industrial). These are frequencies that are used by couriers / taxis / warehouse / security)

If you opt for such - I might suggest if you so choose - to use either the DCS or the Tone Squelch capability - this allows multiple users to share a frequency with out hearing each other. - Keep in mind - if you do - you will have to wait a second before speaking after keying up - to allow the receiving radio to "open up".
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FLHTCUI said:
I would suggest you read post 73 above....
What you are suggesting is illegal if caught ...
Tight groups,
Rob
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Can-down said:
If you are all messed up in the bush and calling out to logging companies or the coast guard, getting caught is the plan.
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Assuming the Radio Operator operating the illegal radio knows what frequency to use.
There was a group of commercial fishermen on the West coast a few years back who commercial fished as a pool group.
they all had a Kenwood Programmable Radio and chose a frequency that they where unable to detect any communications on during the initial set up.
They where communicating amongst themselves ... what they failed to realize was the frequency they had been transmitting on was interfering with a US Hospital and a Life Flight Operating Frequency putting peoples lives in danger.
They plead guilty to several charges that cost them dearly in a US Court of Law.

I also know of a group who where stranded on an Island on the Central Coast here in BC, they had no idea how to operate a programmable radio when they got into trouble and it took the Trained Professionals several hours longer than necessary to respond to there pleas for help...they where eventually rescued and received stern warnings...

But, I digress...
76's .
Rob
 
Shawn, anyone can go to Industry Canada's site and ask that question.

http://www.ic.gc.ca/eic/site/icgc.nsf/eng/h_07026.html


Thats exactly what I did.



Two Industry Canada engineers responded to my email. One from Ottawa and one from Vancouver. Both said the Baofengs were illegal for commercial use and can only be used by amateur radio license holders.

So if one still doubts this, feel free to check themselves. Bottom line, if you don't care about being illegally operating radios, that is one's choice.
 
Just some FYI and my point entirely is that:

medtech1 said:
"These Baofengs are not certified for use outside of the Amateur band"
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medtech1 said:
Both said the Baofengs were illegal for commercial use and can only be used by amateur radio license holders.
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Does not equal

medtech1 said:
Baofeng are not legal in Canada,
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No one has said that it is legal to transmit on armature bands without a license. That does not make radios that can transmit on those bands illegal.

Shawn
 
we use the Midland Nautico marine series at moose camp and we get some pretty good distance out of them in some pretty mountainous terrain. Equipped with the secret service style headsets we get completely quiet communication and very good sound quality. just make sure you keep the antenna pointed straight up in the air not at an angle that really limits your range
 
Shawn:

I'm not going to waste my time arguing with you.

I said in my posts that they were illegal for use in Canada without certification, and I always said, that one exception to that may be for licensed Amateur Radio operators. The clarification from both Industry Canada engineers was exactly that.
 
All these inexpensive nice radios makes me wonder about getting my amateur radio license. Nice advantage being a lifetime license instead of the $41 per radio/year we're paying now for commercial UHF license.
 
Dang.. ok I had to ask more questions from Industry Canada.. specifically about the legality of using the Baofeng radios on FRS or GMRS provided they did not exceed the maximum Xmit power, and be configured for the correct frequency and bandwidth. Lots of people ask about using commercial (ie: HT1250's) and other radios for FRS/GMRS since they are license free in Canada, (and programming them accordingly).

Again their response (again, I quote):

"FRS GMRS radios are certified under RSS-210 Low Power Devices. This device is capable of transmitting outside the limits the RSS-210 standards therefore would never be able to be certified for this use.

This device has NO certification, and is only supposed to be used within the Amateur band in Canada. FRS and GMRS frequencies are outside of the amateur band. "
 
Exactly, last years during the floods getting a cell call out was difficult imagine something really big??????

I bought a higher db antenna, car charger, spare battery, mic, also downloaded the frequency list plus I can pick up the weather frequencies, cheap insurance to know what's going on instead of not.

My trucks bug out kit:
 
Wow.. you have lots of stuff...

We have bug out supplies as well (just in case we need to leave the house)... It can get expensive purchasing good radios (LOTS of extra batteries that we keep charged)... getting good quality MRE's to last a few weeks... etc .etc.
 
medtech1 said:
Shawn:

I'm not going to waste my time arguing with you.

I said in my posts that they were illegal for use in Canada without certification, and I always said, that one exception to that may be for licensed Amateur Radio operators. The clarification from both Industry Canada engineers was exactly that.
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That's fine, you made a blanket statement and got called on it. Your blanket statement was not and is not correct.

If you want to add things to it and then claim that is what you said all long that is your choice.

Your whole point has been that radios that can transmit outside of GMRS and FRS are illegal to use on those frequencies. No one has said other wise.
And that it is illegal to transmit on armature bands without a licence. No one has said other wise.

Both points have been confirmed by industry Canada. To which you turned into Baofeng radios are illegal.

I can ask the exact same questions and get the exact same answers from Industry Canada about yeasu, kenwood, icon, alnico or Motorola radios. Under your logic that makes them all illegal too.

Shawn
 
medtech1 said:
Wow.. you have lots of stuff...

We have bug out supplies as well (just in case we need to leave the house)... It can get expensive purchasing good radios (LOTS of extra batteries that we keep charged)... getting good quality MRE's to last a few weeks... etc .etc.
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Yeah I have a hand crank radio with a charger output USB, solar cell that charges my GT Radio, and an inverter in my vehicle plus less powerful FRS radios that use rechargable AA batteries, so power will not be a challenge for communications. :) My other grab bag has dried food.
 
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