Which radio to buy?

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redmist25

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waterloo county, Ontario
We want to buy better radios to help with setting up our hunts. We are using GMRS radios now and are not happy. We would like something that is good for a few miles. What are you using and what would you recommend ?
 
VHF
I use an icom f14. It's not the best but it's good for the $
It's 5 watts, so it works for roughly 5 miles. All depends on the land, works 30 miles on a lake.
All comes down to the battery power. An frs radio that advertizes 5 watts and is powered by 3 AA's is nothing compared to a VHF with battery pack. Plus VHF radios are compatible with most highway and logging truck radios.
 
UHF will be complatible with frs/gmrs channels, thats why I mention the puxing I use... for $70 USD shipped its 4 watt, Ive gotten over 14km in city range on it which was basically from one end of peterborough to the other. Not sure about out of city but I would imagine 2-3 times that.

For those of you with a UHF radio and wanting to use it with your buddies who have Motorola Talkabouts, Corba's or any other FRS/GMRS radio that you buy from Future Shop, Best Buy, Radio Shack and so forth, here is the corresponding frequencies for their channels;

Ch Service Frequency

1 GMRS/FRS 462.5625
2 GMRS/FRS 462.5875
3 GMRS/FRS 462.6125
4 GMRS/FRS 462.6375
5 GMRS/FRS 462.6625
6 GMRS/FRS 462.6875
7 GMRS/FRS 462.7125
8 FRS 467.5625
9 FRS 467.5875
10 FRS 467.6125
11 FRS 467.6375
12 FRS 467.6625
13 FRS 467.6875
14 FRS 467.7125
15 GMRS 462.5500
16 A GMRS 462.5750
17 GMRS 462.6000
18 B GMRS 462.6250
19 GMRS 462.6500
20 C GMRS 462.6750
21 GMRS 462.7000
22 GMRS 462.7250

Now, onto the sub channels, or their correct term...CTCSS (Continuous Tone Controlled Squelch System). Some UHF radios do not allow you to add in CTCSS, some are easy to add, others have a search function, etc. Again, they are not hard to program once you get the hang out it.

Sub-Channel (CTCSS) Freq (Hz)

1 67.0
2 71.9
3 74.4
4 77.0
5 79.7
6 82.5
7 85.4
8 88.5
9 91.5
10 94.8
11 97.4
12 100.0
13 103.5
14 107.2
15 110.9
16 114.8
17 118.8
18 123.0
19 127.3
20 131.8
21 136.5
22 141.3
23 146.2
24 151.4
25 156.7
26 162.2
27 167.9
28 173.8
29 179.9
30 186.2
31 192.8
32 203.5
33 210.7
34 218.1
35 225.7
36 233.6
37 241.8
38 250.3



So, for example, if your friends with Motorola Talkabout radios are using channel 14-21, you would set your UHF radio to 467.7125 with CTCSS tone 136.5

I have personally tested all of these frequinces and their corresponding channels out along with all of the sub channels with my Puxing PX777 and a Motorola Talkabout and they all work like a charm...

Lastly, enjoy your brand new UHF radio and the performance upgrade that comes with it (more rang, far superior sound quality, longer battery life, better make, etc)!!!
Click to expand...

This should probably be stickied....
 
Great info Gents. The Info from Widowmaker is especially good. I knew there was some radios available to cross talk with GMRS and this was exactly the info I was looking for. Now I would just like to hear more about which models everyone is using and what they like or dislike about their specific models.

Johnny Y has a point but half the time the FRS/GMRS work so poorly they might as well not have them. I would rather talk to half the people reliably than everyone only occasionally. I would think that if you broadcast with the better more powerfull radio on an FRS channel all users would be able to receive on any radio even if they cannot broadcast successfully, can anyone relate experiences about this scenario?

Thanks
 
http://www.409shop.com/409shop_product.php?id=102049

that is the one I have that is compatible with all frs/gmrs bands

postitives:
-insanely good battery life (several days on standby)
-great range
-no lag (audio transmits immediately, no 1 second gap between pressing the button and audio reaching the other end)
-lots of memory to pre program your favourite station
-tiny (fits in most motorola/cobra style pouches)

Negatives:
-instructions are terrible engrish, takes a little extra time to figure it out.
 
I really like the Garmin handhelds with GPS so you can see where your buddies are. If you get them from the States, they come in 5 watts, Canadian version is only 2 watts. In the thick bush we were getting about two miles with the five watters, open fields and lakes were about ten miles. We put an additional Yaggi onto a 50 foot TV tower at buddies cabin, it gave an extra 15 KM from our base camp.


The voice activated headset works really well when you're hunting. No more bleeping and squawking when you're looking at some nice animals.
 
Heard good reviews on the Puxing but stumpled on the Wouxun KG-UVD1P. Looks like $105 a piece for a VHF/UHF radio. Best of both worlds in you can get LAD, logging road, ham and GMRS/FRS.

They are not a true dual band radio in the fact that you can't be used as a cross band repeater. Seems to get decent to good reviews on the ham boards expecially for the price.
 
Try here http://www.cabelas.ca/index.cfm?pageID=69&&ID=3195

As a ham radio operator I appreciate good VHF communication in the bush. These Humminbird marine radios operate in the 2 meter band just above the ham band and will provide good coverage in most situations. The 5 watt output is identical to the handheld ham radio units. The price is good IMO. They are not, however, compatible with the FRS/GRS service. A small hunting group could probably find the incentive to purchase their own individual radios here?
 
woodlotowner said:
Try here http://www.cabelas.ca/index.cfm?pageID=69&&ID=3195

As a ham radio operator I appreciate good VHF communication in the bush. These Humminbird marine radios operate in the 2 meter band just above the ham band and will provide good coverage in most situations. The 5 watt output is identical to the handheld ham radio units. The price is good IMO. They are not, however, compatible with the FRS/GRS service. A small hunting group could probably find the incentive to purchase their own individual radios here?
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You know that legally one need a marine radio license to tx with those. Nevermind that you are not supposed to use them for land comm's.
 
rattle said:
You know that legally one need a marine radio license to tx with those. Nevermind that you are not supposed to use them for land comm's.
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Yes, of course. We should tell the thousands who use them for other than marine use about this. They may care. Thing is, they do have limited range and would be highly unlikely to interfere with commercial marine radio traffic unless one used them near a body of water with commercial marine traffic. You are correct that a license should be had before one uses them, but the usage is somewhat established along the lines of CB and GRS/GMS I would venture to say. If I had a dollar for everyone using them for general purpose communications on land I could retire. Doesn't make it legal, or even right I suppose, but there it is.

On a further technical note, the 2 meter band (marine VHF for example) range is superior to the GRS band which is in the 450 mhz or the 70 cm band. Yet another reason why marine radios are so popular with those seeking good, reliable, and reasonably long distance comms in the bush.
 
i do know that there is a limit of something like 2.5 or 3 watts for GRS/FRS radios in
canada but not in the US so if you look at the spec's carefully you may find a 5 wat GRS/FRS radio in the US and you would have to have it shipped here or get somone to bring it over to you.
you can find the exact same models in canada and the US with different wattage.
 
woodlotowner said:
Yes, of course. We should tell the thousands who use them for other than marine use about this. They may care. Thing is, they do have limited range and would be highly unlikely to interfere with commercial marine radio traffic unless one used them near a body of water with commercial marine traffic. You are correct that a license should be had before one uses them, but the usage is somewhat established along the lines of CB and GRS/GMS I would venture to say. If I had a dollar for everyone using them for general purpose communications on land I could retire. Doesn't make it legal, or even right I suppose, but there it is.
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I guess it depends on your location. Around my parts on the coast of BC tug operators get pretty annoyed with people mis-using marine radio's and have been known to report them.

Completely agree with you on the VHF having better range to UHF for comm's in the bush.
 
woodlotowner said:
Thing is, they do have limited range and would be highly unlikely to interfere with commercial marine radio traffic unless one used them near a body of water with commercial marine traffic.
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Marine frequencies are reused for other commercial purposes away from areas of heavy marine use. You may not be interfering with any commercial marine users, but you may be interfering with somebody is actually licensed to use that frequency.

Use frequencies and radios that you are allowed to use. There are rules in place for a reason.

BB
 
phishroy said:
i do know that there is a limit of something like 2.5 or 3 watts for GRS/FRS radios in
canada but not in the US so if you look at the spec's carefully you may find a 5 wat GRS/FRS radio in the US and you would have to have it shipped here or get somone to bring it over to you.
you can find the exact same models in canada and the US with different wattage.
Click to expand...

Practically, there is no difference between 3W and 5W radios. They don't allow you to talk twice as far. Radio propagation doesn't work like that. It's the logarithmic inverse square law. You'd need 10X the power to talk twice as far. If anything, the 3W radios will probably be more kind to your batteries. Don't sweat a couple of watts.

BB
 
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