iamchristuffin Posted September 5, 2007 Share Posted September 5, 2007 Hi guys. I'm looking at buying a set of 2-way radios for one of my groups, and was wondering if anyone had any suggestions? Ideally it should be under £100 for 2, with Headsets available, and with VOX. I was looking at the 465PMR radios from maplin - here. Any thoughts? Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boatman Posted September 7, 2007 Share Posted September 7, 2007 The Alan 456 is an excellent PMR446 radio, but there are cheaper ones available from Argos or Asda. The 'PMR' stands for Public Mobile Radio, with the emphasis on the 'public'. Depending on where you are you can get a lot of interference from Joe Soap who is trigger happy on the PTT button. Having said that we use them all the time as we are on an island, eleven miles from the mainland and don't have an interference problem (yet!!!). There's a wealth of information about PMR446 on this forum. HTH. John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bencouchtechie Posted September 7, 2007 Share Posted September 7, 2007 http://www.maplin.co.uk/Search.aspx?menuno...=-1&doy=7m9 Maplin are always quite a good and reliable to look at, they have a wide selection of PMR Radios Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paulears Posted September 7, 2007 Share Posted September 7, 2007 In the radio section on ebay, you'll find a number of UHF walkie-talkies - pmr446 is pretty crowded, but the better ones that are real radios, not toys, are useful. I bought some more powerful wide band UHF ones from Hong Kong, to operate on frequencies I have a licence for. However, they will work in the 446 band, and although not complying with the spec in terms of type approval, power and non-detachable antenna requirement, they work fine. Have a read of this forum TX1, where there is a section on 446 kit, and these Chinese radios. Should help you. Paul Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bencouchtechie Posted September 8, 2007 Share Posted September 8, 2007 yea if your looking on eBay more professional ones are a lot better, I personally have two Motorola GP340s (the ones the police use), but they are a lot better than PMR, you might just have to hunt around a bit Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paulears Posted September 8, 2007 Share Posted September 8, 2007 Ben - splitting hairs here, but the Mptorola 300 series are excellent, pretty bomb proof radios - but careful how you refer to them They are in fact PMR rados - PMR446 is a different beast. PMR446 = licence free, but most importantly, privacy free - anybody can listen in, and despite claims for having many channels, they only have 8 available channels, but are often sold as "48 channel". This is a bit misleading as all it means is a tone lock system is fitted which means you don't hear users on the channel who don't have a matching tone system in operation. Although they can hear you! So in busy areas, they will interfere with your service - I visited a theatre where they were using PMR446 to give cues, and were complaining that sometimes 'GO' cues were not received. Their own FOH team also had a similar set of radios, and were really on the same frequency - so they were interfering with themselves (that doesn't read right, does it?) Ofcom make it clear in their info that:PMR 446 is not suitable for safety of life use or for users who need to have access to frequencies at particular locations and times. PMR offers higher power equipment, better security, better reliability, better protection from interference by the authorities and far worse cost. The 300 series was often used by government agencies, but the Police preferred the older 600 series until their new Tetra/Airwave systems came on-line. It was, however popular as a secondary system operating simplex. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bencouchtechie Posted September 8, 2007 Share Posted September 8, 2007 sorry I was always told they were professional ones and you had to have a licence to operate them, but I still stand by them anyway Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paulears Posted September 8, 2007 Share Posted September 8, 2007 No Ben, you are spot on. The 300 series are professional radios - in fact, very popular in theatres. They do need a PMR licence and are expensive. Buying 2nd hand isn't normally easy for someone without communication equipment experience. Ofcom give you the operating frequency, and you need software to programme them. If you have all this, then this kind of kit appears on eBay frequently. The only common defect is that the batteries may be nackered. Chris wants decent comms for under £100. Brand new, then PMR446 is an option, subject to the various snags it has, as a free, unregulated service. A couple of GP340's on a licenced channel would be great, but unlikely to be done for £100. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bencouchtechie Posted September 8, 2007 Share Posted September 8, 2007 yea that is true, I didnt take that into account, I mean you can find the radios on eBay under a £100 but its the licence that will take the cost up, sorry Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
soundiesam Posted September 8, 2007 Share Posted September 8, 2007 sorry to invade this thread but does anybody know a cheap place to hire two way radios??sam Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bencouchtechie Posted September 8, 2007 Share Posted September 8, 2007 How much are you looking to spend on Renting the two way radios, what type do you want and how long do you need them for and lastly where are you? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
soundiesam Posted September 8, 2007 Share Posted September 8, 2007 How much are you looking to spend on Renting the two way radios, what type do you want and how long do you need them for and lastly where are you? im in leicester, I need them for a week, preferbably I would like Moterola ones. I dont know how much I want to spend I just want to get a price sam Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bencouchtechie Posted September 8, 2007 Share Posted September 8, 2007 http://www.consam.com/They seem to be quite a good company mate.Let me know what you think......Is Birmingham anywhere near leicester???? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bruce Posted September 8, 2007 Share Posted September 8, 2007 Mike Weaver Communications, in Coventry. http://www.mwc.co.uk We have used them a few times, and the service has been excellent. (including driving from Coventry to Glasgow with a spare kit when the courier misrouted the order...) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mac.calder Posted September 8, 2007 Share Posted September 8, 2007 I don't know about the UK - but in Australia, the cheapest way to get a hand full of 2-way radios on a licensed frequency is to lease them. We had a 5 year lease on 6 2-ways, 2 channels, and it cost (from memory AU$300 per year). The bonus being that in 5 years time, we could trade in for new 2-ways. The cost of the lease seemed to work on a sliding scale, longer contracts, lower anual cost, more handsets, the cheaper the price per unit was. The main downside, they are fairly strict on emmissions - ours were down at a very low level, and had problems between our office floors, level 5 and the boardrooms on levels 30 and 31. I believe it is because they resell the frequency to a number of different locations, so the lower power limit allows them to get more from their frequencies. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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