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Walkie talky advice needed
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wobbly
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Baofeng uv-5r. Get them on amazon for about £20 each.
Will cover the ham vhf and uhf channels, but more importantly you can set them up with the pmr466 frequencies that need no licence.
Strictly speaking they arent quite legit - 5w power rather than the 1w, and a detachable radio rather than fixed (so you can use a tiny exterior aerial).
Easy to program as well.
Will cover the ham vhf and uhf channels, but more importantly you can set them up with the pmr466 frequencies that need no licence.
Strictly speaking they arent quite legit - 5w power rather than the 1w, and a detachable radio rather than fixed (so you can use a tiny exterior aerial).
Easy to program as well.
They may also be illegal in other countries but especially in the UK if used on the 2m band without a licence and call sign. Though if using for non business, an amateur radio licence gets you the ability to use them in the uk and get pretty good range depending on obstructions.
Thanks, as some of you know i do hot air ballooning well mostly the retrieve but get to have a little go at the driving bit now & again, i want to try using walkie talkies/two way radio this season so that when the pilot or myself have no mobile signal we can contact one another, not that clued up on the technicalities already mentioned.
2m band is not very crowded these days. A straightforward course gets you a foundation amateur radio licence to transmit up to 10w which is good for 5 miles easily depending on terrain. Ground to balloon and back would be excellent as would mostly be line of sight. The Baofengs are great. You can contact the space station with them at 5w.
The trouble with PMR is that everyone and their kids have it and it's not controlled. Sometimes it can be crowded but most of the time it is ok. Our local 4x4 response group have been training up members to get amateur radio licences for about £60 or so and I think are now the biggest group of users in the country.
The trouble with PMR is that everyone and their kids have it and it's not controlled. Sometimes it can be crowded but most of the time it is ok. Our local 4x4 response group have been training up members to get amateur radio licences for about £60 or so and I think are now the biggest group of users in the country.
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Towpack
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With the amateur bands you also have the repeater network which vastly increases range of the lowest powered transceivers. Also bear in mind there is a bit more etiquette involved with operation on the amateur bands, or at least there should be.
Some of the Chinese radios hitting the market offer very good VFM when compared to the established Ham brands.
Some of the Chinese radios hitting the market offer very good VFM when compared to the established Ham brands.
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Quite right, I forgot that bit being totally ground based.
Edit- so the ISS must have special dispensation then? It is, after all, a special case.
Pumpy
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ISS comes under satelite ops in the bandplan 
If you heard Tim on the trip out there you can report him to Ofcom
If it's just ground based then Amature radio is certainly one of the better options, all operators will need to sit the foundation exam (it's easy, designed for school kids) which is best done though one of the amature radio clubs who can run a two day course/evenings and get you prepped for the exam, there's a couple of practical exercises to do for the exam too, so it's easier with a club, but not necessary as you can do the practicals/exam at any registered exam centre (tho you'd need someone clued up to prepare you). Most clubs that do exams would probably set up a course just for your group, expect to pay £20 or so to join the club, then £32.50 for the exam fee.
There's also business frequencies (similar to taxi frequencies) where you buy an annual licence from Ofcom and use commercial taxi type VHF radios under strict rules, we've used these to good effect with the response team a few times, mite be more practical for a baloon club than getting everyone to do the foundation licence, iirc the licence was about £50 (mite be dispensation for the charity aspect tho) we got a bunch of 2nd hand radios off ebay for around £60-80 each and got antennas from a regular radio suppliers.
Rich are you an M6 or did you go all the way? I sit my 2E0 on the 12th May, just got my practicals signed off on Monday
If you heard Tim on the trip out there you can report him to Ofcom
If it's just ground based then Amature radio is certainly one of the better options, all operators will need to sit the foundation exam (it's easy, designed for school kids) which is best done though one of the amature radio clubs who can run a two day course/evenings and get you prepped for the exam, there's a couple of practical exercises to do for the exam too, so it's easier with a club, but not necessary as you can do the practicals/exam at any registered exam centre (tho you'd need someone clued up to prepare you). Most clubs that do exams would probably set up a course just for your group, expect to pay £20 or so to join the club, then £32.50 for the exam fee.
There's also business frequencies (similar to taxi frequencies) where you buy an annual licence from Ofcom and use commercial taxi type VHF radios under strict rules, we've used these to good effect with the response team a few times, mite be more practical for a baloon club than getting everyone to do the foundation licence, iirc the licence was about £50 (mite be dispensation for the charity aspect tho) we got a bunch of 2nd hand radios off ebay for around £60-80 each and got antennas from a regular radio suppliers.
Rich are you an M6 or did you go all the way? I sit my 2E0 on the 12th May, just got my practicals signed off on Monday
Little Rascal
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Pumpy
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Is that a CB radio? Any links?
Cheers
Nope NOT CB, amature radio.
CB has been opened up since the illegal AM sets of the 1970/80's, there's now 80 channels FM/AM, still 4watt maxium unless you have a sideband rig, you can use 12watts on SSB. 1 in 10 of the calls I hear on CB are sensible people, 9/10 spoil it for eveyone else. If you want reliable comms with no idiots it's best to take the amature foundation exam, or get a business licence (which I think is 40watts)
I've got a Wouxon KG-UV950P in the truck, covers 8 bands from 2M to 11M with full duplex, which means I can program it to use 2M VHF amature bands, repeaters etc. all the business channels, all the simplex channels, all the PMR channels, emergency channels, all the CB channels, and amature bands up to 10M (CB is 11M) - they take a bit of getting used to learning how to use the menus etc. but once famailiar with it, it's a great radio for the money. Course to use the thing properly on anything but CB frequencies, you need a licence.
MarkW
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Little Rascal
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I looked at the above long ago and contacted them, if I recall it was not going to be shipped to the UK. Might be a different brand/ App? Not sure?
Rich are you an M6 or did you go all the way? I sit my 2E0 on the 12th May, just got my practicals signed off on Monday
M6 RHP for now. I'm not into it particularly though some in the group have been well and truly bitten by the bug. I did consider going 2E0 just to be able to use a bit more power but I haven't really needed it.
Business PMR might be worth adopting as its a yearly (I think) licence for the whole business, so anybody can use it in conjunction with that business. If the ballooning is considered a business that should be fine. Having said that 4x4 response UK has one, perhaps that qualifies as a business. Not sure on the ins and outs of B PMR.
Towpack
Well-Known Member
That's very similar to the Yaesu FT8900R I have in the LC but just a bit cheaper. I also recently bought a Wouxan (KG UV9D) handheld which is a great little radio for the money (around £100).
wobbly
Well-Known Member
All you need to know at this stage is:
Baofeng UV-5R
Buy two (doh!), will be less than £50.00 total.
When you have them, you can find easy advice on setting up the pmr channels (no licence needed), try that first. If it doesnt work well enough, then look at amateur radio.
Pete
Baofeng UV-5R
Buy two (doh!), will be less than £50.00 total.
When you have them, you can find easy advice on setting up the pmr channels (no licence needed), try that first. If it doesnt work well enough, then look at amateur radio.
Pete
