Walkie Talkies.

[Blackthorne]

Originally Posted by Deftonius

RANDOM OUTBURST! WAAAAHHHH!

Huh? Maybe too hung over but I don't get it. :hammer:

[Deftonius]

Originally Posted by Blackthorne

Huh? Maybe too hung over but I don't get it. :hammer:

hahaha. You know how to cure a hangover... Just keep drinking... Come on, it's Canada Day.

[Ronan]

What kind of range do i need to get?

[The Saint]

It depends on where you play and who you play with. Bigger fields and more varied terrain need more range/power. More dedicated fellow players need more frequencies and codes to provide some semblence of secured comms.

[Scarecrow]

Originally Posted by Ronan

What kind of range do i need to get?

Range is deceptive. There is a relationship between range and power output, but, terrain is king. For FRS and GMRS freqs which don't bounce (like AM) you need line of sight. If you have line of sight you can make a standard GMRS radio go 10km easily (2 watts presumed), but if you have terrain blocking you your SOL. Further to that if you have flat terrain but significant foliage then having more wattage (ie: more power, like the ham sets at 5 or 6watts) you can use the power to help 'punch' through the foliage but your range will be reduced.

In all cases line of sight is king, which is why if you're playing a game where you're on a team and doing comms, you always put your battle HQ and comms on the highest point in the field so that your comms officer has as much unfettered line of sight to all team members. I would always take a 1 watt radio with a line of sight position over a 6 watt radio with no line of sight. You can't really buy anything that will give you line of sight except perhaps a whip antenna, but then you're talking lower freqs that your not licensed to transmit on and can truely get into trouble for because it goes further, bounces, is easy to trace and will interfere with a lot of standard equipment (ie: people will notice you).

GMRS and FRS bubble pack radios wattage is set by the FCC and the CRTC, so pretty much all bubble pack radios have the same output power.

[thePiRaTE!!]

Scarecrow, perhaps I could ask you for more info if you don't mind. I'm personally looking for something (don't even know if it exists) that can listen to two channels and transmit on one, for squad leader apps. Any ideas? Something robust. I'm a bit new to radios, but I'm finding my Linton sometimes goes offline in the woods - need more guts. Thanks bud.

[Scarecrow]

Both the Kenwood TH-G71 and VX-7R support channel priority mode where if you're on one channel and somebody open sqwelch on another than you designated as priority, the radio switches over to that channel.

The other thing you can look at is with the TH-G71 it has a PTT hand mic that has 3 macro buttons on it that let you slave them to either a feature or a channel, making it easy to switch from one channel to another. Unfortunately I have not seen such a mic for the VX-7R yet, but if I do see it I am going to get it.

If I am doing comms and need to watch two channels closely, often times I will just use two radios. Yeah, it sucks, but channel priority isn't a convenient feature if you're managing a net, its good for emergency or host channeling, but if you're managing two busy nets, two radios is the only way I've found to do it most efficently.

[thePiRaTE!!]

Good too know. Well, the two radio thing might work. I could set my Linton for close range apps, ie, squad level comms and use the Kenwood for HQ, assuming it has some oomph behind the signal. The Linton is compatible with Kenwood, connector wise which works out. I'm just trying to imagine now how I'd use the macro mic. I suppose, channel. When I needed to transmit to squad, it would necessarily have both radios switched to squad frequency as I relayed a comm. That might be the only time when I'd miss an incoming from HQ.

Out of curiosity - how do they handle the dissemination of radio comms in the military? Does the MBITR system account for any of this? hmm...

[Jayhad]

Pirate I am surprise your Linton is ahving issues, I haven't had any problems with mine and found it to kick ass from one end to the other at the North 40.
I am in the same situation as you, I am always on the command channel, so i can't communicate well with my guys but i always have my 2IC with me to send out info. I just bought another Linton from the last order acidfire is doing, hopefully soon I will have decent communication with all levels on the field.

[thePiRaTE!!]

I think its a decent radio for the price to be sure but I found on several occasions I was greeted with ominous silence while entrenched and awaiting orders, which meant I'd have to sneak away into whatever clearing I could find to re-establish a link. Up high, even far away like on the beaver dam base (vs New Telmark HQ), it was fine. I'm not sure if any radio would fare better, but since I'm in the market for a different feature set, I though I'd look.

I might also look at a model designed to take a flooding. A squad mate got his boots caught simulataneously in the muck on the bottom of the swamp and did a falling statue impression into it. His Linton = teh toast.

[Scarecrow]

Do you have a long SMA type antenna? Sometimes I find the longer thinner 36" antennas will work in places the regular duck won't work in...

[thePiRaTE!!]

Nope, but if its something that might resuscitate my current investment, it looks like something I should investigate. That and the fact an MBITR costs around $7500US. No wonder the defence budgets are so high...

It seems the Kenwood you've mentioned is discontinued. I might try and track the newer model as my 'combat net' radio, and maybe splurge on a wireless PRR headset (as above), if anyone feels like doing some online shopping, feel free to post back any infoes... I gotta go to work, garrr...

[Scarecrow]

Originally Posted by thePiRaTE!!

It seems the Kenwood you've mentioned is discontinued.

Check out eBay, thats where I got mine...

[Cushak]

Are radios like the Kenwood TH-G71 compatible with 'bubble pack radios'?

At the last OP, our team was significantly lacking in team wide communication, mainly due to radio problems. AFAIK, we all had bubble pack radios and many times it was very difficult to reach one another, eventually leading to a couple people just turning there's off.

The reason I'm asking about compatability is because I know not everyone (if anyone else) will be interested in spending that much money on radios, as OPs are just once in a while, so I'd need it to be able to stay in communication with the bubble packs, even if they couldn't reach me back that's an improvement.

[BloodSport]

Cushal, yes they do as long as you program them to the "bubble pack" radio freq.

I have a kensung one, which if I can ever remember where the hell I left the charger for I'll show it to you in operation. Or you can just check with most of the senior PDW guys who bought them a few years back on a group order.