Greetings,

I am considering purchasing a pair of two way radios and I have no experience with them.

Any input regarding features, brands, etc., from those who use them would be most appreciated.

Thank you.

~Holmes

I assume you're asking about FRS radios.First they have a maximum range of 2 miles down to about 3/4 mile in mountains.As usual such things cost more with more features.Try to find out your needs and and match features to that.Pay particular attention to batteries and their life. Motorola is probably the best brand.

I have a couple of Motorola T 5240's with NiCads that work just fine. The Motorola is a decent brand for an FRS handheld. Yaesu (a manufacturer of Ham equipment) had a great set of their Vertex brand FRS radios that were close to Mil Spec. They had good battery life and looked to be pretty durable. I'm not sure if they are still manufactured. I like the Yaesu brand and have used them as an Amateur Radio Operator for over 20 years.

for work (forest engineering) we use a newer model Icon hand held 100 channel programable radios. They run around 600-700 bucks canadian each but they work very well. I have used them over distances of close to 10 km's with out line of sight(I mean into the next valley to someone at the bottom when I was in the top of the valley over) I think they are a great radio and if you want something like that that is programmable to whatever channels use want to use its probably hard to beat it for the price. I have also used those little motorola and cobra radios you can get at wal-mart. They are alright, you get what you pay for though. Don't work well over distances of much more than 2 miles and as soon as you lose line of sight they are done.

Hello Holmes,

I've got a webpage with info and reviews on radios at

http://www.jesseshuntingpage.com/radios.html

I like the FSR's for chating and I don't think this needs a lot of research. My friend got me started with his Motorola's years ago and now we use my set of Unidens I got at Walmart for very little $$. Just go there and buy a few that you like the looks of. I don't think you need headsets, etc but you may have some application.

We have a set of Motorola Talkabout 250's for when my daughter is at horse shows. Good Range of over 2 miles. Just make sure you check local hunting regs, as in some states having 2 way radios while hunting is illegal.

Amosgreg has me curious now.

I watched guides using 2-way radios on a New Mexico hunt. They were helping to position hunters on game that had been spotted.

Was that a No-No?

I have a set of motorola radios and they work ok but the problem is that there are so many people who have them now, sometimes you get other people talking that you dont want to hear and if your hunting within 2 miles of a interstate highway the chatter can be downright annoying,so you can do what i did and go to your local motorola dealer and buy a couple used radios that you need a fcc license for.the licence is somewhere around 52 bucks but its good for 5 years, although its a pain in the butt with all the paper work it is worth every penny the range on our radios is 5 miles but we have used them at farther than that with good reception,a used radio will run you from 125 to 250 bucks also you can get simalar radios at radio shack for about 180 bucks new and they will help you with the paper work to get your licence

Most states allow you to carry radios while hunting but you CANNOT herd or pursue game with them. Wardens and state fish and game departments have defined herd and pursue as using radios to conducts drives, talking another hunter onto an animal during a stalk and calling a buddy to say hey, here comes a deer get ready.

The wardens will cite you under the "fair chase" intent of the game laws EVEN if there is no mention of radio use or their legality while hunting in the published game regs.

Also be aware that many record keeping organizations like B&C and P&Y will NOT allow game to be entered into their record books if taken with the aid of radios.

Ohio is the only state I know of that outright forbids any radio use while hunting. Ohio allows cellphone use which makes no sense because a cellphone is basically a two way radio.

There was a recent poaching case where some poachers were charged in Iowa with using radios to poach der with.

http://www.jesseshuntingpage.com/forums/index.php?act=ST&f=97&t=25864& s=8971db71849ea58e0741843037ee3b10

I know of two other cases of successful prosecution for using radios illegally while hunting. One was in January this year in Alaska where a guy talked his buddy onto a moose with a radio.

http://www.jesseshuntingpage.com/forums/index.php?act=ST&f=1 02&t=15391&hl=radio&s=8971db71849ea58e0741843037ee3b10

The other case was in New Mexico if I remember right.

I have a partial state listing of radio regs on my radio webpage at

http://www.jesseshuntingpage.com/radios.html#Stateregulations

[ 01-30-2003, 05:08: Message edited by: spectr17 ]

Thanks for the information Spectr17. I'm sure, based on what you are telling me, what I saw take place was illegal.

We use the motorola's at our camp and they work well. I recommend them over the Cobra's because the "auto over" tone at the end of transmissions is noisy, distracting and could spook nearby game. It can be programmed "off" with the Motorola but not the Cobra's that we tried.

We use the motorola, I have the most expensive model with all the bells and whistles, as well as one of the cheapest, the fr60. They work good, no complaints. I would rather carry the cheaper model, works just as good and is alot easier to use. They are compatable with other models, i have friends that use other brand names and we can talk to each other just fine. Which work the best...i cant really say.

I would recomend getting a couple of radios if they are legal where you hunt. As far as being ethical, i guess that is a personal opinion, but i find that i dont actually use them to stalk or even find game all that much. The reason i like them is for the simple fact that i can keep in contact with my hunting partner. if me or my partner gets off chasing game, gets lost, loses track of time, gets injured, etc. it makes life alot easier if we can communicate over the radio.

I have three Alinco Handhelds, two Alinco Mobiles, two Icom Mobiles, one Icom IC-706 w/Icom AH-4 Automatic Tunner, and one Icom IC-746 w/built in tuner.

All the radios are top of the line Equipment, but they are expensive and you need a FCC License or your country's regulating agencies authority to operate them and a non licensed operator can operate them only if there is a Licensed Control Operator is present.

I hunt in wilderness areas in the Rockies. I bought three Motorola Talkabout DPS radios a few years ago. They go out to five miles. Some friends bought the 2 mile versions and we had trouble hearing them. In fact, we quit using them. I paid about $140 each. Got the option to have rechargable batteries and AA. I have no good way to recharge batteries in the field so I usually use the AAs. I've never discharged a set of batteries, mostly because I do not leave the radios on all day. My main use is to keep in touch with others for general safety and knowing what is going on. Would sure help if you fell down and broke your leg in the wilderness. One time I recall where they made all the difference was when two guys had an elk down and did not get back till about midnight. We were able to go help because we could talk to them.

I usually just check in on the hour and do not let mine run continuously. You may get tied of the other guys, from God knows where, who talk all the time. I have even heard some dumbos talking about how they shot illegal elk and went in the woods with their ATVs which is against the law. I expect law enforcement is listening. On the other hand, hunting in more crowded areas, you can hear some guys telling where they just saw a nice deer and where it ran, possibly in your direction. My partners and I prefer to keep off the air except as needed. I do not want the elk and deer listening to all the BS so I shut mine off if not checking in with the guys. I am there to hunt, usually alone, and want some peace and quiet. There are some privacy codes that help filter out covnersations by others.

My opinion: How did I ever get along without them? They sure save a lot of confusion and extra work trying to figure out what the rest of the crew is doing. And they provide some peace of mind far from civilization. Sometimes a cell phone just doesn't work---no reception.

The Motorola 5820 has a vibra alert call signal that's almost silent and it uses AA batteries that last longer than the AAAs that some other models use. It also has a scan feature that helps find less used channels.

I have just bought a couple of Motorola T6200's which work on PMR446 which is very similar to your FRS.

I have not tried them in the field but just a couple of observations.

The vibra alert is not ideal as you can not silence the call tone signal being sent out from anther radio if they use their call button to get your attention. If however they just hit the push to talk button, you get the vibra alert as desired.

The rechargeable battery pack available has about a 1/4 of the duration od standard batteries and also may suffer from reduced power/range..this is because indvidual rechargable batteries are 1.2V instead of 1.5V for normal ones...

[ 02-28-2003, 05:21: Message edited by: Pete E ]