Dudes,

I'm looking to buy some handheld, "walkie talkie" type portable radios. We are convoying a couple of cars (three in total) to Kalbarri in a couple of weeks and I figured these would be a good way of keeping in touch. We don't need massive range as the vehicles will be in close proximity, and all vehicles will have more than one person in them so (in theory) they won't need to be operated by the driver.

Anyone with any experience with these things? I know Dick Smith carry a range and sell twin packs etc, but as I've never used them I'm throwing this out there to see what experience others have had.

Even better, if someone can lend me three of them for a week ..

Cheers,

Wrxpc

Basic 40 channel uhf will do the trick from Dick Smith and Tandy type stores. The range is quite decent and with 40 channels there will be plenty of airspace so you dont share some other channel or something similar.

Cheers

i have a uniden UH049sx, and its pretty good. I was able to transmit and receive clearly (with a bit of background noise) to a friend of mine who has a UH043sx over a distance of about 2.5 k's with a massive hill in between us.

personally i would go for a well known brand, not some china spec brand that wouldnt have the tx power to go through your hand if you held it in front But if its just a once off expense for your trip a cheapy would probably be alright

I use a GME TX670 handheld UHF. http://www.gme.net.au/products/radio...andhelds/TX670

Works great for the close communications. I have used mine in driver convoys and small campsite management. Have even got up to 3km range in line of sight. Any compact 1/2 watt handheld should do the job.

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WGM

Wrxpc,

At Dick Smith the twin pack Uniden UHF are good but they usually run only on ac mains. But they also work with AA batteries afaik if you stock up on few packs

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MY00 GT Forester with STi goodies

get something with 2w+ of power, the 0.5w cheapie ones aren't worth the money. you might get "2km reception" but that is measured line of site over open terrain. once you factor in the loss from being inside a big metal can, soon enough the first and last car won;t be able to communicate

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MY93 Impreza GX 1.8L, 0hp, 0nm

Group buy?

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Bruce
08 STI - Ugly Betty Bites!!

don't knock the china specs
I have a Quansheng TGK4AT off ebay for less than $100 delivered as recommended by B4GT
excellent unit, rugged and powerful with 5W. my wife dropped it from waist high onto concrete with barely a scratch. Comparable with units costing 3x as much. Used to scan police channels too before they went digital encrypted.
you can also attach an external antenna which will improve reception.
the only catch is you need to mod it for Oz CB channels but its easily done

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There's a hoon in every Typhoon

Jester did a group buy for some of us a few years ago.. I lost mine recently, but it worked great for the years I had it... so keen to buy another one.

Jester, go go

Memo Communications in Osborne park hire them out. Don't bother buying them.

Cheers