Quote:

Originally Posted by Scooterboy

... which is what most of us use on drives.

Most of OKI are using Baofeng radios, which are 2W and 5W, as Scooter mentioned.

Yes a license is "required" to transmit at 5W...

 

To echo what others have said re higher power units and the FCC license. The FCC license is very easy to get and the price is now half of what it used to be. It's $35, there is no test, and it's good for 10 years. There is really no excuse for not having one anymore as they are required (no air quotes here) for anything transmitting higher than 2 watts. https://midlandusa.com/blogs/blog/fe...s-license-cost

As far as handheld's go, Midland X-Talker T71VP3. And I would recommend a good earpiece (headset) for any radio you get if you are in a convertible or other noisy vehicle. Some of the best handheld units I have had over the years were by Motorola but are, sadly, no longer made.

Jason and I run the Midland MXT275 (this is not a handheld unit, but a very small device installed in the car) with the 3db Ghost antenna in our S2000s. I personally find an earpiece headset to be most convenient with this unit. We've been very happy with how these have performed on our Overdrive Adventures events and on our local day drives with The EOQ Drive group.

We also carry the Midland X-Talker T71VP3 handheld units for when we get out of the car, when we are in a car that doesn't have the built-in unit, or to share with others on our drives who don't have radios. We have found those handhelds have great battery life and they do okay on transmit and receive. Because we do so many of these drives now, we really need to have reliable radios, so we have done a lot of research on the topic. A poorly functioning radio, no matter how good of a deal it may have seemed at the time, is just money wasted.

If anyone is interested in it, I'll find Jason's installation write-up for the MXT275.

We both like the MXT575 a lot, but are not likely to make the investment on those just yet as they are $400.

GMRS and FRS are compatible, but GMRS can transmit at a higher power and has subchannels which the strictly FRS units may not have. The flexibility and compatibility of a GMRS unit is what made us choose what we did. We have had no problem with smaller handheld units communicating with our higher power MXT275 units.
.

 

Just making sure we're discussing toy 2-way radios, FRS, etc. For sale on blister packs at Walmart (I'm sure). Channel 4 seems popular with folks.

-- Chuck

 

The OP asked for recommendations on something to replace his currently owned Motorola T5820 radios which appear to have failed due to age/use. Those are handheld 22 channel FRS/GMRS two way radios which support sub-channels. It's possible I missed it, but I do not recall him mentioning that he is looking for a toy. I believe he was asking for a recommendation on something good but not too terribly expensive in the market. An $80 set of radios is about par for what has been requested, but he did not specifically mention a budgeted amount.

 

I have been perfectly happy with my Baofeng UV-82's. The autosports club I was with before mowing has used them for all the radios for a few years now. Roughly $25 ea and lots of features. We cloned a program for them so it is quick to set up new ones.

 

I have the Boafeng 8watt FRS/GMRS radios and have the FCC license to use the commercial band. For the money, they are excellent radios.

 

10 years.

 

Thank you!

You are correct, I am looking for a decent handheld set for recreational use. I would be looking to spend under $100.

Jim

 

wow!

I have been on this forum since day 1 and have never had someone reply to a question like this.

While I certainly have the means to buy an expensive setup, I don’t have the need for one. But don’t see why the input has to be insulting by calling what I require to be a “toy”.

I also know that some people need to or want to shop at Wal-Mart so what is wrong with that?

 

Midland X-Talker T71VP3
For less than $100 on either Amazon or direct from Midland.