Which high power personal radio?

Otter

Otter

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I help with a youth cadet programme and we need some safety radio equipment for land use. Currently we use little PMR's but the output is feeble and everything can be overheard. Recently we had a weekend near Thetford and staff were regularly out of radio contact which causes safety concerns - mobile phone coverage was extremely patchy. Can anyone recommend a portable radio - large or small that will give at least a 5w output and maybe have private channels and doesn't need a radio license?

Or is there a civilian radio that does need a license but the license requirements aren't onerous?

Thanks for your help and maybe there are boaty applications for this!
 
Lazy Kipper said:
I help with a youth cadet programme and we need some safety radio equipment for land use. Currently we use little PMR's but the output is feeble and everything can be overheard. Recently we had a weekend near Thetford and staff were regularly out of radio contact which causes safety concerns - mobile phone coverage was extremely patchy. Can anyone recommend a portable radio - large or small that will give at least a 5w output and maybe have private channels and doesn't need a radio license?

Or is there a civilian radio that does need a license but the license requirements aren't onerous?

Thanks for your help and maybe there are boaty applications for this!
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The PMR466 system has power restrictions so no matter which radio you look at the power output will be around 800 Mw. Secrecy between yourselves is no problem as the radios can be set up so that you have to set up both the correct channel and the correct sub audible tone for two radios to connect. This makes it easy to set so only the cadet being spoken to hears the message . Yes a member of the public in the area can set up a radio to eaves drop but so what!!! It is radio and so an open channel :)


You do not say what distance you want to link over.
 
The distance is less than 2 miles but rarely open ground. Secrecy is much less important than power and ability to recieve over mixed ground. These aren't for the cadets, we need them for the safety staff.
 
Bilgediver said:
The PMR466 system has power restrictions so no matter which radio you look at the power output will be around 800 Mw. Secrecy between yourselves is no problem as the radios can be set up so that you have to set up both the correct channel and the correct sub audible tone for two radios to connect. This makes it easy to set so only the cadet being spoken to hears the message . Yes a member of the public in the area can set up a radio to eaves drop but so what!!! It is radio and so an open channel :)


You do not say what distance you want to link over.
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I think power output is limited to 500Mw. The newer digital sets may give more reliable reception. The Icom sets in post 2 are 500Mw, some digital.
 
If you're cadets, can you not get your hands on proper signals kit? As cadet NCOs we used to use PRC349s to manage exercises we were running even when the exercise itself didn't involve any signals stuff. The regulars have switched to Bowman PRR so there must be loads of the old stuff kicking about.

Pete
 
prv said:
If you're cadets, can you not get your hands on proper signals kit? As cadet NCOs we used to use PRC349s to manage exercises we were running even when the exercise itself didn't involve any signals stuff. The regulars have switched to Bowman PRR so there must be loads of the old stuff kicking about.

Pete
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Been there - answer is no, very complicated reasons largely to do with old stuff still being secret and passed to the TA.
 
You will need a licence for almost everything above the power output that you already use. The licence application is really easy nowadays and most come with an application in the box.
These are only 4W but quite good over open ground, very basic but slightly weatherproof. You can get waterpr0of fist mikes for them off ebay for less than a tenner. They can be encrypted but I don't really think you need it. Not recommending this seller just showing the example of price.
http://www.radiowarehouse.co.uk/kenwood/TK3302.php
 
Lazy Kipper said:
Been there - answer is no, very complicated reasons largely to do with old stuff still being secret and passed to the TA.
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I wonder how come we had it, then. We had plenty of 349s complete with all the accessories, plus one 320 that I think was nominally for talking to other units (no other obvious purpose if you only have one of them!) - not that it ever got used for that in my time. We weren't a Signals unit or anything special; I assumed this was normal.

I guess stuff changes over time, but it was still just about current Regular gear when I was in cadets, and I can't imagine it getting more secret when it gets retired.

Just increasing bureaucracy, I suppose.

Pete
 
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Pete R said:
You will need a licence for almost everything above the power output that you already use. The licence application is really easy nowadays and most come with an application in the box.
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That's interesting. I know nothing about land radios except PMR446 and a tiny bit of military stuff - how does frequency allocation work for that kind of thing?

Pete
 
Thanks everyone. Looks like a licence and some 4w kit, the licence requirements in that link don't look onerous.
 
prv said:
That's interesting. I know nothing about land radios except PMR446 and a tiny bit of military stuff - how does frequency allocation work for that kind of thing?

Pete
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The supplier should programme the radios for you and set up any scrambling as well.
 
Lazy Kipper said:
Thanks everyone. Looks like a licence and some 4w kit, the licence requirements in that link don't look onerous.
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I have never done it myself but you may want to look into hiring the equipment. The ones you use now may be good enough for most of the time and then just hire something when you need it.
 
Pete R said:
The supplier should programme the radios for you and set up any scrambling as well.
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So do you get a channel to yourself, then? Presumably assigned by Ofcom? And then, what, the radios you use are programmed to use only your channel(s)? As I said, I have no idea how radio works on land, but I'm curious.

Pete
 
prv said:
So do you get a channel to yourself, then? Presumably assigned by Ofcom? And then, what, the radios you use are programmed to use only your channel(s)? As I said, I have no idea how radio works on land, but I'm curious.

Pete
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I am no expert just know what I use in the day job.

The Ofcom site is a tad difficult to navigate but yes you should be assigned a channel and Ofcom try to keep the frequencies geographically apart but with analogue it doesn't always happen that you get it to yourself. The specs on a radio may say you can get 16 odd channels but you have to pay for each one if that is what you want. Normally one is enough and the inbuilt scrambling does make it almost secure but not 100%.

If the budget allows then digital frequency is the way to go but over £100 more for the basic models and up to £1500 for the dogs do da's.
 
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