Walkt Talky recommendation's?

[Lenny333]

Hi All,

We’re planning a trip in a couple of months with some friends in their van and want to be able to communicate on the move.

I know we could use our mobiles but we may not get signal everywhere we go and therefore are considering a couple of (cheapish) walky talkys.

Has anyone any recommendations for a pair that will give us a bit of range, perhaps a mile, that we’d be able to use between vans?

Thanks for your suggestions…

 

[ducati 916]

Hi All,

We’re planning a trip in a couple of months with some friends in their van and want to be able to communicate on the move.

I know we could use our mobiles but we may not get signal everywhere we go and therefore are considering a couple of (cheapish) walky talkys.

Has anyone any recommendations for a pair that will give us a bit of range, perhaps a mile, that we’d be able to use between vans?

Thanks for your suggestions…

BUMP

 

[Landy Andy]

We just got some cheap ones off Amazon and been using them for 5-6 years when required. V surprised by the range.

 

[meanders]

You need to be wary. The unlicensed bands are different here and on the continent. Had a German Walky talky operator break in to my licensed radio mics at an event a couple of years ago.

 

[fishplug]

Probably something like the Motorola XT185.

Has the option to charge from USB, smallish, decent battery standby, decent range*, decent water resistance, decent price for a twin pack (£80ish) and legal to use without a licence.

Supports VOX and 2.5mm headpiece (separate purchase) so can be used completely hands free.

* Range on any 0.5w licence free radio is going to vary enormously. As per the video below, from 250 metres in built up areas up to a good few miles with ideal line of sight conditions.



Alternatively if you want to go really cheap then Baofeng make some pretty capable units but they're not the same level of quality. Might be OK as a starting point to see if you like using walkie talkies in this way although they do attract some criticism. Have a read up on them and see how you feel.

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[The Old Man]

Unless you're planning to be mega miles apart, when we needed comes when travelling in convoy we used;

https://www.amazon.co.uk/PNI-Escort-cigarette-lighter-included/dp/B07Q476VDH/?tag=mhf04-21

Easy to fit and where possible a Mag Mount aerial was more than enough.

 

[Kannon Fodda]

For the last year or so, at various rallies, marshalls have used some Retevis walkie talkie radios. Fairly cheap with various options available from Amazon but these are unlicensed frequency so others can listen in but some have extra programming options. Use usb recharging battery systems. Work well for the shorter distances of the rally fields but I'd suggest 1 perhaps 2km is realistic limit line of sight.

I know Jim and Sian use handheld radios but they have licenced business types.

Best system I've seen for in car comms, which may be data dependent, is over mobile phones, linked to the car radio for speaker/mike so is hands free. Don't know full details but a couple of our ladies travel in convoy with it.

 

[starquake]

You could both do your foundation licenses for a laugh -> would allow use (in UK) of proper ham radio gear that goes many miles.

Not that expensive these days, and allows use of cheap (chinese) ham radio stuff from amazon (legally in UK) up to 10W.