Walkie Talkies

mlocmcgash

Hi, I'm looking to buy a set of walkie talkies for my wife and her twin sister. We're moving in next door from each other and I think it would be a funny (and practical) present to get them for Xmas.

Could someone please recommend me a set for around €40 max? They're detached houses but only a few meters away so they just need to be reliable for conversation for that scenario.

I've looked through the forums but any posts are quite old so links to some suggestions are out of date.

Thanks very much in advance.

Quaderno

What you are looking for is a set of PMR446 radios. They are the only legal option for your purpose and can even be bought at Lidl or Aldi every now and then. They are basically all the same (0.5W output, fixed antenna, 8 channels) and should cost not much more than €30 for a pair. Which brand you buy should make no difference at all as long as you avoid the ones that are marketed as a toy, even different models will work together.

P.S.: You might want to look for a set that comes with two separate chargers, which is rather unusual but would help if the radios are to be used in different locations permanently...

mlocmcgash

Thanks a million - much appreciated.

watty

you can get good PMR446 for even €25 a pair.

There ARE legal hand held real CBs with full power, but they are heavy (batteries) and really big aerials to be any good and may be over €100 each.

There are also legal 864 SRD Walkie Talkies, but they are terrible range. The toy 49MHz ones are also terrible poor range (toys) but I'm not sure if legal.

Mylow

Or these, they will need re-programming, read description.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Baofeng-888S-400-470MHz-Transceiver-Illumination-black/dp/B00CKHTA48/ref=sr_1_17?ie=UTF8&qid=1418086121&sr=8-17&keywords=pmr446

Quaderno

Mylow wrote: »

Or these, they will need re-programming, read description.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Baofeng-888S-400-470MHz-Transceiver-Illumination-black/dp/B00CKHTA48/ref=sr_1_17?ie=UTF8&qid=1418086121&sr=8-17&keywords=pmr446

I'm not sure the wife and sister in law would be motivated enough to do the license exam just to be able to talk to each other Using those radios on any frequency other than the allocated 70cm-amateur radio band would be illegal, and even that would take a licensed operator on both ends...

watty

The Baofeng are illegal for transmission for anyone other than an Amateur. Amateurs can only use Amateur bands.

Dual function (licence free and Amateur) Radios are according to personal contact and confirmation with Comreg, only legal to LISTEN on outside Amateur bands, no CB or PMR446 transmission on same radio used for Amateur band Transmission.

Approved CB or PMR446 that ONLY work on those bands can be legally modified for licensed Amateur use. But then they are only legal for reception outside Amateur bands, they become un-approved.

Similarly no Radio is approved and licensed for Dual Marine and Amateur use in Ireland, even if you have both licences.

blueb

Hi all

Im just looking for a bit of info on the Baofeng 888s
I just bout a pair from ebay. i have only read here that there is some legal issues.
I got them as im seperated from my partner but live a little shy of a kilometer away from her and my daughter.
My daughter loves them but they only seem to work now and again, sometimes i can receive a clear communication from them and cannot hear me at all.
Do i need to program them to legally use them in ireland and if so will this improve the quality of communication.
Ima total novice on this subject so apologies if the questions are laughable.

Thanks guys

GekkePrutser

blueb wrote: »

Hi all

Im just looking for a bit of info on the Baofeng 888s
I just bout a pair from ebay. i have only read here that there is some legal issues.
I got them as im seperated from my partner but live a little shy of a kilometer away from her and my daughter.
My daughter loves them but they only seem to work now and again, sometimes i can receive a clear communication from them and cannot hear me at all.
Do i need to program them to legally use them in ireland and if so will this improve the quality of communication.
Ima total novice on this subject so apologies if the questions are laughable.

Thanks guys

You can't use these legally in Ireland unless you have a HAM license and follow proper procedures (e.g. name your callsign on every call). This requires a technical exam so it's not really an option unless it's your hobby.

Even if you reprogram them to use the PMR446 frequencies which are free to use, they would not be strictly legal as they are not certified as PMR handsets. They also cannot be certified as PMR sets must have non-removable antennas and max 500mW power. However if you do use them on 446 I guess the chance of getting caught is lower as that frequency is free to use and the type of radio is hard to determine from the signal. If you use them on another frequency and cause interference with a legitimate user then it is very likely that you will get caught.

Do you know what frequencies they are programmed for currently? They support 400-470 MHz so it could be anything. If you only get through sometimes you probably have some interference from a legitimate user of the frequency they are on. Remember this works both ways, and whoever is receiving interference from you may report it.

blueb

wow ok, i had no idea of the extent of the rules in relation to radios! so i guess there useless to me thats a pity
iv never heard of anyone being caught for using a radio, but then again i wouldn't be reading anything on the subject!

thanks for all your feedback, a great help

GekkePrutser

Well I suppose it depends where you are. It's a big difference from being in downtown Dublin to being somewhere in a rural area where there aren't many people to cause interference with.

I'm not sure how common this is here in Ireland but I've definitely heard of people getting caught in the Netherlands. They have a nationwide monitoring network there with software that detects anomalies almost immediately and can triangulate a rough position. If you do it regularly they will make sure they have a van in the area to do the final tracing.

In Ireland it's comreg who look after this and they do state they actively police it. But I have no idea how often it actually happens. I haven't really heard of it here either, but I'm sure that if you transmit on the frequency of (for example) a local taxi company they will get annoyed pretty quickly and call comreg.

As someone mentioned in the other thread some truckers are using them, apparently even with illegal boosters, but a moving target is way harder to track than a stationary one that regularly transmits from the same place.

I think it's very misleading that these radios are sold on mainstream sites like Amazon UK without any mention of licensing requirements. Not to mention the fact that these Baofeng's are not licensed for commercial use either as far as I know so the only ones who could legally use them are HAMs.

You could of course get a set of legal PMR446's, they won't cost more than 30 quid or so and they all perform the same anyway. Performance isn't great though and a kilometer will be a stretch if you are both indoors. Standing near a window with line of sight to the other house would help a lot.

Edit: By the way, since you are using it inside the home on both sides: would perhaps a "push to talk" app (or something like skype) on a cheap smartphone be a solution? You'd probably have wifi at both sites so you'd have perfect reception at no extra cost.