PMR-446 Radios

I have some mainly to keep tabs on the Boys when they're outside and in the fields rambling and in the stream and they're fine for 1Km but gave one of the radios to one of their friends and he lives 1.8 Kms as the crow flies and the reception isn't very good.

Just wondering if anyone knows radios that work further than the kids toys version of the radios ?

There is another friend 428 meters away so it will definitely work at that distance.

They would have great craic if they all could communicate, the lad 428 meters would have a better chance of contacting the lad that's 1.8 Kms from us as he's in the middle.

Ubbquittious

I think something like a baofeng uv-5r would transmit on those frequencies at 5w but not legal of course

Also I believe the pmr446 standard bans removable antennas and the included antenna must contain a specified minimum amount of crappiness

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119450787#Comment_119450787

Those radios are far too complicated for kids to use + they'd easily end up on wrong frequencies and not be able to fix or get back to the channel.

The PMR radios are simple just useless really, fine for kids in an estate that know each other but not country kids that would be further away.

Then there's the portable CB radios, these can get out much further and are perfectly legal, the stock antennas are pretty lame and the 51 inch antennas are much better, these would be ideal but pricy really to get 3 of them.

I have ordered a President Randy III, if they were a lot cheaper they'd be ideal for kids and they're legal to use and they operate at much lower frequencies much less effected by trees and buildings too don't know why lots more People are not using them or selling CBs as they are far better than PMR.

DUBLIN PMR REPEATER

something like the boafang 888 are cheapest 4/5watt output without screens just program them up just a volume and channel knob

I ended up getting the President Randy III for the Lads and got Albrecht AE-2990 AFS also.

So, when the Boys are out and about I give them the President which is a robust bit of kit and I keep in contact with the Albrecht which is a nice bit of kit too because it's got SSB.

Anyway moral of the story is PMR-466 is junk, I easily get 2.5 Kms with the CB Handhelds and stock Antennas, I haven't tested beyond this just yet with stock antennas but already blows away PMR466 and CB isn't as easily effected by trees and buildings.

With the Albrecht I made contact with a lad in France and a 51 inch whip I got on Amazon on freeband CB, I wasn't the loudest but he could hear me so will have some interesting time playing with that for sure, I can open it up for the Ham bands, it has 10m and 12M also.

Pity the President hasn't got SSB as it's a really lovely radio.

I can't believe why CB isn't in Argos, Currys etc etc because it is legal and offers much more range and best of all is you're allowed to add any antenna you want on pmr it's not allowed and you are limited more with power.

On FM I have talked around Europe with the President Randy III and the Imax 2000.

Most impressive was the sound quality on FM compared to any PMR 466 radio I've used.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119642327#Comment_119642327

They're not legal and as I've discovered with handheld CB they're much better than PMR-446, "Much" better.

Really just can't figure out now why CB radios/HT radios are not in the shops like PMR 446 because CB is legal and much better, baffling to be honest.