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VHF radio


luggsy

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I've got a baofeng.  It's OK for a starter piece of kit, but noisy, people have tested them and found that spurious emissions are above that permitted by law. Also the supplied antennae are crap. Other than that my HT has taken a good beating, is easy to use, and has a good battery life 

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I'm really not a fan of buying something cheap for use in emergencies. That's exactly the time when you need a good radio which will both transmit and receive loud and clear. If that's your primary purpose for it, invest in something you trust. You can still do that with a budget of around a hundred quid.

If it's for more general use, you'll find that on the inland waterways it's rare you'll get an answer anyway, both because of range restrictions due to geography and because not many other boaters are monitoring VHF. Even when calling ahead to manned locks there are times when VHF goes unheard (depending on the river, of course). If you're at sea or on bigger rivers (the Thames, say) then VHF is valuable if not mandatory,  but again you're now in territory where you need clear, reliable equipment. 

Additionally, not wishing to teach Granny to suck eggs, are you aware you'll need training and a licence if you have such a radio aboard, even if it's in a drawer for emergencies?

Edited by Sea Dog
Autocorrect re-correction! (Granny to 'such' eggs is preferable, apparently!)
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47 minutes ago, luggsy said:

Any one have any experience with this brand of radio ? Is it good enough for a emergency if no phone service? http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Baofeng-GT-5TP-8W-HP-Tri-Power-Dual-PTT-136-174-400-520-MHz-Ham-Walkie-Talkie-/192205904299?hash=item2cc05d59ab:g:aGEAAOSwq1JZMiCb

Exactly what do you want to use it for? 
As far as I can see it doesn't cover the marine band frequencies, so you won't be able to contact the lock keepers with it. Using on 2 metre you will need to take the Foundation "ham radio" exam, so that just leaves it as a PMR and from my experience they aren't very good at that.

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1 hour ago, Graham Davis said:

Exactly what do you want to use it for? 
As far as I can see it doesn't cover the marine band frequencies, so you won't be able to contact the lock keepers with it. Using on 2 metre you will need to take the Foundation "ham radio" exam, so that just leaves it as a PMR and from my experience they aren't very good at that.

It's illegal for PMR use, I think the maximum allowable output for pmr is 500mw or 1w? The min on a baofeng is 4w iirc

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Some of them have an in-built limiter to drop the transmission strength to 0.5w. Don't know how it works but it was what I was told be a radio expert at an event recently, although we were using them with a Business licence, so could go up to 4.8w (5 actual)

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27 minutes ago, Graham Davis said:

Some of them have an in-built limiter to drop the transmission strength to 0.5w. Don't know how it works but it was what I was told be a radio expert at an event recently, although we were using them with a Business licence, so could go up to 4.8w (5 actual)

If we're talking about the baofengs they are switchable between 4 and 8 watts, mine is anyway!

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On 03/08/2017 at 16:38, Alan de Enfield said:

It is not a marine VHF radio and will not work on marine VHF frequencies.

Those Baofeng radios will let you transmit and receive all over 136 to 174 MHz with various parameters. Mostly used for ham VHF/UHF and PMR frequencies, but I've heard them being used for marine VHF and they work OK.

They don't actually have the appropriate certifications to be used on the marine band though, and it wouldn't surprise me if the emissions and performance are well short of spec.

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25 minutes ago, Giant said:

They don't actually have the appropriate certifications to be used on the marine band though, and it wouldn't surprise me if the emissions and performance are well short of spec.

 

This.  I use mine on UK mil frequencies which aren't far away from UK marine frequencies.  Often overlooked is the emissions!

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39 minutes ago, Giant said:

Those Baofeng radios will let you transmit and receive all over 136 to 174 MHz with various parameters. Mostly used for ham VHF/UHF and PMR frequencies, but I've heard them being used for marine VHF and they work OK.

They don't actually have the appropriate certifications to be used on the marine band though, and it wouldn't surprise me if the emissions and performance are well short of spec.

Some time ago I asked the seller and he told me that they did not work 0n the marine channels.

The other issue is when the coastguard tells you to go to (say) channel 12 then the Baofeng radios do not display the channel number, purely the frequency.

 

 

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11 hours ago, Alan de Enfield said:

Some time ago I asked the seller and he told me that they did not work 0n the marine channels.

The other issue is when the coastguard tells you to go to (say) channel 12 then the Baofeng radios do not display the channel number, purely the frequency.

 

 

Not true Alan,

They have over 100 channel storage, I've named all my frequencies.  Using 12 as an example, the frequency is 156.500. I've just stored it in my Baofeng's memory as "Mar 12" and it works just fine.

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1 minute ago, Sea Dog said:

So I think what we're saying is (look away now, Heffalump) it's crap, inappropriate and possibly illegal?

Oh no I mostly agree with the sentiment!  I wouldn't say complete crap, but you definitely get what you pay for.  I think inappropriate in so far that you might be better with a mobile unit rather than an HT, and that you'd need to buy an aftermarket antennae to replace the rubbish it ships with.  And probably illegal, I'd have to do some research on this particular model as I believe it's a newer one and they may have tightened up on the internal specs, and I don't know the UK Marine specs & requirements.

Some hams did research based on the UV-5R and found that some models were compliant and some were too emissive.  Is that a word?

In my case it was ideal, the frequencies I use it on have no emissions requirements, it's a cheap HT with a backlight and it can handle me running through trenches and jumping on it all day! (Oh and the battery appears to last forever.)

I think in OPs case it would be worth spending a little more and getting something a little more reputable.

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1 hour ago, Heffalump said:

Not true Alan,

They have over 100 channel storage, I've named all my frequencies.  Using 12 as an example, the frequency is 156.500. I've just stored it in my Baofeng's memory as "Mar 12" and it works just fine.

I wonder why a seller would tell me it didn't work on Marine channels ?

Are you sure it works (TX & RX) on the marine channels ?

Do you know the difference between simplex and duplex - can this radio REALLY RX on one frequency and TX on another frequency simultaneously ?

Take Marine channel 2 (Port operations / Public correspondence channel)

TX is 156.100

RX is 160.700

With a marine radio you put a call out on channel 8 (which is transmitted on 156.100) and then the radio knows to ‘listen’ on Channel 8 but on a different frequency of 160.700.

The Port replies and you can hear them.

 

Does the Baofung do that or would you have to manually switch to 156.100 to call, then 160.700 to receive the message, then back to 156.100 to answer, then 160.700 to listen again to their reply ?

 

If it does I’d be impressed and would be interested in your findings.

However, if it works for you ……………….

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6 minutes ago, Alan de Enfield said:

I wonder why a seller would tell me it didn't work on Marine channels ?

Are you sure it works (TX & RX) on the marine channels ?

Do you know the difference between simplex and duplex - can this radio REALLY RX on one frequency and TX on another frequency simultaneously ?

Take Marine channel 2 (Port operations / Public correspondence channel)

TX is 156.100

RX is 160.700

With a marine radio you put a call out on channel 8 (which is transmitted on 156.100) and then the radio knows to ‘listen’ on Channel 8 but on a different frequency of 160.700.

The Port replies and you can hear them.

 

Does the Baofung do that or would you have to manually switch to 156.100 to call, then 160.700 to receive the message, then back to 156.100 to answer, then 160.700 to listen again to their reply ?

 

If it does I’d be impressed and would be interested in your findings.

However, if it works for you ……………….

I'm not sure why you were told that, It's dual band with an operable range from 136-174MHz and 400-520MHz.

It operates just fine on duplex and has some really handy settings and indicators to let you know what's going on.  I have used mine with duplex repeaters.

You just save a new channel and input the TX freq and the RX freq and it does it all for you.

 

ETA: I've just seen the model linked by the OP does have a 1W power option, mine is only 4/8, so could be legal for PMR, but I can't remember if PMR is max 1W or 500mW

Edited by Heffalump
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5 minutes ago, Heffalump said:

I'm not sure why you were told that, It's dual band with an operable range from 136-174MHz and 400-520MHz.

It operates just fine on duplex and has some really handy settings and indicators to let you know what's going on.  I have used mine with duplex repeaters.

You just save a new channel and input the TX freq and the RX freq and it does it all for you.

 

ETA: I've just seen the model linked by the OP does have a 1W power option, mine is only 4/8, so could be legal for PMR, but I can't remember if PMR is max 1W or 500mW

Sounds like its 'the dogs blox'

Shame they don’t reduce the ‘7watts spurious radiation’ emissions, reduce the 8w power, remove the non-marine frequency capabilities, make it floating and waterproof, change the batteries to 5v and make it USB charging and get type-certification.

At £40 it would give Standard Horizon etc. a run for their money

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2 minutes ago, Alan de Enfield said:

Sounds like its 'the dogs blox'

Shame they don’t reduce the ‘7watts spurious radiation’ emissions, reduce the 8w power, remove the non-marine frequency capabilities, make it floating and waterproof, change the batteries to 5v and make it USB charging and get type-certification.

At £40 it would give Standard Horizon etc. a run for their money

To be honest my UV-5R+ is a very good HT, especially given that it only cost me £30, and has all the functionality of my Dad's £200 iCom HT.  It seems to be generally accepted that it has sort of low enough emissions to be used on amateur frequencies, and the frequencies I currently use have no restrictions.  It even has an FM receiver built in!

I can't ever see them making a type accepted marine radio, their focus seems to be purely on "affordable ham radio".  I think they have done a fantastic job at getting more people on the air.

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43 minutes ago, Alan de Enfield said:

At £40 it would give Standard Horizon etc. a run for their money

Are Standard Horizon still considered the best handheld VHF radios? If so, which model is recommended?

http://www.standardhorizon.co.uk/index.php?cPath=178_174

I was never really satisfied with my old Silva S12 and wouldn't mind replacing it. One of the issues I had with it was that I couldn't hear it properly if it was windy. I notice that the HX400E states it has 700mW internal speaker. I can't find that spec on the HX870E but assume it would have the same?

It seems to win this PBO handheld VHF review: http://www.pbo.co.uk/gear/pbo-tested-10-handheld-vhf-radios-44934

 

 

 

Edited by blackrose
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My Standard Horizon HX270E is a few years old now and has given exellent service. It is much clearer than my fixed VHF(Which needs an extention speaker) Cant find the invoice,but I think it was just over £100

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