PMR radios for convoy coms (1 Viewer)

Scout

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Anbody use pmr radios for convoy comunications ( 3 vans traveliing to-geather ) I was thinking about the INTEK MT5050 whjich seems to get a good write up? or would cab to cab be a problem for hand held units.
 

GaryW

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We are off to France in June,travelling with Sue83 in a 2 van convoy and was also thinking about pmr radios.
Been watching the DORO WT87 radios, claim to have a 10km range and can get a 2 radio set for around the £40 mark.
 

tonka

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The radios mentioned are all "446" UHF radios that be be used by anyone license free. FORGET anything they quote about range..
I know we have lots of qualified radio hams and comms guys on here and this could get debated for ages.. The simple answer is get some...
When travelling as a group they at least give you some contact and many motorhomers do already use them.

I would be more inclined to choose some with easy battery replacement and charge facility.. ie If they have a dedicated battery pack and a mains charger then they are more limited then say a model that takes standard re-chargables.
At least with standard batteries (AA etc) you have a back up to use normal batteries in an emergency.

If you look at the spec on these they are all the same power, limited by the license law, and many quote the same coverage.. Shop about a £80 set wont really get you further than a £40 set...
 
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SuperMike

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The Intec are nice units, work very well and are great for vehicle comms.

Also with the click of the old wire cutters, you can increase the power out to 4 watts and treble the channels available. But that's naughty and I would never do it. :Blush:
 

rainbow chasers

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Be fine between three vans in convoy.

When I get to the office, i'll check the prices and see what the options are with intek and similar.

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SuperMike

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The Intec's will work off AA batteries and sometimes come with rechargeable AA size NiMh cells. You can also get a charger into which you put the unit to charge. Also as mentioned, ignore any claims for distance, 10kms is only possible with direct line of sight, no trees, no buildings, when the sun is not shining, there is a Z in the month and you have had Shreddies for breakfast. Even Mike's mod to push the output to 4w, makes little difference to distance, more makes the signal clearer and better at overcoming the background noise.:ROFLMAO:

However overall, they are excellent. :thumb:
 
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Have you thought about CBs? or is there a problem with aerial mounting? I have seen Italian hired motorhomes with
cbs and the antenna clipped to the bonnet.
 

makems

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We have Binatone Terrain 550 sUsed them when in convoy of 3 vans recently in Morocco and they worked well
They have mains rechargeable packs but you can use std AAs if necessary.
As Tonka says advertised range an hand helds is meaningless as it depends so much on where you are, your surroundings etc.
we normally use them for reversing.

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mentaliss

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Anbody use pmr radios for convoy comunications ( 3 vans traveliing to-geather ) I was thinking about the INTEK MT5050 whjich seems to get a good write up? or would cab to cab be a problem for hand held units.

I purchased a pair of professional ICOM IC-446S (expensive) some nine years ago and duly used them for when we went cruising.
I discovered whilst watching news coverage of the IRAQ war that the American marines were using the exact same model as mine!....anyway back to the point, two years ago my brother- in- law in his MH and the wife and I in ours drove down to Italy's lake Garda and we kept in touch on the way down using the Icoms, the range of these PWR'S was incredible (on the motorways) and we still use them today :thumb:
 
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Jaws

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All I will say is this..

All 446PMR LEGAL radios sold in the UK are built to the same spec.. MPS1307

They all have the same out put but some have better front ends than others ( they 'hear' better )

I have all sorts, from kenwoods to cheapo crap things bought for £14 a pair on a market..

All perform within UK tolerances

The only units I have even had problems with are bloody Icoms.. And having made a living repairing radios and being familiar with the guts of the things I really should not be surprised.. More than 80% of all Icoms that came in had bad solder joints ..
 
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We use Cobra MT975s on our bikes. Push to talk, they have worked ok, not so good on the VOX on a bike but I would think that would be ok when used inside.

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mentaliss

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All I will say is this..

All 446PMR LEGAL radios sold in the UK are built to the same spec.. MPS1307

They all have the same out put but some have better front ends than others ( they 'hear' better )

I have all sorts, from kenwoods to cheapo crap things bought for £14 a pair on a market..

All perform within UK tolerances

The only units I have even had problems with are bloody Icoms.. And having made a living repairing radios and being familiar with the guts of the things I really should not be surprised.. More than 80% of all Icoms that came in had bad solder joints ..
I suppose that's why then the yanks lost so many trops in IRAQ:Sad:
 

Deckard

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OK i know i am new.....but why dont you all have CB radios?

Easier to boost up - just put a 100w burner on it :)
(thats a signal booster...)
You can get "power mikes" - i used to love my K40....and a 6ft FireStik!! ...aaaah the days of AM ....

I know they can trash tv reception but on the move it shouldnt be an issue?

Is europe still on AM?

No worries - Midland do a mutliband model for £70...you can drop a 100w burner on (euro use only of course) for £60....nice mirror mounted twig for £25....

Is nobody on CB - i hadnt given it a thought till now!:Doh:
 
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Scout

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The Intec are nice units, work very well and are great for vehicle comms.

Also with the click of the old wire cutters, you can increase the power out to 4 watts and treble the channels available. But that's naughty and I would never do it. :Blush:

the "mod" plus the adjustable squelch on this modle is way I put it to the top of the list,

cant do CBs as it would only be for one extended trip so not a lot piont in hardwireing stuff in

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Jaws

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OK i know i am new.....but why dont you all have CB radios?

Easier to boost up - just put a 100w burner on it :)
(thats a signal booster...)
You can get "power mikes" - i used to love my K40....and a 6ft FireStik!! ...aaaah the days of AM ....

I know they can trash tv reception but on the move it shouldnt be an issue?

Is europe still on AM?

No worries - Midland do a mutliband model for £70...you can drop a 100w burner on (euro use only of course) for £60....nice mirror mounted twig for £25....

Is nobody on CB - i hadnt given it a thought till now!:Doh:

We are talking legal stuff ::bigsmile:

100w boots, illigal in every country and not great around some of the newer van ECU's ( just to clarify, not signal boosters but output boosters, a signal booster would amplify incoming signals :) )

Power mics only do anything on AM, on FM they just over drive the audio and distorts it ( on AM, more audio means slightly more power output as they push the rf envelope out more. On FM the audio bandwidth is preset ( on UK cb specs 1.5kH from memory ) but can be tweaked up to about 2.3 to 3kH to make the transimitted audio sound louder.. Much more than that and the received audio will exceed the filter width in the average CB and sound clipped and distorted


In some countries in the EU Am is still legal but only 23 channels with 2w output :Sad:

Oh and yup, got a eu/uk spec unit in the van.. Use a Z27 on a boot lip mount on the bonnet :thumb:
Not ideal but good enough ::bigsmile:
 
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My tale so far
Pmr 446 tried and it works about half mile radius using cheapo sets not bad and better than I thought

Cb worked better using legal uk fm again pushing it after about 1 mile problem being bonnet mounted antenna suspect ground plane crap
Plan b for this is a no ground plane antenna with mag mount up on roof of van as we have a small steel plate bonded up there for a sat dish


Best by far was using Motorola gp 340 UHF programmed onto uk general frequency at times pushing about 3 miles but worked very well up to 1 and half miles. And we can recharge them from 12 volt using existing docks
And yes I have a license for business use

Next plan to take a couple of Motorolas either gp340 or more likely 360 s and program them to pmr 446 but on 4 watts
I have a good friend how works in commercial radio hire playing with them now he reckons it will work ok but unsure about how effective it will be
Yes I know it's illegal

Daft plans I know but I like to play around my preference would be cb as it just about universal cheap and effective and do we really need more than 2 miles

As for putting a 100 watt burner on I don't see point chances are you would not get that much more local distance and just blast over everything

Please criticise moan complain bitch but if you do give reasons and practical solutions
constructive criticism I love it
Then I can tell you to sod of and do it my way
 
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Scout

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My tale so far
Pmr 446 tried and it works about half mile radius using cheapo sets not bad and better than I thought

Cb worked better using legal uk fm again pushing it after about 1 mile problem being bonnet mounted antenna suspect ground plane crap
Plan b for this is a no ground plane antenna with mag mount up on roof of van as we have a small steel plate bonded up there for a sat dish


Best by far was using Motorola gp 340 UHF programmed onto uk general frequency at times pushing about 3 miles but worked very well up to 1 and half miles. And we can recharge them from 12 volt using existing docks
And yes I have a license for business use

Next plan to take a couple of Motorolas either gp340 or more likely 360 s and program them to pmr 446 but on 4 watts
I have a good friend how works in commercial radio hire playing with them now he reckons it will work ok but unsure about how effective it will be
Yes I know it's illegal

Daft plans I know but I like to play around my preference would be cb as it just about universal cheap and effective and do we really need more than 2 miles

As for putting a 100 watt burner on I don't see point chances are you would not get that much more local distance and just blast over everything

Please criticise moan complain bitch but if you do give reasons and practical solutions
constructive criticism I love it
Then I can tell you to sod of and do it my way

I use gp640s a work, but I dont think I could pinch them

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Southampton

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We have just travelled to South of France in a 2 vehicle convoy and used the Motorola 446 radios bought on the net for £49. worked a treat, didn't check the range achieved but perfectly adequate for convoy ranges and speak. Very clear to understand, and batteries lasted three full days but we didn't speak much apart from occasional directions and general chit chat.
 

jhorsf

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plenty of mobile free calls with same provider

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rainbow chasers

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plenty of mobile free calls with same provider

You have to dial each time with mobile, and have hands free - radios you don't. I think this is why cb etc is having a second come back at the moment. I wonder how many youngsters are being encouraged back to the old times by their parents, fed up with paying their phone bills! :ROFLMAO:
 
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Scout

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You have to dial each time with mobile, and have hands free - radios you don't. I think this is why cb etc is having a second come back at the moment. I wonder how many youngsters are being encouraged back to the old times by their parents, fed up with paying their phone bills! :ROFLMAO:


and when theres more than two vans, it easyer to get a consensus on radio,

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SuperMike

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cant you just SHOUT LOUDER :shout: as you pass each other :roflmto:


I certainly could PJ, but not everybody has such a big gob. :ROFLMAO:

When I was a slip of a lad, my Dad, God rest his soul, was a shunter at Paddington. All the lads then used to communicate across the shunting yard by shouting. That's where I get it from. :shout:

Occasionally, on a Saturday, he would take me to work and I would spend the day, riding on the steam engine foot plates. Do I hear lots of jealousy. :moon:
 
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Deckard

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We are talking legal stuff ::bigsmile:

100w boots, illigal in every country and not great around some of the newer van ECU's ( just to clarify, not signal boosters but output boosters, a signal booster would amplify incoming signals :) )

Power mics only do anything on AM, on FM they just over drive the audio and distorts it ( on AM, more audio means slightly more power output as they push the rf envelope out more. On FM the audio bandwidth is preset ( on UK cb specs 1.5kH from memory ) but can be tweaked up to about 2.3 to 3kH to make the transimitted audio sound louder.. Much more than that and the received audio will exceed the filter width in the average CB and sound clipped and distorted


In some countries in the EU Am is still legal but only 23 channels with 2w output :Sad:

Oh and yup, got a eu/uk spec unit in the van.. Use a Z27 on a boot lip mount on the bonnet :thumb:
Not ideal but good enough ::bigsmile:

Ok, ok i was rambling a bit....but you get the idea, straight out of the box with standard kit - seems a better way than hand helds? - which may be good fo reversing - i like that idea - but keeping in touch with other road users on longer hauls has to be an added bonus?
 
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Ok, ok i was rambling a bit....but you get the idea, straight out of the box with standard kit - seems a better way than hand helds? - which may be good fo reversing - i like that idea - but keeping in touch with other road users on longer hauls has to be an added bonus?

That was my idea cb are cheap and cost effective and mostly legal
the only thing I can't get round is ground plain problem and I will not stick a big steel plate to roof
Anybody recommend a good antenna that does not require a ground plain

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