UKC

Hallo. I would like to ask a question. I want to bye a walkie talkie for communicating when trekking or mountaineering. What special features should I take into account? Is there a certain brand that it is better?

Thank you

In reply to Poterium:

First thing you need to consider is do you have an operators license?
If not then you'll be limited to buying one of the many legal to operate "Walkie Talkies" which have a transmit power of max 1 watt. Anything with a higher output are usually " Transceivers" and would be illegal to use unless you had an operators license, beware, as many of the units advertised on E-bay etc are ones you need a license for, so check before buying.
Having said this even the 1W walkie talkies are still useful for communicating between groups, for example if your group splits and some want to go down, or talking different routes and want to coordinate timings. Useful for communicating with base camp, if over nighting on the mountain.
Remember all these radios require "line of sight" to operate. ie you basically need to see where your communicating too. you can sometimes get away with slightly around the corner, but if your expecting to communicate with someone in the next valley then you can forget it! 1W "walkie Talkies" are usually good for up to 3km line of sight comms, maybe 5km if your very lucky. 5W transceivers maybe up to 10km line of sight. Lots of thing degrade performance in the real world though, especially weather! If your talking about large expeditions abroad on some of the bigger more popular mountains in the greater ranges, then most of the guides and operators are using Transceivers with there own dedicated frequencies to communicate between camps on the mountain. Would be best to check the relevant law of the country you would be going to with regard to licences, saying that, I've never once been asked for mine.
Oh one other thing, use spell check please!!!

In reply to Poterium:

http://www.ukclimbing.com/forums/t.php?t=614808

In reply to pass and peak:

Some helpful advice there, but rather spoiled by your last sentence where you forgot the smiley! Or are you really a pedant?

Look at your 4th to last line.... "Transceivers with there own dedicated frequencies"

Pots calling kettles black springs to mind........

In reply to Poterium:
It largely depends on where you want to go. In most of Europe PMR 446 walkie talkies are generally legal, and a high quality handset is the default short-medium range option.

In the states these are illegal, as the band they use is allocated to radio hams IIRC. They have a license free walkie talkie standard with similar capabilities (FRS) that is illegal to use over here.

As for other countries, it's a bit of a crap shoot & you would need to look into it on a case by case basis. It wouldn't surprise me if some of them consider 2 way radios to be military gear and use them as an excuse to arrest people for spying. Some places still felt the same way about maps and GPS fairly recently.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PMR446
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Family_Radio_Service

In reply to Trangia:

Forgot Smiley, plus it was Monday morning, hate world and all that!

In reply to Trangia:




That's not a spelling mistook, it's a grammatical error

In reply to Poterium:
If youhave the cash to spend then Licenced digital VHF radios will definitley be your best bet fr long range communication (possibly over 10km but only line of site). These are usually supplied through a dealer who can take care of licencing and programming for you.

2nd hand VHF radios are available and depending how techy you are you can program yourself with a bit of youtube help. Check ebay out for info.

If you only want something to bring a group back together that might only be a few hundred metres apart then pmr446 radios will do perfectly well. There are loads of options but again if you have the cash to spend then commercial sets are usually the most durable. Otherwise binatone, motorola, midland and intek are all good brands

edit: one other thing I would say is if your using them for any kind of serious safety use then avoid cheap chinese brands from ebay (baofeng, retrevis puxung)

Waterproof, operating temperatures well bellow zero and durability is the most important in my opinion for mountaineering.

In normal climbing / mountaineering scenario myself and my partner are speaking on PMR446 with 0.5W power. It is really enough. You want more if you want radio link between base camp and climbers.

On legal side of business. Situation in UK is that you can store and carry that ever you like. Only usage is illegal without a license. But I have never seen an OFCOMer on the mountain. Most of countries have different rules. Personally I just ignore them, and use that ever is free. But it is personal choice.

In reply to Trangia:


What about where 'pass and peak' says, 'you basically need to see where your communicating too' ?
Are they spelling or grammar?

In reply to Fredt:
your - grammar

too - spelling

I hadn't noticed those. The carbon is certainly accumulating.........

In reply to Poterium:

wish add never sed nowt nuw!

In reply to Poterium:

We have a pair of BT Freeway PMRs (fairly old now, but they still work).
I've found them ideal when sea cliff, or winter climbing when there is a lot of background noise and second is likely to be out of sight. Saves loads of shouting, guesswork and pulling on ropes!
I've also found them useful when MTBing with 'er indoors - I can safely ignore her and blast off down a track, safe in the knowledge that we can still keep in touch.
PMRs also very useful when aligning TV aerial on the roof!
One piece of advice is not to get a PMR with only the 'fixed' frequency channels. On the BT freeway models you are able to tune both sets to other frequencies within the waveband allocated to PMRs. If you don't do this, then chances are that there may be someone else on the same channel. I speak from experience here - seems that every Ten Tors group out training on Dartmoor is PMR-equipped and that every fixed channel is pretty much constantly in use at weekends.
N

In reply to Poterium:

Question for the experts - presumably the headset systems bikers use would be ideal for helmets and climbing in a pair?

In reply to Poterium:

So can someone confirm for me:

UHF - used by walkie talkies - unlicensed
VHF - licensed

In reply to Removed User:
I never bothered with headsets for mine although I can get them as an optional extra.

I mostly only use them between belays (safe, off belay etc.) so they just go in a pocket until I need them.

I only really use them in winter, so it's generally a buffalo chest pocket.

In reply to illepo:



Analog PMR446 walkie talkies using a specific set of frequencies at 446MHz are unlicensed.

Another set of frequencies at 446MHz is allocated for unlicensed use of the equivalent digital systems (dPMR and DMR) but that technology hasn't really filtered down to consumer level yet.

All other systems operating at VHF, UHF or whatever are licensed.

In reply to illepo:

Pretty much what eliptic has already said, all you can get unlicensed UHF and licenced UHF, all VHF frequencies should be licenced (not considering marine VHF which you dont want)