UKC

That radios are popular with climbers?

I started climbing with a person who has not that strong voice. Last weekend we have been in a bit of windy situation between pitches and it caused a lot of comunication problems.

In reply to nutme:


Is your partner Marcel Marceau?

In reply to nutme:

I use radios, they are very useful. Unless you have a licence then the most available option is a set of PMR446 radios, they all operate at the same power level so you won't get a significant difference in range by buying an expensive pair, it's just a question of which features you want.

In reply to nutme:

I've got radios. I don't use them that often but they're good for when difficult to communicate under normal conditions. I'd agree communicating in high winds over a radio can be difficult but then on some winter days in Scotland it's essentially impossible to hear your partner shout so it's all relative.

I like radios for Alpine mainly when more often moving together a full rope length apart. It means difficulties can be communicated to one another. Eg the person on second can warn the person in the lead when at a difficult move.

Also, if you ever have an accident and completely lose sight and contact with your partner then a radio can be a real saviour to communicate what happened and where you both are (speaking from personal experience there).

In reply to EddInaBox:

I think weight and durability are main criteria for climbing. Loud speaker or earpiece would be a bonus I guess. Power is not that important because of short distance.

I had a look at web, but could not find something favourite with climbers. Is there a Skoda Octavia in transceivers?

In reply to nutme:
"Cobra somethings" ...I have a pair but not actually used them, bought in a sale on a momentary whim.

Edit: I think there are some Motorolas which are / were popular too.

Edit 2: I have these ones:
https://www.cobra.com/products/high-performance/cxt-235

In reply to Fraser:

It is against the law to use those Cobras in the European Union.

These are legal:
http://www.nationwide-radio-supplies.co.uk/cobra-mt600

In reply to nutme:

I thought you needed line of sight for radios to work? How do these work when you leader is belayed off around the corner?

In reply to nutme:

Motorcycle intercom radios are worth a look. You'd need to improvise a microphone mount on your helmet strap maybe but they're affordable, crystal clear and tiny.
jk

In reply to Tyler:

You don't need line of sight, although range is much better with line of sight.

In reply to nutme:

Things you might want to consider are:

• Digital or analogue? - digital (dPMR446) is more expensive.
• Do you want CTCSS? - Most PMR446 radios have 8 channels, claims about CTCSS sub-channels on the packaging make it seem like you get many more, but you don't really, the way it works is that if you set a CTCSS code on both radios you will only hear when your partner transmits and you won't hear other random people on the same frequency, however strangers can still hear you and if you transmit at the same time as some stranger on the same channel your signals will still interfere with each other.
• Do you want to be able to plug in an external microphone? - Useful to be able to stash your radio in a pocket and use hands free with VOX.
• Do you want VOX? - Voice operated transmission, your radio will transmit whenever you talk, you don't have to hold the transmit button down.
• Can you lock the buttons? - I can't lock out the buttons on mine (they are very cheap) which means that whoever is climbing is often squashing the radio against the rock and setting off the alert tone, some people might find that a bit annoying.

In reply to EddInaBox:




Cheers for that, I'd better check which ones I have! (I just went by the 'look' in a google image result tbh!) They were bought in the UK, so I'm hoping they are in fact the ones in your link.

In reply to Fraser:

If they were bought in the U.K. they will almost certainly be legal, the ones you linked to were for the U.S. market, and I believe the U.S. FRS frequencies can interfere with the radio used by some U.K. emergency services.

In reply to EddInaBox:

Yes, I'd spotted the US thing just before sending but figured they'd be the same - just being lazy and not checking my post.

In reply to Tyler:

If I remember correctly from school lessons radio waves can penetrate obstacles and reflect from objects. For those same reasons we can use mobile phone in houses.

In reply to nutme:

Over the years we've had several pairs of Motorola walkie-talkies, and used them in all kinds of situations. We originally got them for skiing, but to be fair mostly the kids use them for playing. I can't imagine that they would be a problem climbing.

They've been very good with the exception of the most recent set:

1. The originals. Looking through Google Images I think they were these http://www.ecrater.com/p/16624982/motorola-talkabout-250-walkie-talkie-2-mi... They worked brilliantly skiing, provided you were on the same side of the mountain, but worked 2-3 miles down to the resort

e.g. We would call up my brother, who had dislocated his arm, and arrange to meet in a particular restaurant.

In an urban environment (e.g. In the small town where I live) they last about 0.5 mile.

Sadly, we lost one so got a pair of:

2. https://www.prlog.org/10513478-keep-in-touch-with-motorola-t5583-walkie-tal... These are also pretty good.

Then I got a bit cocky, and wanted to increase the range so I bought a pair of

3. http://walkietalkieworld.com/motorola-tlkr-t8/ and if I'm honest, they're rubbish. The problem is that they have got too clever, so consume power when not in use (they have a clock and a torch). Inevitably when you take them out after a few weeks they are dead.

If I had to rely on a pair it would be the very originals. They were solid, reliable, with no bells and whistles. That said, the call button on (2) is quite useful.

HTH

Rob

In reply to nutme:
I've got a pair of cheap as chips Motorolas, bought for less than $10 in Walmart about 15 years ago. My mother in law bought them for me as a novelty Xmas present - they have turned out to be the most useful and durable things she ever gave me (excluding my wife of course).

One of the LCD channel indicators has never worked and so they have been on the same channel for 15 years. They seldom get any interference (once or twice briefly in that time). They hang on a piece of string, bandolier fashion, in all weathers. A set of AAA batteries lasts for a week's climbing trip in Scotland.

Their range is as least a rope length, but they are broadly line of sight, i.e. if you traverse around a buttress/big arete they struggle, but from above and below they are fine despite not being in true line of sight.

They are great for windy days, sea cliffs, Scotland and the Avon Gorge.


They are simply press to talk, and that's it.

In reply to nniff:


That would be because they are using channels that only licensed radio operators are allowed to use in the U.K. much less crowded than the licence free channels, in fact some of the frequencies that are license free in the U.S. are reserved for the Emergency Services in the U.K.

In reply to nutme:

It's a while since I did multi pitch climbing, but we agreed a few signals, eg 3 pulls on the rope to start climbing before we set off. Once you know your partners climbing style you can tell when they're building a belay etc. I used it quite a lot and haven't died yet.

These antiquated techniques don't suffer from flat batteries or getting dropped as much as radios do.

In reply to EddInaBox:



Probably, but the only voices I've ever heard on them have been child's voices . Total random chatter in 15 years - about 2 minutes at most.

In reply to nniff:

You wouldn't hear Emergency Services radio communications as they use digital technology, but if using the same frequency you could be interfering with their reception.

In reply to nutme:

I did think about taking my daughters walkie-talkies once or twice, would need to rig them to some thin cord to avoid dropping them down the cliff.

If you aren't too bothered about "legal" then eBay is great to get them cheap from China.

In reply to nutme:

The only walkies I could ever reccomend ate the XT420s... Although a bit pricey, its a bombproof unit in use with film crews all around the world. I am taking 40 of them into dartmoor for a week next week with full confidence that all 3 of our units will be in contact over a good 3 or 4 km range, if not more. Also had them submerged, covered in mud, dropped from rockfaces and my personal ones are still spot on!

http://www.onedirect.co.uk/search?query=motorola+xt420

In reply to nutme:

I've climbed multi pitch trad with several people who are profoundly deaf. People can do it without saying anything.

In reply to barry donovan:


You're right but I've been thinking about this for a while. I'm a bit mutton myself but it makes life easier.......