UKC

I've got a cheap pair of radios that I got from Halfords. They work ok but the main issue I'm having is the terrible battery life. Is this a common issue or do I need to buy a decent pair of radios?

In reply to mikeski:

I have a some very cheap walkie talkies, I use AAA rechargeable batteries in them and get two days use at six or more hours per day, I think I would get a third day's use out of them but wouldn't want to risk it.

In reply to mikeski:

Take the rechargeable out and replace with normal ones, mine works fine now for that.

In reply to mikeski:

I've got a pair of Motorolas that must be 15 years old now. They take 4 AAA batteries each and, switching on at the base of a route and off at the top, they last a week in Scotland. They cost less than $10 for the pair. No idea what the range is, but it's at least 60 metres.

In reply to nniff:


If they were bought in the U.S. they probably transmit on frequencies that require a license, it would be against the law to use them in the U.K. if that were the case.

In my experience radio battery life does not correlates with the price.
In fact more powerful unit will drain battery quicker if used a lot for transmitting.

Consumable radios are 0.5W in UK mostly and will do very well on climbs. Personally I use a pair of Motorola T80 for sport and and alpine. Just because cheap and waterproof.

Worth to note batteries will loose charge quicker lower temperatures are. Depending on chemical element used it can be noticed starting from just 10C. NiMH and Alkaline are virtually loose 50% or even more at -10C. Lithium works better and can still perform all the way until -20C. Lower everything becomes much more complicated.

But even at 0C battery (and radio) will perform much better if you have radio under your jacket and use earpiece for communication.

P.S.: Another thing worth keeping in your mind is voltage of batteries. Rechargeable NiMH are always 1,2V in form of AA or AAA. Alkaline and Lithium are 1,5V. So 1Ah NiMH battery would give away 1,2Wh while same 1Ah Alkaline is capable of 1,5Wh.

In reply to EddInaBox:



That's quite possibly the case, but I've never heard so much as a squawk from anyone else on them in 15 years and the range is, I suspect, severely limited. Chance of being DF'ed by anyone who could then be arsed to schlep all the way up the hill and the route to apprehend me are on the vanishingly small side of minute.

Still, if I find a bloke sitting in Coire na Ciste with a big radio, a funny looking aerial and a fierce dog, I'll bear it in mind. Maybe Rivet Joint could find me, but it's probably not on their priority list either - they could be trying to work out what 'There's nothing to belay on' is code for, emanating from a foreign radio somewhere in the Highlands. If they're really serious, they'll connect it to the splinter cell operating on the same frequency down near Castlemartin ranges.

In reply to nniff:

Brilliant.

In reply to nutme:


I have great difficult finding any radios that are small enough to swallow. Might be a very innovative fix to the problem of cold batteries though.

In reply to mikeski:

I have these cheap Cobra ones. USB charged, small and have this auto standby feature to prolong battery life. I have got three days out of them in the alps and they were still going. Could have lasted even longer.

http://www.bhl.co.uk/cobra-walkie-talkie-radio-twin-pack-with-batteries-and...

In reply to nutme:


That's wrong, NiMH batteries are nominally 1.2V, alkalines 1.5V, but in practice the NiMH cells have a relatively flat voltage curve during discharge, whilst the voltage of alkaline cells decreases fairly steadily to well under 1.5V. Simply using the nominal voltage in the P=IV equation is misleading because of this and also because of the effects of internal resistance depending on whether the cells are used in high or low drain applications. If you have the figures for the capacity of an alkaline cell (usually in mAh) then the power available in mWh will be roughly the same as the capacity in high-drain applications and about 16% higher in low-drain applications, a 1Ah alkaline cell would give about 1Wh in a high-drain application, 1.16Wh in a low-drain application.
Also, capacities are not usually given for disposable batteries sold to consumers, so it is very hard to make comparisons.

In reply to nniff:


I saw a guy with a large antenna and other kit.... and a dog.... on top of The Ben recently. I was actually wondering what he was up to. I presumed he was checking out the conditions and radioing back or something, but maybe he' on to all of you with walkie talkies!!!

Or maybe he was a TV licence inspector making sure no ones using the iplayer at altitude.

In reply to mikeski:

Check out the baufeng ones on Amazon, they're really good and battery charge lasts for ages

In reply to Wsdconst:

... and they're illegal to use in the U.K. without a license.

In reply to EddInaBox:


Im guessing you're the guy on the top of the hill then ?

In reply to ogreville:

SOTA activation?

In reply to ogreville:



Hell's teeth! It's time to channel my inner Jason Bourne - I'm off to the chemists to buy some hair dye. You never saw me, I wasn't here....

In reply to ogreville:

could be a new thread title - What strange people or goings on have you seen in the hills?

In reply to EddInaBox:


Nah, usin' a well cheap bandit walkie-talkie is stickin' it to The Man, innit?

Or some such b0ll0cks, apparently.