Err...Looking for Walkie Talkie - Buy or rent

[Dream Merchant]

Just wondering ... Does anyone have a set of approved short-range (about what ... 3 km?) Motorola Walkie Talkies in good condition to sell?

Or wouldn't mind at all renting a longer range one for one day's for use at this Sunday's upcoming SG Marathon (suspect there would be lots of higher range WTs in use on that day by security) cos I need to have a spotter ahead of the race route, and there would be tons of human, cell phone and radio traffic in use on that day so I'm a bit concerned that the short-range ones may not transmit/receive effectively.

Or would appreciate any opinions and suggestions of options (would be using this continuously over a 4-4/12 hour period and I expect to carry extra batts if needed).

Sorry if any of the above sounds stupid as I'm not familiar with radio transmission/receiving. :embrass:

Thanks, and feel free to PM me.

CHEERS!

 

[wildstallion]

Just wondering ... Does anyone have a set of approved short-range (about what ... 3 km?) Motorola Walkie Talkies in good condition to sell?

Or wouldn't mind at all renting a longer range one for one day's for use at this Sunday's upcoming SG Marathon (suspect there would be lots of higher range WTs in use on that day by security) cos I need to have a spotter ahead of the race route, and there would be tons of human, cell phone and radio traffic in use on that day so I'm a bit concerned that the short-range ones may not transmit/receive effectively.

Or would appreciate any opinions and suggestions of options (would be using this continuously over a 4-4/12 hour period and I expect to carry extra batts if needed).

Sorry if any of the above sounds stupid as I'm not familiar with radio transmission/receiving. :embrass:

Thanks, and feel free to PM me.

CHEERS!

Wouldnt a 4 hour phone call cost the same as rental or purchase?

 

[viewwing]

Bro,

I think the phone call idea is better... a walkie talkie with a 3km range... or even 5km range. is its OPTIMUM. a decent walkie talkie say... the motorola GP 328 type which is in the range of thousand of dollars for a new one :bigeyes:.. prob a refurbish one is a few hundreds:sweat:. its range is prob about 20-30 km... but with trees, building blah blah... you won't have much distance on these...

A phone call would be cheaper... :thumbsup:

Do reconsider

 

[Dream Merchant]

Thanks for the input guys!

Hmm ... you have a point there.

Never thought about it that way, but from last year's experience, I could not hear my cell ringing, nor the person calling me on my cell, as in, I could not hear what the person was saying at all, even though that person was close to screaming. My Motorola hands-free is also one of the most useless things ever invented - keeps falling out and poor voice quality.

I will be near or very very near the finish (not settled yet). If I'm at City Hall, that area has incessant DJ and emcee voice-overs, announcements and music blasting. My spotter would have to be less than 500m away max, more likely within 150 - 300 meters. Both of use would have to be along the road.

Would a sub $100 Motorola walkie talkie be louder than my cell phone, or do i have to get something higher end as I don't think the cell phone option would work?

 

[cairocks]

A friend of mine just bought a 5KM walkie talkie last month and we did some trials on it. The result is far from satisfactory. Most of the time, at HDB areas, the transmission range is around 200 to 300meters. Estimate is 2 blocks of flats in between is the limit. Even from my friend's top floor flat, I lost connection around 400m away. Basically, once I got some trees between the flat and me, that's it, no more transmission. We tried at changi beach also, 200 meters. The only location we got satisfactory transmission is at yishun dam. We manage to maintain transmission up to 1.8km, but the last couple hundreds of meters is that it is very difficult to make out what the message is all about, lots of static.

 

[viewwing]

Hmm... if there are DJ and such at your location a radio won't be of much use either. Maybe if there's not much conversation needed you might wanna try SMS. invest in a arm pocket for your phone to vibrate on your FOREarm. Putting it in ur pocket will prob render the vibration useless but on ur forearm it will be felt for sure.

i guess the only problem is that you won't know if the SMS will reach u...

if you're just having him to spot certain numbers, prob have him sms and after that call to make sure you read ur sms...

A good radio will not be in the range of 100... and u must have a base station to have a strong signal for R/T... radio to radio usually sufferers cause the higher powered radio usually transmit less than 4w of power ... which is already considered harmful over prolong period of use... :sweat:

The other alternative u can try finding out is GRID...

http://www.grid.net.sg/

 

[Dream Merchant]

Thanks guys!

GRID looks interesting, but I have to get two new handsets (i.e., new phones) right? Hmm ... how much would it cost in total?

This is pretty much going to be for one-off use, and even though costs are covered, I do not want to jack up budgets unnecessarily.

I only need a 150 - at most 500 m effective range around the padang area/Connaught Drive area.

 

[viewwing]

:dunno:

if budget is the main factor here, at least get a 10km or 15km one... and test it on site first... u can't duplicate the crowd... but at least u'll have a feel how it is going to be like... and if possible get your spotter to be on high ground... u need line of sight for those small walkies to work... those have transmission power of less than 1w.... and do remember the noise level...

if all else fails, there's still the handphone & sms. :bsmilie:

 

[Dream Merchant]

OK, thanks for sharing your info and experience guys! I really appreciate it.

 

[Lady Ice]

Happy running and remember to smile for the camera when you cross the finish

 

[Dream Merchant]

Thanks for your kind words Lady Ice, but I will be watching other run...and shooting them.

Will you be running 'in-theme' this year?

 

[petetherock]

I have a few sets of motorola walkies rated 5km, and a mil-spec Garmin, None reach more than 1km, so I wouldn't recommend it.

You are welcome to test them, just pm me after Wednesday.

BTW OT a bit, where does the marathon start and end?
Thanks

 

[Dream Merchant]

Thanks for the generous offer Peter. Another kind CS member offered to rent some sets, as well as suggested that if I needed more professional sets, I could rent from a shop on the 2nd floor of Sim Lim Square. An option which I was considering seriously. Will PM you if needed.

Here's the route maps and guided tours: http://www.singaporemarathon.com/en/route/?sec=204&ssec=553 Look through the other sections of the site as well for more info.

 

[dreamerz]

lol...my dad jus bought a icom VHF walkie for 200+....range up to 30km...there are cheaper 1 in the shop....

 

[Lady Ice]

Thanks for your kind words Lady Ice, but I will be watching other run...and shooting them.

Will you be running 'in-theme' this year?

Ha ha - not this time round.......... - got a 50 mile ultra to attempt (am already regretting it!!!). Anyway enjoy the day....am hoping some of my friends wil be running "in-theme" for me......but as it's their first time....hmmm (fingers crossed)

 

[+evenstar]

http://www.crs.com.sg/index.html

try them for rental. not sure of rates though. but you can be sure their WT are of approved frequencies by IDA

 

[smtan24]

Just curious doesn't your handphone have push to talk which makes it effectively a walkie talkie.

 

[Dream Merchant]

Thanks for the heads-up Evenstar!

I've contacted them and their rates are quite competitive, plus they have the more powerful set that can reach all over the island.

 

[petetherock]

Bro, no pay, press, no talk

You need a suscription to GRID

Just curious doesn't your handphone have push to talk which makes it effectively a walkie talkie.

 

[+evenstar]

Thanks for the heads-up Evenstar!

I've contacted them and their rates are quite competitive, plus they have the more powerful set that can reach all over the island.

no problems