Consumer Walkie Talkies

[Headshotzx]

Hi all, I refer to my very old thread about walkie talkies: http://www.clubsnap.com/forums/showthread.php?t=508213

A lot of things popped up after I posted that thread and I couldn't get the chance to buy a walkie talkie then. Lots of events passed where walkie talkies could've been used to increase efficiency, but too bad about them I guess.

Now I'm back and want to buy a walkie talkie pair. From Motorola.

I'll be using them in urban environments, and require at least 500m of reliability. Anything more is just a bonus.

I'll also want a earpiece + boom mic set of two, and the setup should allow VOX and PTT.

All that for S$200 and less. Possible? I've been checking prices on Amazon and I'm really amazed by the sheer amount of units available for incremental amounts of money. Really not sure what I should get.

Up till now I haven't seen a shop that knows exactly what they're selling me, so if you have any recommendations I'd really appreciate it

 

[petetherock]

Try Perfect Watch Shop in Sim Lim Sq.
However I got mine thru an army friend from USA.

 

[Headshotzx]

Try Perfect Watch Shop in Sim Lim Sq.
However I got mine thru an army friend from USA.

USA = FCC no?

 

[daredevil123]

You should try looking at a couple of shops in B1 of Sim Lim Tower (not square). You can find high power walkie talkies there.

 

[Headshotzx]

Maybe I'm asking too much from shop owners as far as walkie talkie information goes I guess.

What I'd really like to know is if any of these units can be bought and used without additional stuff like licenses etc:

http://www.motorola.com/Business/US-EN/Business+Product+and+Services/Two-Way+Radios+-+Consumers/

 

[daredevil123]

You might want to read this from IDA.

http://www.ida.gov.sg/News%20and%20Events/20050712103130.aspx?getPagetype=20

 

[2100]

The freq used here is 446MHz, as in the service is PMR446. You can use this in UK. However say if you bring it over to use in Taiwan (say F&E grp tour where it would be good to keep in contact between taxis) it would be the GMRS (USA) freqs, ie 462 and 467. So it gets a bit tricky. Try not to use 462/467MHz GMRS freqs for any time longer than a few minutes or so as that is right smack in a govt freq....even though they might not seem to be active, there used to be group chats between crane operators in PSA Tg Pagar/Pasir Panjang, lots of users. Suddenly silent liao. Got busted I guess. As in, no cars no police does not mean you whack on the e-way at 250kph.

Try to keep it within 100m or so in hardcore urban, with walls and huge groups of people everything. After that rely on GSM. VHF radios would be worse in harcore urban, but better if you are in surburban in Indo/Malaysia with lots of foilage. Signallers, don't talk about VHF in thr 40-50MHz for really serious foilage, stuff will be too big to manage. :bsmilie:

 

[ManWearPants]

For serious walkie talkies, buy Motorola GP series. Anything else is a joke. Tried and tested in industrial environments.

 

[Nescafe]

GP Series need LIC right??

 

[2100]

GP Series need LIC right??

Can program any radio to use 446 what, and then you use low power. But technically still may flout some of the non-licesense law, as in it may still transmit on high power. But of coz nobody would do that.

For eg, just in procession of the radio you are running foul of the law, and listening to transmission etc... technically speaking. Something like that.

 

[shiruikage]

i myself used a motorola em1000, with the max theoretical range of 25mi...however, last i tested it in kl, signal cut-off occurs around 1-2km...so........btw...it's from singapore, but for export use only.

 

[9V-Orion Images]

GP Series need LIC right??

Can program any radio to use 446 what, and then you use low power. But technically still may flout some of the non-licesense law, as in it may still transmit on high power. But of coz nobody would do that.

IIRC, only portion of the UHF radio spectrum between 446.00 to 446.10 MHz and 477.00 to 477.25 MHz operating with a power output of no more 500 mW ERP are currently exempted from IDA licensing requirements though any other radio communication equipments without the IDA compliance label requires their utmost approval which may then subsequently be subjected to further bureaucratic restrictions and $$$.

For eg, just in procession of the radio you are running foul of the law, and listening to transmission etc... technically speaking. Something like that.

Affirmative, even radio scanner with no transmission capability is strictly prohibited.

 

[shiruikage]

donno related or not, if u at or near changi airport, and listening to some chinese radio station, sometime u can actually pickup the changi airport apron control chatter.....

 

[9V-Orion Images]

For serious walkie talkies, buy Motorola GP series. Anything else is a joke. Tried and tested in industrial environments.

Not exactly the best transceiver the market have to offer but from my real world experience using a Motorola GP Professional Series transceiver, I was able to legally receive and transmit RF signal on street level between Newton Food Centre and the subterranean car parks of Marina Square and Suntec City (~ 3.20 km range) albeit the broadcast was rather noisy with static interference.

From an elevated position in Bukit Panjang/Chao Chu Kang with a direct line of sight (DLOS) towards the Central Business District (CBD), I was able to receive and transmit RF signal loud and clear, five by five from and towards the same exact subterranean car parks in Marina Square and Suntec City (~ 15.33 km range).

 

[9V-Orion Images]

Maybe I'm asking too much from shop owners as far as walkie talkie information goes I guess.

What I'd really like to know is if any of these units can be bought and used without additional stuff like licenses etc:

http://www.motorola.com/Business/US-EN/Business+Product+and+Services/Two-Way+Radios+-+Consumers/

Just to answer your question. Similarly with any mobile phone, you are fine to use the walkie-talkie without registering and obtaining a license as long as there is a IDA compliance label on it.

 

[ManWearPants]

Not exactly the best walkie-talkie the market have to offer but from real world experience using a Motorola GP Professional Series radio, I was able to legally receive and transmit RF signal on street level between Newton Food Centre and the subterranean car parks of Marina Square and Suntec City (~ 3.20 km) albeit the broadcast was rather noisy with static interference.

From an elevated position in Bukit Panjang/Chao Chu Kang with a direct line of sight (DLOS) towards the Central Business District (CBD), I was able to receive and transmit clear five by five RF signal from and towards the same exact subterranean car parks in Marina Square and Suntec City (~ 15.33 km).

I have tested a number of TMR and DMR walkie talkies for industrial environment. So far Motorola GP came up top. There may be others. I am not just talking about distance. For example , enclosed spaces with equipments interferences, building shieldings, blind spots, etc. In open spaces, most walkies will perform quite well.

For most consumer walkie talkies, the first problem is with the battery life. And also require close proximity with no barriers in between. So not much use really.

 

[9V-Orion Images]

donno related or not, if u at or near changi airport, and listening to some chinese radio station, sometime u can actually pickup the changi airport apron control chatter.....

donno related or not, if u at or near changi airport, and listening to some chinese radio station, sometime u can actually pickup the changi airport apron control chatter.....

From my understanding, this phenomenon is known as Radio Frequency (RF) breakthrough as caused by image frequency interference that just happened to picked up by poorly shielded electroacoustic transducers and radio equipments with inadequate filtering, the Very High Frequency (VHF) broadcast band of FM radio stations ranges from 87.50 to 108.00 MHz while those of the VHF aviation broadcast band ranges from 108.00 to 137.00 MHz and as you may notice they in fact lie side by side within the radio spectrum.

While tuning into certain FM radio station you may inevitably pick up unencrypted transmission from Singapore Arrival, Singapore Tower and Singapore Ground operating on 118.60 MHz/118.25 MHz, 119.30 MHz and 124.30 MHz/121.725 MHz respectively for example, that has managed in breaking through.


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Just a quick calculation...,

121.725 - (10.7 x 2) = 100.325...

... and so Singapore Ground 121.725 happened to be the image frequency of Radio 1003.

 

[qwerty628]

From my understanding, this phenomenon is known as Radio Frequency (RF) breakthrough as caused by image frequency interference that just happened to picked up by poorly shielded electroacoustic transducers and radio equipments with inadequate filtering, the Very High Frequency (VHF) broadcast band of FM radio stations ranges from 87.50 to 108.00 MHz while those of the VHF aviation broadcast band ranges from 108.00 to 137.00 MHz and as you may notice they in fact lie side by side within the radio spectrum.

While tuning into certain FM radio station you may inevitably pick up unencrypted transmission from Singapore Arrival, Singapore Tower and Singapore Ground operating on 118.60 MHz/118.25 MHz, 119.30 MHz and 124.30 MHz/121.725 MHz respectively for example, that has managed in breaking through.


----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Just a quick calculation...,

121.725 - (10.7 x 2) = 100.325...

... and so Singapore Ground 121.725 happened to be the image frequency of Radio 1003.

wonderful, time to go changi listen 100.3

 

[9V-Orion Images]

I have tested a number of TMR and DMR walkie talkies for industrial environment. So far Motorola GP came up top. There may be others. I am not just talking about distance. For example , enclosed spaces with equipments interferences, building shieldings, blind spots, etc. In open spaces, most walkies will perform quite well.

For most consumer walkie talkies, the first problem is with the battery life. And also require close proximity with no barriers in between. So not much use really.

I'm not underestimating the capability of the Motorola GP Professional Series of transceivers though I can't recall the exact model that I had used but being able to receive and transmit 3.20 kilometres away from inside a car to another vehicle in an underground location meters below the surface amongst the highly built-up urbanised Singapore Central Business District (CBD) without assistance of a repeater is rather remarkable. :thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup:

 

[qwerty628]

I'm not underestimating the capability of the Motorola GP Professional Series of transceivers though I can't recall the exact model that I had used but being able to receive and transmit 3.20 kilometres away from inside a car to another vehicle in an underground location meters below the surface amongst the highly built-up urbanised Singapore Central Business District (CBD) without assistance of a repeater is rather remarkable. :thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup:

how much does GP series cost?