2 way radios for a campsite?

muddyl

Were going on our second Sun holiday this year (gotta love them!) And we are thinking about some two way radios for on the site rather than relying on phones.

Does anyone have any recommendations For budget ones? I know they won't have to cover much distance but I'm very sceptical of those on eBay.

Cheers, Mark

spacey2012

PMR 446 radios would be fine, but avoid those that take AAA batteries.
Motorola are a industry bench mark in radio

muddyl

Thanks, I'll have a look.

Thinking it would be best to get one with a scan option to check channels that others may be using before selecting ours as I guess there will be plenty others using them too.

rmg1

We've been looking for something similar and these from Argos look to be OK.
http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/partNumber/5530908.htm

spacey2012

LIDL have a set with rechargeable batteries chargers and headsets in NOW £19.99

espresso

rmg1 wrote: »

We've been looking for something similar and these from Argos look to be OK.
http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/partNumber/5530908.htm

These here are a far better alternative for the same outlay.

Includes charging station, mains adaptor, 2 hands-free headsets, 8 rechargeable batteries and 2 removable belt clips

* Wide 8km range
* 8 channels
* Speech activated transmission
* Hands-free
* Noise reduction
* Active channel scan function
* Volume control
* Stopwatch
* 3 year manufacturer’s warranty

muddyl

espresso wrote: »

These here are a far better alternative for the same outlay.

Includes charging station, mains adaptor, 2 hands-free headsets, 8 rechargeable batteries and 2 removable belt clips

* Wide 8km range
* 8 channels
* Speech activated transmission
* Hands-free
* Noise reduction
* Active channel scan function
* Volume control
* Stopwatch
* 3 year manufacturer’s warranty

Linky no work!


ESDIT: silly me it does, forgot to enter postcode.

They look like they could be an option, thanks.

rmg1

Think I might grab a pair of those as well.

spacey2012

Dont take any notice of quoted ranges, they are mountain top to mountain top ideals.
Power is limited by law, so they are all roughly the same
300m in built up areas.
2km in open is average.

paddyrg

Anything under the £150/pair mark is going to be broadly equivalent - 0.5W and use similar channels so if there are lots of people with cheapie walkies you will hear a lot of crosstalk. I gave a load away as they were useless at a festival I went to - everyone had the same idea.

If you can spank £150/pair and £75 for a 5-year license, you get into the 5W range - 10x more powerful, better build, near-empty frequencies. In central London we only got crosstalk a few times from cheapwad taxi companies - if the site is large or has obstructions like buildings and caravans, these puppies will still serve you well. They're available off the shelf at Maplin.

muddyl

The ones I use at work are £150 each and they are good.

But seems as it children who will be using them too I'll stick to cheap ones for now. Won't have to worry about damage or being lost.