Radio advice?

[pryo_bob]

hey im fairly new to the sport and got most of the gear i need.

only thing is that there are quite a fair few radios to choose from and didnt know if certian radios performed better than others in a woodland area (GZW to be precise)

cheers, sam.

[jagillham]

Re: Radio advice?

The kind of radio you'll need for airsoft is going to be quite basic, most have a range of several km's. The big point is to make sure you get something that works with the other people you want to talk to on your site. I have a Oregon Scientific TP something, and it does not use the same channel system as half the other players at my site lol

[murta369]

Re: Radio advice?

probs a motorola talkabout is your best bet

[Twitchy]

Re: Radio advice?

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/COBRA-MT800-PM...1%7C240%3A1308

these are the ones we use dor our skirmishes and are very cheap and good, has a 5 mile range and has 8 channels which can be then split in to more sub channels for privac. although for skirmishes its good to keep to the normaly channels (keeps things simple)

[specialist]

Re: Radio advice?

It might be worth mentioning that 'Sub-channels' don't give you privacy. Anyone on any other radio on the same channel/Frequency and not using a 'sub-channel' will hear everything that is transmitted from your radio and anyone else on that channel.

'Sub-channels' are a bit of a misnomer- they really are not 'sub-channels' per se- they're are 'sub-tones' used by the radio to filter out traffic from other users on the same channel who do not send the tone- you won't have to listen to everyones transmission and so get a more quite environment. Your radio will not open the speaker (or squelch in radio speak) unless it gets that sub-tone from your collegue and vica versa

However, anyone nearby transmitting on the same (main channel/frequency) will likely block out your transmission to your collegue or their transmission to you- although you would not realise it. That's why sometimes when receiving you may miss parts of the message- it's possible in a busy enevironment that someone with a more powerful radio was transmitting blocking out your collegues transmission and sub-tone code.

[specialist]

Re: Radio advice?

It's important to check that any radio you buy is on license free UK PMR (UHF) frequencies. Sometimes the frequencies are referred to as "UK 446 PMR"

Also worth noting that radios using (USA) GMRS/FRS frequencies in the UK is illegal and will not work with a vast majority of radios on the skirmish field which will be on legal UK PMR (UHF) frequencies.

[magic_golem]

Re: Radio advice?

aye, the link to the cobra MT800's is a good way to point, i use the same, came in a set of two for £35 odd, which is good if you have a buddy to lend to or simply as a spare as well, they work with everyone else's radios that ive played with as airsofters pretty much stick to pmr - which is also handy as marshalls at my sites do too and they specify a channel that they are on so that we all keep clear of it but its also to be used if something bad happens out of sight so you can call them up for help.
but basically as long as the radio is PMR 446 it whould work with everyone else.

[Felixpredator]

Re: Radio advice?

If i were to get a radio, do people suggest (providing i can get the money) to get hold of a throat mike? And how does it work (attaching it wise)?

[sparrowhawk]

Re: Radio advice?

what would be a good idea imo, would be a section dedicated to comms,there are plenty of things that could be discussed, for example from makes and models, to head sets, and language used

[magic_golem]

Re: Radio advice?

If i were to get a radio, do people suggest (providing i can get the money) to get hold of a throat mike? And how does it work (attaching it wise)?

throat mics or any kind of earbud&mic setup is simple to do, you just buy one and plug it in, the microphone part(typically) ahs a button on it which acts as push to talk, so, like when i use my setup i pick my volume frequecy etc, lock the keys off so it doesnt cange throughout the day by accident and then just plung in my mic and earpiece and im good to go. simple as pluggin in earphones (as thats what they are)