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We need them for Scouts. The older ones are doing their “Expedition” and I need to be able to contact them from a couple of hundred metres away. Phone signal / data isn’t reliable. Also, this will be the first expedition that we run where there hasn’t been one of the Leaders kids involved and I’m not keen to have kid’s numbers in my phone and I don’t want to give mine out.
So, I need something with a range of maybe half a mile that isn’t going to fall apart or cost the earth.
Can anyone recommend a set?
Old Nokia phone and a PAYG sim? Not many places I would rather have a limited licence Walkie Talkie over a phone.
NB. You will need to do a training session to show the how to use an antique phone..
To clarify, that's what our Scouts use and it is what the district use for Ten Tors training. Kids check in at each checkpoint by text or call.
I bought these for the kidz to mess around with, seem robust and easy to use, good battery life. Haven't tested the range beyond the bottom of the garden but they say 4km. You can get them for £20 a pair which is a bargain I think! https://www.motorolasolutions.com/en_xu/products/consumer-two-way-radios/talkabout-t42-walkie-talkies.html#tabproductinfo
Thanks, have put in a request for a set of Motorola T72s. Can get 4 for £80ish.
Regarding the Nokia. I don't have any old Nokias and there is isn't a reliable signal.
I use a Baofeng UV5R when playing airsoft, no issues thus far. Did have to do a little bit with the channel pre-sets to ensure I kept within the rules (radio frequencies) but otherwise all has been just fine.
They look very fancy! Not sure I'd give something with so many buttons on it to a 12 year old though, especially not the ones I deal with.
They look very fancy! Not sure I'd give something with so many buttons on it to a 12 year old though, especially not the ones I deal with.
TBH I'm not 100% sure what they all do! BF-888S has considerably less buttons to play with if that's any use.
Oh what a shame, we’ve just sold our Motorola
I’ve a bagful of old Nokia phones but they’re no use without signal.
Think I've got a pair of ancient, but little used T5 range walkie talkies at work. If I can find them on Monday and they still work I'll send them to you. I reckon they'll all work on the same frequencies so should work fine with the newer versions.
Cheers Fella!!
I’ve got a few sets of these too… send me a pm…
I either use Midland (G7 Pro from memory?)
Or a cheap option if you need a few is a Retevis 6 set from Amazon. Be careful though only some models are IP rated. I have a set and they survive rough arsed labourers using them on a muddy solar farm. And they work as they should
I use a Baofeng UV5R when playing airsoft, no issues thus far. Did have to do a little bit with the channel pre-sets to ensure I kept within the rules (radio frequencies) but otherwise all has been just fine.
I thought all Baofeng radios were illegal as they have far more power than allowed?
I could rent to you 2 or more radios that are programmed to my radio dealer frequencies.
(No ongoing costs after the hire ends).
Range...couple of miles.
Direct message me for more info.
Maybe I'm getting the wrong end of the stick - but this 'expedition' - was half a mile going to do you any favours or is this more of a micro nav thing around a wood or a sleep out just out of site kind of thing? If it's an emergency thing and only those kind of distances a whistle is going to do the trick.
They'll be out for about 6 hours. Doing 12km navigation, cooking a meal, putting up a shelter etc.
We will follow them within line of site. If they make a wrong turn I'll tell them to stop and check. If they / or we have a problem we can talk. A whistle will be heard, but won't allow any message to be transferred. Basically it means that we can hang back half a mile instead of 50 metres.
Aren't they allowed to walk around by themselves ?
I did DofE back in the 80s and we didn't have folk following us - we made our own mistakes and fixed it
We did the Scout 12 mile hike thing in North Wales - off into the hills on the first day, with instructions to camp at the Youth Hostel - who asked for both cash and membership - which we didn't have... got a lift back to Scout camp via North Wales' constabulary....The leader in charge of that exercise hadn't done his homework. We were sent out two days later to camp somewhere else...Plas Y Brenin as I remember it.
Society does seem to have removed all of the risk, sometimes I think it's missing an opportunity
Motorola T92 here anyhow - we use them several times a year, but they are pretty much line of sight
These kids are 11 and 12 and will be in an area with questionable mobile coverage. We won't be with them, but will be in line of site. If they need us we can be there quickly, but we're not close enough to influence their decision making unless they get it completely wrong.
Sometimes we can do these with manned checkpoints, sometimes we follow them. It depends on the number of adults, terrain, mobile coverage etc.
Taking risks with other people's kids isn't acceptable.
We did the Scout 12 mile hike thing in North Wales - off into the hills on the first day, with instructions to camp at the Youth Hostel - who asked for both cash and membership - which we didn't have... got a lift back to Scout camp via North Wales' constabulary....The leader in charge of that exercise hadn't done his homework. We were sent out two days later to camp somewhere else...Plas Y Brenin as I remember it.
Wouldn't happen today.
There was a death quite recently because things went wrong.
I thought all Baofeng radios were illegal as they have far more power than allowed?
not the 'licence free' ones (the 888 and some others). Just checked and when we're on site we're covered by their licence so our more powerful 5R's are fine - phew. That said, a licence is only £75 for 5 years so not the end of the world if you use them a lot.
I did DofE back in the 80s and we didn't have folk following us - we made our own mistakes and fixed it
Maybe you just didn't know?
We've tracked them before with Life360 and followed from a mile or so away, but again that depends on coverage and this place can't guarantee it.
Anyway, thanks to STW radios are heading my way and we'll make good use of them.
I figure all the radio geeks will be in here so no point staying a separate thread!
Has any played around with Meshtastic at all? I built some units last year (only set one oled screen on fire with my shit soldering) and got the hang of it.
A year later, stuff like the T1000E (not a cyborg) is basically plug & play and ideal for outdoorsy stuff - it would have been a good option for the OP but as "new" tech people may be a bit suspicious of it.
Yep.
Me and a pal have started looking at it.
An aquaintance claims a 200 mile contact. Must have been through a lot of nodes.
Yeah, that's not likely to have been direct!
Thanks Rick and Matt!
Bah! Can't add the image.
We have some of the cheapest Baofengs, 888s I think, we just use them for driving because sometimes someone gets split up or lost. They claim a 5km range, I can believe it, we've definitely had good signal across some lumpy terrain out to a couple of miles. Also, very cheap and they came with earpieces which I reckon is really useful.
Scout Expedition done.
The radios were perfect for the job. Very clear in open country, which allowed us to hang back by about half a mile.
Thread resurrection!
I'm taking the kids to the Alps riding in July and would like to have all 3 of us carry walkie talkies so that we can stay in touch just in case we get separated in an area with no phone signal.
There seems to be a huge array of budget options out there but not sure how much I trust any of them as this is very much not my world.
Any suggestions at a sensible price that are actually usable?
The Baofeng GT-18's seem like an obvious choice at £43 but would be happy to spend another £30-40 if it means getting something more dependable with better reception.
All user feedback appreciated.