Is it the right choice

Motoman · Post by **Motoman** » Sat Mar 20, 2004 12:18 am

I'm going up to Whistler to go snowboarding with family and friends and we need VHF radios to keep in contact over about a 6km distance. I've got my VHF saber II however my family and friends don't want to be carrying around bricks. I've been looking at getting MT-2000 or JT-1000 radios but i'm not sure.
I need help in decideing if i should go high end or get like an SV buisness VHF radio. I need range and to be on contact as much as possiable so i need performance. I don't mind about feature and stuff just will it do it's job and well.

Help which radio should be looking at?

Jim202 · Post by **Jim202** » Sat Mar 20, 2004 5:25 am

[quote="Motoman"]I'm going up to Whistler to go snowboarding with family and friends and we need VHF radios to keep in contact over about a 6km distance. [/quote]

You will never get that type of range between portables unless your out on the flat desert. You will probably be lucky to get much over a mile or 2 at best. The more trees, hills and buildings, the less distance.

Don't forget the old legal issue about using radios on an unlicensed frequency.

Jim

phonegunner · Post by **phonegunner** » Sat Mar 20, 2004 6:26 am

VISAR - Smallest Handheld and still 5watts VHF - Programmable.. (16 channel)

Ted...

Heterodyne · Post by **Heterodyne** » Sat Mar 20, 2004 6:29 am

Motoman wrote:I'm going up to Whistler to go snowboarding with family and friends and we need VHF radios to keep in contact over about a 6km distance. I've got my VHF saber II however my family and friends don't want to be carrying around bricks. I've been looking at getting MT-2000 or JT-1000 radios but i'm not sure.
I need help in decideing if i should go high end or get like an SV buisness VHF radio. I need range and to be on contact as much as possiable so i need performance. I don't mind about feature and stuff just will it do it's job and well.

I guess just decide which one will do best if dropped in the snow...

Keep in mind that the rules for FRS here in Canada are the same as they are in the US. AS well, GMRS does not exist here either.

ka7wnf · Post by **ka7wnf** » Sat Mar 20, 2004 10:23 am

You really want to ski bad if you come all the way from Oz to Canada just to find some powder. Have a good trip.

ROOFLIFECO · Post by **ROOFLIFECO** » Sat Mar 20, 2004 11:55 am

If it was me going,I would get the SV handheld radios if you are going to have it on your belt or something. When I go skiing, we all have sabers or HT1000's. We mostly use the sabers because they can stand to get wet. If you are going to have them where they can't get wet,I would go with the jedi series with a remore mic because with gloves on, the large PTT button is easy topress on the JEDI mic. Sabers are nice for this same reason. Hope that helps

Susan157 · Post by **Susan157** » Sat Mar 20, 2004 2:32 pm

Vhf high band are line of site radios.

We talked about this thread before.

We have received up to 12 miles on a 5 watt
vhf portable.

16 km (10 Miles)
summer 5 watts
fall 2 watts
winter 1 watt gp300 portable.
The test was from the same 2 points.

In the ontario forests.
elevation "A" 1156 ft.
elevation "B" 1225 ft.

there are a number of factors
when looking for range on a portable.

I guess canada land is better than usa
for radios????

Motoman · Post by **Motoman** » Sat Mar 20, 2004 2:40 pm

I know that if u where to drop over a mountian your range would drematacly drop or lose contact but most of my family and friends arn't pro so would be doing like Blue diamons and mabye blacks and would be going down the face and its for realy contact for people who get off the lift at the top to people still at the bottom or going down so we would all be on the same face of the mountian.

ro · Post by ro » Tue Mar 23, 2004 9:22 am

Two days ago I tested the range of my radios. At home I used my MC2100 as a base station (with a small, really really cheap antenna), and on the road my MT2100 portable with 5 watts.
My home is located in the middle of small town (around 90000 inhabitants), surrounded by houses and blocks. I'm living on the 4th floor.
I tested if the mobile could decode the select-5 tones I sent out from my portable and if the squelch on both would open for voice communication.

I got a range of 8 km in town, and 14 km from an elevated area on a small mountain. Weather conditions were average.

VA3XDJ · Post by **VA3XDJ** » Tue Mar 23, 2004 11:41 am

Here's my 2 cents:

If you're going to be on TOP of the hill, chances are your communications will extend to 20-30 Kilometers but the units at the foot of the mountain will have a limited range between themselves which I'd say maximum 3 Kilometers regardless of VHF or UHF.

For what its worth, even though there are many weather resistant FRS radios on the market, the problem is that unless you use a tone squelch (CTCSS) on the units, you will pickup ALOT of chatter from other people around and especially on top of the hill.

And about GMRS, sure its illegal but tell that to all the people who are importing these radios every month into Canada and are using them... Industry Canada is not going to get off its lazy understaffed a$$ and do something unless severe interference or ALOT of complaints are made.

How do I know? Because they'd rather keep logs using their "catcher" doppler stations and they have yet to do anything about some illegals in the area.

We conducted a test a month ago. From the top of a ski hill to a basement appartment 30 Kilometers away on a GMRS channel using a 5W (at top of Hill) and 4W (in basement) we had full quieting with no fade!

Mike

Cam · Post by **Cam** » Tue Mar 23, 2004 7:04 pm

Motoman wrote:I know that if u where to drop over a mountian your range would drematacly drop or lose contact but most of my family and friends arn't pro so would be doing like Blue diamons and mabye blacks and would be going down the face and its for realy contact for people who get off the lift at the top to people still at the bottom or going down so we would all be on the same face of the mountian.

It's black diamon not blue diamon.

Cam
(Out of the backcounty for a few hour, Kenwood UHF radio's sitting in chargers)
Have fun and be safe.

thebigphish · Post by **thebigphish** » Tue Mar 23, 2004 10:56 pm

::cough::
lower frequency, longer wavelength...more distance

Susan157 wrote:

Vhf high band are line of site radios.

I'd be more inclined to call UHF line of sight, rather than VHF if the two were put side by side...granted UHF will give you some improvement in confined area (YMMV), but our VHF (lo/hi) units have ALWAYS exceeded our UHF units in terms of distance.
If you look at signal permeation in mountainous reigons, why do most of our boonie VFDs in CT and Mass use VHF Lowband ???? because they can dump out pantloads of RF and get coverage in hilly areas. Put the same system, same setup in the same area in UHF, and you're lucky to get to the end of the road.

Susan157 wrote: We have received up to 12 miles on a 5 watt
vhf portable.

so have i. to be more accurate, i'd say i've gone portable-to-portable-simplex about 10 miles at 4 watts (and that was open squelch in the flattest area CT has to offer)...but i can 'recieve' up to 30 miles on a portable if i've snotted it with 150watts out of a directional Yagi on top of a 250 ft. bldg xmitted by a base station.

in UHF however, i've never really gotten more than 2-3 miles in our area....HT1250-to-HT1250-simplex (NO LAUGHING)...that appears to me to be more line of sight than VHF highband.

only thing i do agree on is that yes, Canada is probably LESS RF polluted than the glorious United States...and hell, i don't think you're paying what we are for gas...

Is it the right choice

Is it the right choice

Re: Is it the right choice

Re: Is it the right choice

Whistler

We get great range on Vhf in CANADA

Re: we get great range in connecticut too!