Good cheap handheld for general local two-waying?

Adam · Post by **Adam** » Fri Dec 30, 2005 11:29 pm

I'm looking for some good but cheap handheld for local chatter...

I was looking at these Motorola Spirit GT radios on ebay that one seller has been selling like crazy for what seems to me to be a great price. I see they are "business use" and come programmed with 8 UHF frequencies.

Are those good radios? Would you recommend them?

What I was looking do possibly do with them is use them for car to car chitchat, use them on team paintball shootouts. Possibly use it as a backup in the rare case I might need it professionally. But the latter is extremely rare.

So.. what would be good harmless frequencies I could do this with? And what would be some good radios for such purposes?

I know some of you guys have been selling some of your old handhelds for WELL below $100 and was heavily considering this for a high quality twoway vs the stupid FRS walmart junk.

AEC · Post by **AEC** » Sat Dec 31, 2005 2:25 am

Try some of the older HTs form the 80's, like the IC-2AT, FT-208/708, or maybe even the Icon H series commercial portables, they use the RS battery packs and the BP series as well.

Yaesu makes that handy VX180 I believe, and that's going for under 2 bills, you have unlimited choices, but rock bounds are really cheap to buy, but costly to channelize...
HT-440s and HT-90s are low channel capacity, but again, cost to rock them are up there, and the batteries are NOT cheap wither.

I'd use a good UHF or VHF portable you can use OOB and be done with it..

So what if it's not type accepted, I'll bet it would still pass even though it carries no certification, most radios today are very clean in operation.

Saber Is are cheap too...

Enterprize.....One to beam up!

Josh · Post by **Josh** » Sat Dec 31, 2005 4:17 am

Boy those sure sound like good recommendations seeing as this is a Motorola forum

wa2zdy · Post by **wa2zdy** » Sat Dec 31, 2005 7:05 am

Well Adam, it depends on where you have a license to talk. If you have no license, you are limited to FRS and MURS. FRS of course legally requires FRS radios. You cannot take a "commercial" radio and programs FRS into it legally. And I understand the same may be the case for MURS, though I know folks use regular HTs for MURS, as long as the power is 2w or less. I'm not well versed on the MURS rules, so I suggest you read Part 95 for that one.

If you get a GMRS license, you may use Part 90 certified radios on there. That is probably your best bet. A couple of older P200s can probably be had for $100 with a charger. in fact, I have such a set of radios here now.

Some of the radios AEC mentioned, the Icom 2AT and Yaesu 208/708 are ham radios. If you and your friends don't all have ham licenses, please don't buy ham radios. You cannot use ham frequencies without a license. And it's not like GMRS - EACH of you needs a license. And ham radios are not legal for use outside the ham bands. And if you do choose to illegally use ham frequencies, there is a good chance the hams will find you. And lately FCC has been enforcing the rules on that one.

As to whether you'd get caught using "some other" frequency, maybe, maybe not. If you never interfered with other users, probably not. But you're the one who has to look yourself in the mirror in the morning. As I've taught my kids, we behave because it's the right thing to do, not only if we might get caught. And if you DO get caught, the cost of that GMRS license will suddenly be the best bargain in town.

Post by **Mfire39** » Sat Dec 31, 2005 1:01 pm

GP300's and P1225's have come down pretty good in price these days on the used market. They are great radios, small, and you can still get quite a few accessories and parts repair for them. Just my 2 cents.

Thanks,

-Marc

RadioSouth · Post by **RadioSouth** » Sat Dec 31, 2005 2:00 pm

Those Spirit GT's are a similar build quality to FRS radios and if I recall are only 1 Watt so 600 Mw FRS radios are in the same ballpark. Some of the upper end of the FRS radios are really not that bad. If you want to
step up from this a bit Motorola made a bunch of inexpensive business dot
radios such as the SP10 MV11 MV22, etc. (Motorola also made some for radio shack under their label) and if you get them in VHF they go a better distance in most outdoor usages (other than in a concrete & steel jungle) and all listed are capable of blue dot and green dot which have been re-allocated to MURS were no licensing is required. They also use the 9044 type battery which can be had around $12. on EBay which is a fraction of what most commercial packs run and is often needed when picking up used radios. My .02 for casual use radios.

motorola_otaku · Post by **motorola_otaku** » Mon Jan 02, 2006 7:33 am

Since you mentioned paintballing, I'd go with some VHF Spirits or XTNs set to MURS frequencies. Most of your opposing teams are going to be using FRS/GMRS radios, and if you were running the same thing they'd be able to listen in to your guys (been there, done that).

Post by **akardam** » Mon Jan 02, 2006 10:10 am

Heh... that's when you get together all your DES-XL radios and run crypto on GMRS... and if you're really mean you do it on the channel they're using so they get constant bursts of hash on their signal.

Adam · Post by **Adam** » Tue Jan 03, 2006 3:24 am

Ok.. I'm thinking I'm going to go with something I can use on MURS freqs. I was talking to our radio guy today when we were at the EOC and he also said VHF was better for long range outdoors.

Still looking around and researching the radios you guys recommended. Now that I've made a freq choice that should help narrow it down. Again I'd like something small, lightweight but effective. The visars seems awfully badass mostly due to Stargate SG-1 rofl, but they are a little pricey for goofing off with.

K8TEK · Post by **K8TEK** » Tue Jan 03, 2006 5:18 am

Visars are perhaps the biggest piece of garbage Motorola ever designed.

mr.syntrx · Post by **mr.syntrx** » Tue Jan 03, 2006 6:26 am

But their one redeeming feature is you can use the battery on a KVL3000

nmfire10 · Post by **nmfire10** » Tue Jan 03, 2006 7:00 am

I'd look for a GP300 or something along it's lines. It is small and cut out for that. An MT1000 would be a great radio too but it is, shall we say, a little big.

kb0nly · Post by **kb0nly** » Tue Jan 03, 2006 8:43 am

Go with MURS, around here it's very popular, but not soo much that it can't be used reliably. Being a ham i have many choices, but it's still kinda fun to be chatting on MURS when someone else local breaks in for a chat. Of course you can use PL or DPL, whatever you want to cut down on listening to others yacking.

I can make a lot of suggestions on radios. For MURS that is.

HT600
MT1000
P200
P110
GP300

And there is plenty more but those are the cheap ones that come to mind. You can get 2/6ch HT600's off ebay for the $20-$30 range on average, new aftermarket batteries around $25, and the chargers and accessories are all plentiful and cheap. Not to mention that the HT600, MT1000, and P200 all use the same batteries and accessories.

The P110 and GP300 are a slightly more expensive option, at least by watching recent prices on ebay, still a well sought after radio.

And last but not least i can't help but suggest the Saber! I got a couple VHF Saber I's set to 2W output for MURS. And my Saber II has MURS in it as well with the power set to 2W on those channels. Once i learned how to do that in the RSS i wish i would have done that in the first place, but now i have two other radios for other family members to use.

Batteries for the Saber can be had in the $30-$40 range for high capacity aftermarket ones. They use the same MX antenna as the Genesis series radios, and chargers are cheap. Get a gang charger and keep six radios or batteries topped off at once.

And as akardam mentioned, flip over to secure when you need to move sensitive traffic during a paintball match.. LOL

I know some guys into that, and a lot of these paintball teams are getting smart, scanning and monitoring all the commonly used frequencies. Hey, its war, albeit simulated, and anything goes in war!

mr.syntrx · Post by **mr.syntrx** » Tue Jan 03, 2006 8:49 am

Last time I played paintball, it was with friends who all happened to own radios on the same trunking system, and this system had a site just a few hundred yards down the track. That confused the opposition

NSPD · Post by **NSPD** » Tue Jan 03, 2006 3:32 pm

I second the Saber suggestion. Sabers are rugged and great radios in general. With the small battery pack they are a good pocket-sized radio and the option to use securenet makes them perfect for what you need them for.

kb3jkp · Post by **kb3jkp** » Tue Jan 03, 2006 4:46 pm

SABER!!!!

although not legal on FRS,.. would work great ... they can be had in OK condition for as cheap as 25$ a piece.....

there's a guy on ebay selling model II's and III's for 2 for 50$..... although 90% of them are 403-430 Mhz

new batteries are a must...@ ~35$ a piece....

kb0nly · Post by **kb0nly** » Tue Jan 03, 2006 5:09 pm

Just get VHF Saber's and run on MURS.

You can adjust the power ouput for each power level in the service menu and then assign the one set to 2w for the MURS channels.

I don't know about the legality of using DES on MURS though.. Anyone care to comment on that?

motorola_otaku · Post by **motorola_otaku** » Tue Jan 03, 2006 8:12 pm

kb0nly wrote:I don't know about the legality of using DES on MURS though.. Anyone care to comment on that?

Nope, digital voice is verboten. You're also restricted to 7.5kHz on the first three freqs: 151.82, 151.88, and 151.94. Speech inversion, on the other hand, is perfectly OK.

[Moderated} whereas speech inversion is ready to go out of the box.

wa2zdy · Post by **wa2zdy** » Wed Jan 04, 2006 6:40 am

K8TEK wrote:Visars are perhaps the biggest piece of garbage Motorola ever designed.

After hearing such warnings for some time, I bought one. It works just fine for me on the ham band and on GMRS. And it's a perfect size for the wife's bag. The 2150mAh NiMH battery is fat and heavy but it still beats a P200.

When it craps out, I'll go from there but at this time I'm thinking of another.

Adam · Post by **Adam** » Wed Jan 04, 2006 10:33 am

wa2zdy wrote:
K8TEK wrote:Visars are perhaps the biggest piece of garbage Motorola ever designed.
After hearing such warnings for some time, I bought one. It works just fine for me on the ham band and on GMRS. And it's a perfect size for the wife's bag. The 2150mAh NiMH battery is fat and heavy but it still beats a P200.

When it craps out, I'll go from there but at this time I'm thinking of another.

eham also gave the Visars great reviews.

Adam · Post by **Adam** » Wed Jan 04, 2006 12:33 pm

There's a guy sellling 2 SP10s with chargers, antenna, but no batteries. He doesn't specify how many channels/what color dot? Whats the specs on these? Everything I'm finding is some generic purchase page.

kb0nly · Post by **kb0nly** » Wed Jan 04, 2006 2:28 pm

Check the chart here for the frequencies of the SP10.

http://www.batlabs.com/spirit.html

All i have ever seen is a single channel radio, you set the frequency using the dip switches, and it just has a simple on/off volume control on top.

wa2zdy · Post by **wa2zdy** » Thu Jan 05, 2006 6:38 am

Adam wrote:eham also gave the Visars great reviews.

Thanks. That should be good news, but my experience with eham has been that many of the users there are newer, less experienced and in many cases less technolgically informed. As such, their reviews are often meaningless. As an example, at one time, the Icom 2720 - pure unadulterated junk by any measure - was getting good reviews there.

Another example is no-code techs reviewing HF rigs. Nothing against the no code techs, but since they can't legally use the HF rigs except to listen, what experience are they drawing upon to make these reviews?

Overall though this Visar I have - bought from Woody 99 - is working just fine. I am thinking of getting another. It does everything my HT1000 does but is half the size, so . . . ?