Whats everyone using for radios??

[kawasakikx250]

As a guy that has never gone to the mountains yet to ride and would like to someday soon this is a lot to take in. this conversation is kinda like chev vs dodge vs ford! I don't have a clue what to buy. I like the price point of the BCA and the fact it works with the emergency channel. what is better vhf or uhf as well?

 

[Marmot MB]

Not the most experienced with radio's but here is my experience with them.

Used to use Motorolla GMRS radio's with earbud and mic for skiing out of bounds and video footage. Worked well, when you and buddy were together and within a mile of each other. past that communication becomes scratchy and static. If you and buddy were skiing apart from each other and needed to contact, sometimes it would work, sometimes it would not. IE Panorama. Radio in the Condo right at base of hill. at the very top no contact, and going up the top lift lost all contact 1/4 way up. In reality that is only 2000 - 3000 FT elevation change and maybe 2 KM distance. Channel selection was crucial with these, huge variance on which channels worked best, took some time to figure that out.

CB radio's we used these on our jeep's as mounted 2 Watt units. they worked well up to 3 - 4 KM when properly installed and grounded.

CB radio hand held's work well also but are very similar to the GMRS radio's in performance and for the extra cost not really worth it except..... in an emergency you might catch a trucker or someone else on a CB.

I have no experience with UHF but to me this seems a no brainer, best range, multiple channel options, allows communication on Logging roads and access roads to call out the mile you are at. would very much so allow a much better chance in emergency to perhaps reach a ranger station, plane, etc.... This however comes with big dollar cost for the unit and some time and knowledge to program and use effectively.

Garmin Rhino seems like a very good choice to allow finding of your buddies across a mountain, seems to me very easy to get seperated, heck was hard enough staying together skiing, can't imagine how hard sledding.

myself I am torn on what to buy. for now using my GMRS and see what others are using.

 

[Joholio]

Garmin 650. I suck at running it tho... The tip from dale about the volume helped

 

[drew17]

Went ahead and order 5 beofeng radios got all 5 for the price of 1 bca so kinda a no brainer haha. If they work as good as everyone reviews them on here and multiple other sites Ill be very impressed.

 

[JZ1]

Bumping cause Lilduke is kicking us out of his thread lol

Baofeng UV5R is roughly $40ish and the Rhino is $600ish. Can someone explain what is the big difference in the two other than the rhino works as a GPS as well. I have a handheld gps so the Rhino seems like a big waste of cash

 

[lilduke]

The nice thing with Rhino is if your friends have them also, you can pinpoint them on your GPS.

That is the only real advantage. But for tree riders that is HUGE.

The Baofeng UV5R is fully programmable. You can use it to talk to loggers, SAR, repeater channels ext.
(the rhino cant talk on any of those channels, it just has pre programmed channels like any cheap 2way)

It is only 50$ from china. Pretty sure they are illegal to be honest. I have one though.

 

[lloydguy]

The nice thing with Rhino is if your friends have them also, you can pinpoint them on your GPS.

That is the only real advantage. But for tree riders that is HUGE.

The Baofeng UV5R is fully programmable. You can use it to talk to loggers, SAR, repeater channels ext.
(the rhino cant talk on any of those channels, it just has pre programmed channels like any cheap 2way)

It is only 50$ from china. Pretty sure they are illegal to be honest. I have one though.

I know next to nothing,but from what I understand it is legal to listen to whatever you want on a Baofeng
but it is only legal to broadcast (output,whatever) on gmrs or frs channels.( If you program channels outside
of GMRS/frs ,you are supposed to get a licence to talk. ) I don't know about you guy's but I'm not all that
scared of the radio police.

 

[Highfly]

Is this the one? Super cheap!!!

BAOFENG UV 5R Dual Band Two Way Radio VHF UHF 136 174 400 520Mhz FM Ham | eBay

I think I bought the last one at this price.... $21.00

 

[moyiesledhead]

Is this the one? Super cheap!!!

BAOFENG UV 5R Dual Band Two Way Radio VHF UHF 136 174 400 520Mhz FM Ham | eBay

I think I bought the last one at this price.... $21.00

That's what I've been using. Awesome little radio!

 

[Steve D]

If anyone ever wants to feel a bit more legit running these (and maybe understand the whole "radio thing" a bit better) I'd highly recommend getting an amatuer radio licence. Even if you don't actually get the license, doesn't hurt to understand what it's all about. A lot of it is free/cheap.

Amateur Certification
Radio Amateurs of Canada

Regarding the comment about "the radio police", yeah sure, if you're running around the mountains you probably won't get caught, but do understand that just because it's there doesn't mean you can just use and abuse it. Enough people start doing that, and guess what, industry canada will start investigating and people will get busted and you'll have ruined a good thing for everyone!

Just saying this here because with the surge in cheap chinese radios on the market, there will in turn be a surge of people that just don't know better.

 

[lilduke]

My friend got a 600$ fine from the "radio police" for fawking with the coast guard when wasted....haha

 

[Vertical-Extreme]

Whos running a mic with the baofengs? I tried one but it crapped out the first ride. Will a better all weather Motorola or something similar with a 2 prong design work with these?

 

[moyiesledhead]

Whos running a mic with the baofengs? I tried one but it crapped out the first ride. Will a better all weather Motorola or something similar with a 2 prong design work with these?

I use this. Costs as much as the radio but works really well, and no background noise.