Highland AL and an experimental Baofeng UV5RC

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(26 February 2013, 12:14)NorthernRaider Wrote: I'm hoping that AL is going to do a simplified article on the benefits of PMR446 and the frequencies around it based on the UV3 / 4 / 5 family but hes not online so it will come ( eventually) by post on a flash drive that i will post for him. If i had the money i would just buy the very simple but very handy ( and powerful) Intek MT5050 for my wife and kids and I would use the more fiddly UV5RC but the Inteks are double the price of the Uv5s

Catching up on stuff that's been discussed while I was away:

NR makes a good point: A choice between simplicity and Extra capability.

Intek 5050.

• 100% legal to operate without any radio license (if un-modded)
  
• Simple to operate out of the box
  
• 8 PMR channels
  
• 69 channels at ultra low power on the LPD frequencies*
  
• Powered by easily obtainable AA batteries
  
• Accessories available.
  
• moddable for 5w power if required, but then license required for transmission.
  
• Current cost (Jun 2013) around £70
  

Baofeng UV5r all versions

• Legal to own and use for monitoring without a license, but to transmit legally, a license is required.
  
• Complex to operate out of the box, and very poor supplied operating instructions
  
• Covers all of the channels available on the Intek 5050
  
• Additionally covers 2 Amateur bands, Marine Band and non allocated frequency ranges
  
• Power switchable by button press between 1w and 4w
  
• Programmable by computer, with possibility to pre-install standardised channel programming for the UK prepper community
  
• High capacity bespoke power pack included, and AA/AAA power packs available as accessories
  
• Wide range of low cost accessories available.
  
• Current price (June 2013) from around £ 26.00
  

Both radios are able to carry the UV5R programming protocol that has already been proposed. The UV5R can carry this in whole and MT5050 in part, but the protocol will ensure that users of either radio type will be able to communicate between each other.

* an advantage of the un modded MT5050 is its ultra low power LPD channels. These channels run at just 10 miliwatts power, which is one fiftieth of the already low power of the PMR446 standard. This would provide very discreet transmission capability for very local use, in situations where we might not want to draw attention to ourselves..... between base and nearby observation points for example. Of course ultra low power transmission also equates to ultra low battery power consumption, so operational time is increased. The frequencies used on the LPD channels are in the Amateur Radio band, so would allow communication with very nearby Amateurs in an emergency.