Survival Radio Musts, Shoulds, Coulds

[NorthernRaider]

Ok LS, SD and Paul, Shirley using the MT5050 is the best option for the PMR 446 role cos as well as being decent quality it can also easily but uprated to 4 watts ??

http://www.transmission1.co.uk/2008/09/i...io-review/

[Lightspeed]

(31 July 2012, 09:51)NorthernRaider Wrote: Ok LS, SD and Paul, Shirley using the MT5050 is the best option for the PMR 446 role cos as well as being decent quality it can also easily but uprated to 4 watts ??

http://www.transmission1.co.uk/2008/09/i...io-review/

The 5050 is a good piece of kit, and one of the best PMR446 solutions.


Upgradig it to 5w makes it illegal to use at the current time. If that doesn't worry you, than the radio has now beed superceded by the Baofeng UV5r which is also 4w, but has full UHF and VHF coverage and more than 100 user programmable memories.

[NorthernRaider]

(31 July 2012, 10:08)Lightspeed Wrote: The 5050 is a good piece of kit, and one of the best PMR446 solutions.


Upgradig it to 5w makes it illegal to use at the current time. If that doesn't worry you, than the radio has now beed superceded by the Baofeng UV5r which is also 4w, but has full UHF and VHF coverage and more than 100 user programmable memories.

Y'see THATs exactly the sort of good information us non experts need, The Baofeng UV5 r NOW makes perfect sense to me. I'm definately not bothered by the power rating rules cos as soon as TSHTF every radio I can get hold of will get longer twigs and turned up to full power. Thanks for that VERY useful info.
NR

---

I've got a mini RZ with SD next week I hope, so I can look at his PMR unit , and he can play with my H520 Anyone else up north next week would also be welcome to the NRs lair

[Lightspeed]

(31 July 2012, 10:13)NorthernRaider Wrote:

(31 July 2012, 10:08)Lightspeed Wrote: The 5050 is a good piece of kit, and one of the best PMR446 solutions.


Upgradig it to 5w makes it illegal to use at the current time. If that doesn't worry you, than the radio has now beed superceded by the Baofeng UV5r which is also 4w, but has full UHF and VHF coverage and more than 100 user programmable memories.

Y'see THATs exactly the sort of good information us non experts need, The Baofeng UV5 r NOW makes perfect sense to me. I'm definately not bothered by the power rating rules cos as soon as TSHTF every radio I can get hold of will get longer twigs and turned up to full power. Thanks for that VERY useful info.
NR

---

I've got a mini RZ with SD next week I hope, so I can look at his PMR unit , and he can play with my H520 Anyone else up north next week would also be welcome to the NRs lair

Thanks LS

Yes, new things keep cropping up and uperceding previous best options all the time. That doesn't make the old best option redundant though. Good kit is good kit regardless.

It is not necesary to rush off and purchase evry new thing that comes along. Personally, I am looking to keep core compatibility in all my kit, and am trying to do the same with recommendatons made here as well.

LS

[Skean Dhude]

Be careful about boosting everything to full power. It makes them burn out quicker and any SW reflections are amplified. Do what you need only.

[NorthernRaider]

(31 July 2012, 10:57)Skean Dhude Wrote: Be careful about boosting everything to full power. It makes them burn out quicker and any SW reflections are amplified. Do what you need only.

Apparently this H520 is supposed to be 4 watts anyway for much of the world, Poland , Russia etc, I'm not cuttiung any wires for now but I do like the way this 80 channel CB can become a 400 channel CB / 11 meter radio just by cutting one wire !!!

Dunno about where you chaps live but around here its so bloody hilly a .5 watt radio is hard pushed to get to the end of the village.

[Lightspeed]

(31 July 2012, 11:01)NorthernRaider Wrote:

(31 July 2012, 10:57)Skean Dhude Wrote: Be careful about boosting everything to full power. It makes them burn out quicker and any SW reflections are amplified. Do what you need only.

Apparently this H520 is supposed to be 4 watts anyway for much of the world, Poland , Russia etc, I'm not cuttiung any wires for now but I do like the way this 80 channel CB can become a 400 channel CB / 11 meter radio just by cutting one wire !!!

Dunno about where you chaps live but around here its so bloody hilly a .5 watt radio is hard pushed to get to the end of the village.

NR,

400 channels are great, but that just makes 399 places to search to find anyone. KISS and stick to regular channels and use the exotic ones for semi private coms.

Re 1/2 watt and hills......turn the hills to your advantage, either get up on top and your half watt will go a LONG way. Have you tried this yet? Try the biggest hill that you can see the top of from home and regularly go up there and listen out for activity. Also check that signal reachs home. If that's all succesful I would then consider rigging up my own private uplinked repeater with solar charger and secreting it in a waterproof container up on that hill in times of crisis. See earlier thread about low tech repeaters and remote transmission.

LS

[Martin200261]

(31 July 2012, 11:31)Lightspeed Wrote:

(31 July 2012, 11:01)NorthernRaider Wrote:

(31 July 2012, 10:57)Skean Dhude Wrote: Be careful about boosting everything to full power. It makes them burn out quicker and any SW reflections are amplified. Do what you need only.

Apparently this H520 is supposed to be 4 watts anyway for much of the world, Poland , Russia etc, I'm not cuttiung any wires for now but I do like the way this 80 channel CB can become a 400 channel CB / 11 meter radio just by cutting one wire !!!

Dunno about where you chaps live but around here its so bloody hilly a .5 watt radio is hard pushed to get to the end of the village.

NR,

400 channels are great, but that just makes 399 places to search to find anyone. KISS and stick to regular channels and use the exotic ones for semi private coms.

Re 1/2 watt and hills......turn the hills to your advantage, either get up on top and your half watt will go a LONG way. Have you tried this yet? Try the biggest hill that you can see the top of from home and regularly go up there and listen out for activity. Also check that signal reachs home. If that's all succesful I would then consider rigging up my own private uplinked repeater with solar charger and secreting it in a waterproof container up on that hill in times of crisis. See earlier thread about low tech repeaters and remote transmission.

LS

Funnily enough that's exactly what I was talking to the missus about last week, got a great big hill right behind the house so was wondering about setting up my own low powered repeater to cover things in that direction and of course to get the kit away from the house - thinking opsec and a few other ideas I've got buzzing around such as bulletin boards.

[Paul]

(1 August 2012, 23:23)Martin200261 Wrote: Funnily enough that's exactly what I was talking to the missus about last week, got a great big hill right behind the house so was wondering about setting up my own low powered repeater to cover things in that direction and of course to get the kit away from the house - thinking opsec and a few other ideas I've got buzzing around such as bulletin boards.

Martin.

Cautious thoughts for you.
1. Lugging car batteries up and down hills is very tiring if not blooming hard on the back.
2. The closer someone gets, the easier it will be to spot the repeater aerial let alone any solar panel you might be thinking of installing.
3. It's dead easy to find a repeater with a simple handheld with a signal meter on it.
4. Hams do that for fun!
5. If it's found by someone, you can't exactly go to the plod and say it's been vandalised or even nicked. (especially if it's unlicenced)

5 Thoughts, 1 for safety, 3 for security, and 1 for the loss of gear.

[Lightspeed]

(2 August 2012, 00:27)Paul Wrote:

(1 August 2012, 23:23)Martin200261 Wrote: Funnily enough that's exactly what I was talking to the missus about last week, got a great big hill right behind the house so was wondering about setting up my own low powered repeater to cover things in that direction and of course to get the kit away from the house - thinking opsec and a few other ideas I've got buzzing around such as bulletin boards.

Martin.

Cautious thoughts for you.
1. Lugging car batteries up and down hills is very tiring if not blooming hard on the back.
2. The closer someone gets, the easier it will be to spot the repeater aerial let alone any solar panel you might be thinking of installing.
3. It's dead easy to find a repeater with a simple handheld with a signal meter on it.
4. Hams do that for fun!
5. If it's found by someone, you can't exactly go to the plod and say it's been vandalised or even nicked. (especially if it's unlicenced)

5 Thoughts, 1 for safety, 3 for security, and 1 for the loss of gear.

Hi Paul,

If the hill was big enough I'd go about it with a pair of back to back PMRs with PV topup charging.

Better still there are the little parrot repeaters that just require one other transceiver. The ones I've looked at are DTMF controllable so can be activated and deactivated on command.

There are also full duples boxes available for around fifty quid.

Then its a matter of finding a place to hide the kit.

After a SHTF incident I guess thatthere's be less liklihood of widespread DFing. ..... and if anyone was looking for you, they'd be drawn to your repeater first ( assuming a low power ,out of band uplink)