OT Those PMR personal radios

[Simon Gardner]

Been thinking about getting a pair of those PMR446 personal 2-way radio thingies - these walkie talkie units made by Alan, Motorola etc.

Walked into Maplin the other day to ask about battery technology (many of them come with recharger unit you just drop them into) and I'm quite keen on at least NiMh batteries rather than the dreaded NiCads. Said Maplin shop staff hadn't got a clue. I rang the expensive Maplin tech support line. They hadn't got a clue either.

Anyone know if you can get models with at least NiMh battery technology and if so which ones?

My other niggle is over frequency used [446MHz]. If I got them, they'd probably be used in France more than in the UK. I have this faint memory that the frequency used in the UK is illegal for such use in France?

[Andy Hall]

As I understand it, the situation is as follows.

The PMR446 band is now legal for use all over Europe.

When initially introduced, there were some allocations of spectrum in some countries that overlapped into this band. Apparently in France, the first two channels were used by SNCF until 2002; but I understand that they are no longer and the entire band is available in France.

thing definitely to avoid is using American market sets intended for the FRS band. These are essentially the same, but AIUI in several European countries including the UK, the FRS frequencies, or part of them are used by the emergency services.

.andy

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[Simon Gardner]

answered. Most impressive.

Any idea about the battery technology...?

[Andy Hall]

Look a bit wider than Maplin.

I checked the Motorola T5522 and it appears to have NiCds (probably typical for the lower end products)

The XTN446 comes with NiMH but is quite a bit more money;

I found this site. Don't know if they are any good, but there is more information than at Maplin's site.

It would appear that a lot of the sets have AA batteries and you can get NiMH for them anyway.

.andy

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[Owain]

"Simon Gardner" wrote | My other niggle is over frequency used [446MHz]. If I got them, | they'd probably be used in France more than in the UK. I have | this faint memory that the frequency used in the UK is illegal | for such use in France?

Like Andy Hall said; but I would add that although PMR446 is pan-European it is up to individual countries when they introduced it; I think Turkey was late (assuming they have introduced it now).

You may be thinking of Citizens' Band radios. The British CB 27/81 is illegal in France. It is illegal to take a dual standard UK/CEPT 80-channel CB transmitter into France, AIUI, CBs must be 40-channel CEPT only.

Owain

[Andrew Heggie]

My Moto T6222s came with Nimh, this was about 18 months ago.

Only problem I have had, apart from the lower than expected range, is that the headset port does not work well with a standard cellphone headset.

AJH

[Colin Wilson]

No help, but from what I remember, US bought ones are illegal in the UK (I had some, but didn`t get caught using them)

[Chris Oates]

Goodmans use AAA so will take NIMh

plenty to look at here

[Hywel Jenkins]

I bought the Motorola MR610 twin pack from there. The batteries supplied with the units are 4 AAAs, wrapped in plastic. The battery compartment is marked out for AAA batteries, so I suspect you could put AAA NiMh batteries in instead.

I asked about the usefulness of these radios in a skiing group, and no one said anything about them being illegal in France. This site may help:

[Simon Gardner]

Yup. I am about to liberate a whole bunch on account of changing camera...

[Martin Angove]

Couldn't they open a pack and take a look?

According to the Maplin catalogue (p12) "These radios can be used in most of Europe..." but if anyone's going to be difficult it'd have to be the French :-)

Three thoughts. First, unless it says so, I'd assume NiCd not MiMH, though many are likely to use standard-sized batteries and I'd assume you could swap them if you really want.

Second, Argos, of all places, has a good range of PMR446: page 826-827 in the Autumn/Winter 2003 catalogue. In particular, SIX Oregon Scientific radios with rechargers for less than £120. That's just £20 each. These radios "looked" better to me than the other six-pack (Binatone, £99.50) but I haven't used either. (OS also available as

2-pack for

[Peter Parry]

There isn't a lot of difference between the two technologies, NiCd has slightly poorer energy/weight but on the other hand lasts about for about 2 to 3 times the number of charges. Quite a few use standard AA or AAA batteries (Cobra and Goodmans for example) so you can pick your own batteries.

[Toby]

Currys do the radios, but also do a companion charger set.

8 x AAA Nimh batteries and a semi-intelligent charger [1] for 4.99 bought a twin pack radio set there as a pressie for £30, I think the radios were OK but the bundled ear/mic leads felt a bit cheap. Best steer clear of channel 1 code 1 unless you enjoy hearing excited 6 year olds ~ sorry. [1] It charges up to 90% then switches to trickle charge so can be left on overnight.

[Chippy]

We've been using a couple of pairs of Oregon Scientific PMRs, from Maplins.

They use AAA batteries, and work well with both Ni-Cad and NiMh.

Maplin are doing packs of 12 of the latter for £9.99 at present, so for a tenner per radio you get three sets of batteries.

Ours have paid for themselves several times over in savings on mobile phone bills.

[Dave Stanton]

O

Try a post uk.rec.radio.cb These have been covered lots of times.

Dave

[Andy Hall]

Is there a text messaging accessory for teenagers?

.andy

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[Simon Gardner]

Thankyou but as far as I am concerned there is - hysteresis with NiCads in particular. I never want to see another NiCad.

[Owain]

"Martin Angove" wrote | > My other niggle is over frequency used [446MHz]. If I got them, | > they'd probably be used in France more than in the UK. I have | > this faint memory that the frequency used in the UK is illegal | > for such use in France? | Thirdly, have you considered CB? (Much) more expensive sets (though | there are some good second hand places around such as "Knights CB") | and an annual licence required (from Post Office), *but* | * 40 of the 80 channels available in this country are licenced | across Europe (PMR446 only has 8 channels)

AIUI only 40-channel CEPT sets are legal in France, and the UK 27/81 band is being withdrawn in this country soon anyway.

Owain

[Simon Gardner]

That's the general idea. Though we do run a French mobile, we don't run two. So I reckon a set of these would soon pay for themselves on our frequent trips to France when we need short-range communication.

[Anyway, sounds like what I am now looking for is a pair of them that take standard form AA cells so I csan use all my spare AA NiMhs in them.]

[Dave Liquorice]

No, I'm afraid they'll have to learn to talk rather than grunt.