OT Those PMR personal radios

[Huge]

Not that that will make the slightest difference to it's users.

[Dave Liquorice]

capacity.

I Bought a combined charger and 4 (AA) cells to go with the digital camera for less thana tenner. The life of these (1200mAH) cells is much shorter than the industrial (1800mAH) greater capacity would suggest using the same charger...

[Nick Smith]

France used to disallow the European wide 446 usage on channels 1 and 2 but now all 8 are allowed in France.

Nick

[Andy Hall]

Never a truer word. When my son has a friend visit, you can't quite hear the conversation but it sounds exactly like Beavis and Butthead.

.andy

To email, substitute .nospam with .gl

[R W]

I was quite tempted by the Virgin ones on this page

I was in a Target store in the USA. I take it from what you've said it was a good idea not to buy them?

Would any of the sets on this page be suitable for use in the UK?

[R W]

Slightly related, but I understand the mobile phone companies are looking at push-to-talk technology.

It will work using voice over GPRS. You "connect" to the other handset over GPRS GSM anywhere in the country, but you only pay for the amount of time you actually talk (because you only occupy the network while data is being transmitted or received over GPRS). Silent time is free.

Handsets capable of this are supposedly coming soon...

[Simon Gardner]

There was some very last minute re-drafting of the mobile-phone-whilst-drving law to ensure PTT mobiles were covered as well as "traditional" mobiles.

[Chippy]

Take a look at this link, which seems to be pretty much the definitive site for reviews of different models:

[tony sayer]

In article , Andrew Heggie writes

Do beware of some of the claims for these units. There are only a basic

8 RF carrier channels but signalling codes CTCSS and CDS and Selcall are used to prevent you hearing unintended transmissions etc but if someone else is using the same RF channel as you expect problems. This is a useful sort of radio for most domestic functions, but is sodded up in built up areas with children using them willy nilly, but then again its really only a new CB type and grade radio.

Like most things the more you pay the better the product. We tried using them for some pro and semi pro applications but have given up now. The range is rather optimistic and to get the claimed 3 Km or so in an urban environment you will be very lucky indeed. Even out in the country things like trees and wooded area's can soak up the signal very badly.

You can use them in almost all EEC countries and France is no exception. Most units especially the cheaper ones will take AA size batteries. From more recent experiences the Motorola ones have more going for them than most. Such makes as Kenwood and ICOM do them but they are relatively expensive and in fact are scaled down versions of PMR grade radios....

[Simon Gardner]

For my purposes, 1 km will be just fine and 500m more usual. I have no hopes that they will work much at 3km and little intention of trying.

[Chippy]

They are now doing a 4-pack of Oregon Scientific, with two twin desktop chargers and batteries, for less than £40.

Pretty much a low-risk purchase at the price:

[geoff]

Has mungo trained them to shut the front door yet?

[tony sayer]

In article , Chippy writes

[Owain]

"tony sayer" wrote | >They are now doing a 4-pack of Oregon Scientific, with two twin | >desktop chargers and batteries, for less than £40. | Looks very much buy that cheap, buy many times....

Statutory rights should give you a year's use at least.

Even if it breaks 1 day after that year and you replace it (assuming at the same price), after four years you'll have paid 4 x £10 = £40 per unit.

If you bought a £40 unit to start off with, it would still be out of guarantee after a year, and I'd be surprised if it lasted four years taking into account none of them - apart from the Motorola semi-pro and the like - look very substantial, and the likelihood of dropping/loss/theft.

Owain

[Niall]

For values of "soon" of the order of 10 years.

[Chippy]

Quite honestly, I can't see how anyone can turn their nose up at four units for £40.

The units we've been using for the past 15 months are an earlier Oregon Scientific model, but very similar to the ones now on offer[*]. They have been dropped several times, and, in one case, accidently immersed in water. All continue to work perfectly.

[*] I've just been to my local Argos for a set. They took my money, but then found that they were out of stock, so I got a more expensive Binatone quad-pack for the lower price.

The only reason for the change was the more convenient pair of twin chargers, and the old sets can be given away or kept spare. The new sets will have paid for themselves by the end of January at the latest.

[tony sayer]

In article , Owain writes

Humm....perhaps we have more demanding than most customers. Some of these units we have trailed haven't lasted a week even.

Now how many on here would spend sod all on tools they use for work?....

[Toby]

Chippy writes

t> Humm....perhaps we have more demanding than most customers. Some of

True, but the difference is between something just above toy status, and a business item that can be capitalised and written down over three years. For a 'take it on holiday' item that OS set look hard to beat (wish I'd seen it b4 Xmas), but business would probably have Icom or Motorola sets or properly licensed on site PBR sets using 459/161 MHz.