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Best radios to use in an emergency (2021)

plannedemergency.com

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Re: Best radios to use in an emergency (2021)

#21

Post by jimnotgym »

Yeahsureok wrote: post #7
aosmith wrote: post #4

And not a single mention of the BaoFeng UV5R, what a shame.

The great thing about the ubiquitous cheap Baofengs is that they operate on frequencies that regular legit radios generally won't let you receive and transmit on due to local laws. For an unknown emergency situation at that price point they seem ideal. You never know what band you might need to communicate on and CB has its own limitations.

The technical (rather than legal) problem with the baofeng is the lack of input filtering. This means if you are near a strong transmitter on any nearby band you won't hear anything!

Since in the UK it is common to put radio masts on a hill top this can make them useless on adjacent hill tops. Adding a decent antenna makes it worse. In fact the only way to get clear receive is to use an input notch filter or a narrow band and highly directional aerial like a yagi

Edit: if you really want to use it on 2m or 70cm amatuer spend another £40 and get a yaesu

Re: Best radios to use in an emergency (2021)

#23

Post by dataflow »

nonrandomstring wrote: post #17
valiant-comma wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Garmin’s InReach products are great for this. Emergency button, two-way texts, all satellite based, so basically full global coverage. They can also allow you to share your semi real-time location with friends and family, if that’s useful to you.

Yes the Garmin stuff looks great. For some of those features you seem to need a renewable monthly subscription. I'm looking for products that build the connection cost into the one-off price, not out of cheapness but for more reliability/security than a subscription. Would be awful to finally need an emergency device and find the data plan had expired (as is now the case with phone networks that destroy your number w…

Kinda wish there was a pricing model along the lines of "top-up with $X of credit that is guaranteed not to remain valid for 5+ years, and charge it $100 for the first message, and $0.10/message thereafter for the next month, with the ability to send a predetermined test to the company server at a cost of $1/test", or something like that. Surely this kind of a model must be viable at some price point?

Re: Best radios to use in an emergency (2021)

#24

Post by samatman »

logopop wrote: post #8
iasay wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Probably because it’s illegal to use one without a license.

... and it's also crap.

Can you elaborate? I'm interested in having an emergency radio which can listen to (and send on) frequencies I'm not allowed on, I have no intention of transmitting on the prohibited channels, and I have a Baofeng. Is there some obviously better radio I should have instead, and why?

Re: Best radios to use in an emergency (2021)

#25

Post by junon »

HillBates wrote: post #20
defrost wrote: post #3

In an extreme emergancy (eg: captured in a POW camp) you might just have to build your own: Queensland Prisoners secret radio revealed >> Two Queensland brothers, Ernest and Charles Hildebrandt, built a secret wireless radio receiver which they operated in the camp near Bandoeng in Java which was overran by Japanese soldiers in 1942. >> Constructed of parts scrounged from the internment camp where they were held pris…

Coverage of earth by earth sensing satellites in visible spectrum is so high, that you can literally write different message into sand / earth every hour. No radio construction necessary XD

Someone needs to be looking, though.

Re: Best radios to use in an emergency (2021)

#26

Post by runnerup »

iasay wrote: post #18
aosmith wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nobody cares in an emergency...

Other than the legit licensed responders who now have to traffic manage a pile of morons with no operating experience.

You’re allowed to use any frequency in an actual emergency.

Re: Best radios to use in an emergency (2021)

#27

Post by iasay »

runnerup wrote: post #26
iasay wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Other than the legit licensed responders who now have to traffic manage a pile of morons with no operating experience.

You’re allowed to use any frequency in an actual emergency.

No you can’t. You can only frequencies within the allocated spectrum for amateur radio. And it must be for the specific purpose of emergency comms. And that’s not universally true everywhere.

Re: Best radios to use in an emergency (2021)

#28

Post by iasay »

samatman wrote: post #24
logopop wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

... and it's also crap.

Can you elaborate? I'm interested in having an emergency radio which can listen to (and send on) frequencies I'm not allowed on, I have no intention of transmitting on the prohibited channels, and I have a Baofeng. Is there some obviously better radio I should have instead, and why?

Honestly the Baofeng is mostly fine. Just use it. 90% of it is elitism. The harmonic suppression of the transmitter is crap which is the issue but the radiated power is constrained by the antenna so not usually a problem unless you’re testing it in a lab. Most of the problem is just sinophobia.

If you want something actually with decent capability then the Yaesu FT818 is a good bet. It does all amateur bands, UHF, VHF, airband, FM broadcast all modes. But it costs money.

I’m not an active ham anymore but I keep an 818 around.

As for why I’m not a ham anymore, spend some time with some hams and you will get the idea.

Re: Best radios to use in an emergency (2021)

#29

Post by mabbo »

I woke up yesterday to: no home internet; no mobile connection. I own no broadcast tv service. (Why yes, I am a Canadian Rogers customer).

I literally started searching through my junk to see if I owned a radio of any kind, just to try to hear news of what the hell was going on.

Eventually I gave up and walked to the library instead, discovering 500 other people in the same situation sharing the wifi.

Time to invest in a nice radio for emergencies.

Re: Best radios to use in an emergency (2021)

#30

Post by gorgoiler »

harg wrote: post #13
gorgoiler wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is not technically true. These radios can — and most commonly do — use the unlicensed UHF bands (PMR446 in the EU, FRS 462Mhz in the US.)

Even if used on the unlicensed bands it’s still illegal to transmit in those frequencies without a license as the UV5R doesn’t comply with the restrictions of license free radios. I.e it exceeds the max allowed power and has a detachable antenna. However, there’s nothing illegal about using the uv5r to receive. And in reality if you only use it on the pmr446 frequencies you’re very unlikely to get busted.

I am licensed up to 10W but this is still good to know!
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