Hand Held Radio

[KevDen2005]

What are you all using for hand held radios (not HAM). What are your recommendations? I've been looking at the Midland GXT1000 series.

[SideShow Bob]

I have a couple pair of older model Midlands. I used them to be able to talk to my construction crew scattered around noisy traffic intersections and along fiber optic cable pulls where distance makes it impossible to communicate otherwise and immeadiate comms is mucho importante.
They worked for the purposes I used them for.
Line of sight comms was great. Inside / outside and around structures and in fiber vaults was not great.

[Grant H.]

Non-Ham I use a pair of midlands.

These.

https://www.amazon.com/Midland-GXT10...388TBXP8DB7PX6

[Shooter45]

I use the Midland GXT1000 from the previous post and have for a number of years now. I've had great luck with line of sight and out of sight in some ways. Mountains and trees are hard to come through but using them on the highway with multiple vehicles and hunting has been great luck. Plenty of private channels so you don't interfere with others channels.

[cmailliard]

Going straight FRS/GMRS the GXT1000 are about the best.

Other options for FCC License Free are the DTR 550 from Motorola. They are in the 900MHz band and are a bit more secure (less people using that band and not routinely scanned). They are digital which has its pros and cons. I have used these radios in the past with the .gov and elsewhere. They are pretty nice, they are expensive however.

Third option is to get an FCC Business Band License and slightly more professional radios. You have to pay for the license which is like $425 for up to 5 frequencies and good for like 10 years. Radios are little more pricey but you can get some Retivis or TYT's that are FCC Part 90 Compliant for pretty cheap. You can run Analog or Digital on the same frequencies. This is what I do, I use a combination of MotoTRBO and TYT radios. I have a portable battery/solar repeater that works pretty well.

[Grant H.]

Going straight FRS/GMRS the GXT1000 are about the best.

Other options for FCC License Free are the DTR 550 from Motorola. They are in the 900MHz band and are a bit more secure (less people using that band and not routinely scanned). They are digital which has its pros and cons. I have used these radios in the past with the .gov and elsewhere. They are pretty nice, they are expensive however.

Third option is to get an FCC Business Band License and slightly more professional radios. You have to pay for the license which is like $425 for up to 5 frequencies and good for like 10 years. Radios are little more pricey but you can get some Retivis or TYT's that are FCC Part 90 Compliant for pretty cheap. You can run Analog or Digital on the same frequencies. This is what I do, I use a combination of MotoTRBO and TYT radios. I have a portable battery/solar repeater that works pretty well.

Good information, but I'll share a few more points on both.

Be aware that the 900MHz ISM spectrum is loaded up here on the front range, especially in Weld County. A lot of the O/G, Water/Waste Water, and other SCADA systems use the 900MHz ISM bands as well, in the same manner (FHSS). This, coupled with the relatively limited range of 900MHz radios without a trunk network to spread it, makes them a poor option. Fire/EMS/LEO that use 900MHz have widespread trunk networks that provide 900MHz master stations all over the place, connected by backhauls so that they can communicate across the whole network.

Part 90 radios are better, because they are in a licensed band (generally 450-470MHz, sometimes 136-174MHz, or can be 800-900MHz, but that's undesirable in comparison the VHF/UHF options). You're allowed significantly higher TX power in the 450MHz band (same band as FRS) with a license, but handhelds are still limited in range by their TX power. FRS is now allowed 2 watts on channels 1-7, while the MotoTRBO radios are allowed and can produce 5 watts. These also benefit dramatically from the trunk network design, but they can go further than the 900MHz radios.

The largest limiting factor to ANY handheld radio system is the truly chitty antennas that are required due to portability. Without the benefit of a trunk network, the lower the frequency you can run (within your tolerance for cost and paperwork), the better performance you will get. You can get better antennas, if your radio has a detachable antenna. But this isn't a magic bullet. You'll see some extended range, but nothing too crazy.