two way radios

[craig]

can anybody tell me what the hummingbird vh5 two way radios are like for distance,clarity and general useability. I am looking at these for use on lakes etc.

[JKJ]

Myself and 4 friends have this radio. You can get 4 miles no problem. The rechageable battery will last 8-10 hours. (Less if you are tranmitting a lot.) Has all the features of a more expensive radio, such as programable channels, scan, ect. Output is 5 watts. Comes with a waterproof storage bag. Well woth the $99 pricetag.

[AquaMan]

4 miles? Holy cow, that is a good radio! Most of those hand helds only get 1-2 miles. 3 at the most. Is that radio part of the FRS series? You know, like the Motorola Talk Abouts?

AquaMan~~~~~~~~~~~~~

--- "It all begins and ends at the water's edge"

[JKJ]

Aquaman,

The VH5 is a VHF handheld. The 4 miles is line of site over water. I can talk to my partner on Sloppy Joe's from spots near big point on Mille Lacs. (That's about 6 miles) I have got more distance at times.

Hope that helps.

[DaveQ]

well they sound good are you thinking about some one else buying the other one, if needed im intrested

[Ron]

That makes three.

[AquaMan]

Oh, OK. I was not aware these were VHF. I know those are better. I debated getting one in the boat and may still one day. I only wish that a guy could get ONE radio that worked in all situations. VHF, CB, Marine, FRS, Weather and make it portable. :-)

AquaMan~~~~~~~~~~~~~

--- "It all begins and ends at the water's edge"

[Hans]

LAST EDITED ON Feb-09-01 AT 11:18AM (CST)[p]Could be done, but the radio would cost a mint, since those radio services are scattered all over the spectrum.

CB is in HF spectrum.
Marine and Weather are in two different parts of the VHF spectrum.
FRS is in UHF spectrum.

The design would be further complicated by the different power output levels allowed by regulation, the different modulation modes (CB is SSB, the rest are FM), and the funky antenna you'd need to cover all those bands.

Hans

--
For something you really want, the price is always high.

[JKJ]

Just to clarify, the Humminbird VH5 is a VHF Marine Band radio. (All US and International stations) This radio also has 10 Weather Channels that are recieve only. These are the Nation Weather Service "NOAA" channels. I'm pretty sure this is the industry standard for VHF radios on the market today.

[craig]

Thanks evreybody, these radios will recieve a whole spectrum of radio frequencies that include the canadian weather bands. I like the distance I hear from this post.Probably will give them a try.When I use them I will post my own obsverations for evreybody.