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Radios!
Jul 27, 2012 15:06:28 GMT -5
Post by Mosin on Jul 27, 2012 15:06:28 GMT -5
Could someone here please provide the rest of the world with a no shit working Comm setup with links to purchase? I feel like the super civilian comm gurus keep to themselves whilst the rest of us suffer with talkabouts and facepalm at every milestone. Let's say I have $400 to piss away at a good working comm setup, iCom I can personally vouch for as it's what the Taliban use and those bastards theoretically had infinite range on them via re-transmission sites that were essentially iCom radios hooked up to a car battery with a large makeshift antenna. We had intercepted transmissions taking place from as far as 30 miles via these "Re-trans" sites.
Anyways, something that works for real in the field. I am talking Peltor or Liberator style headset, PTT, and radio. Where do I go what do I get? I've heard Toysoldier.com is good for those MBITR replicas, however I've always ran into PTT problems (Re soldering wire work) majority of the times I bothered to plunge into the world of communications.
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Radios!
Jul 27, 2012 15:20:12 GMT -5
Post by Zorak on Jul 27, 2012 15:20:12 GMT -5
Mosin, part of the problem is that many of the setups discussed aren't legal. People either put non-certified radios into FRS or GMRS bands, or they just other bands and hope not to cause a problem. I'm not absurd enough to pretend that people don't do that or that the information is hard to find, but I do have a problem with people posting cookbooks on how to break the law on our site.
If anyone with a proper license for the spectrum they use on their programmable ICOM wants to speak up, I think lots of us would be interested in hearing about how you got the license, what the various aspects cost, and how happy you are with the result.
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Radios!
Jul 27, 2012 19:29:14 GMT -5
Post by X on Jul 27, 2012 19:29:14 GMT -5
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Radios!
Jul 27, 2012 21:24:47 GMT -5
Post by Zorak on Jul 27, 2012 21:24:47 GMT -5
Strictly speaking, using any radio not certified for GMRS use on GMRS frequencies is illegal. Odds of getting into trouble are low, of course, but that's not the same as it being legal.
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Post by X on Jul 28, 2012 11:41:09 GMT -5
Thats correct, but those icoms are part 90 and 95 type accepted. The GP68s are not.
Sent from my DROID RAZR using ProBoards
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Radios!
Jul 28, 2012 14:01:02 GMT -5
Post by Zorak on Jul 28, 2012 14:01:02 GMT -5
Where can I find documentation on the Icom certification? I Googled for it before I posted, but couldn't track it down.
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Radios!
Jul 28, 2012 14:42:09 GMT -5
Post by X on Jul 28, 2012 14:42:09 GMT -5
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Radios!
Oct 2, 2012 22:45:39 GMT -5
Post by Psychosis on Oct 2, 2012 22:45:39 GMT -5
Why specifically the 4011 model, and not a different ICOM? Just curious.
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Post by Tank on Oct 3, 2012 4:04:58 GMT -5
Best bang for your buck, is why we settled on this radio. Our needs at the time were very specific however. We were preparing for a Lion Claws game, you know which one, and our needs were as follows. 1) Long range reception and broadcast. 2) Able to last on a battery (maybe two) all day, at an event that ran for longer than a standard rec game. 3) Quick to charge, so that we would have a fresh battery (or batteries) for the next day of play. We tried Motorola Talkabouts, they had a limited range, but we knew that already. We them bought Motorola GP68 model radios. Their range was barely any better than the Talkabouts. We then decided to get serious and spend some money. I personally owned and used a marine model iCOM and had nothing but great experiences with it. iCOM obviously became high on our radar at that point, but we did research other brands to be sure. Everything that we read kept pointing back to iCOM radios having superior RF circuitry. At this point we then started to familiarize ourselves with the iCOM lineup. The only two that really stood out as reasonably affordable (for a quality radio), were the 4001 and the 4011. The 4001 likely has the same performance, range wise, but the serious drawback was the slow (trickle) charger, and the NiMH battery. The 4011 come with a fast charger and a Li-Ion battery. These are available for purchase for the 4001 radios, but after purchasing the radio, then the new charger and battery, you are way above the cost of the 4011 radios. The benefit of the fast charger and the Li-Ion battery go beyond charging it fast. Which is a matter of a few hours, as opposed to 16 hours (time we did not have). The other benefit you have is not having to completely drain the battery before charging. If you don't do that with a NiMH it will seriously impact the battery's life span. This is a feature that you can benefit from all the time, not just in our initial situation. That is also, by the way, the reason I use LiPo batteries in my AEG. Edit: Edited my post to reference correct model numbers. Thanks X for pointing that out, maybe I shouldn't stay up till 5:00 in the morning and post. As an FYI to anyone looking at these iCOM radios, the radios in the 3000 series are VHF and the radios in the 4000 series are UHF. You want UHF.
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Post by Gunny87 on Oct 3, 2012 8:50:18 GMT -5
Obviously the ICOM is a 100x better radio, but I figured I would point out that Toy Soldier does have new PRC-148 replicas back in stock for $150 and now they have a 5 pin plug. www.toysoldier.com.hk/product_details.php?pid=252Figured I would post it since a lot of people are always asking about mine when they see it. And it actually worked very well for me at the AO at NL3.
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Post by X on Oct 3, 2012 9:00:39 GMT -5
Best bang for your buck, is why we settled on this radio. Our needs at the time were very specific however. We were preparing for a Lion Claws game, you know which one, and our needs were as follows. 1) Long range reception and broadcast. 2) Able to last on a battery (maybe two) all day, at an event that ran for longer than a standard rec game. 3) Quick to charge, so that we would have a fresh battery (or batteries) for the next day of play. We tried Motorola Talkabouts, they had a limited range, but we knew that already. We them bought Motorola GP68 model radios. Their range was barely any better than the Talkabouts. We then decided to get serious and spend some money. I personally owned and used a marine model iCOM and had nothing but great experiences with it. iCOM obviously became high on our radar at that point, but we did research other brands to be sure. Everything that we read kept pointing back to iCOM radios having superior RF circuitry. At this point we then started to familiarize ourselves with the iCOM lineup. The only two that really stood out as reasonably affordable (for a quality radio), were the 3000 series and the 4000 series. The 3000 series likely has the same performance, range wise, but the serious drawback was the slow (trickle) charger, and the NiMH battery. The 4000 series comes with a fast charger and a Li-Ion battery. These are available for purchase for the 3000 series radios, but after purchasing the radio, then the new charger and battery, you are way above the cost of the 4000 series radios. The benefit of the fast charger and the Li-Ion battery go beyond charging it fast. Which is a matter of a few hours, as opposed to 16 hours (time we did not have). The other benefit you have is not having to completely drain the battery before charging. If you don't do that with a NiMH it will seriously impact the battery's life span. This is a feature that you can benefit from all the time, not just in our initial situation. That is also, by the way, the reason I use LiPo batteries in my AEG. Just want to correct Tank on one little part. The 3000 series is VHF and not a suitable airsoft radio. What Tank meant was the 4011 vs the 4001. The 4011 has the fast charger/Li-ion battery and the 4001 has the slow charger/NiMH battery.
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ctres
New Member
Posts: 955
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Radios!
Nov 10, 2012 20:34:06 GMT -5
Post by ctres on Nov 10, 2012 20:34:06 GMT -5
I know this thread had been dead for a little while but I have another question that I think would be relevant and helpful so I hope it's okay.
For you guys that have icoms that require a computer to program, how do you go about putting in channels when you are going to a game? Do you just program in all of the FRS/GMRS frequencies or do you bring a laptop with you to program in channels when you figure out what channels you will be using at that event? The icoms you guys have reccomended only have 16 channels, but the talkabouts I have get 22 channels and 38 subchannels how do you work around this with the icoms?
On another note, I am considering other options that allow programming directly from the radio, I was going to get the wouxun that eagledriver recommended but I have decided against it because I will not fit in an mbitr shell, which is why I am now considering the icom f4001. I have also been looking at the puxing 888 and 777 radios and I would appreciate input on those if anyone has any experience.
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Radios!
Nov 10, 2012 21:57:16 GMT -5
Post by X on Nov 10, 2012 21:57:16 GMT -5
First off forget about sub channels. They are useless. You are still broadcasting on the main channel but you are filtering the response from anyone else who is not using that subchannel. If the event host has any idea what they are doing they will not use sub channels. I personally have yet to see this.
Regarding the channels. The event host always posts the radio channels before the game (if they don't I complain). The channels are always divided evenly between the teams (I also complain here) so you only need at most 11 channels. You can still program in some of the enemy team channels if you want to, but I haven't ever had a reason to do this since "electronic warfare" isn't allowed. I program the channels prior to the game and it hasn't been a problem yet.
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ctres
New Member
Posts: 955
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Radios!
Nov 10, 2012 22:56:00 GMT -5
Post by ctres on Nov 10, 2012 22:56:00 GMT -5
Fair enough. Thanks for the clarification on subchannels, I have always been confused since wherever I see a list of FRS/GMRS frequencies nothing about subchannels is mentioned and there is just one frequency for each channel. I am slowly leaning towards the icom 4001, but I will have to look into the puxing still as well.
If all goes well I will post a guide for the mbitr project I am working on. The goal is to get a high quality radio (like an icom or something similar) inside an mbitr shell and utilize both real mbitr ptts (u283 connector) and antennas (TNC). This would give all of the functionality of a high end radio and the looks of a real mbitr rather than buying an expensive mbitr replica that is basically a talkabout in a fancy box.
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Post by Tank on Nov 11, 2012 0:40:45 GMT -5
Fair enough. Thanks for the clarification on subchannels, I have always been confused since wherever I see a list of FRS/GMRS frequencies nothing about subchannels is mentioned and there is just one frequency for each channel. I am slowly leaning towards the icom 4001, but I will have to look into the puxing still as well. If all goes well I will post a guide for the mbitr project I am working on. The goal is to get a high quality radio (like an icom or something similar) inside an mbitr shell and utilize both real mbitr ptts (u283 connector) and antennas (TNC). This would give all of the functionality of a high end radio and the looks of a real mbitr rather than buying an expensive mbitr replica that is basically a talkabout in a fancy box. Two things, real quick. 1. Remember that sub frequencies aren't really different frequencies (for the most part), and that the iCOMs are able to do them, from what I remember. 2. The only thing I would be worried about with the project your referring to is the water seal. The iCOMs are pretty durable tee way they come. If you were to take the circuit out of its case you may lose that durability, both in water seal and just strength against abuse. One other thing to worry about, is if they may be using their case, in any way, for a RF shield. Also, when they tune the radio, it is in its case. You may lose range by transferring the internals to a different housing. Just some food for thought.
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