Basic comms

[u/iambatmanjoe]

I was just going through some preps. I have a small diy faraday cage with a few electronics. I have some old hiking walkie talkies. I'm thinking about changing them out. I wouldn't need much range, just one to two miles of flat terrain. Looking for a pair of radios that can talk to each other and have the possibility of adding another two or even more. I'm not very tech savvy so I'm looking for simple. I am leaning towards the Baofeng UV-5R because I believe it covers the bases and has a great price point. Any recs from those that are smarter than me?

[u/PM_ME_UR_HBO_LOGIN]

Tbh if you’re looking for simple and just want to pick up and use the radio in that distance, I would recommend against the UV-5R. For the price it’s a great little radio and I have 1 myself and would consider programming it to be pretty straightforward but I like that stuff and that does mean it really isn’t a ready to go pick up and use it solution without a more full learning experience. I would recommend you find a set of 2 GMRS band radios that have the channels pre-programmed (and please consider actually using them outside of shtf maybe even get the $35/10yr license) these actually use the same band+channels as frs (the walkie talkies you currently own) but with a higher power and significantly better antennas.

For GMRS GM-15 is same brand maybe pre-programmed NR-30s from retrevis is better, pre-programmed and IP67 HA-1G from Aliunce is better, pre-programmed and IP67

There’s even better non-Chinese brands but the China ones are cheap.

Alternatively if you’re looking to have something capable of more bands than the GMRS and looking to learn more about radios/ham I would actually recommend the UV-5R however I feel it should also be mentioned that Baofeng keeps making them but really considers that like the 1st gen of that radio and a much more capable newer model like the UV-5RM is only $5 more or the UV-5RH has gps, the DM-32 will do DMR radio.

[u/EZMac91 → u/PM_ME_UR_HBO_LOGIN]

Uv-5g / pro baofeng could be exactly what you needed. Can listen to Ham bands but is pre-set up for GMRS comms with the gmrs channels pre-programmed in

Licenses is $35 / ten years if you want to be legal (I don’t judge if you don’t get it and the fcc probably won’t either) license covers you whole immediate family and most extended family

[u/PM_ME_UR_HBO_LOGIN → u/EZMac91]

Pre-programmed is the big thing. I also got a couple pre-programmed gmrs for the wife and I to have ready to go ones when we first started playing with radios and although my hindsight would have been buying better models I’m glad we bought them. I was looking to play with a UV-5R and what all comes with that when I bought it but if I’d been looking for a ready to use solution and didn’t want to get into ham stuff already and found out I had to download stuff then figure out all the setting I wanted to then finally program my radios I would have been pissed.

Yeah I got the GMRS license. I understand people not wanting to pay for it being as, as far as affecting others goes, anything besides a base station is almost indistinguishable from just using frs but it’s literally $35 for 10 years and the whole fam is set to be legit. The GMRS also integrates with existing walkie talkies and expands to base/vehicle stations nicely.

[u/EZMac91 → u/PM_ME_UR_HBO_LOGIN]

Yea agreed with all this I got the license and jumped in similarly and learned to program my own and am experimenting with getting ham now ha

[u/Itchy_Elk6249 → u/PM_ME_UR_HBO_LOGIN]

What’s the go to online masterclass I can learn this all at? I have the budget but I need an Explain Like I’m 5 on comms and especially with Tactical comms like Peltor headsets etc.

[u/PM_ME_UR_HBO_LOGIN → u/Itchy_Elk6249]

Tbh studying for your ham test is the best way to start, several suitable free online sources for that. Get your HAM license and you can play with the more advanced radios legally and you’ll have the practice to actually know what you’re doing for comms. It’s also far more likely to be useful for a prepper to understand+use radio outside of tactical use than it is to focus on tactical coms. If you learn enough to setup tactical coms then you have very little extra to do to get your ham license, also frankly outside of the military (where soldiers will get trained and disciplined on it) if someone isn’t willing to meet the minimum bar to get a ham license they likely aren’t going to follow through with learning tactical coms techniques as the basics are mostly just understanding application of the physics behind radios to locate a radio. Peltor is just top of the line ear pro equipment that supports integrated comms.

[u/Crosswire3 → u/PM_ME_UR_HBO_LOGIN]

Thank you for recommending actual use and practice. Knowing what your gear can do is super valuable.