Shooting 1000 at Blakely, GA and am looking for a good 2 way to communicate with the line and pit. Price up to $100. No hunting, just shooting. Thanks!

Wouldn't ordinary FRS radios work just fine for that application? They aren't terribly expensive......

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MikeG

Brotus......How soon do you need them?.......

I'll shoot again in mid August.

If this a "wanted to buy" rather than gathering opinions, let me know and we'll move it to the Trading Post forum for you.

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MikeG

Gathering opinions.

fm only works "line-of-sight". even a slight hill, kills the range. so if flat and clear view (aka Georgia) to pit-pit the motorala MT350R Giant MT350R FRS Weatherproof Two-Way will work (about 85 for a pair on Amazon).

But the antenna on the one must be seeable by the others (don't stick your head up but keep the antena high in the pit.

I agree that FRS radios should work fine for near line of sight work at 1000 yards (and more).

Thinking this would be a good place to use a pair of vintage wired field phones though. Think WWII and Korea. Fun factor.

Cheezywan

The armay E-88 field phoines work great. But you do need expensive batteries (although they are easily repowered by an electronic tech. they are hand crank and the SC lover them in WW-2. So in 1962 I got a pair and ran the wire to our 200 yard range, they worked great. By 1980 the "kids" were running the range and they went to handheld CB radios. My old E-88s were just tossed into the target shed...probably still there.

The surplus ones were cheap (and brand new); and if you wanted to the crank could be used to shock worms to come to the surface for fishing.

Today even an old cogger like me would opt for FRS. Maybe I'll liberate those old E-88s and recondition them...just what I need is more lod stuff in my house!

One of the best over the counter radios is the Midland brand. I use the 5 watt series in the mountains of Colorado at ranges up to 10 miles. The lower powered FRS ones would work for you. The GMRS radios require a FCC license to be legally operated.

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A truely successful life is mostly based on how well you handle PLAN B.

Trouble with FRS an CB is going to be interference with other users. They have just as much right to any particular channel as you do. Might work fine one day on one channel, but not the next. Pure crap-shoot there!

A "wired system" would be your own. No licence required. No real interferance( unless someone "taps" into it).

I suppose you could use cell-phones. I'm not a big fan of this for your purpose, but it could be made to work.

Cheezywan

Second that jodum. I have a pair of Midland cxt240's (no longer offered in retail, I think) and they're good to several miles, and around canyon bends. These are 5 yrs or so old, so I'm sure technology has improved. A quick scan of Midwayusa shows several Midland models available for <$100. These at $80.

Midland GXT1000VP4 Two-Way Radio NOAA Weather 50 Channel Black Silver

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NRA Endowment Member
SCI Member

I was in the two way radio business for eighteen years. The Midland radios are as good as some of the commercial models I used to sell. We also use the Garmin Rinos that have a built in GPS that show the location of the other Rino users. To me, the Garmins do not have the same audio quality as the Midlands though.

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A truely successful life is mostly based on how well you handle PLAN B.

Most of the FRS/GMRS handhelds are slightly lower power and require no license. the license is about to be removed, you can check the FCC if you intend to buy higher power GMRS radio.

I have had the same pair of Motorola Talkabout T5200s for the last, well over 10 years. The guys at my club have all had several new radios. All have had problems. They were all Motorolas also. I will use these until they quit working.