I’m looking for a set of 4 waterproof walkie talkies to use with a group of buddies while fishing an area of South Texas with spotty cell service. A range of 25 miles or so would be ideal.
Rapid Radios seem to be a bit overkill and expensive for the limited use ours will get. Some other options I’ve seen online ($250 or so for a set of 4) advertise a 35 mile range in mountains, but only 6 miles on open water.
Does anyone have any first hand experience or suggestions for waterproof walkie talkies that work well with long range on the water?
Like Mike said, GMRS would be a good option. 25 miles might be pushing it a little but should be able to get some decent range on open water. The number one thing with radios is going to be the antenna. It’s pretty much more important than the radio itself to a degree. My personal favorite antenna is a small company called https://zbm2industries.com/products/qp-whip-antenna-thicc?variant=43973159420056.
Keep in mind with GMRS per FCC guidelines you “need” to register and get your license, which is a matter of signing up.
You could always get yourself some frs radios but you are limited on some wattage.
That’s another option as well, it’s just the stock rubber ducky antennas on your standard handheld vhf are garbage and there really isn’t a market on aftermarket antennas for them.
Hey, here’s a topic I happen to know something about. I have an extra class amateur radio license (KE4Y) and play with radios. The ratings on these handheld radios are wildly exaggerated. VHF frequencies are line of sight. Any obstruction will block your signal. Your greatest obstruction is the curvature of the earth. A 25 mile range is theoretically correct, if you’re both standing on a mountain top. If you’re holding the radio in your skiff while on the water, you are at about 5 feet which makes the range about 6 miles before the curvature gets you. Over water VHF frequencies will “bend” a little, giving about a 25% bonus, so you may get 7 or 8 miles. I think the recommendation for a quality handheld VHF radio is a good one. They are typically 5 watts. If you go the GMRS route, which isn’t a bad option though not as universally useful on the water, you can get 5 watts as well, but some radios have a lower power rating. You will get more “push” on your signal so to speak with more power.
Great info, i actually got the GMRS license (which was really easy) and these 5 Watt Radio - Rugged Backcountry Radio | Rocky Talkie . We’ve only played around a little but 5-8 miles worked pretty well when I went with the longer antenna.
This is very very false, marine VHF is right next to the 2m amateur radio bands frequency wise. Every ham radio nerd has a 2m (non marine VHF) radio.
There’s almost no greater availability of aftermarket antenna for any frequency range outside of CBs (11 meter)
Also you will typically see higher quality in marine VHF construction than your avg walkie talkie.
If you want to get a more powerful walkie talkie look at the handheld Chinese amateur radio imports that are unlocked, they’ll do all 2M and 70cm (400mhz) GMRS, FRS, VHF etc etc
A few years ago I bought some Midland GXT’s to use at music festivals to keep track of the kids. As a bonus I was going to use them on the boat to stay in direct touch w Kitchen 6. The ramp I use is about three miles as the crow flies. Couldn’t stay in touch. Just too many trees between the hill and home.
As an experiment I put the kid in the crows nest (Room over the garage😂) and drove and we kept track of how far before I lost him. 1.7 miles is the best. That’s tree’s and buildings. I would think you’d get some extra range on the water as ShallowDan said.
I had to replace one of the internal Batt’s at the 8yr mark. $15 on Amazon and the unit works fine.
What part is false? Every handheld marine vhf radio I’ve seen has a reversed sma connector on the radio compared to your standard ham/frs/gmrs HTs which you would have to find the right adapter to run a standard 2m antenna. Maybe there was some disconnect, have you found plug and play aftermarket antennas for marine vhf radios?
Sorry I should have been more specific, you’re correct you’d need the sma adapter, they’re available.
I use a small adapter on one of my chi com HTs to connect to coax on my little 2m base antenna.
A also just read my post again there was only supposed to be one very* there, wasn’t trying to be a ■■■■■■■, maybe my phone knows me better than I do myself lol
I’d love to find some affordable handhelds with a decent range. When we go on our trips we have 4-5 boats running all over and it’d be cool to swap intel.
