Walkie talkie

[Henk_A]

Hi,

Does anyone have advice and experience as to what walkie talkies works the best for overlanding to communicate between vehicles?

I suppose signal, distance it can work at and compatibility is important and then price

[peterpot]

We have 2 x Zartec walkie talkies we use between vehicles. They were not expensive and work fine for the purpose. This price class are mainly line of sight (plus a little bit more) type performance. Batteries only last one maybe two days. A 12v adapter would be great.
As soon as you move up to the next performance level the price jumps considerably. Very much you get what you pay for, type story.

[pfgrobler]

I have 2 small zartec pro8 - the tiny ones - I wont huy them again +- R900 for 2

The guys seem happy witht the bigger zartecs -+ R900 for 1

And very happy with vratvark radios. +- R1200 for 1
These are ale UHF and dont need a licence.

The next step up is VHF radios - they need a licence but its jow quick and easy to apply online via 4x4community.co.za.

Handhelds are from R1600 and mobile (car mounted ) are from R2500.

I recently bought a mobile vhf rafio - havent installed it yet.

[peter.thorpe]

2-3 years ago SA 4X4 magazine ran a comparative test on these walkie-talkies. I seem to recall that the Zarcos did not fare that well, & that the best ones were a local brand. If you contact SA 4x4 mag on 021 702 4200 they should be able to dig out that article for you, or the back-issue.

[Henk_A]

Great, thanks guys.

I'll look at my magazines, most of them should be in the shelf. Someone told me to also look for ones with Lithium batteries else the battery develops a memory when charged often (e.g. in the car).

[Forest Fab]

Hi,

If this can help, my only advice is to NOT buy these:

Zartek COM 8

My father in law bought them from Outdoor Warehouse on our way to Botswana, only to realise that it was difficult to communicate with the car in front of us, and no signal once the distance was more than ±500m. The rechargeable battery ran out so I tried to put in AAA batteries in, only for the handset to go up in smoke
When I spoke about those again at the PMB branch, the guy gave me a smile and said that these are toys for kids.

So yeah, stay far away from these.

The original plan was to use a set of Kirisun PT260 that came with a roof antenna, but he forgot them at home... They have a wide range on their website: digital or analog and they are a good value for money I think.

edit: here are two links to SA websites:
http://www.bi-comm.co.za/Kirisun.html
http://www.radiosource.co.za/products.html

[Henk_A]

thanks! definitely not buying them!

[davebekker]

I have been thinking about this idea for a while and can't see why it shouldn't work great. All skiboats have to upgrade their radios to VHF which leaves loads of boat owners with a 29Mhz radio spare. A little adaptation and this could be a great 4x4 radio option and even portable (but plugin). With all the second hand radios around they should be dirt cheap. The 29Mhz also only have line of sight power but can go for km's with a decent aerial.

[Stranger]

I recently bought the Vratark 2. What a nice piece of kit.

Think Bike JHB and CPT
ORRA
ORRU

Only a handheld but I was getting over 5km bike to bike while moving.