Radio/scanner equipment ?

[Devils]

Sorry if this is posted elsewhere,

but what would be the best/most useful radio equipment to have ? I am not up on this kind of thing, any suggestions ?

Thanks

[Briggs 2.0]

We covered a similar topic a while back. Search for SDR and DONGLE. For less than £20 you can get a taste of what's out there in the radio spectrum and this will give you a starting point to making a decision. Or buy a handheld like the Wouxun KGUVD6 and listen into the 2m / 145Mhz repeaters. All repeater frequencies are online and there should be one near you.

I stress 'listen' you can't transmit without a license or unless it's an emergency.

[Devils]

Thats a great start thank you,

I found this thread too
viewtopic.php?f=17&t=9585

Many thanks

[Briggs 2.0]

Thats a great start thank you,

I found this thread too
viewtopic.php?f=17&t=9585

Many thanks

Here's a good link for info on SDR dongles.

http://www.essexham.co.uk/news/realtek- ... ounds.html

It's all about the antenna. 10m of copper wire out of your window will be much better than the mini antenna which comes with the dongle. If you get your SDR up and running, check around the 7.1Mhz to 7.2Mhz band, there should be a lot of UK chatter there.

[Captain Darling]

ICOM ICR20. Dual band scanner (can scan two banks/channels at the same time). Ace bit of kit, fairly expensive but really worth it. You can record and play back rig it up to your laptop and reprogrammed it. Covers all freqs from 150KHz to 3.304GHz. So all HF, VHF and UHF. Fun times.

[Malthouse]

Best / Most useful depends on what you want to achieve.

CB Radio is the only official emergency communication system in the British Isles (possibly Europe). So that is worth having in a vehicle or at home, but the frequencies do not work well at handheld size.

As has been said a million times before, the Boafeng (recently rebranded) UV-5R is a stalwart of the Prepper and expeditionist. These are cheap at under 40 quid, have lots of accessories available and will receive a whole host of frequencies including search and rescue, maritime, walkie talkie etc etc. Well worth adding to the bag as they are light and not power hungry.

There is a thread on here where I detailed loads of handy frequencies to program in.

[Sylvanbilly]

Hi Malthouse
I just want to ask you can you link me to the post where you've put useful frequencies on please?
Regards
Bill

[HackneyPrepper]

I have a pair of little Cobra MT600s. They are great little things, cost about £40 but I think you can get them cheaper. I accidentally connected to mountain rescue while in Snowdonia while trying to sync them up so at least I know they will be good in an emergency. Only a 5km range but combined with a GPS (with readable co-ordinates) they will help me get assistance in an emergency no probs.

[Malthouse]

Hi Malthouse
I just want to ask you can you link me to the post where you've put useful frequencies on please?
Regards
Bill

Here it is:-

viewtopic.php?f=17&t=9173

[Sylvanbilly]

Hi Malthouse
I just want to ask you can you link me to the post where you've put useful frequencies on please?
Regards
Bill

Here it is:-

viewtopic.php?f=17&t=9173

Thanks!