UHF or VHF in the field?

[2021]

I’m looking to upgrade the licenced handheld radios on our shoot.

We currently use cheap Baofeng units (which have UHF and VHF option) and it seems like UHF works slightly better on our rolling / wooded landscape. Is this what our experienced members would expect - or is it so site specific we should just go with UHF as it seems to be better?

We’ll likely go for more expensive / waterproof units so I think we’ll have to pick UHF or VHF.

Finally does anybody have a favourite (sub £200) radio they recommend?

Thanks

 

[Dillon]

Have a look for a second hand set of Hytera pd505. A reconditioned one will be about £75.

 

[Dazb1967]

We mostly use Motorola UHF on our shoot but a few of the beaters have bought their own Baofeng radios and never had any issues, One of the lads lost his Baofeng a couple of weeks ago but luckily found it and after being left out in the elements for a good few days it was still working fine

 

[reddog]

Go for VHF when used outdoors, UHF is generally used in and around buildings.

Have a look at these,

Tritan GoConnect Plus UHF Walkie Talkie Two Way Radio (New)

www.radioswap.co.uk

We have used them for 5 or 6 years and they are spot on. The company are very good to deal with and worth talking to for advice . Depending on how many you want they may be able to offer a deal.

 

[wanderer]

How does one get a licence if you want to go away from the licence free ones and what is the advantage with licenced ones?

 

[LuckyEddie]

I have a pair of BF-888S radios which I’ve had reconfigured with long aerials. Landed lucky as a guy had bought them and didn’t get on with them so punted them for £30. The long aerials cost me another £40.
Great coverage and really easy to use

 

[2021]

How does one get a licence if you want to go away from the licence free ones and what is the advantage with licenced one

0.5 watt vs 5 watt power limits.

Ofcom Radio Licencing in the United Kingdom - How It Works

A brief explanation of the legal rules about using walkie-talkie radios and other radio equipment in the UK, and whether you need a licence from Ofcom.

www.walkie-talkie-radio.co.uk

 

[sy247]

Should I Choose VHF or UHF?

We discuss the difference between VHF and UHF, and which you should choose. This page explains the difference between VHF and UHF, which are both part of the radio spectrum, and have merit in different use cases.

www.radiotronics.co.uk

The video is worth a watch.

 

[Ade8mm]

VHF/UHF on a Baofeng will be Ham amature radio licensed.
For local comms amature bands are most likely not what you need anyway (though the foundation license is not hard to get

I am not sure the HAM fraternity would appreciate your transmissions re: Drives and where people should be at a certain time, I would but that is because I shoot and am a licensed HAM (Not a fat cnut that lives in his Mom's spare bedroom - just to be clear)

 

[zambezi]

currently use cheap Baofeng units (which have UHF and VHF option) and it seems like UHF works slightly better on our rolling / wooded landscape

Agree

BF-888S radios

Excellent bang-for-buck. [each unit is sub £9.00] Fairly robust, approx 4w output. The surprise is that they are spectrally clean. I.e. unlike many cheap radio offerings [including other Baofengs] of recent times, there are no spurious emissions [harmonics or other] apart from the intended carrier frequency. But...they ship configured with frequencies that are not registered for unlicensed use in the U.K. afaics.

Comparing the frequencies I found installed on a shipped unit [see below] with a search of the U.K. spectrum suggest a clash with commercially registered ranges.

However, the very good news is that it is ludicrously easy to configure these radios to use Simple Business Radio frequency ranges using Chirp configuration software and by paying the Simple Business Radio licence fee to Ofcom [£75 for 5 years].


BF-888S radios test to be spectrally "clean":




BF-888S arrives configured thus which is probably not ok for U.K. usage:





U.K. Simple Business Radio frequency allocations:

 

[zambezi]

For twice the price of a BF-888S, you could buy a Quansheng UV K5 8.

Some of what this radio adds to the basic UHF handheld proposition is as follows:

• dual watch [listening on two channels simultaneously]
• frequency scanning [scan whole frequency ranges]
• radio channel cloning [your mate's radio is of unknown configuration but you want your radio to learn his radio's config. Simples. FC function does that: just hold your radio near his during transmission]

 

[2021]

VHF/UHF on a Baofeng will be Ham amature radio licensed.
For local comms amature bands are most likely not what you need anyway (though the foundation license is not hard to get

I am not sure the HAM fraternity would appreciate your transmissions re: Drives and where people should be at a certain time, I would but that is because I shoot and am a licensed HAM (Not a fat cnut that lives in his Mom's spare bedroom - just to be clear)

We have a licence that gives us specific VHF and UHF frequencies. The radios are programmed to one UHF and one VHF. The UHF seems to work better. We don’t have issues with weirdos (outside of the shoot members) listening in.

 

[wytonpjs]

We mostly use Motorola UHF on our shoot but a few of the beaters have bought their own Baofeng radios and never had any issues, One of the lads lost his Baofeng a couple of weeks ago but luckily found it and after being left out in the elements for a good few days it was still working fine

A few years back I lost my Baofeng UV-B5 whilst out on a very wet muddy day's shooting. Couldn't find it for the want of looking and gave up hope of ever finding it. Was staggered to find it 4 weeks later, screen cracked with signs of water ingress and totally flat. I put it in a bag of rice in the airing cupboard for a week and then fully recharged it. It's still going 5 years later - not bad for a £20 radio!

 

[jthyttin]

The radios are programmed to one UHF and one VHF. The UHF seems to work better.

A lot depends on individual devices, like is the antenna (plus possible ground plane cable) configured for the exact frequency. And what are the frequencies.

I have experience from 3 different bands in hunting use, and rate them from worst to best. The Mhz figures are approximate:

- 446MHz (PMR, low UHF)
- 68MHz (Finnish hobby, low VHF)
- 144MHz (Estonian hunting, mid VHF)

 

[zambezi]

We don’t have issues with weirdos (outside of the shoot members) listening in

This can be a false confidence depending on how the radios are configured. Simply this: when you press the PTT button, your radio broadcasts in every direction for anyone to receive.

Usually, cheaper radios run DTCS or TSQL which means that only radios running that same squelch code schema will hear each other. By this means, radios exclude reception of conversations not originating from the group. But...any other radio can hear those conversations. This can give the illusion of privacy. [see sample config below]

The 1st level of broadcast obfuscation is scrambling. The voice frequencies are modulated with a mutually agreed frequency. So whilst third parties can receive your transmission, your conversation sounds garbled. Even cheap radios can achieve this [e.g. the Quansheng UV K5 8 above]. But it is not foolproof. A determined third party will eventually work out what scramble frequency is in play.

True radio transmission secrecy requires encryption. I have not seen any entry level radios capable of achieving this. For your 4k voice signal to be encoded and encrypted/decrypted in real time takes significant processing power.


Overall, it is better to treat a radio as we did party-line phones in the old days. You know a neighbour is making notes as you discuss your next doctor's appointment.





The Entel radio range supports encryption. I have tested these and they work well.

 

[Tim.243]

This can be a false confidence depending on how the radios are configured. Simply this: when you press the PTT button, your radio broadcasts in every direction for anyone to receive.

Usually, cheaper radios run DTCS or TSQL which means that only radios running that same squelch code schema will hear each other. By this means, radios exclude reception of conversations not originating from the group. But...any other radio can hear those conversations. This can give the illusion of privacy. [see sample config below]

The 1st level of broadcast obfuscation is scrambling. The voice frequencies are modulated with a mutually agreed frequency. So whilst third parties can receive your transmission, your conversation sounds garbled. Even cheap radios can achieve this [e.g. the Quansheng UV K5 8 above]. But it is not foolproof. A determined third party will eventually work out what scramble frequency is in play.

True radio transmission secrecy requires encryption. I have not seen any entry level radios capable of achieving this. For your 4k voice signal to be encoded and encrypted/decrypted in real time takes significant processing power.


Overall, it is better to treat a radio as we did party-line phones in the old days. You know a neighbour is making notes as you discuss your next doctor's appointment.


View attachment 397375


The Entel radio range supports encryption. I have tested these and they work well.

View attachment 397382

If you want less people listening to both sides of the QSO then you split the Rec/transmit.
Back in the day taking on ssb skip we would have a 10kc difference in Rec/Transmit.
Worked a treat...

 

[zambezi]

Encryption is not permitted in the amateur [Ham] radio spectrum, but sample online FOI queries to Ofcom state Simple Business Light licence holders are permitted to use DMR radios in the SBL defined spectrum. DMR radios support encryption. This not a definitive statement, just the sum of what I have seen online. Do your own regulatory research before implementing any radio solution including encrypted solutions.

Of the radios capable of DMR+AES256-encryption, the radio that comes up trumps in reviews as best bang-for-buck is the TYT UV390 Plus.

This is not an off-the-peg solution: you will need to install CPS software on a laptop to configure. For example, this radio is claimed to have a possible 10w output. Any handheld radio used under Ofcom's SBL registration must be set to limit output to 5w or less.