Rocky Talkie Radios

[joel_sledz]

Anyone have any experience with the Rocky Talkie? Haven’t found a good walkie talkie for out west in mountainous terrain. Looking for something that can stretch at least 3 miles in different drainages. Any info is appreciated! Thanks.

 

[The10%]

You may have better luck operating on GMRS, like the Garmin handhelds use. You can go on 5 Watt vs 2 Watt, I'd assume you will get the same range out of these that you're currently getting.

 

[UtahJimmy]

Never heard of them before, but I've been REALLY happy with the Baofeng's I picked up a few years ago.

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[Indian Summer]

Nothing goes 3 miles in elk country other than satellite comments. Inreach etc.

 

[AaronMColeman]

Never heard of them before, but I've been REALLY happy with the Baofeng's I picked up a few years ago.

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The cheapy ones for like $30? I have the UHF/VHF licensed versions and really like them too.

 

[11boo]

Anyone have any experience with the Rocky Talkie? Haven’t found a good walkie talkie for out west in mountainous terrain. Looking for something that can stretch at least 3 miles in different drainages. Any info is appreciated! Thanks.

Those are FRS radios, they will do no better than the cheap ones.

 

[UtahJimmy]

The cheapy ones for like $30? I have the UHF/VHF licensed versions and really like them too.

Yeah, specifically using the UV-5R model. I've used them in deep valley rocky terrain and heavily timbered areas and they work for miles. Shocking how much better these cheap things are vs. expensive Motorolas.

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[11boo]

Yeah, specifically using the UV-5R model. I've used them in deep valley rocky terrain and heavily timbered areas and they work for miles. Shocking how much better these cheap things are vs. expensive Motorolas.

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Was the programming hard?

 

[UtahJimmy]

Was the programming hard?

Not with a cable. I downloaded the free program, downloaded a reference file, made a couple changes, then loaded it on 4 radios. Haven't needed to touch them since. I could mail you the cable and the SD card if you promise to ship it back. PM me if you end up buying some.

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[BBob]

Was the programming hard?

I have Yeasu's and all of these are pretty similar. Programming isn't hard but at first mby a little tricky. Once you figure it out, set it and lock in a channel it's pretty straight forward from there. Mine are locked to a GMRS channel. I can hand a radio to someone with a couple of simple instructions and we're good to go.

 

[11boo]

Not with a cable. I downloaded the free program, downloaded a reference file, made a couple changes, then loaded it on 4 radios. Haven't needed to touch them since. I could mail you the cable and the SD card if you promise to ship it back. PM me if you end up buying some.

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Thanks Jimmy, just looking and learning at this point. My FRS radios work as expected, poorly in the high country unless you have line of sight.

 

[Luckyrxc]

Another plug for UV5R. You can also use an ear bud /mic and longer antenna and keep the radio in your pack with the antenna sticking out the top. If you don’t have a ham license, want to keep it legal and simple, look at baeofengtech.com as they have a gmrs version that I hear is also quite good. Programming and operation should be easier.
Just looked it up and the model is BTECH GMRS-V1.

All of these radios are ‘line of sight’ so they are not magic but are way better than the cheap FRS radios with fixed stubby antennas, 1/2 watt, and AA batteries.