Two way radio recommendations

[Russellback]

I’m going on a high country mule deer hunt this season and I’m looking for a good 2-way radio option. Definitely need one with earpiece capabilities (I think ). Any feedback is appreciated. Thank you

 

[alexnelon]

Just from the context of needing an earpiece I’ll say this, in most states it’s not legal to use a radio to have a buddy walk you in on a stalk.

Motorola makes good stuff.

 

[Huntinmechanic]

Get a satellite communicator if you just need it for finding your buddy at days end for a ride to camp. Two way radios are pretty worthless in the mountains. Like the last poster said, if you're using them for guiding someone into an animal, you may be doing something illegal and in many circles, unethical.

 

[Beendare]

Yeah, two way is short range line of sight.

If you are hunting with a buddy, the old Garmin Rino's are fantastic as they not only let you communicate but also see where your buddy is on the GPS in relation to you. I don't know if they still sell those.

Example; Back in the day I was hunting with a buddy on mules in backcountry CO archery. I had a bull down in a nasty spot. I told him, he went and got the mules while I boned out the bull. He couldn't get the horses in a straight line down the mountain- too steep. I had him ping me his location regularly. I directed him to a long sloping ridge I could see on GPS past me. Then when he hit my elevation he found a game trail that was rideable- brought the mules right to me.

 

[jjentringer3921]

I use midland radios with the earpiece from them you can buy. If you put it on whisper mode it works pretty well. I think they are great for communicating but obviously
as others stated, have their limits

 

[IAm_Not_Lost]

Get a satellite communicator if you just need it for finding your buddy at days end for a ride to camp. Two way radios are pretty worthless in the mountains. Like the last poster said, if you're using them for guiding someone into an animal, you may be doing something illegal and in many circles, unethical.

Going off a little tangent here, but the concept that using radios to help coordinate movement is unethical or illegal, but cellphones, gps apps, rangefinders, scopes, spotting scopes etc somehow aren’t unethical in the grand scheme of things is hilarious. It’s all relative.

 

[Globe_trotter21]

Check out RockyTalkie. Came across them on a hiking gear list and they look promising. No first hand use though.

 

[thegrouse]

I use a Rocky Talkie for use outside. I have a set off Amazon, but the Rocky Talkies are tough, I climb with them and bang them off rocks. They are simple to use, but I do not think you can use a headphone with them.

 

[Johnboy041586]

Beofang's are the best I've ever used. There super affordable and super tough. I've dropped them, got them wet and they keep working. They also have awesome range.

 

[JPNW]

Beofang's are the best I've ever used. There super affordable and super tough. I've dropped them, got them wet and they keep working. They also have awesome range.

Do you know what model number you use?

 

[MountainTracker]

Meshtastic, off grid texting. Yeah I know you said ear piece, but you already have your phone and cost very little.


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[Hunting183]

Beofang's are the best I've ever used. There super affordable and super tough. I've dropped them, got them wet and they keep working. They also have awesome range.

I agree, they were cheap but performed well.

 

[intunegp]

I've been intrigued by Rapid Radios but haven't pulled the trigger yet. They're essentially push-to-talk cell phones with no contract/monthly fee and supposedly they can use any network provider and automatically scan for the strongest signal and then use that. They don't have any true radio backup though so if you find yourself somewhere that has absolutely zero cell signal they won't work and it is not clear to me how much their quality suffers when the best available signal is poor. They'd have to be pretty bad to be worse than most two-way radios.

Short answer- I've been pretty happy with my Midland T71 X-Talkers but may try Rapid Radios in the future.

 

[Poser]

I have a set of Rocky Talkies. I also have a set of Baofeng UV82 HP which, due to their high wattage, programmable frequencies and removable antenna, are illegal to use without a HAMM license.

I often use the Baofeng's for backcountry skiing as I have the various SAR channels and area repeaters programmed in. Obviously, I don't use them and would not use them unless their were an emergency. I do also have the standard FRS channels programmed so I can communicate with Rocky Talkies, Motorolas, BCA links etc. Even in high watt mode, you don't gain much of any advantage in mountainous terrain over your standard FRS radios. I can broadcast further if there is a line of sight, but if I'm, say, 800 vertical feet down a 35 degree slope from my partner (can't see each other), then there is no communication. That's the downside to radios in the mountains. From the summit of a peak, I could probably communicate directly with someone on a summit 40 miles away, but that doesn't gain much practical benefit for communicating with your group.


So, all things being equal, any brand name FRS radio you buy will be the same programmed wattage:
Channels 1-7 and 15-22: Allowed to transmit up to 2 watts.
Channels 8-14: Limited to 0.5 watts.

With that in mind, the Rocky Talkies are pretty practical in that they are fairly bombproof, but that is the only feature you are gaining over the major competition. They do have input/output jacks for a speaker/mic, so you could use a headset with them. They are programmed with a squelch so you do get an unavoidable squelch with each broadcast, which is a little loud for actually stalking without a headset. You can't program legal FRS radios so no way to remove that.

The BCA links do have a nice feature where you can change the channel on the speaker/mic so you can have the radio in your pack and not need to access it to change channels, but they are kind of ridiculous pricey at ~$200 per unit.

 

[406flyfish]

Check out RockyTalkie. Came across them on a hiking gear list and they look promising. No first hand use though.

We bought a pair. I was 13 miles away on a ridge line with my UTV and communicating clearly with my wife from home. You’re supposed to obtain a license to operate a 5 watt. We use them for everything, they are rugged.

 

[bullmtn]

My g/f bought me rocky talkies for Xmas, used them spring bear hunting. My friend bought two as soon as we were back in service. Nothing out of this world but easy to use and seem durable.

 

[rogerdoger]

I second the rockytalkies. Another option is the BCA Link radios, mostly used for skiers and snowmobilers, have been around a long time as well.

 

[z987k]

We use the rockytalkies for snowmachines.

 

[ni7ne]

Meshtastic, off grid texting. Yeah I know you said ear piece, but you already have your phone and cost very little.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Meshtastic tech is cool, and it shines once a mesh network is built up, or when you get one node up high, but 0.1W 900MHz won't cut through anything at all in the wild. No lensing, no bouncing, blocked by surprisingly little vegetation. VHF/UHF@5W has some chance of bouncing and punching through.

Baofengs on MURS freqs won't rock the boat if you're not using them near a walmart or costco.

 

[mtnbound]

I’m going on a high country mule deer hunt this season and I’m looking for a good 2-way radio option. Definitely need one with earpiece capabilities (I think ). Any feedback is appreciated. Thank you

Baofeng is what I recommend, but I only use it for specific check-in times, and I tend only to use it if my partner doesn't have an Inreach. I'm not sure why you want to use an earpiece, but I prefer both ears available for hearing; using just one ear makes pinpointing animals difficult.